Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford Read Free Book Online Page B

remember after the service – take it, just in case.’
    Henry felt the quarter inside. He held the envelope to his nose and could smell the peppermint among the wet, fragrant scents of the floral-filled room. ‘Thank you’ was all he could muster.
    Now, standing in the misty rain of Lake View Cemetery, Henry touched the envelope to his nose again. He couldn’t smell a thing.
    ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been here as often as I should have,’he apologized. He held the quarter in his hand, putting the envelope in his pocket. He listened to the sound of the wind blowing through the trees – never really expecting an answer, but always open to the possibility.
    ‘I have some things I need to do. And, well, I just wanted to come by and tell you first. But, you probably know all this.’ Henry’s attention drifted to the marker next to Ethel’s – it was his parents’. Then he looked back to where Ethel lay. ‘You always knew me so well.’
    Henry brushed the graying hair from his temples, wet from the drizzly rain.
    ‘I’m getting by. But I’m worried about Marty. I’ve always worried about him. I guess I’d ask that you look out for him – me, I can look out for myself. I’ll be OK.’
    Henry looked around to see if anyone might be watching him having this odd, one-way conversation. He was all alone – he wasn’t even sure if Ethel was listening. It was one thing to talk to her at home, where she’d lived. But out here, in the cold ground next to his parents, she was certainly gone. Still, Henry had needed to come out to say goodbye.
    He kissed the quarter and placed it on top of Ethel’s headstone. This was our promise of happiness, Henry thought. It’s all I have left to give. This is so you can be happy without me.
    He stood back, hands at his sides, and took three deep bows out of respect.
    ‘I have to go now,’ Henry said.
    Before he left, he drew a lily from Ethel’s bundle of flowers and set it on his mother’s grave. He even brushed a few leaves from his father’s stone before opening his umbrellaand walking back down the hill in the direction of Volunteer Park.
    He took the long way back, down a winding path that lead to the near-empty parking lot. Lake View Cemetery was a beautiful place, despite the somber graves that stood as cold reminders of so much loss and longing. The final resting place of Chief Seattle’s daughter and other notables like Asa Mercer and Henry Yesler, it was a walking tour of Seattle’s forgotten history. Not unlike the Nisei War Memorial Monument in the northeast corner. It was a smaller monument, smaller than the headstones of members of the Nordstrom family, dedicated to Japanese American veterans – locals who’d died fighting the Germans. These days it went all but unnoticed, except by Henry, who tipped his hat as he slowly walked by.

Speak Your American
    (1942)
    H enry stood in front of the mirror, examining his school clothes. He’d asked his mother to iron them, but they still looked wrinkled. He tried on an old Seattle Indians baseball cap, then thought better of it, combing his hair yet again. Anxiety about Monday mornings was nothing new. In fact, it normally began on Sunday afternoons. Even though he was used to his routine at Rainier Elementary, his stomach would knot up as the hours passed, each minute bringing him closer to his return to the all-white school – the bullies, the heckling, and his lunch duties in the cafeteria with Mrs Beatty. This Monday morning, though, his ritual of serving the other kids seemed downright exciting. Those forty precious minutes in the kitchen had become time well spent, since he’d get to see Keiko. Silver lining? Indeed .
    ‘You one big smile this morning, Henry,’ his father commented in Chinese, slurping his jook – thick rice soup,mixed with diced preserved cabbage. Not a favorite of Henry’s, but he ate it politely.
    Henry took slices of preserved duck egg out of his own bowl and set them in his