a serialized online story
by Tommy Schmitz
Chapter 6 - Full moon rising and the girls set a trap.
_______________________________________________________
Katie and Susan O'Brien left for school
with hugs for Oba-chan but with few words for her or for each other,
and they continued to have little or nothing to say
going to school, during school, taking the train after school to the gym.
They saw Inga Godotnova, their Shintaiso coach,
stepping onto the platform from the
train car behind them at Wakabayashi Station
and walked quickly to her.
"We're sorry to have to tell you this..." Katie started.
"There is bad news about our parents."
Susan filled in with what little was known, and added
"the news may drift in during practice. We wanted you to know and hope it does not disrupt things too much."
"Even under such terrible circumstances,
I am not surprised you are here for practice."
Inga Godotnova hugged the girls closely.
"Thank you for telling me." she said with a smile
touching and honest and sad,
and this smile left a deep and centering impression
on Katie and Susan O'Brien.
The three continued walking to the gym.
"I'm not sure practice will go so well today," Katie said half muttering.
"If you want your amazing progress in this sport to change -
right now, in any direction whatsoever, for better or for worse -
it is, right now, your choice to do so."
And Katie and Susan paused walking and at once looked up into their coaches eyes.
During break the girls took towels from their gym bags.
"Look at this," Susan said looking at the other girls, "the news must have hit."
Katie sat and wiped her face
and rubbed the back of her neck with the towel
and looked at their team mates
nearly all looking at their cell phones
and then nearly all the girls
in quick and off-beat rhythm
glanced up and around at Katie and Susan,
the spreading awareness of horrifying news
coming in flashes of lightening
out of some uninvited presence
that rolled thick and fog-like across the gymnasium floor.
"I'm not looking at my cell phone." said Katie.
Me neither, said Susan, yet allowing a sideways stare
at the instant messages flooding in across the cell phone screen:
"I'm so sorry," "We're with you." "What can I do to help?" and so on.
Katie lifted her face buried in her towel.
And she and Susan looked calmly around the room,
Susan standing, Katie sitting, the others doing their best
not to look as they already were -
suddenly frozen in self-conscience.
"Let's get back to work!" said Inga Godotnova,
a set of words not normally acted upon
by her young Shintaiso athletes with such welcome as now.
Toward the end of practice the girls warmed down
in slower motion than usual,
dressed, loaded their equipment, swung the straps
of gym bags and gear over there shoulders
and headed for Wakabayashi Station with more presence of mind than usual.
They got off at Shimotakaido Station, the terminal for the Setagaya Line,
and walked toward the Keio Line tracks
and approached a choice of two sets of stairs to climb -
one for the local, one for the express.
They looked each other in the eyes
and traded nods that no one on the planet but the other
was suppose to ever understand.
And climbing the right-side set of stairs,
and looking straight ahead,
with monotone and purpose:
"Chofu," the one said.
"Chofu," said the other.
"Hebi-yama," the one said.
"Hebi-yama," said the other.
"We won't be late getting home," the one said.
"We won't be late," said the other.
"We'll just walk by."
"Just walk-on by."
"And we'll look," the one said.
"And maybe find!" said the other.
Both thought about Inga Godotnova briefly
and both smiled their coach's sad and knowing smile,
catching brief glances of eye contact with each other,
backing and squeezing onto the express train for Chofu Station.
They walked along the black wall
of the bamboo forest of Hebi-yama to their left
and watched a full moon come up
over tall and distant apartment complex buildings,
the big moon orange and dim through clouds
then bright
then orange and dim again.
"Mom and Dad are missing . . ." said Susan with both wonder and worry.
"It's just impossible. I can't believe it." said Katie.
". . . and on the very same day. . ." continued Susan.
"might not be anything." said Katie.
". . . appears a mysterious neighbor in Hebi-yama . . . ?"
"Maybe we are getting a bit carried away here." said Katie.
". . . and a flautist! That is just too weird . . ." said Susan.
"Life is weird." said Katie.
". . . and apparently a composer of beautiful melody . . . "
"Who appears - well - not intending to appear at all." said Katie.
"Yeah. Maybe you're right. We're almost home." said Susan.
"I'm seeing no candle lights or anything at all in Hebi-yama." said Katie slowly,
"and hearing - wait a sec --" Katie continued....
they stop for several seconds.
"just checking" she said. "no foot steps either."
"And no flute." said Susan.
"And no daijoubu's from the darkness!" Katie added.
And they giggled slightly, nervously.
"Ah, it's probably just a coincidence." Katie said.
"He's probably gone." said Susan.
"Wish we were too." said Katie, "hey, who's car is that?"
"Yeah!" said Susan, "different from last night."
"I hope it's not somebody we don't want to be nice to right now," Katie said.
"Like who?" said Susan.
"Like you," and Katie pushed her shoulder into her sister's.
"I do believe you're stuck with me for a while." said Susan slightly joking.
And Katie nudging Susan's shoulder again said, "Yeah. thank heaven for that."
They saw the front door swing open
and ran the last several steps to hug Oba-chan together.
They walked with arms still around each other to the living room,
and two men in dark blue suits and white shirts,
Kaneko-san and Taya-san,
stood up on the tatami mats in their stocking feet,
and the girls politely exchanged their introductions.
At once and together, the five sat down on the floor
on dark red mats scattered around the small square dining table in the room.
"These are representatives from the Japan Foreign Ministry. Oba-chan said.
"The ones from last night?"
"Different ones, Katie." Taya-san said.
"We'll be your contact with the government as news about your parents progresses...." he added.
"What's the latest." said Susan in almost a whisper.
"Your brother, Jack is also missing." said Oba-chan.
"Huh? What? He's in Arizona. In Sedona. Living at school." the girls said together.
Oba-chan shook her head.
Kaneko began explaining, "The headmaster of the school
reported him missing yesterday from class,
and then missing from meals and homeroom,
and bed check as well."
"Oh come on. This is so dumb." said Katie.
And Susan just shook her head.
Oba-chan talked now, "He might not have been kidnapped...
or taken.... you know your brother, Jack..." she continued.
"friends all over the world."
"even in his own dorm room."
"Jack attends a boarding high school in Arizona." Oba-chan explained to the government officials.
"There are students from over 25 countries attending." she continued.
"He might have heard somehow... caught wind of something."
"and split for Kasmir." said Susan.
"Jack would do that." said Katie.
"Jack would do that." Susan said.
"Crazy brother. Now Jack to worry about too" said Katie.
"Jack once ran away ..." Oba-chan began explaining to the men.
"Oh?" the men said.
"To the north shore of Oahu. Good place to surf, so he claimed." said Katie.
"How could he travel on his..." Taya-san questioned.
"Oh, he's a rather resourceful young man, I'm afraid," Oba-chan said.
"He brings letters, documents, seals, stamps, signatures. Whatever he needs." she continued.
"Jack brings his silver-tongued self is what he does," said Susan.
"We have his photo at every airport immigration office all over the world." Kaneko-san explained.
"No." said Katie. He's probably there already."
"Where?" the men asked.
"Kasmir. Like we said." Katie added.
The men paused a moment. "I guess he's had time to get there." Kaneko-san admitted.
"But there is no record of his passport crossing . . ." Taya-san started to say.
"You don't know Jack" said Oba-chan.
"He's sixteen years old . . . well, seventeen at the end of the month," Oba-chan explained.
"He'd do anything." said Susan.
"And does." Katie said.
For precautions we'll have a car outside to keep an eye on things.
"And who's going to be in it?" asked Katie.
"We are." said the men.
"Hmmm." the girls and Oba-chan nodded their heads.
"Last night we saw a . . ." Susan started saying.
and Katie interrupted, "Last night we saw your people pulling away in a car. . ."
"Well, thank you, gentlemen." said Oba-chan, anticipating a possible end to the meeting.
Yeah, said Katie, thank you for caring.
Susan, just frowned and nodded her head in agreement.
The girls headed for their room.
"Are you crazy, we don't know who that is yet in Hebi-yama!" Katie said.
"Are you crazy, we could have been kidnapped already!" Susan countered.
"I don't think so." Katie said. "If that man wanted us, he could've gotten us last night."
"We were running too fast." said Susan.
"Don't be naïve. I do not think he is our enemy." Katie said.
"What are we talking about! He's just some bum hanging out! Who's now moved on."
Katie and Susan threw their stuff on their bedroom floor.
"I got a little more homework to do." said Katie.
"Me too and I don't feel like doing it, and besides I'm hungry." Susan said.
"I hope they stick around a while longer." Susan continued.
"You know they're not leaving," Katie countered.
"I mean, you know, in the house." Susan said.
"Why?" Katie asked.
"Katie? Let's try something." said Susan.
And Katie watched Susan walk over to the oil lamp and light it and turn off the fluorescent light above.
"Katie...." she whispered.
"Um, why are you whispering?"
"We have to try this." Susan said.
"What?" asked Katie.
"Sit down at the piano... start playing Grandfather's lullaby like I was doing. . ." Susan explained.
"That's not going to work like last night." Katie interrupted.
"So what if it doesn't. We play it a lot anyway." Susan paused.
"And I am, oddly enough, beginning to see things your way Katie...
we should find out... clear-up the curiosity, about the stranger in Hebi-yama." Susan explained.
"And what are you going to ..... ?" Katie started saying.
"Shhh," Susan said. "Just start playing, Katie."
"I don't like this, Susan," Katie said trying to stay quiet and trying to make a point. "What are you planning?"
And Susan sat by the lamp glow where Katie sat last night.
And Katie began slowly, and with the sparest of chords, to play their dear lullaby.
And they both got lost in the sweet serenity,
the sweet sadness of the melody that re-attached them now
to their own pain and longing.
And after Katie played for a minute or two,
they almost forgot they were listening for the sound of a flute.
"Oh my god." they said at once.
And the sound of the flute began playing along,
the companion melody they heard last night.
"He's there!" Katie said, here eyes huge in the glow, her throat muffling a squeel.
"Keep playing. Listen to what I have to say." said Susan.
"I'm playing, Susan, but I'm not listening to you on this!"
"After thirteen years of living next door to this jungle," Susan explained still whispering,
"I think I know my way around a whole lot better than whoever it is hiding in there . . ." Susan went on, her own eyes growing bigger now, excitement spreading across the muscules of her mouth and forehead. I can sneak above where the flute is coming from, maybe get an idea of who is there."
And she paused and tugged with the fingers of both hands on the ends of her hair.
"No way." Katie said. "You don't do that. I don't do that. That's not going to happen."
"You're not listening to me, Susan!"
"Just keep playing," Susan whispered again. "It'll be a reconnaissance walk
in park," said Susan.
And she began to pull a black turtle neck over her head.
"You stop right now, Susan." Katie could hardly contain her voice.
"You keep him occupied with the lullaby," she continued, her voice growing
with determination. "And I'll check him out. Take me 5-10 minutes."
The girls continued to hear conversation in the living room.
"We have to do something, Katie. We don't have much time!"
Katie stopped playing.
Susan's face grew furious at her sister.
"Give me that turtleneck!" Katie said.
"Keep playing!"
"Give me that turtleneck, Susan. If you want to do this, Susan, fine. But
I'm not playing any more. Now gimme that turtleneck!"
Susan took over at the piano still furious.
"What if you're not back?!" Susan whispered almost aloud.
And Katie just stared at her sister, her anger flipping into fear.
Susan deliberately looked away now.
and Katie sneaked out the bedroom window
like a ninja.
without beacon
and without sound.
[ e n d o f c h a p t e r 6 ]
(Chapter 7 coming Sunday, July 16, 2006, 11:00 pm Mexico City Time.)
(Return to Tokyo Twins - Chapter Map
