Tokyo Twins Chapter 25 - The roots of love.

a serialized online story

by Tommy Schmitz



"Uh oh," said Susan.

The girls were walking into the gym

after leaving their Uncle Kenji on the train.

"That's about us." Katie said.

Two men and two women, all in dark blue suits,

were speaking with Godotnova-sensei

who looked quickly at the girls

and quickly away again.



The girls flung down their gym gear bags

and sat with the little girls,

some serious and stretching,

some not so,

swinging socks and towels now

and giggling with Katie and Susan O'Brien.



The five adults stood over the girls

and giggling stopped,

and a twinge of panic

gripped the throats of the sisters,

and Godotnova-sensei said,

"Susan-san, Katie-san,

can you come with me for a moment, please?"



The seven walked in silence

into an office down a hallway

at the far end of the gym.

Drapes covered from top to bottom

the normally open glass office walls

where coaches would sometimes meet

or call a girl in for the most serious of reprimands.



And pausing for two or three seconds

after closing shut the office door,

the coach said, "Katie and Susan,

these gentlemen are from the Japan Foreign Ministry,

and these ladies are from Chofu-shi Child Services."



One of the ladies said,

"We are sorry for your situation, girls,

and we understand how hard this all must be,

with an important national qualifying competition

coming up on Wednesday morning."



One of the agents stepped out to take a call.



"So for at least the next few days

you will be under the care and living with

your coach and the family she is home-staying with."



"What about our Obá-chan,"

the girls stuttered out together,

their hands holding up their eyes and cheeks.



Your grandmother is fine

and is being asked to remain at home

for her own protection.



The agent who stepped out quietly came back into the room.



"Protection from what, from whom?" Susan said.



"We do not want you to meet any more

with this man known as

Kenji and Satchitananda-san.



"We've just come to realize he has a cell phone,"

said the agent who had briefly left the room,

"and, girls, we'll have to take away your cell phones too."



"But he's our un...!" Susan started...

"He's our unconditional friend!" Katie finished,

stepping on Susan's foot.

"Sorry Susan."



"Yes, he's our friend.

And Obá-chan trusts him." Susan said

with eyes that moved and stood still

and moved and stood still again

into the eyes of each of the five adults.



"We don't understand," said Katie,

whose eyes were doing the same.



"We're here to protect you,"

one of the ladies said, "And your grandmother,"

said the other lady.

"We need our Obá-chan!" the one said crying now.

"We need our mother and our father!" said the other crying too.

"You can stay with your coach, girls,
and attend school tomorrow and Tuesday
and train and compete on Wednesday morning,
or you can come with us
and live at the Foster Shelter.
That's the choice you have now." the same lady said.

"Your coach and her home-stay family
Are guaranteeing your safety," said the other lady,
"As are these two gentleman from the Japan Foreign Ministry
who will never be far away."

The meeting quickly ended in appropriate courtesies,
And the girls and their coach walked slowly together
Back to the gymnasium floor.
"I am so sorry, Katie-san, Susan-san,"
their coach stopped and grabbed the girls' hands
and crouched to one knee to speak.
"This was my idea, and I am sorry,
but they came here to take you away today,
and it took us an hour on cell phones -
them with their superiors,
and me with my home-stay family -
to allow you this alternative.

And Katie and Susan O'Brien let tears
flow once again
and hugged their coach and each other
for a long and needed embrace.

The coach stood up with her arms still around their shoulders,
"You've brought your new music?" she said trying to smile.

"Thank you, Godotnova-sensei." Katie said.
"Thank you very much," said Susan,
searching on her person for a bag that wasn't there.
"Oh," she caught herself. "Yes, we have it on cd."

"Good. Let's hear it.
But do your warm-ups first" said the coach,
with pats on the backs of the girls.


*******



In the belly of the Japan Foreign Ministry
in the heart of Tokyo
on the very same Sunday afternoon,
not long after the girls arrived at the gym
a pair of technicians seated at monitors
motioned their superior over.

One of them began explaining:
"We've been watching
what's been quietly handed down to watch,
you know, the cell phones...
of these executives... um, the Mori brothers,
at Fuji Television Network.
We just picked up this conversation
Between the oldest brother
And a man called Kenji."

"Well, let's hear it," the superior said.


*******



Katie grabbed her favorite hoop
and went first,
and Susan stood by the coach
who queued the music.
"We combined these two melodies
the way we first heard them
played together," said Susan,
"we're both going to use this."

Katie stood at the center of the performing mat
And the piano tones
from their grandfather's lullaby began,
And Katie went from pose to flow
With hoop and hands and feet that followed
with Kenji's theme blending in.
and the coach and Susan sat down to behold
an elegant vision of some new girl dancing
to elegant counter points of songs.

And like a new girl dancing
Is exactly what Katie was feeling
In a way familiar
And in a way she had never felt before.
The hoop, she could see,
Was not something other
Nor something attached to her somehow.
The hoop, she could see,
The hoop, she could feel,
was not a "what" but a "who",
as much of her as her hands and feet
as much of her, to her own quiet surprise,
as her own dancing breath,
her own dancing smile.

And touching the hoop or catching it,
or seeing it fly away in throw,
was not something she was doing
nor something she achieved
but something she watched bloom like a flower
in the increasing difficulty of her routine.
And finally at the end
with the impossible toss and tumble run,
flipping and turning and leaping,
and gliding to a stand-still on her hands,
Katie saw this flower opened in perfection:
looking up at the hoop
caught in her upside and pointed right foot
spinning effortlessly and without care.

"Wow," said Susan to her sister,
"where'd the spin at the end come from...
that an accident or real?"

"Your turn, Sis,
and don't ask me,
the whole thing
felt like a wonderful accident."

Then Susan with mallets
Repeated the magic
With a "wow" from Katie,
and sitting mouth-opened,
her head in wander in her hands
came tears of joy from Inga Godotnova.

Teammates and parents had gathered to watch,
now laughing and applauding,
sharing in the glow
of sisters who stood embraced.

"I've been doing this most of my life
As an athlete and a coach,
And I've never seen anything so ..." the coach was saying and paused.

"So what?" responded the girls.

"Do you think you can do that on Wednesday morning?" said the coach.

"Do what?" smiled the girls.

(end of Chapter 25.)