The Drum of Aluminium That Hummed in Hiroshima's Hills
The Drum of Aluminium That Hummed in Hiroshima's Hills — a science story. 10 illustrated pages, narrated, on the kids shelf, free to read on Wonder Science.
Page 1
The handcart jolted over a root and the ropes gave way all at once. The big aluminium drum, wider than Kenta was tall, tipped off the cart bed and hit the slope running. It bounced once on the packed dirt, scattering a drift of fallen cherry blossoms, and rumbled downhill picking up speed between the tree trunks. Grandpa Tatsuo shouted and grabbed for the cart handles so the rest of his load wouldn't follow. Nozomi was already sprinting, braids flying, sneakers slapping the petal-strewn path, with Kenta pounding along behind her in his huge red boots, arms pumping. The drum hit a stone and swerved toward the slope's edge. Nozomi flung herself ahead, yanked her backpack off her shoulders mid-stride, and slammed it down in the drum's path. Kenta piled onto it with both boots to hold it steady. The drum shuddered, rocked, and stopped dead against the stuffed pack. Everyone froze, catching their breath — and then, though the air hung perfectly still, a low hum rose from the dented metal skin, rising and falling like breathing.
Page 2
The drum rolled on its little wheeled cart between Grandpa Tatsuo's hands, humming low under the arcade's glass roof as paper banners rustled without a breeze. Nozomi tugged the cart's rope to steer it around a corner, but the handle caught a stacked pyramid of mandarin crates taller than Kenta. The crates toppled with a clatter, and oranges bounced everywhere, rolling under feet and benches. "Grab them before they roll into the street!" shouted Grandpa Tatsuo, already dropping to his knees. Nozomi scrambled after a dozen oranges, scooping them into the hem of her yellow raincoat, while Kenta flung himself flat on his belly, sliding under a bench to catch three more. Shoppers stepped carefully around them, laughing, as the children crawled between ankles and shopping bags. Tatsuo hauled the empty crates upright again and began restacking them, grunting with each lift. Above them, untouched by any wind, a shopkeeper's string of brass wind chimes swung and jingled on its own, as if humming along with the drum resting quietly nearby on its cart.
Page 3
They rolled the dented drum to the pond's edge and tipped it onto its side, waist-high and heavy, so the muddy water could sluice through its curved belly. Kenta scrubbed at the rim with his sleeve while Grandpa Tatsuo braced the drum with both boots to keep it from rolling into the water. Suddenly the carp boiled up in a gold-and-orange knot beneath the arched stone bridge, thrashing so hard that Kenta jumped back and knocked his bucket of fish pellets clean off the ledge. It splashed and sank, pellets scattering across the surface. "My pellets!" Kenta wailed, lunging after it. Nozomi grabbed the long bamboo rake leaning against the bridge railing and swept it through the water, hooking the bucket's handle on the second try and hauling it dripping onto the stones. Rings spread outward across the pond's calm surface, wider and wider, though not one breath of wind stirred the willow branches above them.
Page 4
The train rattled onto the Ōta River bridge and the whole carriage shuddered sideways. Grandpa Tatsuo's knot, tied in a hurry back at the station, slipped loose from the luggage rail, and the big aluminium drum rolled off its perch with a heavy clang. It bumped down into the narrow aisle and began trundling between the seats, picking up speed as the train rocked over the bridge joints. Passengers yanked their feet up with little gasps. Nozomi grabbed for the strap and missed, braids flying. 'It's getting away!' she shouted. Kenta didn't think — he dropped flat onto the aisle floor, red boots stretched out wide, and the rolling drum thunked straight into the rubber soles and stopped dead. Grandpa Tatsuo scrambled down the aisle, puffing, and threw both arms around the drum to pin it still. All along the window ledges, forgotten drink bottles buzzed and skittered on their own, rattling against the glass as if the whole carriage had caught the hum.
Page 5
The gallery smelled of dust and old bronze. Lin Yue reached up, gloved hands careful, and lifted the glass dust cover off the seismoscope, setting it down on a nearby stand with a soft click. 'Careful now,' she murmured, 'this one is thousands of years old.' At that exact moment a bronze ball dropped from the dragon's open jaw, clanged into the toad's waiting mouth below, and bounced free, skittering across the polished floor. Kenta dropped to his knees and scrambled after it on all fours, red boots sliding on the stone. Grandpa Tatsuo lunged sideways, bamboo ruler flying from his pocket, and clapped both hands down to trap the rolling ball before it hit the wall. Nozomi spun toward the doorway as the aluminium drum, parked there on its cart, answered with a long ringing hum that climbed the gallery's stone walls. 'It's talking back!' she shouted, grabbing the cart handle to steady it as the hum deepened and rattled the glass cases all around them.
Page 6
The bronze ball bounced off the flagstones and all four of them broke into a run after it. Nozomi's braids whipped behind her as she sprinted past a bronze pillar taller than Grandpa Tatsuo twice over, her sneakers slapping the sunlit stone. Lin Yue's indigo coat streamed out as she dodged the great armillary sphere, its rings taller than a man, reaching to steady herself on its frame. Grandpa Tatsuo lumbered behind, cap flying off, shouting for someone to catch the thing before it rolled under the plum tree. The ball skipped down three worn stone steps, each one knee-high, bouncing with a bright clink. Kenta's red boots thundered after it, and he flung himself flat onto the flagstones beneath the low plum branches, both hands slamming down over the ball just as it slowed. He turned it over in his palms — and gasped, for the warm bronze had gone cold and dull, curling at its edge into the familiar battered rim of their own aluminium drum.
Page 7
The ferry dipped as a swell rolled under the hull, and the wet deck tilted hard beneath their feet. The aluminium drum, barely re-roped since the morning, jerked loose and slid screeching across the metal planks straight for the open rail. Kenta yelped and scrambled backward, boots slapping on the slick deck. Nozomi grabbed for the rope and missed, her braids whipping. Lin Yue moved fastest, uncoiling a mooring rope from a deck cleat and flinging a loop over the drum's rim in one long sweeping throw. Grandpa Tatsuo lunged to grab the other end, boots braced wide, and together they hauled, hand over hand, dragging the drum back from the rail's edge. It thumped against the metal railing and they lashed it fast with three tight loops. The instant the rope snapped taut, the drum let out a hum so deep it rattled the deck boards, and every gull perched along the handrail burst upward together in one startled white cloud, wings hammering the salt air above the widening torii ahead.
Page 8
The last stone steps to the summit were steep and narrow, worn smooth by centuries of feet, and the bamboo litter groaned between Tatsuo and Lin Yue's straining arms as they hauled the drum up the final stretch. Nozomi scrambled ahead, clearing loose stones with her sneaker, while Kenta pushed from behind with both red boots braced against the rock. 'Almost there — don't drop it now!' Nozomi called, grabbing the litter's edge to steady it as Tatsuo's boots slipped on moss. They slammed it down at last onto the broad flat summit rock, boulders scattered around like sleeping giants. Nozomi knelt, scooping a handful of pebbles from a crack in the stone, and let them fall across the drum's dented skin. Instantly they jumped, skittering into perfect trembling rings, and the hum deepened into a throb that seemed to climb up through the boulders themselves. Far below, strings of lantern boats glowed gold, gathering slowly toward the shrine's dark water.
Page 9
Rope by rope they eased the drum down the stone stairway, Nozomi bracing her sneakers against each step while Lin Yue fed the line hand over hand through her white gloves, calling 'Slow, slow, let it rest!' Kenta scrambled ahead clearing stone figures in knitted caps out of the path, hugging each one before setting it safely aside. At the bottom, Grandpa Tatsuo planted his boots wide, rolled up his sleeves, and swung his palm flat against the drum's rim with a single enormous BOOM that rolled down the whole avenue of lanterns. Below in the street, shopkeepers lunged and caught trembling trays of glass before they could slide, monks leapt up snatching swinging lanterns out of the air, and a pair of deer simply trotted sideways out of the way, unbothered. The ground gave one gentle shiver, like a held breath let go. Then, with nobody touching them, every prayer wheel along the stairway began turning on its own, squeaking softly, and not one lantern, cup, or stone figure fell.
Page 10
They set the new cedar frame down on the wet sand, taller than Grandpa Tatsuo himself, its posts carved with a coiling dragon on one side and a round-mouthed toad on the other. Nozomi hauled the aluminium drum upright and wedged it into the frame's cradle while Kenta scrambled underneath with the bolts, passing them up one by one with sandy fingers. Lin Yue knelt and threaded the heavy bronze ball onto its chain, fitting white-gloved hands around the cold metal to hang it above the drum's skin, swinging gently. Tatsuo tightened the last bolt with a grunt, wiping his brow under his flat cap. "Steady now, let the boy do the honors," he said, stepping back. Kenta puffed out his round cheeks, gripped the mallet in both small fists, and swung — BONG — the sound rolling out over the tide flats. Villagers along the shore pushed glowing paper lanterns onto the calm water, deer lifting their heads at the sand's edge, and far out the great vermilion torii stood black against the fading sky as the last light caught the ripples.
About this story
- Audience: kids (ages 6–12)
- Format: 10 illustrated pages, narrated, on the kids shelf, free to read on Wonder Science
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