## it came back to her heart

  
  
Mieko - a little girl in Japan who was hurt in hand by atom bomb when America had dropped down it to 2 cities of Japan. She was studying calligraphy for a long time before that day the bomb came. She called the calligraphy skill is the fifth treasure that had made her brush could dance across the paper and the word-pictures were full of life. After the atom bomb horribly accident had happened, Meiko felt losing the fifth treasure so she cannot control the brushstrokes as she wants anymore.  
  
Meiko had to live with her grand parents at the farm because her parents needed to stay at the city to treat for their patients who were also got hurt from the bomb. Meiko did not want to go to school because some of the students were laughing at her, specially there was a guy, scowling at her weird hands- Akira. She has a best friend, who has played and helped her to get confident to go to school again- Yoshi. When the school created the contest about artist brushstrokes, Yoshi asked Meiko to try to win this but Meiko knew that she cannot make it. Aunt Hisako asked Meiko " You don't want to be a coward, do you". This question made Meiko decided to enter the school contest because she wanted to show Aunt Hisako that she was not a coward.  
  
Meiko had to live with her grandparents at the farm because her parents needed to stay in the city to treat for their patients who were also getting hurt from the bomb. Meiko did not want to go to school because some students were laughing at her, especially there was a guy, scowling at her weird hands- Akira. She has the best friend, who has played and helped her to get confident to go to school again- Yoshi. When the school created the contest about artist brush strokes, Yoshi asked Meiko to try to win this, but Meiko knew that she cannot make it. Aunt Hisako asked Meiko " You don't want to be a coward, do you". This question made Meiko decided to enter the school contest because she wanted to show Aunt Hisako that she was not a coward.  
  
Meiko practices much time, but her word-pictures were to lack the spark of life. It is almost as if they were printed by a machine. Meiko was sure that the fifth treasure had gone since the bomb. She felt her life as close without the fifth treasure. Her grandpa said that bomb hurt many people and it hurt your hand. But what was inside of you- the bomb cannot touch that. He suggested giving herself and her brush a rest. Meiko got a sheet of hand-made rice paper from Aunt Hisako after a vacation day. The school contest was the word " Friendship". Meiko's friendship was Yoshi. Inside her magical world- a world where lines and shapes came to life- she saw only the paper and her brush. In her mind's eye, she pictured each stroke. Meiko painted the word so quickly that it was through her hand being guided. And the brush really did dance across the paper- just as it used to. Meiko was happy when the fifth treasure came back to her heart, but she was also sad because she would move back to her parent's place in New year's holiday. Yoshi suggested that they might write letters to each other and Meiko also might to come back for the summer holidays.