The Exchange

1Yui arrived from Osaka on a Sunday, with two suitcases, a bag of Japanese sweets for the family and a phrasebook so new its spine cracked when she opened it. She would be staying with Charlotte’s family for six weeks.

2Charlotte had been excited for months. She had imagined showing Yui the beach, the koalas at the wildlife park, the best spot for hot chips. She had imagined them becoming best friends, like sisters.

3It did not go like that.

4Yui was polite, always polite. She bowed slightly when she said thank you. She ate everything on her plate, even the brussels sprouts. But she hardly spoke, and when Charlotte asked questions, Yui would smile and nod and say, “Yes,” even when the question was “Would you rather go to the beach or the movies?”

5By the end of the first week, Charlotte was frustrated. “She doesn’t even like me,” she told Mum.

6“Imagine,” said Mum, “being twelve and living in a house where you can only understand half of what anyone says. How tired would you be by dinner time?”

7Charlotte had not thought of that.

8The next afternoon, she found Yui sitting on the back step, folding something from a square of paper. Her fingers moved quickly, creasing and turning. In less than a minute, a small paper crane sat in her palm.

9“How did you do that?” Charlotte asked.

10Yui hesitated, then handed her a square of paper. She did not explain with words. She showed: fold, crease, turn, with her hands over Charlotte’s, patient each time Charlotte got it wrong. Charlotte’s first crane looked more like a squashed frog. Yui laughed, a real laugh, the first Charlotte had heard, and Charlotte laughed too.

11After that, the afternoons on the back step became their place. Yui taught Charlotte to fold cranes, boxes and jumping frogs. Charlotte taught Yui card games that needed hardly any words. Slowly, Yui began to talk more, mixing English and Japanese and gestures until they understood each other.

12On Yui’s last day, she gave Charlotte a glass jar filled with paper cranes. “One thousand,” she said carefully. “In Japan, we make them for a wish.”

13“What did you wish for?” Charlotte asked.

14Yui pointed to Charlotte, then to herself, then smiled. She did not need to say anything else.