My Buddy

Red Blanket


Do you have something you’ve had since you were baby? Many of you probably have had a teddy bear, but I had an Akai Tenten.

Snip Snap Snip Snap “I better get it perfect before my new baby arrives”. Snip Snip Snap Snap “Perfect!!” yelped my mom as she finished her last touch on an Akai Tenten. It was long ago before I was even born; my mom couldn’t wait for the new baby to come. My mom was planning to get me an Akai Tenten. Until there came a day when my grandmother told my mom what she was planning for her new baby. She explained how she loved growing up with her Akai Tenten. It was her best friend for a long time, she explained.

One day, my mom and grandma had a long serious discussion and my grandmother warned my mom, “Giving him Akai Tenten is great but I must tell you that a big one would be a pain in the neck. You used to hold it very tightly near your face, but it was longer than your height. You were dragging it all over the dirty floors, but you didn’t let me wash it either, because you didn’t want to be apart from it. Trust me; the same thing will happen to him.” So my mom cut it into eight small pieces. When I was born, I received an Akai Tenten that was about 50cm in length and about 30cm in width. The texture of it was smooth; my mom had given it to me so that I would not be lonely and that it could be my best friend.

My mom must have called it Akai tenten over and over again before I was even able to speak; because I was calling it Akai Tenten from I don’t know when. When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I realized that Akai tenten meant red blanket in Japanese. In Switzerland and in Singapore, I took my Akai tenten everywhere I went, even to pre-school and Kindergarten, because I felt frightened and nervous. Wherever I went, it was a new place so I held my Akai Tenten tightly in my hand. Without it, I felt alone and sad. That was until the day I entered Elementary school. My grandmother visited Singapore and said, “You are a big boy now; you can’t bring this Akai tenten everywhere anymore. It is time for you to open up yourself and stop taking it everywhere. ” I agreed, but I pleaded that we wouldn’t throw it away, but instead, it would stay at home.

In second grade, I kept up the work on keeping Akai tenten safe at home but one day when I came home, it was nowhere in sight. I cried all day and my mom gave me the same looking extra red blanket that she kept when I was born and gave it to me. I quickly noticed that it wasn’t mine because the smell was different and the texture also felt different. I cried all night until I determinedly walked around my room searching for it. Luckily it was under my bed.

Twelve years have passed and I don’t want to tell you if I still have it on my bed

By the way, how many times did you have to say Akai Tenten reading my story? Unfortunately for those of you who thought you have memorized the word, the word Tenten is a unique word created and told over generations to generations in my family ONLY, but you can use the adjective, “akai” as “red” and all the Japanese would know the word.