Generation One
Chapter Four
Close Neighbours Make for Tense Relations
“Hank, did you hear about that Jared got knocked out and beat up?” Constable Tia Rose grinned at Constable Henry Goddard, known to his friends as Hank. Neither of them liked Jared Frio and Hank had run-ins with him in high-school. “Looks like the Chikamori kid took him on and beat him to a pulp.”
“Could be assault...but y’know what they say, what goes around comes around. Frio’s been doing this for years to other people. Frankly, the way I see it, Tia, the kid did us a favour. If I heard around Varg’s correctly, Stiles McGraw was saying that Frio blew smoke in the face of that kid’s father. That’s assault.” Hank replied. “under s. 34 (1)(b) the act that constitutes the offence is committed for the purpose of defending or protecting themselves or the other person from that use or threat of force; doesn’t matter that it was just smoke being blown in the face. Frio’s intent was to start an altercation. And you know Frio uses any situation like offence to having smoke blown in one’s face to start something.”
“So what are you saying?” Tia asked a slowly dawning grin on her face.
“Well, the way I see it, Jared went looking for trouble, and got what he was looking for. The Chikamori kid may have gone a little overboard in his defence of his father, but it was defence of others. Maybe the concussion will teach Frio a lesson.” He chuckled. “And he’d do well to keep the fact that he had the shit kicked out of him by a teen-ager under wraps unless he wants to become the laughing stock of Sunset Valley.”
“Captain was laughing his ass off...” Tia snickered.
“Yeah...I bet he was. What did he say?”
“Three words: Lose the file.”
Hank laughed, “I’ll go have a friendly talk with the Chikamori kid...He needs to get a rein on his temper before he turns out like Frio.”
“But he blew smoke in my dad’s face. Hank...”
“I know...but kid, you gotta get a hold of your temper. You can’t go around beating up everybody who ticks you off...” Hank looked at him with a severe look even though he was trying to keep from cracking up. The thought of Jared getting tuned up and his lights knocked out by this teen-ager was cathartic after all the stuff that Frio did to him when they were both going to high-school. What Haruo did to Frio was satisfying to Hank after getting slammed into lockers by Jared during Grade 8 and 9, at least one time opening up a cut that needed sixteen stitches to close. Jared was one year older than Hank and that made all the difference in how their relations had gotten along. “Eventually, it’s gonna earn you a criminal record. And you don’t want to end up like Jared, do you?”
“No...”
“Well...this is your Come to the Watcher moment, Haruo...you need to come with me...” Hank said decisively.
“You’re not taking me to jail, are you?” Haruo looked at Hank with wide eyes.
“No...you and I are going for a ride...in the cop car...”
Sunset Valley Cemetery“Your grandmother was a kind woman...” Hank said as he looked out at the cemetery grounds. “Unlike your mother...” he paused for a long moment. “My dad was an abusive drunk...and took it out on me...when he wasn’t lying on the couch nursing a bad headache...”
“A hang-over?” Haruo asked as they sat on the bench looking out over the pond where the deathfish circled endlessly.
“Yeah...when he wasn’t beating us, he was drinking his money away.”
“My mom doesn’t beat me...” Haruo said.
“Yeah, she does..." Hank corrected him, "...in other ways...” He reached out to put a hand on Haruo’s shoulder and patted it, “The way your mother does it is worse in a way, since the police: me, Tia, Sarge and the Captain; can’t help you and arrest her.”
“Why not?” Haruo’s question was filled with unspoken bitterness, but the feelings behind it could be felt by Hank. Because they were feelings that Hank had felt for a long time against his own abusive father.
“In order to prove that there is something going on, there needs to be physical marks, like a bruise where she hit you or slapped you, and she has to do it, not you faking it either...otherwise she can just say that you’re making it up or she didn’t do anything and the law doesn’t look kindly on fake accusations, even if there is a real history behind them. You want to have evidence that she can’t make excuses for which means they have to be real bruises made by her. The abusers get really good at lying...so the only thing you can do is for the next three months, cope...then get out as fast as you can.” Hank looked down at his feet. The law was immutable regarding the law of evidentiary support for claims and criminal charges thus until Mayumi hit her son and left marks that could be seen, there was nothing the police and by extension Hank could do for Haruo. “Use your grandmother’s grave-site to come talk to her...if you find that it’s hard to take and if your mom ever hits you, come talk to me and then we’ll be able to do something. I know you and River go up to Pinochle Pond on a regular basis. He gestured over to the white grave marker that stood tall in the sun. “You’ve never been to your grandmother’s grave; not even during the funeral?” At Haruo’s negative shake of his head, Hank told him, “That’s your grandmother’s place where she’s buried and she never told you where? Why not?”
“Mom said it wasn’t important...that when they’re gone, they’re gone...so that’s the end of it. I’ve always thought that was a strange thing to say.” Haruo looked confused. “Like she didn’t care one bit about grandma.”
“Well...Haruo, now you know...and your grandmother helped me when I needed someplace as a refuge...when my Dad was taking his rage out on me.” That’s why I come here often, just to talk to her.” Haruo looked over at Hank who smiled at him, “I thought you might need this too.”
“I remember my grandmother and how she took care of me...she died when I was seven.” Haruo’s tone seemed hopeless.
“Well, don’t listen to what your mom says about your grandmother or about you. You’re a good kid...I just don’t want you going down the wrong path.” Hank nodded quietly, then looked over at the grove of trees lining the area behind the mausoleum. “If you’re quiet, you can hear the birds in the trees, right?”
“Yeah...”
“Well...that’s the same kind of quiet that you can use to listen to your grandmother here...” Haruo looked up stunned at Hank Goddard. He’d never heard the fact that his grandmother helped the community here.
Hank and Haruo sat for a long moment while they each thought their own thoughts. Then Hank took Haruo back to the house reminding him to stay calm...and try to cope...then get out of the house away from Mayumi at the first available opportunity.
River was waiting for him when he returned escorted by Hank, holding her tongue until Hank patted Haruo on the back, gave him a nod and left. “What’s going on? Why was Constable Goddard here?”
“He told me that I needed to control my temper. That if I don’t in the future that there could be serious consequences.” Haruo looked down at the ground.
“Did he take you to the police station?” River asked; her look on her face was worried. Haruo’s dreams of a future could have been dashed if he now had a criminal record.
“No...” Haruo sounded tired. “Const. Goddard just wanted to let me know that he understood why I was so angry; y’know how my mom never goes to see Grandma after she passed away?”
River remembered the loving gray-haired lady that Haruo’s grandmother was, how she was doted on by the woman and that she was devastated when she’d heard that Grandma Yumiko had passed away.
Haruo looked over at River, “He took me over there, showed me where Grandma was buried and he told me that he went there to talk to her sometimes.”
“Why?” River had never known this. “Why would Const. Goddard go talk to your grandmother?”
Haruo gave her a sad smile. He didn’t need to say anything. But he quietly said, “He and I are more alike than we knew...” he paused, his words more mature than his seventeen years as he looked out at the yard. He’d be turning eighteen in June. “He just doesn’t want me to go down Jared’s path.”
River enfolded him in an embrace as Haruo slumped on the ground, staring at nothing, taking a deep breath as though he was trying to calm himself.
“Are you planning to go back to the gravesite...soon?” River asked, wondering why Mayumi would try to keep the knowledge of where Haruo’s grandmother was buried away from her son.
Haruo nodded silently.
“Take me with you...”
It was about two days after Hank had dropped by that Yasunobu came back with something special for Haruo. It was a trained Rottweiler, named Franz, who adored his new masters, Yasunobu and Haruo and had a special soft spot for River, Torao and Bebe, which he thought was for the best since he wanted Franz to do whatever he could to help Haruo cope with what he had to go through. And a dog was what one could call a service animal, especially for those tough times ahead where emotionally, Haruo was at a stage where his emotions could be a roller-coaster, combined with the hormones of teenage years. On top of that impulsiveness was a teenage trait as teens were always going off on their emotions.
Franz took to being Haruo’s service-animal like a fish to water...and enjoyed the company of River as well. And Yasunobu was happy and more than happy to defend his decision to bring home Franz to Mayumi’s tantrums.
“Yasubo...Nanishini sona inu motehaitekuru ka?” Mayumi blustered, “Ano inu wa kikendayo...”
“Inu wa kunren sa rete iru, Mayumi. Kare wa kyōi to wa omowanai mono o kamu koto wa aranai...”
Mayumi was so flustered she burst into English that she knew Yasunobu wasn’t as well versed in having emigrated as an adult from Japan. “What do you mean he’s trained and he won’t bite anything that he doesn’t consider a threat? That dog is a dangerous animal. What if he bites River or Bebe?” Like she actually cared about that happening but at least it was something to make it seem as though she was concerned about what happened to the others around the house. Because in actual truth, she couldn’t care less if something happened to anyone else in the house.
Yasunobu saw right through that, “Ryūsei ni tatakareta koto deshita, Anata wa nani mo iwanaideshou, “Uso ni boku o nayama senaide, bokutachi wa anata ga amari mo yoku sh-itt.(If we were all hit by a meteor (except you); you’d have nothing to say about it.)” he snappede imasu...(Don’t bother lying to me; I know you too well...)
Mayumi threw up her hands in a huff, tramping upstairs in a fit of pique that resembled a toddler’s tantrum. Yasunobu shrugged his shoulders. Hell would freeze over before he let Mayumi get rid of Haruo’s new dog.
Bebe was still over there after using the Chikamori’s dining room table to do her homework and then read a logic book. She grinned when she saw River and Haruo come in from the wet outdoors and smirked knowingly at Haruo who headed over to the kitchen table to sit down and do the last of his homework that he still hadn’t gotten done after a Work Experience foray at Doo Peas Office Tower which had netted him about §140.00 in cash. Of course, he’d headed straight over to the school as he knew that River was still there. She’d told him that she’d be doing her homework there and then heading over to the park to go fish for an assignment that made her take the resultant catch to the Science Center on the other side of town so that she could get some science experience. “So, girlie...what’s the dealio?” Bebe grinned, “You’re comin’ home drenched like a drowned rat and you’ve got a smile on your face. What’d you catch.”
“A rainbow trout.” River smirked back at her other friend. “It was about this big...”
“Oh, really?” Bebe said. “That sounds like a fish-story...” she grinned at River.
“Really, it was that big...”
“Uh...huh?” Bebe smirked at her with a sidelong glance at Haruo. “really...?”
River narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Oh, knock off.”
Yasunobu went to the wood stove to soothe his frayed nerves and his anger and set to making a Lasagna Supreme so that he and his son could have something fresh to eat. However he noticed that River was industriously mopping up the large puddle of water that had been left on the floor and correctly assumed by the growl that emitted from her stomach, to River’s embarrassment, that she was famished, “River...you stay...eat dinner here...then you go home and sleep, neh?” he said placing down a plate of lasagna in front of her with utensils and River dug in happily, enjoying the fact that she was in the company of people who cared about her a lot other than her mother.
“I will, thank you, Mr. Chikamori.” River replied, thankful that she wouldn’t have to leave Haruo to Mayumi’s tender mercies, just yet.
The Chikamori Third of the triplexYet another walk from the school. The weather was starting to warm up as Haruo and River noted that their high school years were drawing to a close. The walks to and from school now took on a more introspective tone; conversations about how they planned to use the very first days of academic freedom. They both agreed on the fact that heading to university immediately was not in their plans at the very least. Some life experience would be nice to have before proceeding to the next academic stage of their lives. Besides; being seasoned travelers was a good thing -except when encountering cannibals; OK, maybe that was the wrong type of seasoned. But the option with immediately going to university was to live on campus, which meant that they would actually be away from Haruo’s mother.
Studying was never fun...for Haruo nor for River especially not over on Haruo's side of the triplex. Especially with Mayumi hovering nearby like a malevolent Gorgon seizing on the slightest opportunity to be a harpy. "I hope you two are studying more than you are chattering. If you're not getting your school-work done..." prompting Haruo to snap irritably that they were going over the problem and trying to solve it together to which Mayumi's response was "...less chatter more work!"
God, how River hated that witch. Mayumi was a stickler for homework and as a teacher for the primary school that was conjoined with the secondary school, she was able to be charming enough to glean whatever results on her son's academics that she could and used that information to make his life a living hell.
Poor Haruo just didn't find that it was all that interesting. In fact, neither did River but at least she was hovering around an A average in school. Haruo was struggling and he knew it. With only two months left of school to go, He was going to be hard pressed to pull his grades up to an A average and that in itself gave Mayumi more than enough to grind Haruo's gears to the breaking point.
Homework was a dreary prospect looming over their last eight weeks of school. None of them enjoyed the prospect of homework or the tests that followed shortly thereafter. Most of the classroom study and work were for the prime objective of shoving your grade-point average up as high as possible to qualify for post-secondary education scholarship contention. In that vein, it was a good thing to be a keener as that would help rain money down on your head ostensibly to ensure your continued success in post-secondary school in order to achieve the highest university/college marks available to a 4.0 grade point average thus reaching the highest, exalted pinnacle of academic prowess *cough* Rhodes Scholar *cough* possible while the rest of one's pedestrian friends had to work for a living in order to support their academic endeavors. What a way to win an appointment to study at Oxford.
Haruo knew for a fact that the only way that he would ever qualify for any scholarship was if some awarding institution took pity on him for his lack of scholastic ability.
Maybe the Pacific Association for Advanced Mathematical Studies for the Dyscalculaic (PAAMSD) - that would be a feat. Haruo chuckled to himself. Doctoral thesis in the Mathematical Sciences would be Trigonometric Permutations of the Square Root of Pi to the Tenth Power and Its Use in Calculus. That would take the better part of twenty years to complete for somebody having to deal with dyscalculia. The errors themselves would appear as logical permutations and would make proof-reading a nightmare.
Or perhaps the Fraternal Order of the Franciscan Friars Charity's Piety (or was that Pity) Grant for those who are Academically Ungifted.
It was a royal pain in the ass to feel motivated enough to do homework all the time. Especially when distractions were plentiful including Grad Committee, focusing on a humungous bash to send graduates off into young adulthood and post-secondary life; one final salute to the happy-go-lucky years of youth; a soiree to end all soirees to celebrate the culmination of secondary education and their new lives as functioning members of society...
...hopefully...
Who knew what the future would portend for the two, but they knew that in order to get a great start in life, that they would have to crack the whip on their schooling and try to achieve as high a mark as they could in what short amount of time that they had left in their high-school academic careers.
But that still didn't stop Haruo from making faces about it. He'd hated school-work for as long as he could remember; it took time away from more enjoyable things like playing basic arcade games like Super Contra and Assault. They were games that had a major line up at the arcade with people hovering around the arcade machine eager to get a look at the action just waiting for the player to mess up so that they could have a turn.
Since school was in session, the Spring Festival was an “after-school” event, Yasunobu told Haruo to go with River after they’d done their homework and get some relaxation time while Mayumi's back was turned. They didn't need to be told twice. Both River and Haruo looked at each other and amscrayed out the door to make sure that they enjoyed the rest of what was left of their evening..
The Spring Festival was still in town and Haruo looked forward to the thought of going to Central Park to go do something interesting at the Spring Festival. Evidently much was there for the enjoyment of the townsfolk. Lovers could test their compatibility with the Love Tester and singles could go up to the Kissing booths to receive a kiss for a fiver. Ah, love was in bloom.
"Where the hell is that rotten kid?" Mayumi snarled as she saw the wide open door and no teenager present, "Of course he'd sneak out of the house when he's supposed to be studying." It didn't matter to Mayumi that her son had stayed up for three hours doing homework with his friend the previous night. Mayumi expected perfection and by God, she was going to get it from that undisciplined blight if she had to flog him with a ruler.
She turned to her husband and said "he must have gone to the park. Yasubo! Do something!" The shrill hag put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
Yasunobu took that as an opportunity to go to the park himself, alone so that he would not have to listen to the bleating harpy that he'd had the misfortune to marry, when, he presumed, he'd lost his mind so many years ago.
Maybe he needed to go talk to a lawyer to see what his options were because he wasn't sure if he could remain tied to a screeching termagant that was making him and his son's life an absolute misery. Perhaps life would get much better if he was free of her.
So Yasunobu also took his leave of the house and headed down to Central Park. If he saw Haruo and River, he wouldn't say anything. After all the studying Haruo and River did, they deserved some time to themselves.
Yasunobu always had been a hard worker; he always put out his best efforts in any job but he also was understanding of his child's need to relax and he felt that Mayumi was going overboard on the "study" aspect of things. She was not going to get the results she wanted by grinding Haruo to the point of mental collapse.
His walk allowed him time to think and he pondered why he married that woman in the first place. After all, she had certainly made his own life a living hell. Was it any wonder that he felt 'baited and switched'. There was no resemblance at all to the woman he married - it was as though he had married a completely different person, a behavioral shapeshifter, malevolently keeping the same face, but shifting her attitude to persecute the one she had turned into a scapegoat. And it made Yasunobu squirm in revulsion. In fact the worse Mayumi treated their child, the more Yasunobu reviled her and drew away from her. "If Mayumi thought Yasunobu was going to tell Haruo to come home so that she could continue to psychologically batter him, she had another thing coming.
He reached the park, noted quietly that his son was with River and went to quietly get a hot-dog at the stand. He waited for the music to stop and for his son and his friend to come off the roller-skating rink with River and smiled as his son warily approached noting with some anger towards Mayumi that his son was wary of him; that he thought that Yasunobu was spying on what the two of them were doing on Mayumi's behalf.
To reassure him, he said to Haruo, "Koko dewa tanoshinde ne." He winked at Haruo who heard clearly that he was to enjoy his time at the park. "Anata futari jubun taberunoni okane mo-teru ka?" Haruo looked at River who shrugged her shoulders, he had only about ten simoleons. Yasunobu slipped his hand into his own pocket withdrawing his wallet. Handing both River and Haruo twenty simoleons each he said, "jubun, tabe-yo, nanika nomimon kainasai. Kyo wa sugoku astukatta." Haruo looked over at his father who grinned at him and at River. And it certainly was going to be necessary to eat and drink tonight, as it was still warm even in the middle of May, he was already feeling the heat and it was after seven at night. "Devisa ni iku, hon ga aru ka o shiraberu." Haruo reacted to his father's words with some relief as his father finished his last bite of hot dog and stood up.
River hugged him, all throughout her childhood, Yasunobu had always treated her like the daughter he'd never had, and every time Yasunobu saw her with his son, his facial countenance had a softness losing that hen-pecked pinched look.
Yasunobu hugged her back and said, "Anata to Haruo issho ni niau ne..." he winked at Haruo and Haruo turned red with embarrassment. River looked at Haruo in confusion. Yasunobu patted her on the shoulder, nodded to the both of them and headed off, his footsteps marking a path towards Devisadero Books.
"What did he say?" River asked raising an eyebrow.
"Do you really want to know?" Haruo said flushing red again.
River raised one eyebrow in response; crossed her arms, tapping the toe of her right shoe and sarcastically said, "no.,,duh." Obviously.
"Um...he said...uh...we make... a good pair."
River's eyebrow lifted higher at that if it were possible and a glint of her eye made Haruo think she was coming up with something mischievous as a slow smile crept over her lips. She said with a 'come hither' over the shoulder glance, crooking her finger at him. "Well, why don't we see, huh..." and coaxed him to come with her to the Love Tester machine. It was located right next to the kissing booths this time around.
They both did the test. River grinned at Haruo when the outcome came out as Passionate. "Oh, really?" She said smirking at Haruo. "I don't know, we've been friends for 15 years now..." River made it appear as though she was thinking for a long moment, "but I can't seem to recall you being passionate." Another wicked smile. " Do you think the machine could be wrong?" She asked innocently knowing full well that she was baiting Haruo.
Haruo wasn't sure how to respond to that. He'd always thought of River as a really good friend but lately it seemed as though she was a bit more playful with him and stiffened up a bit when she saw him talking to other girls in the school and the brush past in the pool that had given him such a charge that he'd been afraid to get out of the pool or every one would have noticed just how interested he was in River. Of course he was a red blooded male and programmed to respond to flirtation. He settled for a shrug, "I don't know, maybe the machines are calibrated to come up with a variable answer. You want to try it again and see if we get a different answer?"
River smirked,"yeah, lets" pausing for a moment to give Haruo an inspecting look up and down."if we get the same answer, well...". She paused then said.."How about we just skip the kissing booths?"
Haruo didn't know why a sense of relief came over him as River suggested that. Why was it that he felt uncontrollable jealousy at the thought of River being kissed by someone else. It wasn't as though she was his sole possession. She was her own person.
Then she turned to the machine and they watched the lights light up. "What does it say?" Haruo asked not knowing why he was so nervous at the result.
River held her gaze on the test result before whispering. "The same thing." And then looked at Haruo.
They both walked away from the machine together, each lost in their own thoughts. It was just a fun machine, wasn't it? And why was it causing an upheaval in both of them.
"You mentioned something about skipping the kissing booth?" Haruo ventured.
"Yeah." River was quiet. "I always found the idea of kissing a complete stranger grody". She looked at him, her thoughts reflecting on what the machine had read out as their love-reading. "I'd much rather kiss someone who I know."
They walked over to the food kiosks and each bought a Pepsi and sat down to enjoy it. They enjoyed the rest of the day but he could tell something was on River's mind.
After they were done at the festival and were set to head back home. Haruo walked her to her suite in the triplex, hugged her and stayed put until he could hear the deadbolts on the door. Then he turned his footsteps towards the side of the triplex where his family lived.
The two friends seemed to be having a good time with playing on the Nintendo Entertainment System with cartridge games like Duck Hunt, Blades of Steel and Suoer Mario Bros 2 as Haruo and River enjoyed the rest of the afternoon after homework was finished.
River and Haruo had tried to drive the uncomfortable feelings stemming from the April Spring Festival in hopes that they wouldn't have to revisit the feelings and maybe get back to what it was before. But now that River had those feelings hop out of the genie bottle; the feelings wouldn't go back quietly into hiding again. They needed to be confronted. But was she really ready to face all that?
She was here with her best friend playing video games like they used to, but soon they would each be off doing their own thing; dealing with whatever adult life threw at them. Their focus would have to be making a living with whatever skills that they could manage to develop into earning potential. She sighed, audible enough that it made Haruo notice.
"What's wrong?" He asked looking kind of puzzled.
River looked at him, "You know? How many years has it been since we first met?" She asked him, putting her controller down and looking directly at her friend.
"18 years, since we’ve lived together or close by each other for our entire lives according to my dad." Haruo eyed her curious that she would ask a question that she already knew the answer to.
"And we're only two weeks till graduation." She informed him. "Then we're off doing whatever it is that we're intending to do in life." She looked at him and noted that he had a hangdog expression as if he was loathe to consider the fact that they would soon embark on separate life-paths. After-all they'd been together sharing friendship for so long, it seemed unnatural to do something without the other present. River watched him as he digested the idea of that eventuality.
"Yeah," he commented un-enthusiastically as he finished pondering that unpalatable thought. "It seems so...” he paused for a moment unable to find the words then continued, “...and I still don't know what I plan to do with my life. It just seems so overwhelming, y'know?"
"Yeah", River told him, "I only have a bare-bones idea myself and the idea that I want to travel and see the world in some shape or form."
"seventeen; almost eighteen years..." Haruo said quietly, reflecting on the past, "We've had a lot of good times together." He looked out the window.
So there it was;: a finality. River sighed. "Yeah, we did..." She asked herself if she was prepared to strike out on her own and pursue her life goals. The answer she was prepared to give herself was mixed and she wasn't ready to throw the potential for their continued relationship in the trash-heap of unrequited interest so all things considered, since Haruo, after being thoroughly stepped on by his mother-dearest couldn't bring himself to make the first move, she would have to press the issue, "So, what do we have together?" She asked looking him in the eyes.
Haruo pondered that for a long time before answering. "A good long friendship. A lot of people don't have that." He said, "They usually grow apart, each go their separate ways and well the friendship ceases to exist." He said.
"Is that what we want?" River pressed him. "To take nearly eighteen years and just say it was a good run?" She didn't understand why she felt rather nettled, but it appeared that she had been hoping for something beyond just a friendship that just hadn't come to fruition. Oh, well, one last chance and it had truly come down to that. "Is that all we're going to say for eighteen years?" Please, Haruo, say something.
"No. That's not what I want." He stated. When all was laid out on the table, and the choices were starkly shown, he wasn't ready to let her go. "You want to travel and do things that you've always aspired to do. And I'm more of a stay-at-home sort. I don't want to drag you down and keep you from doing every thing in your life that you want to do."
River realized that he wasn't wanting to cast off their friendship. It was that he felt like his own grounded aspirations were going to be a tether to her ambitions. He cared about what she wanted. He wasn't just paying lip service."Who says that you would drag me down? What says that I wouldn't drag you with me everywhere I want to go to get you out of that comfort zone you've conveniently cocooned yourself in?" She looked at him square on, daring him to object to the characterization. He didn't.
"Well, uh..." he stammered. "I don't know, I've always wanted to visit the Pyramids." He was tentative.
"Well, then that settles it, you're coming with me to Al Simhara." Object to that now! She challenged him silently.
"Are you sure?" He asked, "I'm probably not the very best travel companion." He said.
River shot him a mischievous grin as she said, "Just so long as you don't steal the covers and snore in my ear." Haruo took a long minute to really comprehend that and his eyes widened at the implication.
Oh, that was just evil of her to throw that out at him, but she wanted to rock him back on his feet and keep him unbalanced; to not give him any chance to talk himself out of it. She grinned to herself, maybe the mental visual of the two of them in bed together will render him speechless.
"So where do we go from here?" Haruo asked and River looked at him.
"Well." She eyed him, "...it all depends..." she looked past him for what seemed an interminable moment. "What do you want..."
"I don't want to lose this..." he said.
River asked him, "This, as in our friendship?"
"Yeah, but..."
River held her silence, she knew there was more and she wasn't going to pressure him.
After what seemed like hours, he finally spoke, "...also, what could be." He finished tentatively looking at her.
"Once again, we're at the so, what do we have together question..." River pointed out.
The answer was like an admission dragged out bit by painful bit, "I don't...want to lose...you, River..." Haruo admitted. There it was laid out on the table. He was afraid that they would let life experiences pull them in separate directions.
"You won't lose me..." River answered, taking his hands in her own. "We've always been together, what makes you think our friendship would end?"
The most painful admission that Haruo could give; he wasn't sure if River would be receptive, whether she thought of him as something more than just a good friend who she'd shared moments together where they'd had a good time, laughed their asses off and were always hanging together. "What if friendship isn't what I want..." he asked her,"What if it's something more?"
River looked at him barely moving a muscle but silent, waiting for him to finish instead of prying it out of him.
"What if that something more means a commitment?" He asked a bit braver now since she hadn't voiced an objection. "What if I want something more out of this friendship?"
"...to move beyond mere friend-ship?"
Haruo nodded.
River looked at him as she squeezed his hands gently, "I wouldn't be averse to the idea." She said softly.
Haruo looked at her, "Would we consider each other girlfriend and boyfriend?"
River looked at him, her expression softening from the determined woman determined to get answers, "Yes, I think that's entirely accurate."
Haruo leaned in as River tilted her face up and their breath brushed each other's face as their lips met in a kiss that sent tingles down their body from the top of their head to the tips of their toes.
After that no more words were necessary as they wrapped each other up in a tight embrace and all was right with the world.
Monday, June 6, 1988,The last two weeks of school before graduation. There were final exams and it was a lot of cramming that needed to be done. Nothing more had been discussed about what happened at the Spring Festival and they appeared to be willing to let the other have their thoughts to themselves. After all, they really needed to concern themselves with exam preparation so that they could pass the provincial finals.
Examinations under stress were not ideal for Haruo and he knew he'd be batting middle of the pack in terms of marks so he was resigned to the fact that scholarship was not in his cards.
When the kids came home from school and another battery l, Fiona and Yasunobu were seated on the couch watching a television show, with Mayumi standing right next to the TV looking angry.
That did not bode well so Haruo and River went immediately to the table and started working on their homework eager to not arouse the ire of Haruo's mother. After all, Haruo's mother wouldn't hesitate to disrupt their studies so that they wouldn't be able to get anything done. She wouldn't care either and blame them for it even if it was her own actions that caused their failure in the first place.
After all nothing was Mayumi's fault. She was perfect in every way and the whole irritating part of it was that no-one acknowledged that she was God's gift to humanity. That lack of respect was insufferable and Mayumi hated everybody for it. She wanted to make sure that every one knew that she was the epitome of education and that she should be teaching as a tenured professor teaching University level literature in UBC, instead of as sone hack-rate baby-sitter in some skid-rated two-bit school in some godforsaken municipality in Bumsquat, BC.
But Mayumi's ire was not directed at them THIS time. It was directed at Fiona for sitting beside Yasunobu. Yasunobu was HER possession and woe betide the person who dared to poke herself between Mayumi and her possession.
"What in the bloody blue blazes are you going on about Mayumi?" Fiona asked her, her tone dryly acid. "Yasunobu and I were just watching TV. Then you come out all bent out of shape."
"I know what you were thinking about doing...you shameless tramp..." Mayumi snarled as she glared daggers at Fiona. "You think you can sit on my couch with MY husband, you weren't just watching TV, you were hitting on him."
Fiona smiled a wicked smile as she thought for a brief second So that's what that ogre thinks, she thinks I'm going to take her husband away from her.
Both River and Haruo were silent, not saying a word as their two mothers fought not more than ten feet away from them. Their heads were buried in their study notes for the Algebra 12 final exam the next day. Both River and Haruo did their best to not let the fighting distract them.
Mayumi screeched, "I don't know why we keep an open door policy in our triplex if you are going to come over here every single day and invade my space...and...and...and chinwag with my husband..."
Fiona nearly laughed in Mayumi's face as she thought ...and you treat him like a possession...instead of a husband, how do you think that makes him feel?
"YOU people should keep to YOUR own space..." she ranted at Fiona. "That's why this place is a TRIPLEX and not a single family home."
Fiona rapidly was starting to lose interest in Mayumi's ranting. During a moment that Mayumi took a breath, Fiona jumped in, "Are you done ranting, you pompous windbag? If you're not, I'm going to inform you that I'm rapidly growing tired of your ranting and your insinuations."
"Why you...you Botoxed B... Brainless...B..Bimbo!" Mayumi shrieked in outrage. "You couldn't satisfy a flea ridden mongrel." she threw one last insult...
As the insult registered on Fiona's face her lip curled with disdain. Poor Yasunobu caught in the middle of could only stare, his eyes wide open and near-stupefied.
"Well, I'm sorry you think of your husband as a flea-ridden mongrel because I'm sure I could satisfy YOUR husband more than YOU ever could, you conceited Crow-Faced Hag!"
That was a declaration of war if he'd ever heard one and Haruo sure didn't want to end up in the middle of this pitched battle so he looked over at River,""River, When we're finished studying, you wanna go upstairs and play video games together?" Haruo asked nervously gesturing with his shoulders as to let River know exactly what he wanted to avoid.
"Yeah...anything to get away from this..." River muttered staring down at her study notes. Would Haruo's witch of a mother ever shut the hell up?
...probably not until her wind ran out. And even that was up for debate.
"...AND if you think of your husband so little, maybe he needs a REAL woman to show him some REAL loving... What do you think of that, you little snot-nosed witch! Maybe I should take him away from you to teach you a lesson." Fiona snarled in Mayumi's face. That was a mistake...if she thought that Mayumi would back down. Since Mayumi had the evil/mean-spirited combination, she won the fight.
But she didn't get off easily as Fiona, when she got up and dusted herself off, slapped the ever lovin' bejeepers out of Mayumi.
...and that was going to make for one tense household that night...well...except for the four upstairs...
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