a serialized online story
by Tommy Schmitz
Chapter 9 - The me, the mirror and the man.
"Katie-Susan! Susan-Katie!" Oba-chan says,
continuing to bend and bat away the bamboo thickness.
"We're dead." Katie mumbles to herself
and Susan, not so oddly, mumbles to herself the same.
"But not yet," each continues in her mind,
their feet moving now, in unison,
reversing and spinning in mirror images,
the first steps of their Shintaiso duet,
one they had been practicing for months,
to be performed in competition next Wednesday evening,
only six days away.
They had practiced it so often, for so long,
muscle memory now took over,
even on Hebi-yama:
"Pivot inside-step,
pause-and back-spin away
one, two, three, spins
step, two, roll inside,
tumble-up and there's the mirror,
not of glass
but eyes and faces,
from one me to another.
Katie and Susan O'Brien
intuitively let fly in formation
the motions and movements themselves:
pivot and spin,
arms-up and tumble,
head straight and roll,
and there's the mirror,
no! not the mirror!
Appearing suddenly
there popped-up out of moonlight
right between their noses and poses,
the stranger of Hebi-yama,
who grabbed a forearm from each,
and raised his hands in victory.
"Oba-chan, here they are!"
"Send 'em home when you're done!"
And Oba-chan,
whose trickiness manifested more cleverly
when structured in the mundane,
started walking home.
"Wish you were our uncle right now...
he'd set things straight,
he's the head of Fuji Television Network, you know,
the largest television network in Japan!"
"I see," said the stranger.
I don't think so, said Susan.
"Nope. said Katie. In 30 minutes, he could have 50 live-feed cameras on trucks and helicopters
crawling all over this place.
"I quite agree with you." the stranger said.
Maybe you're not getting this? Oba-chan is going to call him now!
"Hmm. the stranger said. "I don't think so."
The girls just shook their heads in doubt,
and gave him - the look - the look of confidence somewhere beyond human ego.
and the old man smiled back - his own look - the look of knowing somewhere beyond human knowledge.
'We have some things to discuss," said the old man.
"Like what?" said Katie and Susan.
He paused. "Like you. he said, "like your parents,
like your brother, like your friends,
your Oba-chan.
and well, like I said,
like you.
"And you?" said the girls.
"And me." the old man said.
"Who are you.
What is your interest in us.
And how do you know Oba-chan?" Susan said.
"My name is Satchitananda." said the stranger.
"Satchitananda?" Katie said. "That is not a Japanese name, and you are Japanese!"
"Yes, I am Japanese," the old man said,
now looking with intensional curiosity at the girls.
"and many other things as well."
"Like what?" said the girls.
I've spent most of my life in northern India
in areas around Kashmir.
Kashmir! the girls said.
the man stayed quiet.
"you have come to help our parents"
The man stayed quiet, and just looked back at Katie and Susan.
Then, why are you here?
"I don't know the answer to that question.
Events coming to pass today
are making circles with events
from many years ago." said the old man.
"What events," said the girls.
"I cannot tell you at this time."
"What's the secret."
"It is no secret." he said.
"You will come to know
all the unlikely yet natural closings of these circles
only when they close." he explained.
"Sounds like you're describing what's it's like to throw your ribbon
in the middle of a tumbling run," Susan said, "praying like hell . . ."
"Susan!" said Katie.
". . . praying like prayer you catch it."
"like prayer?" he said.
"Okay, like an atheist's prayer:
in a last ditch effort to recover a bad throw."
"You pray you catch it?" he said.
"Hmmm. Sometimes." Susan said.
"Does it work? he said.
Last ditch effort? she paused. "Rarely."
"How come?" the old man said.
"I don't know." Susan said.
"Have you ever looked into it?" he said.
"What do you mean?" said Katie.
"Looking into it?" he reflected and paused. "Watching it while it's happening."
"You mean visualizing it? Like doing a tumble or a throw in your mind? Katie said.
"Is that what you do?" he said.
"Of course," said the girls.
"Hmmm," he said. "During your tumble or throw,
which one do you observe: the visualization or the action."
Susan glanced away to think. "I don't know," she said.
Katie shook her head slowly in doubt.
"Perhaps this is something to look into." he said.
"But didn't you just say you don't even know why you're here?" Katie said.
"Yes." he said. "I did."
"Perhaps this is something for you to look into." Susan said.
The old man looked at the girls.
"Some things, when you look into them
seem knowable,
some things are not." he said.
"How do you know which is which?" Katie said.
"You look into it". he smiled.
"What's the point, then?" she said.
"Life." he said.
"And achievement?" she Susan.
"Yes." He nodded.
"And learning new routines?" Katie said.
He nodded again.
"And fear?" the girls both said.
And fear.
"And pain?" Susan said.
And pain.
"And death?" Katie said.
"Yes," he said.
"What's this have to do with getting our parents back?" said Susan.
"Will you do me a favor, girls?" he said. "Will you
return home now and get some sleep.
And if it's possible, return here tomorrow night?"
"Why?" the girls said.
"There might be more things to talk about." he ssaid.
"How about now?" Katie said.
"How about now, it is time for bed." he smiled.
"What about Oba-chan?"
"What about these government men?" the girls said.
Try not to worry about Oba-chan.
And try not to worry about these government men.
"What about our mother and our father and our brother!
"Let's discuss that tomorrow night."
He felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket.
"Yes" he said, lifting up to his ear the flip part of the phone.
"No," he answered to the person on the other end, "the coast
looks clear for tonight. Let's everyone keep our positions.
Contingencies. events....
could boil-up any day, any hour.
thank you, my friends," and he closed the flip part of the phone and smiled at the girls.
Good night and dulci del sueno.
"sounds like Spanish."
"Hmmm," he nodded.
"Hmmm," the girls replied and found themselves stepping quickly
outside the stranger's shelter,
and even more quickly up the hill,
across the ridge
and home.
. . . . . . .
Oba-chan returned to the house and the men were waiting.
"I am sorry. False alarm." Oba-chan explained to the two men from the Japan Foreign Ministry.
The girls were just playing out back and I couldn't see them.
"May we speak to them now? the men said."
"Heavens no. They've had a very rough day, and they are deeply asleep. Would tomorrow morning be okay?"
(end of chapter 9. chapter 10 Wednesday night, July 26th.)
