A Friend M.S. Doshisha International Jr/Sr High School, Kyoto, Japan

"So, who is your best friend, Akira?" said Akira's friend. It was a chilly day with rain outside. On that day, my father was holding a drinking party, and my uncle Akira was there with three of his friends. It was about two o'clock in the morning. The men were all drunk, laughing and filling their glasses with beer. I was the only minor in the room. To the young girl, the middle aged men who were crazy and insane seemed ridiculous. "Who is my best friend? Oh...his name is Nick. I can't think of anyone except Nick when I hear the word, 'best friend'" Akira said. I paid no attention to what he said. I knew that it was impossible for him to have a friend named Nick: he had never been abroad. Moreover, I had heard from my father that Akira was always getting scores of 2 or 1 in his English classes during his high school life. How could such a man make a friend called Nick, I thought. However, Akira had a serious look on his face. Then he began to tell the story of Nick and him. At the moment, I did not know that he was going to speak the most touching story I would ever hear in my life. It was the story of Akira's young days. When he was young, he was an apt pupil. Until he entered high school and started to learn English, there were no hard classes for him. Not only at study, but he had also done well at P.E. He stood high in favor with all the girls in his class. However, the boys in his class envied Akira so much that they ignored him. His brother, who is my father, had lots of friends. His parents were both busy and working hard. Akira realized that he was always spending his time alone. No one was around him. One day, his father presented him with a puppy. It was a puppy that his father picked up from a cardboard box on the street. "This puppy was alone on a street. You know that it's hard to be alone. Can you take care of him and become his friend?" said his father. It was the kindness of his father, trying to give Akira "someone" to be with. Akira named the puppy Nick. He named the dog like that because he knew that the puppy would be his friend and would be at his side, not like his mean Japanese classmates. He wanted some difference between his special friend and the bullies. From that day, Akira took Nick everywhere. Even though he was busy, he did not miss taking Nick for a walk. Nick was also attached to Akira. When Akira came home from school, there was always Nick waving his short tail and smiling as if he was saying "Hey, let's go for a walk!" Fifteen years passed. Akira became a salaried worker. The environment surrounding him all changed, but the friendship between Nick and him did not change at all. He believed that he would never loose Nick. He was sure of himself that it was impossible for him to live without Nick. One day he walked back to his home like usual. It was a chilly day with snow outside. He looked up the sky and worried about Nick. "It should be very cold for Nick waiting for me outside. I should serve him dog food, not the leftovers. I know that Nick likes dog food a lot." Akira told himself. However when he got to the front door, Nick did not appear. Akira did not even hear Nick's bark. He wondered what had happened to Nick. He opened the door. There he saw Nick lying on Akira's sneakers. "Oh, Nick. What are you doing? Are you tired? Well, me too, I am tired too. Hey, let's go in, come on!" said Akira. Nick did not move. Akira touched Nick's body with strange eyes. His body was quite cold and his eyes were closed kindly. Nick had not moved. The next moment, Akira realized that Nick had passed away. Tears came to his eyes. He mourned for Nick, but was convinced that Nick had been thinking about Akira even to the last, and would be with him forever. On that day, he lost his best friend, but got a confidence in their friendship. After Akira told the story, he look his glass and drank the beer again. All of the party members were laughing and teasing him about his best "dogfriend". Akira laughed too, saying that it was just a joke. However I knew that it was not a joke. I had seen him with a picture of a small dog in his wallet. The story of the friendship between a dog and my drunken uncle is the saddest story I have ever heard.

Child Research Net would like to thank the Doshisha International Junior/Senior High School and Mutsumi Sakamoto, student and author, for permitting reproduction of this article on the CRN web site.

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