Page 61 - 01-Jan-Feb-2025

A VERY SHORT STORY
HAWAIIAN
SHIRT
by MIEKO OUCHI
That shirt...
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
STAGE
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... remem-
ber? 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. ED.
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.
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