ummer vacation came to an end, and the day of the trip to the hot spring resort finally arrived. It was considered by the students to be Tomoe's main event. Not many things surprised Mother, but when Totto-chan came home from school one day and asked, "May I go on the hot spring trip with the others?" she was flabbergasted. She had heard of old people visiting hot springs in groups but not first graders. But after she read the headmaster's letter carefully, she thought it was an excellent idea and was filled with admiration for his plan. The trip was to be a "Seaside School" at a place called Toi on the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka. There was a hot spring right in the sea, where the children could both swim and take hot baths. The trip would last three days and two nights. The father of one of the Tomoe students had a vacation home there, where all fifty of the Tomoe students from first through sixth grades could stay. Mother, of course, agreed.

The Tomoe students assembled at the school on the appointed day before setting off.

"Now then," said the headmaster when they were all together. "We're traveling by train and by ship, and I don't want any of you to get lost. Do you understand! All right, off we go!"

That was the only instruction he gave, yet when they got on the Toyoko train at Jiyugaoka, the children were amazingly well behaved. Nobody ran up and down the cars, and the only talking was done quietly among those sitting next to each other. The Tomoe pupils had never once been told they should get in line and walk properly and keep quiet on the train and not drop litter on the floor when they ate their food. Their daily school life had somehow instilled into them that they mustn't push people smaller or weaker than themselves; that unruly behavior was something to be ashamed of; that whenever they came across litter they should pick it up; and that they should try not to do anything that annoyed or disturbed others. Strangest of all was that Totto-chan, who only a few months before had been upsetting her whole school by talking to street musicians out of the window in the middle of class, stayed at her desk and did her lessons properly from the very day she started at Tomoe. If any of the teachers from the other school could have seen her now, sitting properly with the others in the train, they would have said, "It must be someone else!"

At Numazu they embarked on a ship that was just like what they had all dreamed about. It wasn't a big ship, but they were all so excited that they inspected every corner of the deck, feeling this or hanging from that. When it finally sailed, the children waved to the townsfolk on the pier. They hadn't gone far before it started to rain, however, and they had to go inside. Soon the sea became very rough. Totto-chan began to feel ill, as did some others. But just then, one of the older boys got up and stood amidships, pretending to be a stabilizer. When the ship rolled he would run to one side, saying "Oops!" Then he would run the other way with another "Oops!" It was so funny the children couldn't help laughing even though they felt so seasick, and they were still laughing when the ship arrived at Toi. The curious thing was that after they disembarked, the poor "Oops" boy began to feel sick just when everyone else had recovered and was feeling fine!

Toi Spa was in a quiet, beautiful village on the sea surrounded by wooded hills. After a short rest the teachers took the children down to the sea. It wasn't like the swimming pool at school so they wore their swimsuits.

The hot spring in the sea was most unusual. It was not enclosed so there was no line to set off the hot spring from the rest of the sea. If you crouched down where you were told was the hot spring, the hot water came up to your neck and it felt lovely, just like being in a hot bath. If you wanted to go into the sea from the hot spring, all you had to do was move about fifteen feet sideways, and the water gradually got cooler. The further you went, the colder it got, and you knew you were in the sea. So, after you had been swimming about in the sea and began to feel cold, all you had to do was to hurry back to the hot spring and have a hot bath right up to your neck! I was just like at home. And it looked so funny. While the bathing-capped children were swimming about normally in the regular sea, the ones in the hot spring part were relaxing in a circle chatting just as if they were in a bath. Anyone watching would have thought, "Why even youngsters act just like old people when they get in a hot spring bath."

In those days the seashore was so deserted it was like being on their own private beach, and the children enjoyed this unusual hot spring sea-bathing to the utmost. When they got back to the house in the evening after staying in the water so long, their fingers were a mass of wrinkles.

Each night, once they were tucked into their quilts, the children took turns telling ghost stories. Totto-chan and the other first graders got so frightened they cried. But in spite of their tears, they would ask, "And then what happened?"

Unlike camping inside the school and the Bravery Test, the three-day stay at Toi Spa was a real-life experience. For example, they were sent in turns to buy vegetables and fish for dinner, and when strangers asked them what school they went to and where they were from, they had to answer politely. Some of the children nearly got lost in the woods. Others swam so far they couldn't get back and had everyone worried. Others cut their feet on broken glass on the beach. In each case everyone had to do their best to help.

But mostly it was all fun. There was a forest full of cicadas and a shop where you could buy popsicles. And they met a man on the beach who was building a big wooden boat all by himself. It was already boat-shaped, and the first thing each morning they ran down to the beach to see how much more he had done. The man gave Totto-chan a very long and curly wood shaving.

"How about a souvenir photograph?" asked the headmaster on the day they were to leave. They had never had a photograph taken of them all together and the children were excited at the idea. But no sooner was the teacher ready with her camera than someone had gone to the toilet; then someone else had his gym shoes on the wrong feet and had to change them around. When the teacher finally said, "Is everyone ready?" one or two of the children were lying on the ground, having become tired of holding their poses so long. The whole process took a very long time.

But that photograph, with the sea in the background and each child posing according to his or her fancy, became a treasured possession of each of them. One look at it and memories would flood back -- the boat trip, the hot spring, the ghost stories, and the "Oops" boy. Totto-chan never forgot that first happy summer vacation.

Those were the days when you could still find crayfish in the pond near their house in Tokyo, and the garbage man's cart was pulled by a great big ox.