For Okada Mikio, with Respect

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 A father died this week. He died in heavy snow without a coat. He wasn’t wearing his coat because he had placed it on the shoulders of his little girl. He died sheltering her from the snow with his body. He kept her so safe that she didn’t even have serious frost bite. His little girl’s name is Natsune. I don’t know which spelling variation is used for her name’s kanji, but my guess is 夏音: sound of summer. She will see summer come again, but she is an orphan now. Her mother died two years ago. Sunday was girls’ day, a day families celebrate their daughters. Mikio had ordered a cake for his beloved only child. As I read the story in the newspapers, I couldn’t shake the absurd question… was the cake delivered by the bakery, unaware of what had happened? Did Natsune receive that last gift from a father who had given her literally all of himself? I don’t know what is going to happen to her. But she will never have any doubt that she was loved.