Little Yokozuna Read Online Free

the street.
    Kiyoshi-chan had hauled the goblin's head out of the gutter and was looking inside it. Suddenly he started to laugh, and put the revolting thing over his own head. Knuckleball and Annie looked at him, disgusted and amazed. But then Kiyoshi-chan said something, his voice echoing and muffled.
    "Annie!" said Knuckleball, pulling her to her feet. "He's speaking Japanese! We are in Japan! That explains everything!" He ran toward Kiyoshi-chan, trying to say everything at once. "Watashi wa Knuckleball desu. Namae wa nan desu ka? Hajimemashite!"
    "It explains nothing, Knucklehead," said Annie, shaking her head and walking up the street toward the two boys. They were already talking excitedly with each other, and taking turns trying on the goblin's head.

CHAPTER 4
A Little Hope for Little Harriet

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    "So," said Kiyoshi-chan's father, "you see that it isn't a head at all. It's a helmet."
    "But it's more like a mask in front," said Knuckleball, straightening his glasses to see better. His baseball cap was off, and his hair was a sight. "And an ugly one at that. Looks like a wild man."
    "You should see yourself, Knuckler," said Annie. "This guy looks elegant in comparison."
    "It is very like the helmets of our ancient samurai" said Kiyoshi-chan's father. "Each warrior had his helmet made uniquely for himself, to terrify the enemy. The thing that you saw, whatever it was, was dressed and armed like an ancient Japanese warrior."
    Annie and Knuckleball turned the object over in every direction, examining it inside and out. They were seated on the tatami of Kiyoshi-chan's home, around a low table, huddled in blankets. Kiyoshi-chan and his little sister Izumi-chan were also in the room, listening with puzzled smiles to the odd Japanese of these strange children. Kiyoshi-chan's mother came bustling in regularly, setting the table for breakfast.
    "I like the dragon on top," said Knuckleball. "I especially like all those little tendrils round its mouth, like whiskers or earthworms. It's not so scary when you look at it up close."
    "It's all such a mystery," said Annie. "I wonder if the rest of the armor was as empty as the helmet?"
    "Of course not," said the father. "It was a tall costume, with a short person inside. What else could it have been?"
    "I'm not sure," said Annie.
    "Anyway," said Kiyoshi-chan's father, with a keen look at his guests, "we have some bigger mysteries than that."
    The two children looked back at him, and smiled uncomfortably. The blue-gray light of a rain-filled morning was just becoming visible through a crack in the door.
    "For one," said the man, "how do you speak Japanese, though you are American? Few Americans speak Japanese at all."
    "Our father taught us," said Knuckleball.
    "He's a professor of East Asian studies," said Annie. "At St. Gildas College. Near Boston. Do you know Boston?"
    "Of course," said Kiyoshi-chan's father. "I must say that you speak our language very well."
    Kiyoshi-chan could scarcely contain himself. "They talk as if they have cotton in their mouths," he said, grinning.
    "Like cartoons," said Izumi-chan, giggling. "It makes my ears hurt to listen to them."
    "You are rude," said their father.
    "It's OK," said Annie. "I'm sure they're right."
    "I have more questions," said the father. "Please tell me how you came here."
    Annie and Knuckleball looked at each other.
    "Here?" said Knuckleball. "Well, we walked."
    "From where?" asked the father.
    "From the train station," said Annie, too quickly.
    Kiyoshi-chan's father sat up very straight and looked at them with a crooked smile.
    "It's not far," said Annie. "It's just a few blocks away. It's a very nice train station, with a little garden on the platform."
    "I know," said Kiyoshi-chan's father. "I use it every day. But you are hiding things from me. Where is your father? Where is your mother?"
    "In America," said Annie and Knuckleball in unison.
    "In Massachusetts," said Annie.
    "And the two of you are here