On that day, I sat with Shizuka at the old wooden house in Matsudai, basking in the sunlight on the steps, eating ice pops. Shizuka, an eight-year-old girl, had been left in my care for the summer, as her father had business in New York for two months. We licked the watermelon-shaped ice pops slowly, watching cars drive by on the narrow road, occasionally glancing up at clouds fluffy like sheep. A cicada, perched in the tree above us, sang loudly, silencing only when a breeze fluttered by, then cautiously resumed its chorus, softly at first, then louder.
Drops of the red ice pop juice fell onto Shizuka’s white T-shirt, staining the eyes of the giraffe printed on it. I wiped it off with my plaid shirt.
“I don’t want it anymore,” she said, handing me her half-eaten pop.
“Oh,” I caught it between two fingers.
Shizuka started, “Yesterday, there was a sheep on a grass field. The grass was very green. The trees were as tall as the Tokyo Sky Tree. The sheep was short but big. Do you know how big sheep can get?”
I stretched my arms wide.
“Have you seen sheep before?”
“In Ireland, I saw a sheep tide, thousands blocking the roads -“
“No,” she raised her index finger. “Just one sheep.”
“Oh.”
“That sheep was staring at a daisy. The daisy was very small. It was smaller than a palm. It was facing the sun and didn’t move. It didn’t know there was a sheep nearby. There was also a man, wearing sunglasses and a brown sunhat. He stood aside, watching the sheep and the daisy. He held a knife.”
“What kind of knife?”
“A knife for cutting apples. Do you know what he was thinking?”
“Hmm…”
“So, I stopped my bike, took off my headphones, gave it to the sheep, and played music for him.”
“What were you listening to?”
“Bach’s minuet in G.”
I hummed a few bars, and she joined in at the second phrase.
“Then the sheep smiled, baaed, and began to jump.” She shaped her hands like a sheep, bouncing them on her thighs. “Sheep jump with their front legs first, then the back. It jumped on the spot, six times.”
“What about your headphones?”
“Of course, it couldn’t hear when jumping; the cord wasn’t long enough.”
“Right. And then?”
“It walked away.”
“And the man?”
“He left too.”
“That’s a shame, I wanted to see them.”
“But they’ll return. If you want, I can take you there.”