Jeez…
Why would you bring that up?
That shirt was… hey… don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t try you know and get me going. That shirt was beautiful. Why would she throw that out?
Jeez…
She throws everything out. She goes around the house with a bag and takes stuff and puts it in there and then just throws it out. No she doesn’t donate it. She chucks it. Like those cards. You know, that box of old cards. Those were… what’s the word. You know, when they’re really old. Anyways, I’ll never forgive her for that. I was working on a new painting, and I was gonna work those in… aw Jeez Rock don’t get me going. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Why do you guys always want to get me going? Just wanna rile me right up.
Hey, hey do we have any peanuts? Your mom started hiding them on me. …ahhh I don’t know. I’m not supposed to eat too many…
Aw shit… now you got me thinking about that shirt.
It was a really good one, you know, not like the tacky ones they sell now. No this one was… blue and white. Really graphic. Almost like a Haida pattern you know? Like that simple. Gorgeous. With these flowers… but not cartoony… How do I… OK, do you remember that calendar that Father, Grandpa, had in the greenhouse? You know, the one where they did the hanging baskets, OK, right at the back? There was that old calendar that was always hanging there… remember? With the flowers? You know like… oh I don’t know… it must have been from a… what do you call them? Like the guy… you know… who comes around… Yes! Supplier or whatever. OK, so you know how they used to draw flowers right… like give me that. Ya, that give me that envelope. Like this… you see? You know? But with a fade… like I can’t do it with this shitty pen, but you know what I mean. And the colours. Like they were like really… oooh… yeah. I mean, no one draws like that anymore.
What kind of flower? Oh I don’t know. Ask your mom. She knows flowers. I think they were just like that Hawaiian flower they always put on shit…
Anyways Rock, that shirt was gorgeous.
She doesn’t get that kind of beauty. She throws everything out. Like your horse shirt right? Remember that shirt. You were saving that right? Oh, no? Well, the boys, they were saving their hockey hats. All those hats they got from the tournaments. She threw those out too. Remember that beautiful hat I designed when they were the Bruins. It was like, OK, it was pretty much kinda like the Bruins “B” or whatever, but then I put my spin on it. Yeah…I had them all in a box and… She doesn’t get it. She just sees junk. But that stuff is like…
…critical.
I still dream about it…
Jeez…
…that shirt.
Mieko Ouchi’s plays have been translated into six languages, read in New York, Moscow and London and been finalists for a Governor General’s Award, the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award, the City of Edmonton Book Prize and recognized with the Carol Bolt Prize the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award in 2023. Mieko is Associate Artistic Director at the Citadel Theatre. Her father, Eugene Ouchi, a beloved multimedia artist and educator, passed away in 2010.
This article appears in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of Edify
