In “Flying to Vermont-January 1, 1969,” the narrator, Mimi, is traveling by train and bus from Berkeley, California, to Hillsborough, Vermont. She wishes they had flown, but tickets are expensive. Mimi has difficulty checking one box when asked about ethnicity because her father is Black American, and her mother is Japanese. In “Hatsuyume,” Mimi doesn’t want to share her hatsuyume, the first dream of the year, because it might not come true. She dreams she is a bird shooting into the air, gliding over deserts and seas before climbing high above the mountains and clouds in an attempt to touch the moon. She hopes the dream means good luck for the year but worries it might mean bad luck. Her mother teaches her to let go of bad dreams by telling them to others, while her father tells her to bury them. She writes her dream on paper so that whether it is good or bad luck, it will not be spoken. Though she has never flown before, her dream is that she will one day soar.

In “Waxing Gibbous,” Mimi shares her love for the moon. She has read about it and memorized all its names and phases. The moon is waxing gibbous tonight.