Chapel Bay Secrets

Brenda sipped her chamomile tea while staring through the front window on this New Year’s Day. Although there was plenty to see outside, her inner landscape was the object of her attention. The threads of thoughts and events that had been spinning over the past couple of weeks were creating a tapestry unlike any she’d ever seen.

With a shudder, she closed her eyes and let her imagination take over. In the top left section of the fabric, she saw bright oranges and yellows heralding exciting new research projects, chances to dive deeper into the history of her community and connections with Japanese Americans who had come to Chapel Bay years ago. Her heart swelled with excitement, pride, and hope.

Deep shades of blue mixed with iridescent lime green appeared to the right of the oranges and yellows. This more muted corner of the tapestry brought about feelings of emptiness and sorrow. For Brenda, these colors symbolized a fixation on her past, with the family she’d never known, a mysterious and mesmerizing mélange.

The ten-year anniversary of her mother’s passing, along with Anti-Asian sentiment—put into motion during the beginning of the Covid pandemic—made her acutely aware of a need to connect with her origins. The hateful, anonymous email she’d received added a chilling sheen to the blues and greens.

Brenda’s boring social life appeared in tones of beige and gray. These shades popped up around the edges, their threads keeping the fabric from fraying. Music, running, and religion were showing up in browns and deep purples—solid, grounding earth tones—appeared in the bottom half of the fantasized cloth. Finally, dark red filaments fanned out from the center and crisscrossed the panels. They represented nurturing feelings Brenda had toward young Michaela Muramoto.

Opening her eyes, Brenda inhaled, feeling the cool morning air coming in through her nasal passages and settling in her lungs. Slowly exhaling, she smiled as she came fully into her body. The bright sunlight now streaming through the glass warmed her arm, inviting her to get up and move out of her comfortable chair, to join nature’s own celebration. The first run of the year always set the tone for more good runs to follow.