6. Surprise Visitors!

6 Surprise Visitors! Oda Nobu had said that they would see many wonderful sights at the end of their journey. Stanley was not disappointed. Everywhere he looked, he saw hundreds of cherry trees, each covered with thousands of pink blossoms. The blossoms swayed in a warm breeze blowing in from the East China Sea. Standing there in the bright sunlight under a deep-blue sky, Stanley thought it was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.

"Someday, Stanley-san," Oda Nobu said, "I will visit you in America. We will go together to your nation's capital, Washington, District of Columbia. Did you know that you have your own cherry trees there?" Stanley said he hadn't known that. "Oh, yes," Oda Nobu said. "In nineteen-twelve, the people of Japan, as a sign of friendship, gave your country three thousand cherry trees. And now every spring, you have your very own Cherry Blossom Festival. Yes, I believe that someday we will go to it together."

Oda Nobu smiled down warmly. But then he looked at Stanley closer. He frowned. "Stanley-san, I am sorry to say that you are still a little creased from being folded up last night. But I know something that may help." He hailed a taxi, and they took a short ride into the countryside. Looking out the window, Stanley saw something amazing: There in the distance was a volcano! Smoke rose in a dark plume from the crater at the top. "Oda-san! Is that a real volcano?" "Oh, yes," Oda Nobu replied. "Japan is a group of islands formed long ago by volcanoes. In fact, although Japan is a very small country, more than ten percent of all the active volcanoes in the world are found here." The taxi pulled to a stop in front of a beautiful low building. Stanley recognized the words inn and spa among the Japanese characters on the sign. "Here we are," Oda Nobu said. "Now you will discover one of the advantages of living in the land of volcanoes." They walked along a raked gravel path until they came to what looked like a gigantic stone

swimming pool. The big volcano smoked in the distance, and the swimming pool appeared to be smoking, too. "Throughout Japan you will find hot springs," Oda Nobu said. "The water comes from deep underground. It is heated by the same forces that make the volcano erupt." Stanley stood in the warm steam rising from the hot springs. He felt his wrinkles melting away. It felt so good. Afterward, he and Oda Nobu found a stone bench in a bonsai garden. They sat in silence, as Oda Nobu made one origami figure after another. When he finished one, he would hand it to Stanley. Stanley lined the creatures along the bench. A dog. A cat. A grasshopper. A swan. And then a small flat boy. Stanley knew who that was supposed to be. "You have a brother, yes?" Oda Nobu asked. Stanley nodded, and Oda Nobu made another paper boy, this one not so flat. "And a mother and a father?" Oda Nobu said, and handed him a paper mother and father. Stanley sighed as he lined them up on the bench.

"You miss your family, don't you, Stanley-san," Oda Nobu asked. Stanley admitted that he did, very much. "Well, I am sure they miss you, too, very much," Oda Nobu said. "Perhaps, then, it is time you went home." Thinking about how much he missed his family, Stanley could almost hear his mother's voice calling his name: "Stanley Lambchop!" The voice sounded so real! "Stanley Lambchop, you were supposed to be down for breakfast four days ago!" Stanley whirled around and there they were! His mother and his father and Arthur, all hurrying

toward him! Arthur was the first to reach him. "Sorry," he said. "They made me tell where—" Arthur gasped as he recognized the man on the bench beside his brother. "Oh, my gosh! It's the Seventeenth Samurai!" he cried, bowing several times. "I salute you, Master Oda Nobu, greatest of all samurai warriors!" Oda Nobu smiled and bowed to Arthur. Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop joined them then. "Young man," Mr. Lambchop said to Stanley sternly. "Can and may are two entirely different words. Just because you can mail yourself halfway around the world does not mean that you may. Your mother and I have been worried sick." "Sorry, Mom. Sorry, Dad," Stanley said. He gave them big hugs and then hugged his brother, too. He was so happy to see them all! "But I've been having such a good time! I ate raw fish, and I went to the movie studio, and do you know that Japan has more than ten percent of the—" "I don't want to interrupt you, dear," Mrs. Lambchop interrupted him. "But I think we should get going. We shall hear all about your adventure on the way."