My Crazy Weekend Study Session

Tobias 1024 May 12, 2046

“No, Sora, you put it in past tense again,” I say

“What? No, this is future tense, isn’t it?” he asks, confused.

“No ‘swam’ is past tense, ‘will swim’ is future,” I explain.

“So… Like….. This?” he says as he writes.

“Yes, like that. Now do the rest of them.” I say as I turn to Sara. “Say it again. Man-hat-ton”

“Man-a-han-tan,” she says, slowly trying her best but still not getting it.

“Ahh, neither of you are getting it.” I sigh, laying my head down on the table in defeat. This is how we spend our Saturday mornings. The studying usually turns into me and Sara tutoring Sora, but recently both of them have been needing help in English, so it feels more like I’m tutoring them.

“I’m sorry,” Sara says, looking down in shame. “I’ve been practicing, but they still give me trouble.”

“You’re not looking at my lips, but at least you’re trying, unlike some people here,” I say, shooting a glare at Sora.

“Hey, don’t blame me. Blame the writer. He can’t make the main character too overpowered, or else the audience will lose interest,” he says, shrugging. I should karate chop your head. I think before I hear an audible *BONK* followed quickly by Sora crying, “Ow, why’d you do that for sis?”

“Because Tobias is trying so hard to teach us, and you’re just kidding around. And stop with the main character thing. It wasn't funny a month ago, and it isn’t funny now. You’d be lucky to be a comic relief side character with how you act.” she says

“Well, it’s good to see that you’re fulfilling your role as ship bait well,” he says snarkily.*BONK* “OW!”

“As if any girl in the school would go out with you.” Sara snaps. “Now, get back to studying.”

“No, this is as good a time as any for a break. I know I need one.” I say, lifting my head.

“We’re not giving you too much trouble, are we?” Sara asks

“No, it’s not you two; it’s more Grant-kun and Demont-kun,” I say

“I thought you and your father went to talk with both of them?” Sora asks

“We did, but now they just act buddy-buddy when our parents are around. In class, you can tell they don’t like me.” I say

“I’m still down to fight them if you are,” Sora says, a bit too excited

“That would just make things worse,” Sara says “besides then their parents would get involved.”

“She’s right,” I say. “Best I can do is stay out of their way, and even then, we still bump heads.”

“Well, what are they even doing?” Sora asks

“It’s mostly just minor stuff,” I say. “They won’t do anything directly, but the passive glances and name-calling under their breath so only I can hear gets annoying after a while. Like a week ago, we were doing some writing exercises in English and grading each other's papers. I hand mine to Grant-kun, and when I get it back, he’s given me a horrible mark; I look at it, and it’s all spelling because I didn’t put a ‘u’ in ‘honor,’ ‘color,’ and spelled ‘defense’ with a se instead of a ce. The worst part is Dillion-senie sided with him since most of the class uses British English.”

“That is pretty rude.” Sora says, “What about Louise? What did he do?”

“With him, it’s not just me but the entirety of the class. He seems to have this excessive view of self excellency. Yeah, he’s at the top of the class, but that’s just because we’re learning Parisian french, and unlike everyone else, he was born and raised with it, so he treats everyone else like a peasant.” I say, realizing my words sound a bit more bitter than I intended

“Sounds like he’s just a jerk,” Sora says.

“He is. He talks like France is gonna take over the entirety of Africa any day now and replant their flag all over the world.” I say

“Well, why don’t you say anything to your father?”Sara asks, “I’m sure he’d be willing to help.”

“I’m not sure he will.” I say, “He’s been friends with their fathers since the war, and I doubt that he’d do anything to risk offending them just for me.”

“I still say we should just grab some bats from the club shed and beat them,” Sora says

“And that’s why you will never be the brains of anything the three of us do,” I shoot back. “Now get back to work. We still have math to go over.”

“Yeah, we do. Sora, you’ve been slipping in math recently. Why is that?” Sara asks

“What, how did you know that?” he asks, a bit shocked

“You think I don’t see your grades? You’ve never been the best student, but you’ve been slipping in a few areas; why is that?” she asks. Sora begins to sweat a bit and then looks away.

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about. I do just as well as the writer needs me to. I’m sure he’s about to introduce a new smart character into the story, so he needs to make his main character struggle a bit before-” he’s again cut off my Sara, chopping him in the head.

“I said KNOCK OFF THE MAIN CHARACTER ACT!!” Sara screams, making it very clear just how annoyed she is. “I can’t deal with you sometimes. I need some air,” she says, standing and taking off, leaving Sora and me in my room.

“Seriously, bro, you’re never gonna get a girlfriend acting like that,” I say

“What makes you say that? What makes you think I want one?” he says in an uncharacteristically shy tone. “ I don’t need a girlfriend. She’d just become somebody the villains would use against me.”

“Right,” I say. “Ya know, sometimes I forget why they put your picture as the definition of ‘lunacy’ in some dictionaries, but then you say something like that, and I’m instantly reminded. Now hurry up and finish that page. I’m tired of English, and I wanna move onto math when Sara comes back.” As I say that, my door again slides open, and my father pokes his head in.

“Saw Sara leave in a huff; what was that about?” he asks

“Sora being his usual self, nothing to worry about,” I say

“Oh, ok, just thought I’d ask, and I didn’t wanna ask her. So son, do you have any plans for tomorrow?” he asks

“Maybe study some more depending on how far we get today. Why?” I respond

“Because it’s the perfect time to take you somewhere, and I wanted to make sure you three didn’t already have plans.”

“Oh. where are we going?” I ask. My father puts a finger up to his lips.

“It’s a secret,” he whispers, giving me a wink. Oh boy, that means trouble, I think, knowing that whenever he wants to take me somewhere, it usually ends rather poorly.

‘Actually, dad, I don’t thin-”

“It’s settled then,” he says, cutting me off “we’ll go right after church. Make sure you change into a pair of clothes you don’t care about. Preferably something that hasn’t fit in a while. Ok, I’ll leave you to your studies.” He turns and leaves before I can say anything else. I sigh, accepting my defeat.

“What do you think that’s about?” Sora asks

“Hell, if I know. There’s never any telling what he’ll do next.” I say, “let’s just finish this. He seemed pretty determined, so I doubt I’ll be able to get out of it no matter what.”

“Right,” Sora says as he delves back into his studies.

Tobias 1424 May 13, 2046

“Where are we?” I ask as we pull into the parking lot of an out-of-the-way car mechanic shop. “Shigeki repairs and towing” read the sign, but I’ve no idea why he’d bring me to get the car repaired.

“This son is the place I’m gonna teach you how to do basic car maintenance,” he says with a satisfied look on his face. He gets out of the car and pulls a small box out of the trunk before I follow him inside.

“Wait, we’re not just gonna drop the car off?” I ask

“Well, if we did, how would we get back? You wanna walk?” he opens the door. The sounds of old rock music can be heard playing in the garage. “SHINGEKI-SAN! WHERE YA AT?” He calls over the sound of 2000s rock music

“Oh no, it’s trouble in a V-8,” I hear a voice call back over the music. The sound of clamoring tools can be heard before the music is turned down. A short Japanese man with oil on his face comes from around a dirt bike and greets my father with a handshake.

“How you been ya crank mechanic?” my father asks.

“I was fine, but then you showed up,'' he says with a laugh. “I was putting in a new suspension on my bike. I was surprised to get your call; usually, you come in on Saturday.”

“Well, I wanted to bring my son Tobias, and he studies hard on Saturdays, so I couldn’t interrupt him then.” my father says, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Um. Nice to meet you,” I say, bowing.

“Oh, so there is someone in your family that knows the proper respects, is there?” he says “no need to be so formal, kid, I’ve known your father for years.”

“Oh, sorry,” I say, straightening up.

“I met Shigeki-san after I did surgery on his old man’s leg.” my father says. “How’s he doing, by the way?”

“Oh, he and mom are doing fine. He’s going to retire soon. You should come to the party. I’m sure he’d be happy to see you there.” Shigeki-san says

“Send me the date, and I’ll put it on my calendar. I’ll bring the good booze like I always do.” my father says, lifting up the box and twisting it in his hand.

‘Oh, he isn’t partial to drinking, but I’d be sure to have his share if he doesn’t want it,” Shigeki-san says, taking the box. He flips open the tab and looks inside, smiling. “You’ve gotta tell me where you get this stuff from,” he says

“If I did that, I’d have nothing to bargain with.” my father jokes

“True enough,” Shigeki-san says. “You know the rule, use whatever you like, just put it back and lock up if I leave first. I probably have a few hours left of work on this thing.” He turns, setting the box down on a workbench before getting back to work on his bike.

“Alright, son, let’s get to work.” my father says, walking over and opening a garage door. He pulls the car in and begins explaining what we’ll be doing. “Nothing too advanced. I don’t expect you to know how to take the engine apart and put it back together, but you should know some basic maintenance. Never know when it’ll come in handy.” We start with jacking up the car and taking the tires off. He explains how to use a pole to get better leverage on a particularly sticky lug nut and then goes into how to replace a brake pad. He demonstrates and explains what to do on one tire and then walks me through the steps as I do the other wheel. While I’m retightening the lug nuts on my wheel, he tells me how to check tire pressure and how different kinds of wear can indicate if the tire is over or underinflated.

Once the tires and brake pads are replaced, he drives the car onto the elevator and shows me how to change the oil on the car. He goes into how to check what kind of oil the car takes and how to clean the filter. Once that’s finished, he gives me a quick rundown on how to check various things on the car, from the head and brake light to adding windshield washer and power steering fluid. By the time we’re finished, I’m exhausted, and we’re both grimy.

“And that son is about as much as the average person needs to know about vehicle maintenance.” he tosses me a rag and says to wash up while he chats a bit more with Shigeki-san. I find a sink and scrub up to my elbows, but the set or whatever it is on my arms won’t go, so I still have black hands on the way back.

As we drive back, my father asks me what I thought of the day. “It was… interesting,” I say. “I definitely learned a lot.”

“Good, glad you enjoyed it.” He says. “I’ve been wanting to include you in the things I do but felt I should wait until you were this age.”

“Why’s that?” I ask

“Because I didn’t want to make you feel like you had to be a certain person. My parents ran the orchard, so we didn’t have a choice in what we did. We always knew that one of us would have to take over the farm, and your pépé wanted to make sure any one of us could. So I learned how to do a lot, whether I wanted to or not. He wasn’t wrong, but I don’t think that’d work for you. There’s a time and place for everything, but here you have the opportunity to go on to become whatever you want, and you have the brains to make it happen. I could see you becoming a world-renowned Astro-physicist who figures out a way to collect data from a black hole, you could go on to be an architect for the greatest buildings in Tokyo, or you could decide that you wanna be an animator. I don’t think it’s my place to tell you what you should be or what you should do with your life. I believe it’s just my job to give you the tools and experiences to succeed at whatever you decide. Know what I mean?”

“I think I do,” I say

“I’m glad you’re being honest, and I’m glad you feel comfortable saying you don’t know. That’s good. It shows me you’re maturing. Maybe even mature enough for me and you to go on a little trip.” he says, grinning a bit.

“A trip? Where?” I ask

“To the U.S.A.,” he says

“You’re kidding? You’re gonna take me to see the U.S.? Where are we gonna go? When? WIll it be to where you grew up? Is the whole family gonna be there?” I fire off a flurry of questions

“Ease the gas there, hot-rod,” My father says. “I’m going to Guam to see some old friends, and I know you have a long weekend coming up, right?”

“Yeah, first Friday of each month, there isn’t any class, so the teachers can catch up on admin work or meet with students,” I say excitedly.

“Right, so I was thinking I’d bring you since you’re old enough now. That is if you’re not busy.”
“I’m not busy at all,” I say excitedly.

“Ok, then it’s settled. You and I will be going to Guam. Now I don’t know about you, but I’m starving; how does some ramen sound? We can’t go into a fancy place with oil on our hands, but I know a good standing spot.”

“Ramen sounds good,” I say

“Alright then, let’s go,” he says as we drive off into the sunset.