Cherry Blossom Baseball by Jennifer Maruno

one’s appreciation. She pulled out the chair just as Hiro raced into her room and threw himself on her bed, face down.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” she asked.
    â€œMrs. Morrison’s gone,” came the muffled reply.
    â€œWhat did you say?” Michiko asked.
    â€œMrs. Morrison’s gone,” he repeated.
    â€œI know,” she said. “Don’t you remember waving goodbye?”
    â€œMy cat,” Hiro wailed. “She’s gone.”
    Michiko had to grin. Last night her father had told Hiro that the cat should have a name. “Did you forget to close your bedroom door?”
    â€œNo,” Hiro said unconvincingly.
    â€œShe has to be somewhere in the house,” Michiko assured him.
    Hiro rolled over and sat up. “She ran home to her mother.”
    â€œThat’s too far away,” Michiko said as she shooed him out the door. “Go have your breakfast while I write my letter. Then I will help you search.” Just as she turned back to her desk, Michiko noticed Mr. Palumbo walk by with a ladder.

    Dear Clarence,
    Y ou were right about the long train ride, but we had an extra passenger to entertain us. Mrs. Morrison packed one of her kittens in our food basket!!!!
    To make the point of how surprised they all were, she added several more fat exclamation marks at the end of the sentence.
    O ur new house is small, but at least I have my own room.
    Michiko thought about crossing that out to stop Clarence from thinking she was bragging; he shared his house with six other siblings. But she decided to leave the sentence in. She wished she had some great adventure to write about rather than the dullness of her life.
    T here is another house behind us with an Italian man and woman. Their son used to work on the farm, but he left for another job in Toronto. That’s why my dad had to come early.
    T hank you for the box. I’m going to keep letters in it, so you have to write back.
    After signing it, Michiko folded the paper in half and stuffed it in the envelope. On the front she printed his name and address. On the back she printed her new one.
    â€œOne down and two to go , ” Michiko said as the smell of toast beckoned her into the kitchen.
    Hiro sat at the table with his head in his hands, his toast untouched.
    â€œI said I’d help you find her,” Michiko said. “Eat up.”
    â€œDad’s gone,” Hiro said.
    Michiko looked at her father’s empty chair and then up at her mother. “Dad’s gone?” It was Saturday, and she had expected he would be spending the whole day with them.
    â€œHe’ll be back,” Eiko said. “He left at dawn to take a shipment of flowers to Toronto.”
    Michiko lifted her piece of toast to her mouth and thought about Toronto. She wondered if she would ever get a chance to go back there. Maybe she would be able to find Kiko, one of her classmates who had moved there last year. Michiko was just about to take a bite when there was a rap at the kitchen door. Her mother moved to open it, but before she reached the handle, it flew back and banged against the wall.
    The thin old woman she’d seen through the window stood in the doorway.
    â€œ Buon giorno, ” she said as she stepped inside. Since she was no longer wearing her headscarf, Michiko could see her iron-grey hair, braided and pinned into a thick coil at the back of her neck.
    â€œMrs. Palumbo?” Eiko asked. She wiped her hands on her apron and extended one.
    â€œ Si, ” said the woman, but she did not take the offered hand. She stared at the two children the way an eagle sees its prey and then gave a smile that revealed two rows of brown teeth. With a spotted, gnarled finger, she beckoned to them.
    â€œYou want the children to come outside?” Eiko asked.
    â€œ Si, ” said the woman, putting out her hand.
    Hiro fled from the table to hang on to his mother’s skirt.
    Michiko looked to her mother for