2014年9月4日木曜日

Mother, do you hear me?



“Something wired is going on these days.” 
About two months ago, my sister confessed to me with a frown.  She said that something like psychic phenomenon had been taking place back-to-back at her place. 

To be honest, my mother passed away in June.  My mother liked making phone calls to kill time.  The main telephone was in my sister’s bedroom and my mother was using codeless extension handset in her bedroom.  According to what my sister explained to me, the main phone originally made clicking sound when both we pick up the extension handset and hung it up.  Consequently, my sister was able to know the moment mother on the phone by hearing it. 

Scary things were that my sister had heard that clicking sounds totally three times at midnight after our mother died. 
“It can’t be!  She is already dead and who else do you think could make phone calls?” 
My sister seemed to be upset and a tad frightening.  I didn’t know exactly what was happening in there, but I thought it would be nice if it were some message from our mother.  Yes.  I really hoped so.  Perhaps, so did my sister.

There is an annual Buddhist event called obon in Japan.  It is believed that during obon (Aug 13th~16th), the ancestors' spirits return to this world in order to visit their family.  My sister and I were not religious at all, but this year was deferent.  We thought that this was a great chance to see our mother again and ask her in person; “Was it you who made phone calls at midnight?  If so, what are you going to tell us?”  We set about preparing to welcome our mother who was supposed to be coming back in obon. 

We made special vehicles for mother’s spirit by cucumbers and eggplants according to Hoyle.  Besides, we lit lanterns up so that mother could find our place easily.

On the first night of obon, we sat down in front of a household Buddhist altar and asked our mother. 
“Hi, are you here?  If so, please make us feel any sign of your existence.  We miss you, mother.  Don’t you have something remained to be said?  Maybe, is it ‘I love you’?  Oh, please tell us.” 
We strained our ears and waited for her replay until late at night.  

↓ Thank you very much for your click.
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