Jack opened his eyes. Soft morning light shoneacross the floor of the tree house. Pink flowersbloomed on a branch outside the window.
24Jack and Annie were wearing brown baggy pantsand brown silk robes with blue sashes. On their feetwere stiff white socks and straw sandals. Jack'sbackpack had turned into a burlap bag.
"Are we wearing bathrobes?" asked Jack.
"I think they're called kimonos," said Annie.
"Oh, right," said Jack. "Where'd we land exactly?"Jack and Annie looked out the window.
25Below the tree house was a beautiful garden filledwith cherry trees and long-leafed willows. Awaterfall tumbled into a sparkling green pool.
"Wow," said Annie.
Jack opened the Japan book and found a paintingthat looked like the garden. He readaloud to Annie:
In the 1600s, the Imperial Garden surrounded theImperial Palace in the capital city of Japan.The citywas called Edo (say EE-doh). In the mid- 1800s, itsname was changed to Tokyo (say TOHkee-oh).
"Tokyo?"said Annie. "I've always wanted to go to Tokyo!""Me too," said Jack. He read on:
The late 1600s in Japan were years of peace andprosperity. Art and culture thrived. But it was a timewhen the country was completely closed to theoutside world. No one was allowed to26come in. The citizens of Edo were frequentlychecked to make sure they had passports.
"What's a passport exactly?" said Annie.
"It's an official booklet that says who you are," saidJack. "It also lists the different countries you traveledto." He read more:
Anyone who did not have a passport wasconsidered a spy and punished severely.
"Uh-oh," said Annie. "We don't have passports.""Yeah, that's a problem," said Jack.
"Hey! What if we use the Wand of Dianthus tomakepassports?" said Annie.
"Good idea!" said Jack. He peeked inside his bag.
Good, the Wand of Dianthus was there.
"Wait, wait," said Annie. "We can't. Remember therules. We can only use the magic wand for the goodofothers."27"Oh, right," said Jack.
"And we have to try our hardest before we use thewand," said Annie.
"We haven't tried anything yet," said Jack.
"I guess we should just start looking for a secret ofhappiness and hope no one catches us," said Annie.
"Shh," said Jack, "listen."A bell was ringing in the distance. The ringinggrew louder. Then came the sound of horses. Jack andAnnie crouched down. They raised their heads justhigh enough to peek out the window. Through theflowery tree branches, they saw a small processioncoming through the garden.
The man leading the procession was ringing a bell.
Two men walked behind him, holding up banners.
Behind them, four men rode slowly on horseback.
They all wore baggy trousers and puffy shirts. Theirheads were shaved, except for knots of black hair.
Each had two swords-a long one and a short one-hanging from his belt.
28At the very end of the procession rode a man in abillowing purple robe and a small purple hat. Redtassels hung from the bridle of his large black horse.
Jack looked at their research book again. He found apicture that looked like the man on the black horse.
He read the caption to himselfIn the 1600s, the military ruler known as theshogun (say SHOW-gun) lived in the center of theImperial Garden in a palace that had hundreds ofrooms.
29"That last guy isa shogun,"Jack whispered to Annie. "He lives in a big palacein the garden." He kept reading:
Often the shogun's warriors traveled with him.
They were called samurai (say SAM-uh-rye).
"Oh, man," whispered Jack. "Those other guys aresamurai!" He and Annie had barelyescaped an armored samurai on their earlier trip toJapan.
Samurai were excellent horsemen well trained inthe arts of fighting. The code of the samurai wasstrict. Samurai did not show their feelings. They hadgreat powers of concentration.
"They're gone," said Annie.
Jack looked out the window. The shogun and hissamurai warriors had disappeared down a tree-shadeddirt road.
"We should get out of the Imperial Garden30fast," said Jack. "If we stay here, we're just asking tobe caught.""How do we get out?" asked Annie.
Jack looked in the Japan book. He found a map ofEdo. "Look," he said, pointing at the map. "We have toget over this bridge that leads away from the ImperialGarden into the city. The bridge is on the east side ofthe garden.""The morning sun is over there," said Annie,squinting into the sunlight. "So that must be east.
Let's climb down and head that way.""Good plan. Then we'll be walking in the oppositedirection of those samurai," said Jack.
"Right," said Annie. She started down the ropeladder.
"Be careful," said Jack. "We don't want anyone tosee us sneaking around the Imperial Garden."Jack put the Japan book into his burlap bag andslung the bag over his shoulder. As he stepped ontothe ladder, he nearly tripped on his31kimono. "Oh, brother," he said. He held up the clothand carefully climbed down.
Jack joined Annie on a wide path. A gust of drywind carried petals from cherry trees through the air.
The long branches of the willows swayed over thegrass.
Jack and Annie began heading east, keeping theireyes and ears open for more people. They walked pastflower beds and big rocks. They walked around apond with swans. They started down a narrow lanebetween blossoming cherry trees.
Just as they came out from under the trees, Jack andAnnie saw four men strolling toward them. One manwas shorter and older than the others. He wore astraw hat and a tattered brown coat and used awalking stick. The other three had shaved heads withtopknots, and two swords hung from each of theirbelts.
"Samurai!" whispered Jack.
"Yikes," said Annie.
32"Run!" said Jack.
Jack and Annie turned around and started runningback down the narrow lane.
Jack heard the men running after them. "Halt!" crieda samurai.
Jack grabbed Annie's hand and they stumbled to ahalt. Out of breath, they turned to face the threesamurai who were rushing toward them.
"Who are you?" one of the samurai barked. He washolding up his sword. "Why do you run from us? Areyou spies?"Just as Jack was about to answer, he heard a voiceshout, "Baku! Koto!"The man with the walking stick and straw hat washurrying toward them. "Baku, Koto, what are youdoing here?" he called out to Jack and Annie. "Whydid you not wait for me at the bridge?" |