From the subject to my precious thing
My American host family, the Struders, lived in the urban area which was 40 minutes away from the center of Denver Colorado. Around their house they didn’t have any high building, we could see the horizon on the eastern and western side of the house. In America they take DST, it was still bright outside even until around 8:30 in the evening. We could enjoy a beautiful sunset on the western side. Compared to humid Tokyo in summer, it was very cool at daytime when we were under the shades of trees, but in the evening, it was cool as well without it. So, the front yard of the Struders covered with lawn was the best place to enjoy having evening cool.
My host father Joe loved evening cool in the front yard. When he finished his job at 5 o’clock in the evening, he came back home around 6. After finishing supper, he brought chairs from the back yard to front yard and sat there with his wife Anne to start enjoying the evening cool. I immediately went there as soon as I witness their preparation and laid down next to them. I could have a moment of relaxation while enjoying seeing the horizon at the sunset and feeling the cool breeze with them. It was a very precious experience that I could never have in my Japanese house ; that had a very narrow garden and were surrounded by houses.
On the opposite side of the gentle slope along the front yard, there lived a family called The Drouters. They were composed of the parents and their 9 children. From the oldest one who was around in his late twenties to the youngest one who is a 5-year old boy (The eldest brother and sister had already gotten married and lived separately). Since my host Sheldon and their third son Arthur, were schoolmates in high school, these two families had a closer relationship than others. The Drouters’ parent often came to join the evening cool. When I joined it for the first time, not only their parents but also their children including Sheldon, Ilysa and Drouters’ children joined them. It became lively with about 15 members gathering in total. Aside from the evening cool, it also became the place where we could enjoy talking. I loved that enjoyable and relaxing atmosphere.
At that time, Anne immediately introduced me to them. With Sheldon, I could talk to Arthur and Tim, who was Arthur’s brother and 4 years older than him. Arthur who was at the same age with Sheldon was not talkative but his character was so gentle. He usually laughed with someone else jokes. But, when I didn’t understand their English conversation, he always could find that and helped me to join it. I was so happy to feel his support. He told me that he was good at sports. I sometimes played Soccer and enjoyed other sports like sprint and long-distance running with him. I was so surprised with his very high physical abilities. He played well even though he didn’t play much. He could run so fast that I could not catch up with him. I was always no match for him. On the other hand, due to his gentleness and his ability of sports, he was popular with girls and have a cute girlfriend.
Arthur’s brother Tim was cheerful and talkative, and talked to me much. He let me listen to the song from his radio. He said to me “This song is so popular now, you’d better buy that record for your souvenir!“ ※This song was sung by England Dan & John Ford Coley “Sad To Belong”. It was so popular at that time in America and as soon as I heard it, I liked it.
Also, he said to me “You’ve already drunk Coors’ beer? This is so delicious since it is made from Rocky mountain’s spring water! It’s the signature beer of Colorado. It’s so tasty! Oh! I forgot you’re not of legal age yet HAHAHAHA” Like this he always talked to me or make jokes on me which made me laugh. I was so happy to hear those!
On a different note, at that time I wore one T-shirts written “Lonely Boy” on the back and one day when he saw me and my T-shirt, he teased me like this “Ryuji, you are a lonely boy, aren’t you? I can introduce you a girlfriend, hehehe!”
I thought it was one of his jokes and didn’t pay much attention for it, but actually at 4H Fair, he suddenly came to me with Arthur and said “Ryuji, let’s go get girls!!”. He took me and Arthur to many exhibition booths and refreshment shops where there were some girls who were their friends and the same age as me. He introduced me and said to them “This is Ryuji from Japan, like what is written in his shirt, he is a “lonely boy”! Why don’t you be his girlfriend? HAHAHA!” Even though I could not communicate well in English, he warmed up us with his joking like this. They were so kind to me; I could have so much fun with them. Arthur’s girlfriend was there and he shyly introduced his girlfriend to me. She was so cute and treated me kindly as her boyfriend's friend with her big smile.
Among them, I could find so cute girls like who were in the school drama on TV, but actually I could not have a date with them. That was a little bit bad but It could not be helped since I was under the protection of my host family.
At the start of the fair, I only knew few people from the Drouters and Struders Family. But Tim and Arthur accepted me as one of their fellows and paid much attention to me. They introduced me to many girls and widen my circle of friends like this. I was so happy to have their attention than anything else!
BACK TO THE TOPIC
When I enjoyed talking to Sheldon, Arthur and Tim at cool evening in the front yard with the rest of the family, Heather just came back from work, who was the third daughter of the Drouters and had a strong boyish character. She approached us and bluntly said to me almost without a greeting.
“How come you came to America?”
I have not encountered such a rough first meeting, so I was a little bit at a loss. she continued to say to me with a serious facial expression
“I did not say Yes!”
At first, I could not understand what she meant even if the phrase didn’t have any difficult word. I thought to myself, “What does she want to say to me? What is “Yes” for?” In my head, I had so many question marks. Because I paid much attention to understand English and this was the first time to have such a strange way to approach me. She continued saying to me
“I did not say Yes! So you can not come to America!!”
I finally understood what she said, but was so shocked with such a malicious answer I never had had in America! Seeing my strained facial expression, Arthur, who was sitting next to me, said to me and placed his arm on my shoulder “Ryuji, she is just joking!!”. I finally found that she was joking and felt relieved with it! Seeing my reaction other members burst into laugh. Lastly, she smiled at me and hugged me and said “Welcome to America!!” In America, I encountered many kinds of people and most said to me “Welcome to America” or “I am so glad (or happy) to see you!!”. But her peculiar way of welcoming me was completely different from others.
The next night, when I was in the front yard in the evening, I saw Heather came back from work. When she saw me, she was surprised and jokingly said to me
“Ryuji, are you still here?”
“ I thought you’ve already gone!”.
I had already gotten her joke. I just laugh out it. She handed me a bottle of Sprite (One of the soft drinks sold by Coca Cola company at that time.) At that time, Japan didn’t have sprite yet. I only tasted this drink in America and it was my favorite. Tim and Arthur informed her about it and she surely remembered. Though there was no verbal apology, I felt that was her way of asking sorry by purchasing the drink for me. I found that her kindness and compassion that she hid with her bad jokes since she is kind of shy. I felt she opened her heart to me and considered me one of her friends. I feel so happy and since then, I became to like her so much.
Like this, the evening cool was not only a good place to spend cooling time, but a very open-minded and warm enough place to accept me as one of their members who came all the way from Japan. Those warmness and open-hearted atmosphere made English, which was the subject we had to study in school, my precious and adorable language which was spoken by my favorite friends. This meant a great change for me and had a great influence in my life in the future.
Even now, When I enjoyed seeing the cityscape in the evening from my veranda, the scenery of the evening cool in the Strouders’ front yard is remembered
And their voices like “you are lonely boy, aren’t you?” “I didn’t say Yes!” “Ryuji, she is just joking” occurred to me. I miss them a lot.
