When I Lost Respect

Liberated

On August 9, 1945 the native Japanese man who carved me, was a solider in the Japanese Army. He was ordered to march into the city of Nagasaki, Japan to investigate a mushroom cloud-like explosion. On that day, between 40,000 and 75,000 people died immediately after the historic nuclear explosion. For that man in his '20s he would suffer permanent disabilities from the radiation exposure. 

In 1968 while this man was being treated in an American Military Hospital in Japan for the radiation exposure, his cousin, an American-born Japanese arrived at his shop to visit him. She and her husband were on her way home to California with her three young children, a boy and two girls. This young-looking woman wanted to buy three masks from her cousin. The woman took a very long-time to decide and finally chose three masks. Two for the girls and of course me for the boy. This is the first time I noticed that the man who carved me looked so much older than his older cousin. Due to the radiation exposure, he would not live for many more years.  

So I arrived in California in 1968 and I would hang on that wall with the two other masks. During the next 20 years I saw these kids grow up. They went off to college, got jobs, brought boyfriends, girl friends home and eventually all three got married. The woman was a hoarder and rarely threw anything away, but was usually very good at keeping the three masks clean. In 1996, the woman's husband died and after that, I would be cleaned less often. It was not an easy life as the room was not insulated and there were rodents frequently in the room. 

The woman's son was the only one to ever show up and clean the room I was in. For the next ten years, he would arrive every March, help the mom file her taxes and then clean the room I was in. In 2006, he bought a Yellow Dyson Vacuum Cleaner and used it clean the room. He even hired an exterminator who put some traps in the room. The woman thanked her son for everything he did and was so appreciative. The son would even take the time to clean me with the soft brush of the Dyson. I am sure those other masks were wondering where their future owners were. One of the daughters would arrive but she would be there to unload stuff or junk from her house and dump it in the room. I didn't like the room being more crowded, we didn't need any more stuff the rodents could chew on. 

In 2009, the police brought the woman home. She had an accident and didn't remember how to get home. Twenty-four hours later, the son and one of the daughters arrived on a plane from the East Coast. The daughter who lived nearby was a no-show. The woman could no longer live by herself so it was decided the son would take her home to the East Coast. 

For the next year, the son took over my life. He cleaned the room and started cleaning up the house. I thought all the junk was going to be removed form my room. But a year later, the son no longer arrived. I would later find out he was locked out of the house. His sisters had took over control of his mother's affairs. I missed him and I would not be cleaned again for a very long time. 

In July of 2016 I found out that the woman had passed. I figured the house would be sold so I was wondering where my new home would be. I had not been cleaned for so long. A long time had passed and then in March of 2016, one of the sisters arrived and started moving her junk out of the room. She was actually cleaning the room. I knew something was going on.

On the morning of April 30, 2016, all of a sudden the son walked in the room. It had been almost 6 years since I last saw him. He arrived with his attorney and after some back and forth, the son reached out and took me off the wall, I was finally LIBERATED! I am looking forward to my new home.