The day before yesterday, it was my turn to give
a short talk in Wednesday English Class.
Oh, what shall I talk about?
On Tuesday night, I decided to talk about my
recent bitter experience as follows:
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(short talk on May 15, 2013)
my recent bitter experience
On April 26th, I had a high school class reunion
at a hotel in Echigo Yuzawa.
We, 16 classmates, stayed overnight at the hotel
and enjoyed talking about our good old days at school.
We had a wonderful time.
The next day, I went to Nagaoka by the Shinkansen
to see my sister in Tochio.
Tochio is my native hometown in the mountain area
of Nagaoka City.
My elder sister fell into a depression last November,
because she herself was very ill but she had to take care
of her husband.
They had a heavy snow earlier than usual
and my sister slipped on the icy road
and had her left upper arm broken.
Misfortunes never come alone.
So I went to Tochio and back many times to help her
and this time, after the reunion I went to Tochio.
What a relief! There was little snow left in the garden.
My sister was feeling better. Her appetite was improving.
She could bend her broken arm at the elbow.
I stayed with my sister for a few days and decided
to go back to Tokyo, though it was earlier
than I had expected.
I called a taxi, went to Nagaoka Station and got into
the Shinkansen for Tokyo.
In the Shinkansen, I was so relieved and so exhausted
that I fell fast asleep without I knew.
Someone was softly tapping me on the shoulder.
Someone was waking me up.
“Wake up, wake up, Lady! This is Tokyo Station, terminal,
wake up, Lady!”
It was a conductor in uniform who was waking me up!
I stood up automatically and looked around me.
Oh, no! Nobody was in my car!
My face was hot with embarrassment.
I said, “Very, very sorry, Conductor. Thank you, anyway.”
I left my car as soon as possible and hurried
to the Platform 1 (Chuo Line).
I've never had this kind of experience in my life.
To tell the truth, I've had chronic insomnia
since my husband's death.
I still can't believe I could have slept so well
in the Shinkansen.
