Читать книгу Judy and the Moons of Korea - Audrey McKim - Страница 8

September: The Eighth Moon

NEW FRIENDS

"I won't be happy in Korea," grumbled Judy. "I can't speak Korean and all my friends are back home in North America."

"Don't be so gloomy!" Mrs. Gray spoke from behind a pile of clothing that she was taking from a packing box. "You've just come! I know next door there are Young Sookie and her brother Kim."

"I saw them a few minutes ago. It looked as if they were getting ready for a party." Judy flattened her nose against the window pane. "But even if I get to know them, I'll never know what they're talking about."

Mr. Gray, who had come to Korea to help farmers grow bigger and better crops, poked his head around a sliding door.

"Everybody is getting ready for the Harvest Festival," he told Judy. "It's something like our Thanksgiving back home, but here they are ahead of us. September is the eighth month-or moon-as the Koreans call it. Every moon has some fun in it for the kids. Wait and see."

But Judy had no time to answer. At that moment she saw their neighbor, Mrs. Song, coming in at the gate with Young Sookie and Kim.

When Judy opened the door, the visitors grinned shyly, and Kim held out a present.

"Oh, thank you!" said Judy. "Look, Mother, it's a jack-o'-lantern, the kind we have on Halloween, but this one is made from a turnip!"

Mr. Gray, who already knew Mrs. Song, introduced her to his wife. Then he introduced the children. Mrs. Song spoke to him in Korean.

"Judy," said Mr. Gray, "our neighbors want you to go with them to celebrate the Harvest Festival. Want to?"

"Oh yes!" Judy carefully put the lantern on the hall table. She smiled at Young Sookie. "Our hair is cut exactly alike, only mine is red and yours is black," she said, forgetting about the language.

Mr. Gray translated for her. Young Sookie seemed to find it hard to understand his Korean. Then a smile spread over her face. She brought the tips of her forefingers together on her forehead. She moved them across and be-neath her ears. Judy did the same. The two girls broke into a torrent of giggles. Kim grinned widely, showing twin white teeth with one missing on either side. Just like Judy's!

Judy pointed to her teeth, then to his. Soon all three of them were laughing.

It wasn't long before Judy was seated at a very low table, in the Song home, having a feast of pine-nut cakes shaped like little half-moons. Harvest Festival Day was a time for thanksgiving for food grown in the fields of Korea. For Judy it was a day of thanksgiving for new friends.