By Aparecida De Souza, November 21, 2019 — One of the pastimes that I had when I was 14 years old was to sit down at a bench of [my] city’s plaza. That place was not far from the school I attended at night, nor from the pharmacy where I worked during the day.
I knew many of the people that crossed back and forth, but, one day, a young Japanese (Nisei) guy approached me and asked if he could sit down. It is a public place, I said, “Be my guest.” We started talking, and soon I found out that he was actually, in a way, a homeless person. He told me that he had run away from home in São Paulo, which was no less than 12 hours away by train. He had followed a circus where he was now staying at their mercy and helping with some tasks. I must have met him there two or three more times, and came to know that he was very unhappy, feeling at a loss because he made no money and couldn’t go back. I also learned that he was hooked in some kind of drugs, but I understood nothing about that, at the time. As I remember, it was the first time I heard the world “MACONHA” (Marijuana).
I had the crazy idea of helping him, somehow. The way I thought I could help was by finding a way to send him home. I bought myself some warm clothes and I also bought him a nice coat, because it was winter, and, even though my city was never cold, I meant to make the trip to São Paulo with him, and São Paulo is very cold in the winter.
When I revealed my intentions to him, he seemed very receptive—so we started that very night. There was always a layover by the middle of the ride, plus we had to change trains. Long story short, it was already almost the end of the next day when we arrived. A train back to my city would only depart the next morning, and I’d better be in it, lest my aunt found out that I had not gone to my parents’ as I had told her and all hell broke loose. I lived with my aunt at that time.
OK, he promised me that he knew how to go home from there, and I took a room at a hotel near the station to spend the night, so happy that I had done such a good deed!
Early in the morning- OH what a shock! I open my door and there he was…trembling like a frozen dog. He had sold the coat to buy the drug. He was higher than the moon still showing in the sky!!! And I had yet to buy one extra ticket back because he wouldn’t hear of staying!!! Thank God he slept most of the way because I got very afraid. 3 weeks later, the circus went away from Aracatura. I never saw Koichi again.