10

HAPPY DAY (BUT NOT FOR SOPHIE)

Once we got our tickets, we followed the path to another line of people. So many lines to wait in. But at least this one led to the elevator.

This was it! We were going to the top of Tokyo Tower. I was so excited I couldn’t help myself. I hopped on my left foot twice and my right foot three times while holding on to Dad’s hand.

“Watch it!” Sophie said, nudging me. “You almost stepped on my foot!”

Walnuts! Sophie was still crabby with me. Maybe it was because she was sleepy. I looked at the brochure for the tower. We were going to the Main Deck, which was 150 meters high.

“Dad? What’s 150 meters?”

“Hmm.” Dad tapped on his phone. “About 492 feet.”

I scrunched my nose.

“Hang on,” Mom said, looking on her phone. “Okay. An adult greater flamingo is about 5 feet tall. So that means 150 meters is like stacking 98 flamingos on top of each other.”

“Wowee zowee! That’s tall!” I looked at the brochure again. “The very top deck is 250 meters.”

“Stop,” Sophie said in a small voice. “Stop talking about how high up we are going to be.”

When I looked at Sophie, her face was scrunched like she didn’t feel well. Maybe that was why she was crabby. Maybe she didn’t like the rocking of the subway ride or it was too hot for her. I was going to say something back to Sophie. Her being so mean was ruining my happy adventure. But then Mom squeezed my hand. I think she was telling me I was doing a good job by not teasing Sophie.

We got into the elevator. I pressed my face against the glass. I watched the ground get farther and farther away. I glanced at Sophie. She had her back to the glass and was holding Dad’s hand super-tight.

When the elevator doors opened, we followed the group of people out and I ran to the wall of windows to see Tokyo spread out below us. The buildings that were super-tall when we were walking on the street now looked short. I could see the tops of those buildings. I made my way around the windows so I could see all the views of Tokyo. I saw trees that looked like they were from a dollhouse. I watched the cars, which looked like toys as they drove on the streets below us.

Sophie followed along, but not close to the windows. She kept her eyes down as she held Dad’s hand. She was missing out.

“Sophie, come see!”

She gave me a super-glare.

“You won’t fall out,” I said.

Sophie stalked to a chair, her ponytail bouncing, and sat down hard with her arms crossed.

I felt anger bubble up in me. I stood in front of her. “Just because it’s my turn to do my thing, you do not have to be so mean! I was nice yesterday even though we did your thing first.”

“Do not even talk to me,” Sophie said.

“Jasmine,” Mom said, taking my hand. “Come this way, I want to show you something you will love.”

What could be better than looking out the windows?

Mom pointed to the floor.

Wowee zowee! It was a window in the floor!

“Can we stand on it?” I asked.

“We can.” Mom stepped on the glass and I followed her. I would not be hopping and jumping here, even though I was full of energy and happiness.

I looked down and my heart pounded hard in my chest like a taiko drum. Boom! Boom! Boom! I was floating in the air. I took Fred Just Fred out of my backpack and held him over the window in the floor so he could feel like he was flying.

At home, our neighbor Mrs. Reese lets me climb her apricot tree whenever I want. I loved being high up. It made me feel tall and powerful. I was the only one who used Mrs. Reese’s tree. Sophie wouldn’t climb it, which is fine by me since it’s my private thinking spot. Linnie didn’t like climbing it either, because she is afraid of being high up.

Oh.

I thought back to all the times on our vacation that Sophie had been extra-mean to me. When I told her to look out the airplane window. When I offered to let her have the side of the bed next to the hotel window. And here, as we were high up in Tokyo Tower. She wasn’t being mean because she didn’t like me. She was being mean because she was afraid.

“Sophie would not like this,” I said to Mom.

“No, she would not,” she said softly.

I didn’t understand. It was awesome to be high in the sky and look at everything down below us. Sophie was silly. And not very brave, like I was.

Mom and I started walking back to where Dad and Sophie were sitting. I saw a vending machine. Japan had a lot of vending machines.

“Wait, Mom,” I said. “What is in this machine?” It did not look like drinks or snacks. It did not look like tickets for ramen.

I peered in the windows of the machine. Inside were shiny medals with an image of Tokyo Tower!

“Can we get one?” I asked.

“Sure,” Mom said. “It’s a nice souvenir.”

Mom handed money to me. I loved the money in Japan. The bills were bright and colorful. The coins were even better. Some of them had a hole in the center.

I knew which color medal I was going to get. I put in the money and picked the purple one. The medal made a happy clinking sound as it fell to the bottom of the machine. It felt cool in my hands. I held it up and smiled. It was like I had won a bravery medal for being in Tokyo Tower.

All of a sudden I got an idea.