Short Story - The Japanese Garden Across The Road

Just across the road from me 

Was a huge beautiful Japanese garden 

It was a beautiful day 

So I put on my shoes 

And walked out the door and across the road 

A big Japanese style wall was surrounding the garden 

And I walked through the entrance gate 

Along a path lined with towering bamboo 

And in the bamboo trees, wooden wind chimes were hung, which made a beautiful musical knocking sound as they swayed with the bamboo trees 

I walked for a few minutes 

Then a big garden opened up to me 

With a lake in the middle 

And with areas of soft green lawn and Japanese bushes around the edges 

I kept walking around the edge of the lake along the path 

And saw lots of pretty pink and yellow flowers covering the bushes 

Soon I came to a beautiful rocky waterfall 

With Stepping stones across it 

And there was some big rocks around the edge of the waterfall 

So I sat down and just watched and listened to the waterfall, the sound of water pouring over the rocks 

And there was nice tropical plants around the waterfall 

And bamboo in the distance 

I was just relaxing with the waterfall for a few minutes 

When some people dressed in traditional Japanese clothing came walking by along the path, and stepping along the stepping stones, 

And they were dancing and the women were playing the Shamisen, a traditional Japanese instrument 

It was so amazing and enchanting, being in the beautiful nature of the Japanese garden and having such a traditional Japanese experience hearing the beautiful Shamisen music. 

Everyone passed except for one Japanese lady. 

She motioned for me to follow her so I did, and followed her over the stepping stones 

And then walked along the path in between some pretty cherry blossom trees 

We then walked over a little wooden bridge to a gazebo in the middle of the lake. 

In the lake I saw lots of adorable big orange and red koi fish in the lake. 

The Japanese lady gave me fish food to feed the fish which I did which was really fun. 

They swarmed around so hungry trying to get the food and knocking into eachother, their little mouths open and closing all the time and fins and tails swishing around. 

Then we sat down at a table and the lady made some origami in front of me with pretty floral Japanese paper. As she was doing this some Japanese birds flew into a tree next to me and started singing beautiful bird songs. I thought that this must be the sounds of Japan.

The lady made with the origami, birds, boats, a cat, a butterfly, a fish, and a dragonfly. 

Then she tied them onto a string and hung it by the poles of the gazebo. 

It was such a nice Japanese experience and I felt like I was in Japan. 

Then I followed the lady back over the bridge and along the path to a zen garden where there was raked sand in spiral patterns around big rocks and bonsai trees. 

We sat on a seat by the zen garden and the lady had all these little cloth flags on a string and said she was writing wishes on them to hang in the tree. 

She let me write my own wish on one of the cloth pieces. 

Then we took it and hung it in the tree. 

The lady said she had to go and left me 

So I kept walking around the edge of the lake with Japanese trees lining the path and could hear more Japanese birds singing in the trees. 

And as I walked I even saw a couple of Japanese dear that pranced up to me and bowed their head and let me pat their soft fur. 

As I kept walking I came to a grassy area by the lake and saw a picnic rug by the lake with a basket full of books. I sat down on the soft picnic rug and looked through the books and saw that they were books about Japan. Some were about history, culture, different cities, mythology, and the nature and animals of Japan. And some were Japanese stories and poetry, translated to English. 

I also saw I had been provided some Japanese snacks and drinks in another basket. 

I had some big soft cushions to lay down on the picnic rug too. 

I had such a beautiful view in front of me of the lake and neat rounded Japanese hedges and flowering bushes with some areas of raked sand and artfully placed big rocks. And behind me was a forest areas of Japanese Trees and I could still hear the Japanese birds singing. 

I thought that I could stay here forever as I lay down on the picnic rug and cushions and started reading the books.