First Snow

Chapter 3: Connection on a Snowy Day and the Velour Skirt

Grandma gently pushed the plate of dango closer to Ao, smiling mischievously.

"I wasn't blessed with a good job at all, but because of that, I hit the jackpot of a lifetime."

"The jackpot... you mean Grandpa?"

"That's right."

Grandma placed both hands on the kotatsu cover, her eyes narrowing like a young girl talking about her first crush.

"It was a snowy evening when I was nineteen. There was a tiny, dim diner right near Otaru Station. That day, I had been scolded unreasonably by the wholesaler's wife, and I was walking with a heavy trunk and account books, ready to cry.

Then, on the frozen steps of the diner's entrance, I slipped and wiped out completely. The documents and abacus I was holding scattered all over the snow. It was cold, humiliating, and I just wanted to disappear into the snow, buried away.

I stared down, trying to hold back my tears. But then, a man jumped out of the diner. Without a word, he quickly gathered the snow-covered papers one by one for me."

Grandma gazed affectionately at the National Railway clock on the wall.

"That was your grandfather, wearing his National Railway uniform.

He was on his way home from work, so his hands were a little black with coal soot. But when he picked up my abacus from the snow and handed it to me, his hands felt so warm it made me want to cry, and they felt so reliable.

He just smiled gently and asked, 'Are you alright, young lady?' That was all.

I don't really understand how you young people date nowadays. But back then, I didn't know what school he went to, or how much money he would earn in the future.

I didn't have a single piece of data. And yet, with just those soot-blackened hands and the spark when our eyes met, I knew.

'Ah, I'm going to walk into the unseen future with this person.' It was just a chance connection at a diner on a snowy day."

Grandma's eyes sparkled as she continued.

"I still remember our first date as if it were yesterday. In an era without cellphones, we made our plans a week in advance: 'Next Sunday, noon, at the Otaru Station platform.

' That was it. If you were running late or had a problem, you would write 'Running 10 minutes late' in chalk on the message board next to the station ticket gate. For that day, I wore my absolute best dark green velour skirt, which I bought with my meager wages. Your grandfather wasn't in his uniform; instead, he wore a slightly ill-fitting custom suit, waiting for me nervously.

We went to a 'classical music cafe' in Hanazono. Listening to the classical music flowing from a large gramophone, we talked about each other for hours over a single cup of coffee.

He was clumsy but tried his absolute best. On the way back, we bought dango at Niikuraya and shared them on a bench in Otaru Park. The cold vanished completely because we were having so much fun. When he saw me off at the Otaru Station platform on the way home, he gently held my red, cracked hand and said, 'See you again.' That warmth remained in my heart forever, like an unquenchable light."

Grandma looked at her wrinkled right hand with deep affection.

"After that wonderful date, my grueling daily work didn't feel painful at all. Just knowing that I would see him next Sunday and feel that warm hand again made me lose my fear of putting my hands in the freezing bucket water.

Even when the owner's wife scolded me unfairly, I would hum the classical music from the cafe in my head and smile. It was the same for your grandfather.

Every day, he stood before the roaring furnace of the steam locomotive, risking his life in a grueling stoker's job. But later, his coworkers told me that because he didn't want to look uncool on our next date, he shouted louder and shoveled coal more vigorously than anyone else.

We were each other's 'energy' to live for tomorrow. There were no future guarantees, even back then. But Ao, we trusted each other's physical hands, believing 'I will do my absolute best today for this person,' and we faced our harsh reality with determination and joy."

📖NextChapter:https://note.com/ttukumoo/n/n8215588c6018
📖Previous Chapter:https://note.com/ttukumoo/n/n6f16040e2953
🌐 Original Japaneseher:https://note.com/juicy_laelia8513/n/nd6a325f2308c

"Thank you so much for reading to the very end!"💗