Under the Maple Tree

“O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all of us command.”, are the words I hear at the start of every school day. When listening to the song known by many it brings a sense of pride, pride for being Canadian. Soon after taking my seat, I noticed a student foreign to our classroom entering. When observing them I noticed that they looked different, but not in the same way that every other student in our class looked different from each other but in a more unique way that I didn’t quite understand. “Class, I would like to introduce you to Miki.” said our teacher, Mrs. Campbell as they stood next to the new student. “Their family has moved here all the way from Japan.” continued Mrs. Campbell, “Miki will be joining our class and I encourage everyone in our class, including Miki to become well acquainted.” After introduction Mrs. Campbell instructed Miki to choose one of the available seats, which was limited to the back row, to become their assigned seat. As I sat next to the lot of available seats due to my last name beginning with a T, I became infrilled by the potential of getting to sit next to Miki. Once Miki came over to browse the selection of seats they stared for a split second into my eyes as they noticed me peeking my head towards them before I swiftly turned my head towards the front of the class. After my head swung towards the front of the class I heard the sound of a chair shuffling behind me.

        As class continued on I felt anxious about turning my head behind me even for a second, although my fears began to fade slightly as Mrs. Campbell introduced a new project that would involve a partner. Her instructions for the project was to draw or sketch something that represented Canada in some way and explain how the drawing connects to Canada. After Mrs. Campbell concluded her instructions, I fearfully turned towards Miki and asked if she would like to do the project with me. In response Miki gave me a shy nod. As Mrs. Campbell came around giving out the project sheet to the newly created groups she asked me who I was partnered with. Quickly, I responded “Miki” with absolute glee across my face. “Well, that is very nice of you to be their partner Jack.” replied Mrs. Campbell as she handed us a sheet. “Now, since Miki is new here you might need to help provide ideas and explanations for her Jack.” explained Mrs. Campbell, “However, I want you to make sure she participates in the presentation of your project.” “Understood?” I nod, “Yes Mrs. Campbell.” Mrs. Campbell smiles as she goes back to the front of the class, “This project is due by the end of the week and I expect you all to give your explanation orally” said Mrs. Campbell as she wrote the due date on the board. “You are all free to use the whole week to think about what you want to create as an illustration for your project, I highly recommend to utilise this time to put thought and effort into your pieces.” Mrs. Campbell explained further.

        Once class seemed to come to a wrap Mrs. Campbell came over to Miki and asked if they wanted to stand in front of the class and let the class ask her questions about Japan. After thinking it over she shyly nodded and followed Mrs. Campbell to the front of the class. “Before class is over and you are all dismissed, I would like to give you all an opportunity to ask Miki questions about Japan.” announced Mrs. Campbell. Quickly after the announcement a wave of hands went up. As Mrs. Campbell picked out students in the class to ask their question, Miki would whisper the answer to Mrs. Campbell who would then announce it to the class. Some questions such as “Does it snow in Japan?” came with surprising answers, according to Mrs. Campbell Japan gets the most snowfall out of any other country, including Canada. Many were in shock at the realisation that a country could have more snow than Canada. I even thought Mrs. Campbell was trying to pull a joke on us but she assured me that it was true. Throughout the sea of questions came a surprise that ended up hitting the room like a jagged rock. “Is it true that people from Japan come to Canada to steal jobs?” The question puzzled me, how can someone steal a job? A job isn’t a toy or a purse that can be taken out or your hands. In the midst of my thought Mrs. Campbell cut in with a response for the question despite Miki not whispering an answer, instead she stood silently staring at the floor. “Why would you ever ask such a thing?” asked Mrs. Campbell “I heard my parents say that people from Japan come to Canada to steal jobs.” responded the boy who asked the question that had shifted the mood of the room. “Well, let's keep conversations from home at home.” “Understood?” asked Mrs. Campbell. The boy who asked the question nodded.

        After being dismissed from class I asked Miki in the hallway if they wanted to go to the park to discuss our project. Miki once again nodded and followed me out to the park. As we walked through the park we reached an open area with an isolated maple tree near dead centred in the middle. As we sat down I began to think about different Canadian things I knew about and thought about the anthem we listened to in school this morning. “What if we did the project on the Canadian anthem?” I asked. “How are we supposed to draw that?” Miki asked quietly. I sat in thought thinking about the problem only to be interrupted by Miki. “Also Canada doesn’t have an anthem.” added Miki. “Wait, O Canada isn’t our anthem?” I asked, confused. “No,  there are actually a few different songs written by different people.” “Me and my family learned that when we moved here.” continued Miki. “Huh” I respond in bewilderment to this fact as I noticed a yellow maple leaf from the tree fall on the sheet of paper for our project. I stared up at the maple tree and asked “Have you ever seen a maple tree Miki?” “Yeah, there was one in my backyard in Japan.” responded Miki. I turned my head to her “Really?” “Yeah, it would  make a lot of leaves in my backyard during the autumn and me and my dad would play around in them.” As I listened to Miki, another leaf fell on the paper, this time it was smaller and bright red. While looking at the leaf I quickly came up with an idea, “What about the leaves and the tree?” “What about them?” Miki responded, not sure what I meant. “For the project!” I exclaimed. “Well the maple leaf is on the penny right?” asked Miki. I pulled out one of the pennies my mom gave me that was intended to be used to buy lunch and showed it to Miki, on it was two maple leaves connected together on a stem. “My uncle from Ontario is in the military, his uniform has golden maple leaves on it and the Canadian flag has three red maple leaves.” I added. “So it’s decided?” asked Miki. “I think so.” I responded.

        “Would you like me to sketch the tree and the leaves?” asked Miki. “Uh sure, I’m not that great at sketching anyway.” I said. As Miki sketched away I wrote some bullet points down about what we discussed about the maple leaf. Once I finished writing down notes I looked over to Miki’s sketch and was surprised about the amount of detail she was able to capture. “That looks amazing, Miki!” I exclaimed. “Thank you, I like to sketch a lot.” Miki said as she shaded in parts of the sketch. “I can tell.” I responded. “Would you like to look at the notes I wrote?” I asked. “Sure, these notes look pretty good.” said Miki as she read over the page.  “I feel like it is missing something.” I added. “Well we do have until the end of the week to present, we can think of extra things to add and maybe do a little bit of research until then.” assured Miki. “Good point.” As Miki finished up her sketch of the tree I looked around at the leaves around us, taking in the spectrum of colours and sizes they had to offer. “Well, I better get going, my parents might get worried soon.” announced Miki as she finished her sketch. “See you” I replied as we parted ways. Later that week Miki and I decided to meet up at our local library to try and find extra points to add to our project. Miki found a book that had different facts about Canada, one of which was that red was one of the official colours of Canada. I jotted the point down along with some information about what the maple leaf represented in context to Canada that I found in another book. Due to Canadian soldiers using maple leaves as a form of decoration it began to represent pride, courage and loyalty.

        Before I realised Friday had approached, meaning the project Miki and I had been working on needed to be presented. Miki and I decided to wait for a few groups to present before going up. The presentations included many iconic symbols of Canada, such as the winter and cold, hockey and the moose. When Miki and I finally decided to present, we held up Miki’s sketch showing the maple tree and its leaves in full glory. Everyone in the class including Mrs. Campbell seemed impressed with Miki’s depiction of the tree and the leaves. After showcasing Miki’s sketch we both bounced points off each other explaining how the maple leaf represents Canada. As we talked about all the ways the maple leaf served as a symbol  I remembered how Miki had their own maple tree, and how interesting it was that someone from a completely different place could see the same thing I could see here. Then I remembered looking at all the leaves around the tree in the park, how they all looked different. While thinking about the leaves I accidentally said that all the leaves were different out loud along with our points. Suddenly Mrs. Campbell raised an eyebrow “Can you elaborate on that Jack?” “Each leaf from the tree was different, somewhere red, somewhere yellow, somewhere small..” I replied not sure where I was going. Then Miki started to add on, “They were different like me and Jack, but they were all maple leaves, and we are both Canadians.” “Well, I must say I am impressed by the amount of detail in both the illustration and the explanation behind your choice for the project, well done.” said Mrs. Campbell.

        After class was finished I saw Miki in the hallway. I rushed up to her and thanked her for her help with presenting the project. Miki smiled and thanked me back. Once I got home I saw something odd on the TV, it was on the news channel which my parents would typically be watching when I came home but had a weird message on the bottom. “Japanese are to be moved out of BC” I read it multiple times but couldn’t understand it. How do you move people out of where they lived? Before I could ask my parents as they walked into the living room, they switched the TV off and asked what happened at school. I told them about my project at school and how impressed Mrs. Campbell was. My parents were very happy to see me doing well in school and rewarded me with a treat, two twinkies that I could bring to school next week with my lunch money. I couldn’t wait to go to school at the beginning of next week so I could share my twinkies with Miki. Then began wondering if Miki would have ever had a twinkie before. As the weekend came to a close and I woke up to a new day with school ahead I headed down stairs to eat breakfast and grab my reward and lunch money for the day. As I entered Mrs. Campbell’s class I noticed Miki wasn’t at her desk, she was usually in class early. I decided to head over to Mrs. Campbell’s desk and asked why Miki wasn’t here. Surprisingly she didn’t answer. “Did Miki move out of BC?” I asked. The only response I had was a slow nod. “When will she be back?” I asked further. “I don’t know.” replied Mrs. Campbell.

        Despite the bad news about Miki the school day moved on. However I wasn’t greeted with the same prideful song as the days before, instead I was greeted with shallow words filled only by the echoes of a promise. As the school day went on I found myself at lunch staring at the two twinkies that days ago brought joy to my soul. Now the emotion brought by the two cakes were desaturated beyond recognition. With school eventually coming to a close, I walked to the park to try to get my mind off Miki. On my walk to the park I was met with a small breeze towards the east that carried maple leaves through the air, moving them away from the trees. Eventually I reached the park and sat under the tree that spawned a short lived friendship. While twirling a maple leaf between my fingers by the stem as I thought about Miki I saw someone approaching. It was the boy who asked the question that brought confusion to my mind, something that started to become the norm that past week. As I continued to twirl and observe the maple leaf between my fingers the boy sat next to me. We sat under the tree in silence only broken by the wind and the rustling between the leaves that once meant more than they did now. However the silence was short lived as the boy asked a new question, “What was Miki like?”