Full Cicada Moon

In “Gifts of the Magi,” Mimi reminisces about being in Berkeley without Papa last Christmas. This Christmas, however, they are all in Vermont together. When Mama opens Mimi’s gift and smiles, it makes up for losing the Apollo coin. Papa hands Mimi a small Cottle’s box that the deliveryman brought. The tag says it is from Santa. Inside the box is the Apollo coin covered in lots of tissue paper. Mimi wonders who the coin is from but stops herself from telling everyone about the scarf. She wants to know who gave her back the coin, but she also wants to believe in Santa. In “Oshogatsu—January 1, 1970,” Mama announces that they will have a real oshogatsu, or New Year, because their cousins brought special food from California. After Christmas, they clean the house so that everything is shiny for 1970. Though New Year’s cards arrive all week, Mama tells Mimi not to read them until New Year’s Day to avoid bad luck. On the last day of 1969, Sharon, Shelley, and Mimi help Mama and Auntie cook their New Year’s food. Mimi wakes up on New Year’s Day next to Shelley and Sharon before tiptoeing downstairs. Mama is already awake and hands her an envelope with a brand new $5 bill. One by one, everyone wakes up, wishing everyone “Happy New Year.” Mama becomes serious, though, because no man has come to the house. They all take sips of sake and the girls have cocoa. Papa leaves the room when he sees a card from his little sister. As Mama wipes her eyes, the doorbell rings. Mimi opens the door and is surprised to see Mr. Dell and Timothy standing behind him.

In “Confessions,” Mr. Dell asks if Mimi’s parents are home. Papa and Mama greet him and take him into the living room. Mama offers Mr. Dell breakfast, and he asks Mimi to stay—he has something to say. Mr. Dell admits that when the Olivers pardoned the turkeys and found Pattress, he knew he owed them an apology because good neighbors are hard to come by, and he has been a terrible neighbor and person. He shares that he flew missions over Tokyo in the war and dropped bombs. It wasn’t hard when he didn’t think about where the bombs went, and he never had to until they moved in. Mr. Dell asks to be pardoned like the turkeys, even though he doesn’t deserve it. Mama covers her smile—Mr. Dell isn’t a turkey—and says they will all be good neighbors now. When Mr. Dell stands to leave, he admits he just wanted them to understand and hopes they will one day forgive him. Mimi isn’t afraid of him anymore, and now likes him. When she thanks Mr. Dell for the present, he frowns and says he doesn’t know what she means. Mama and Papa go down the walk with them as they leave. Mimi calls it weird, but Mama calls it love. In “Vermont neighbors,” Mimi thinks about how she used to think people in Vermont were chilly like the snow. Now, she thinks they are what’s underneath—like crocus bulbs making flowers all winter until they burst from the ground. They do their “hardest thinking / and their richest feeling / deep inside, / so no one can see” (370).

In “Full House,” Baby Cake and her parents come to visit a few hours later. Mama hands Kate an omochi ball and a money envelope. Timothy comes back just as Stacey and her parents arrive. While the adults watch TV in the living room, the kids play card games at the kitchen table. Baby Cake sits in Mimi’s lap and grabs her cards. When the TV volume lowers, Papa shares that he might head a new program on African American studies in the fall. Though it is a lot of work, the administration sees a new decade full of changes ahead. They will be staying in Vermont for a while. When the adults clink glasses in the living room, the kids lift their glasses of ginger ale in the kitchen. In “This Year and Last Year,” Stacey, Shelley, and Sharon are having a sleepover. They all sleep on a mattress on the floor and ask about each other’s hatsuyumes. Sharon and Shelley both had nightmares, and Mimi wonders if they are lying because they don’t want to let go of their good dreams. Stacey dreamt her mother was driving her and Victor in a car. Mimi says she didn’t dream last night, even though she dreamt of flying again, this time in a spaceship. While the girls talk, Mimi drifts back to sleep, eager to fly again.

In “Adventure,” Mimi’s cousins leave early in the morning. The Olivers walk them to the bus stop and Mama hands them packed lunch for the long ride to the airport. Even though Sharon, Shelley, and Mimi are older now, they still make pig faces at each other. Mimi feels their new house is twice as big as it was in the morning. She marvels at how much space one can have in one’s heart for others—“It’s funny how people can take up so much room / in your heart / but you still have plenty left / for someone else” (379). Timothy knocks at the door and asks Mimi if she is ready for an adventure. Papa seems in on the surprise and tells her to be ready in five minutes. Mr. Dell is waiting in his truck, and they all climb in. In “Full Cicada Moon,” Mr. Dell is flying Mimi and Timothy in his plane. Mimi sits in the copilot’s seat and marvels at all the places she has been to in Hillsborough below them. When Mr. Dell turns them away from the sunset and towards a sky full of stars, he hands Mimi the yoke and tells her to fly. Mimi grips the yoke tightly as they fly the plane together. When they return to the airfield, Mimi waves harder than Papa and Mama, her heart full of joy, peace, and love. She thinks about all the things that she is—a daughter, neighbor, friend, scientist, poet, and future astronaut. Just as the stars, moon, sun, planets, and every atom belong in the universe, so does Mimi Yoshiko Oliver. In the final stanza, Mimi thinks about how she reached for the stars this year, how she will one day touch the moon, and how, tonight, she is soaring.