Chapter Two
After the two fights with VJ Alvi and Haruo having decisively vanquished the lout, it was pretty clear to the rest of the school that Haruo was not someone to mess with. Especially after seeing VJ with bruised face, cuts, abrasions and two black eyes and VJ previously had a reputation for being one of the toughest kids in the school. To see VJ start something and then been handily trounced was a clear warning to other kids to not try to tangle with Haruo. So it was that Haruo was left alone by the other kids and River, Haruo’s cousin Tarao and her other friend Bebe Hart were the only ones that would speak to him.
Uncle Satoshi, Yasunobu’s brother; during the course of his travels, had fathered a son, Torao, who was now thirteen. Tarao had joined the Chikamori and McIrish families at the house in 1981, after a long phone-call from Satoshi to Yasunobu about taking him on while Satoshi got his affairs together in order to come home from travelling the world. He had to clean up a few things that he’d gotten into while he was abroad namely a relationship from which he was extricating himself. The mother of his child had not wanted to continue the relationship and the matter of custody was being disputed. When that matter was cleared up, he would return from where he was located to join his son. The son was clearly Satoshi’s get; which was apparent when the boy arrived at the house. His facial features were clearly a younger version of Satoshi.
Grade Eight was an interesting year as many of the older kids were graduating and each class went up a grade. After a few older kids learned painful lessons in not picking on Grade Eight students, he developed a reputation as an eighth grader to not mess with who more than willing to interject himself between an older bully and a weaker younger student. Academics, however, was a hard adjustment for Haruo and River and Haruo were more than happy when summer rolled around to spend summer holidays hanging out together just as they had in elementary school.
Freshman year, was an eye-opener with the classes getting harder and the learning being crammed into fifty minutes was quite intensive. And Haruo and River knew that it would get harder as the year went on. Both could be found in the library studying diligently for their surprise exams that the teachers were wont to surprise their students with. At least if they were ready for everything; they wouldn't get unpleasantly surprised by anything...unplanned...
...hopefully.
It was around the start of summer preceding sophomore year that Fiona's long-time friend Molly French moved into Fiona's house along with her four-year old daughter Sandi with Fiona's blessing and River found herself doing a lot of baby-sitting which seemed to affect just how much time she would have to hang out and do things with her friend of fifteen years but at least she was able to prioritize between summer holiday child minding and time with her friend. But it also sparked an immediate change of necessity that would not make Haruo or River very happy as the addition of two more members of the family made it so that the family had to sell their home. And as such, the children were caught in the thick of it. And that was why on Sunday, June 25, 1985, they were standing outside their home, now former home, moving van packed and ready and staring at the house they were leaving behind. In fact, it wasn’t just Molly and Sandi French moving in, but yet one more member of a set of two family members who moved in on the Chikamori’s side, as Satoshi had finally managed to clear up everything that he’d needed to abroad, coming back home to where his brother was. So Asilomar was getting far too crowded for them t continue to live there
One Month Earlier - May 25, 1985
This revelation met with a large amount of resistance, naturally since Haruo enjoyed the fact that River and her mother lived with them and that immediacy of their access to each other in their friendship was what had facilitated the long-time closeness between the two now-teenagers. It was as though the two were inextricably linked in some metaphysical sense. It appeared as though the two would no longer be able to share the most convenient ability to be able to just knock on the door to her room in their house to see if the other was willing to hang out together and study or watch TV or to come to dinner. Depending on how far Haruo's parents and uncle decided was the location of the ideal home it could mean that he could potentially lose River to geographical restrictions on feasibility of holding on to their friendship. And that was not a palatable thought in the slightest.
The disclosure to the teens was a volatile situation and Haruo didn't take it as well as River. In fact he didn't want to move and told his father to nix the sale. But Yasunobu told him that the deal was already done and that they had to abide by the terms of the contract as drawn out in the Offer of Purchase. That didn't make Haruo happy in the slightest.
"But, Dad...how far are we going to be?" It wasn't like River was going to be far away from him, but they wouldn't have the immediacy of being able to just walk into the living room or knock on the door of her bedroom in order to talk with her. They would have separate suites in the new place. But Haruo felt that sense of loss.
River put her arms around Haruo in a hug to try to let him know that it would be alright, "Haruo...look we'll still be able to go to the park with each other and I'll always be in your face if you ever need me to hang out with you. We're studying together every afternoon." she insisted. "It'll be OK..." She could sense his resistance to the idea as he pulled away from her, a pang of hurt in her coming to the forefront as he pulled out of her embrace.
"Look, River, I need to think this through. It's too much information at one time..." Haruo said, as he took a long deep breath, trying to calm his emotions, when he really wanted to put his fist through a wall. Curse that VJ Alvi; he's never around when I need to beat on his face. Haruo thought morosely. He could tell that River felt hurt, but his emotions were churning and he needed an outlet not her where he could vent ferociously and he didn't want it to be her that he vented it on. "I'm going to the gym." he said, as he abruptly by-passed her and walked away.
"I understand..." River said, not turning to face him, her heart throbbing in pain from the rejection of her attempt to comfort him, instinctively knowing that she, at that time, that she, herself, needed comfort; yet knowing that Haruo needed his space to think and come to terms with the sudden news about the sale of the house and the move to different confines.
"Is he going to be alright with this?" River asked her mother, a hint of misery in her voice.
“You know he’s been like this whenever he gets news that he’s uncomfortable with.” Fiona felt her heart ache for her daughter. Her daughter was in love with Yasunobu’s son and she hadn’t come to grips with her own feelings. It’d been this way now for a couple years, Fiona had noticed her daughter’s close ties to Yasunobu’s son and the fact that her daughter felt for him deeply, but hadn’t yet admitted it to herself.
Haruo finally returned home late that evening having kicked a kick-bag around at the gym and beating on the Muk Yang Jong and getting out his anger on the exercise machines, The frustration behind his anger was the idea that it appeared as though the two would no longer be able to share the most convenient ability to be able to just knock on the door to her room in their house to see if the other was willing to hang out together and study or watch TV or to come to dinner. Depending on how far Haruo's parents and uncle decided was the location of the ideal home it could mean that he could potentially lose River to geographical restrictions on feasibility of holding on to their friendship. And that was not a palatable thought in the slightest.
River had to understand her best friend’s reticence to such a move so River told him that they were going out to the festival at Central Park and that they would take the opportunity to talk to each other to come to an understanding as to each of their positions in regards to the move.
"I know this idea of a move is eating you up..." River started, not wanting to start a verbal argument.
Haruo let out a deep sigh of frustration then admitted, "It's not the move in itself..." he said shortly. He let out an irritable snort waving his hand, "It's just the bloody way that Dad let me know about this whole thing..." he couldn't admit it to himself that he had feelings towards River; she was his best friend in the world and he'd heard too many stories about being let down when a person opened up to their best friend and got stuck in what was now known as the friend-zone. Better to keep his feelings to himself and let things keep going as they were, "...that, oh we're moving...in one month, and that we're off to someplace new, like nothing mattered as far as what we wanted."
"But you know that we can't stay at that place...as much as the memories that we have there are concerned. It's just too small of a place..." River tried to rationalize it.
"I know, Haruo, it's a shock." she continued, "But it's not like it's the end of the world."
"Well, it very well could be..." Haruo huffed. River resisted the urge to laugh; it wouldn't go over well, and Haruo was being ridiculous, but she knew that he felt secure in their currrent home and the fact that he was now being uprooted from a situation where he was comfortable in was causing him pain and uncertainty. She thought to herself, When he sticks his roots in to someplace, he sticks them deep and doesn't like being uprooted and relocated somewhere else.
As they sat and looked at the festival lot going up for opening next day, Haruo sighed and said, "I wish that we could have stayed at that place forever. I would have felt better that way."
River resisted the urge to put her arms around him, to call him, sweetheart and contented herself with sitting quietly beside him just saying softly, "I know..."
After this summer would be their sophomore year, the transition point between being considered a junior high schooler and transitioning into senior high school for their junior and senior years; the last two years of secondary school; it was said that the majority of students had to look towards their potential career aspirations. This was the point in life where they were going to pick their road they planned to travel in their future endeavors and that was going to involve much soul-searching. Haruo on the other hand was having major school problems with comprehension of maths. His ability to do redundant home-work was very low and he struggled with the subject. So it was with some trepidation that he would enter his sophomore year in the fall of 1985 with a determination to work hard no matter what his mother had to say about his personal study habits.
In the month preceding the move, Haruo and River spent as much time with each other as they could, whether it was down at Central Park watching the fish swimming around in the point; bogarting an apple or a lime from the trees in the park. Or hanging around the food kiosks during the seasonal festivals in the park. After all there were lots of things that needed doing but for the teens, being together was what assuaged any apprehensions that either had of Haruo's impending move. Studying together also helped. Just the mere physical closeness was comforting to each other.
What Haruo hadn’t realized months earlier was that Yasunobu had keeping his eyes open around the area and he’d noticed a by the sudden appearance of an “in development” sign on the property next door. – a triplex just next door, a perfect solution to their space problems. And while the adults in Haruo's family considered the possibility of an easy move to a house under construction;
Unbeknownst to Haruo and River and to Haruo's mother's ever increasing ire, Yasunobu had conversed with Fiona and he had offered to go hand in hand with the purchase of what was now known as the starting of a new triplex which was to be built on that next door vacant lot. The Chikamoris would attempt to locate a bridge mortgage based on Yasunobu and Fiona putting their current property up for sale to cover the down payment on the lot and construction next door and that she would be able to be a cosigner with equal responsibility on that mortgage insuring that the mortgage payments were made on time. It had been agreed at the bank that each of their savings would be debited exactly one-half of the monthly mortgage payment amount. And each had equal responsibility to cover the other half should the other have a bad month. It almost seemed as though the Chikamori and McIrish families were now financially inter-meshed as well as having their children being the best of friends. But it seemed natural to both Fiona and Yasunobu to consider this option and initiate that plan as their children were so close that they both felt it would be traumatic to both of then to split them up. And both Yasunobu and Fiona refused any scenario that would split Haruo and River up.
Fiona and Yasunobu's discussion centered around how they wanted to keep Haruo and River together since their two only children had been friends for so long and that it made sense to move to a home that would allow them some privacy, yet keep the children close by to each other. The situation required a delicate touch and that they needed to look into that triplex and find a third party who would be interested in such a building. It meant seriously talking to Fiona's friends, the Harts to see if they would consider taking on a third of the mortgage and taking the third suite, thus keeping the building within friends. Yasunobu didn't know the Harts very well, however he did know that Haruo and River both knew Bebe and she'd occasionally come over to the Asilomar as a child to play with Haruo and River. Bebe was older than Haruo and River and she would be going into Junior Year in the fall. Again, she was also an only child and as such, the three of them could potentially study together. What he didn't know was that Satoshi's son, Torao was sweet on Bebe already.
Satoshi, good ol' Uncle Satoshi, was Yasunobu's younger brother and a world traveller, explorer and a restless spirit but he had gradually come to the realization that age was not on his side; planning on setting down his roots and what better place to do it than Sunset Valley near a member of his family. It was hoped by the adult members of his family that Satoshi's roving days were over and that all things considered he would settle down and start earning a regular pay-cheque and not be just a bohemian vagabond. It wasn't just that he was feeling his age but that he really had the unpleasant epiphany: at age fifty-one that he had reached midlife; that his eldest brother was fifty-three and had a son who was fifteen as did Satoshi himself after getting into a relationship with someone who didn’t pan out as a permanent partner and who had divested him of half his life-savings. They had actually spent ten years in what was a common-law relationship traveling the world together. If anything it had impressed upon him the rapid advance of the diminishing years before him and the rapidly increasing number of years that had passed him by. Satoshi could no longer afford to be carefree about his life just going from country to country experiencing the uniqueness of every culture. It was time, Satoshi thought as he stood staring out at the trees that lined the lot and pondered just exactly what the future would hold for him.
On top of that, having travelled to many corners of the globe; he was full of stories to tell those who would lend an ear and River just loved listening to the tales of Satoshi's adventures as she hoped to travel herself. River had that restless spirit about her that she wanted nothing more than to explore the world, but running a close second was the love of her family and the want of someone to share her life with and to raise that family that she wanted.
Despite the illusory appearance on the exterior face of Asilomar being large size; making extra bedrooms with the current layout as it stood; was an exercise in futility. Trying to design a layout for them to move around in was not feasible. Either the bedrooms became too small and/or they would have to extend out; building in a number of structural features to the building that would completely change the exterior destroying the modern look that it had and turning it into a garish caricature of its original self. The ultimate decision was to sell the home and find a new place to live.
Sunday June 25, 1985
“We’ve had a good run at this place, haven’t we?” Fiona looked over at Yasunobu, who turned around to see her and nodded. He was getting much better with the English colloquialisms as the years went by.
“Yes...long time...” he stated as they both looked at each other. The memories of River and Haruo growing up here, marking off the height-changes on a section of the wall reserved for such things and it was going to be hard to leave those memories. For Yasunobu this was not a happy change as he’d watched Haruo and River grow from infancy to teen-age years in this very house, but the situation had changed and such they had to.
Mayumi was scowling at the house. She’d never really liked the place and it had gotten more and more cramped as more people showed up. Molly and her rugrat were the final straw. She’d shrilly insisted that they sell the place and move into something more amenable to her. She’d be damned if they had to live another single second in a place without any form of privacy. She wanted her space and by God, she was going to get it come hell or high water.
So the equity that was built up by Yasunobu and Fiona in the house had to go into buying a new property and re-investing. Unfortunately all that came with a move. And River and Haruo were not happy about that since they had to uproot themselves. Luckily the property that they found was not too far away from the old one. However the memories that their parents had built up would be just that, memories with no tangible evidence of the years that they’d spent at this home.
Haruo and River were now taller at fifteen years old and River, as most females of that age, were filling out and were growing at a much faster rate than their male counterparts. And feelings best not acted upon were coursing through their veins so they continued their own platonic facade of stating to each other that they were just friends who iived in the same house together. And each silently looked at the other wishing that they could be more than just friends but keeping their silence as they didn’t want their hearts broken if the other didn’t feel the same way.
For River and Haruo, the year seemed to drag on endlessly: school exam, assignments, pop quizzes, mid-terms...more school exams.
In January, all eyes were glued to the television sets in horror as the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger ended in disaster when the shuttle exploded seventy-three seconds after launch from Cape Canaveral, killing the entire crew.
Their Junior year was full of hard work as they now were looking forward to Senior Year and the freedom that graduation would bring them. Haruo and River were hard-working and they studied together as much as they could. It seemed as though each year got faster and faster as the years progressed.
Such was the way things went throughout River and Haruo's junior year. Junior year was intense as it set them up to endure the intensity that would be their senior year which in turn would prepare them for post-secondary education. And Fiona and Yasunobu both hoped that River and Haruo would go on to get higher education, going to University; preferably Simon Fraser University or the University of British Columbia. Yasunobu had been working class all his life and his aspiration was to see his son go to university.
He tried to make heads or tails of those feelings. River was a good friend; his longest friend in terms of duration of time together and it seemed as if whenever he was having an existential crisis or as his teenage mind termed it, a stretch of rough times, she was always there to back him up. And he knew that soon their senior year would start. And after that would be graduation and the start of walking alone through life as each would have their own life to lead. River had often spoke of travelling the world but Haruo was a homebody content to do whatever his interest was at the time.
All he knew was that the thought of being apart from his best friend frightened him. They had been a part of each other's life for so long and it was so easy to talk with her because she had known him since both of them were knee-high to a grasshopper.
But they still had one year left and only time would tell...
Summer holiday after Junior year was quite relaxing. The second the bell rang after final class in the first week of June was quite liberating if it weren't for British Columbia final exams. Bummer. Of course it was a major buzzkill but there was really only two weeks of scheduled exams and anyways after finals were over they would be free to do whatever it was that they wanted to do which was go to the rec center and go swimming most oft-times. Sometimes they would go hiking in the back-woods and go over to Pinochle Pond and hang out watching the birds and other animals. It was a peaceful interlude in an otherwise hectic year with school.
The sun beat down out of a blue cloudless sky and the temperature rise was noticeable as Haruo and River decided to make their way over to the Sunset Valley rec center to go swimming later on in the day but first they wanted to spend some time at Pinochle Pond. They would get a burger or something over at Hogan's after then wait an hour doing something at Central Park before hitting the pool.
The temperature was on its way to 28 Celsius today and it was not a day where you wanted to end up dehydrated. So both carried water with them as they hiked up the trail leading to Pinochle Pond. And as they approached the pond, they felt a slightly cooling breeze coming off the surface of the pond.
"This looks like a quiet place to sit.." River stated as she found a nice patch of grass and sat down looking out at the calm water, the only motion on the pond being a few ripples stirred up by the light breeze. "Haruo, come sit beside me..." she over to sit down beside her and he complied.
Haruo looked out at the pond. Lately restrictions by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans made it difficult to even do a child's longtime activity in the past of going out to the lake, fishing pole in hand, a bucket of worms and drop a line in the water to see if one could catch a rainbow trout for dinner. Coughing up thirty-six simoleons for an annual fishing license and then getting smacked with conservation surcharges on top of that for fishing rainbow trout and non-tidal water salmon.
Anyone under sixteen could fish without an annual fishing license, but the second they turned sixteen you had to get one though of course you had a three-year grace period before the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada had you by the short and curlies telling you to cough up or else.
Making sure they were always on the right side of the law meant that as seventeen year olds, River and Haruo didn't fish so they didn't run afoul of the fish and game wardens that frequently made checks of the areas that held bodies of water. So Haruo and River just opted to sit and enjoy their morning together by the pond.
The pond was the very epitome of the term pristine wilderness. Trees and shrubbery grew around the circumference of the pond naturally, not cut back at any rate by human hands. In this wilderness lay dangers as well. Cougars were well-known to stalk these parts though River maintained that it was probably too close to civilization for the skittish felines to come close but an encounter with one of them could prove fatal.
River by this time knew one of the reasons why Haruo was quick to agree to go with her to the park or frankly anywhere. His relationship with his mother was not good at all. In fact to cap it off, Haruo's mother was manipulative, narcissistic and abusive. On occasion his mother's mask of civility would slip and she would observe just how Haruo was treated by his mother. River knew the days when Mayumi would go off on her son because Haruo would show up to walk to school haggard, tired, with dark circles under his eyes denoting lack of sleep and jumpy. But River also knew that Mayumi in the strategic belittlement and psychological battering of her son wouldn't lay a finger on him. Why? Because she knew that one mark on Haruo's body; one bruise, one cut, one piece of evidence left behind and her carefully constructed house of cards would collapse.
Mayumi was too smart to lay a finger on him (belittled, subjected to minimalization of any concerns that he had, name-calling, threatening, isolation if he didn't do what Mayumi wanted, waking him up at two in the morning to scream at him about something that only Mayumi was concerned about; never though, a finger laid on him), but he was ripe...oh so ripe for open rebellion. And it was just uncertain about what form that rebellion would take place or whether it would involve more than just hateful looks directed towards his mother and her abuses but yet there were the cultural mores of being the obedient son and never talking back to his elder or treating her ill in return. He and his father both were the long-suffering types - suffer in silence.
Mayumi, herself, could only be described as a "seething ball of hate". She didn't like anyone or anything and the most that could be said of her was: it was wise to not cross her. If anything could be said that described just how vitriolic Mayumi was, it was whispered around Sunset Valley that even Vita Alto, the town's defacto evil hag, was slightly afraid of what Mayumi Chikamori could do. Completely narcissistic, vengeful, self-serving and hateful were some of the more colourful nouns used to descripe Mayumi. River could barely stomach the thought of anyone having married that witch; least of all, Haruo's poor father. And she would never forgive Mayumi for the way that she treated Haruo. River surprised herself with how protective she felt of her long-time friend. They were just friends... weren't they?
...or was there something more than that. After all no matter what went on in River's life, one thing could always be counted on, the one true constant in her life was Haruo. It seemed from the moment River and he had met, that their friendship had grown and upon deep introspection, River cherished that closeness with her friend of fifteen years. When he was with her, everything was right with the world.
Sunset Valley was a little municipality bordered on two sides by Tsawwassen one side by the Canadian-US border and by the Pacific Ocean on the West Side which Redwood Parkway over-looked.
The waterfront homes along Redwood Parkway were worth millions; especially to the foreign investors looking to make Vancouver their own personal stomping ground and leisure resort which didn't make Haruo and River. all too happy as it would make it much more difficult for them to buy a home for the future. Summrrhill Court in Summerhill Heights bordering Delta was the ultra rich neighbourhood in the municipality of Sunset Valley and had their own jurisdictional police force with Delta Police assisting when necessary.
It was a nice house that had been constructed. It was a side by side triplex, three floors, three bedrooms on the second floor and a relatively unfinished third floor with the exception of Fiona’s having one bedroom on the third floor and Yasunobu’s having two meaning that each unit had technically three bedrooms apiece plus the extra in Fiona’s and Yasunobu’s suites and those bedrooms were necessary for enough room in the house for additional occupants such as an increasing family. It was well worth the §108K they had paid for the lot value, but unfortunately that meant that it was going to take a lot of work to pay for the taxes involved. It had taken a lot more for the land improvements; almost as much as what they’d paid for the empty lot.
When Yasunobu informed the McIrish family of his intent to sell their mutual home and move to the duplex; they knew that it was a stepping stone to further enhancing both their financial situations and with Molly paying rent for living with her, the additional income would allow Fiona to meet her half of the mortgage commitment. And it would be well worth it. No more scrambling at overtime to try to meet the mortgage payments ever since Molly had moved in and they were securely in the new house. Secondly, Fiona was enjoyed having their own private place to live in. Molly worked at the local Hogan's Diner. After all when one provides victuals on a budget to increase profit margin, the quality of ingredients tends to suffer. But at least she had a full forty hours a week as a pastry chef and paid a good amount to keep her roof over her head. Fiona was secure in her position as an investigative reporter. She got a full forty hours a week and extra if she covered community events. Also she was able to use her off-time to write freelance articles and earn extra cash. It had been a good acquisition but mostly for the comfort factor. This was a house that didn't have a history. It was their house to build a family in. And mostly it was equity that River and Haruo could use to propel themselves on their way to becoming their own success stories.
With seventeen years under their belts, Yasunobu knew that River and Haruo were close as friends could be and oft-wondered if something else was at play. After all; Haruo and River had been playmates since the time that they could crawl and it was well known that where one was, the other was usually soon to follow and that triplex seemed like the perfect answer to both River and Haruo as they would be in their senior year in the fall of 1987. Yasunobu thought wistfully Was it really that long ago that the two of them were toddlers? His son was growing older and ready to fly the coop - he would be a young adult soon. It gave each of the families their own little bit of privacy, yet River and Haruo could hang out and do their homework together as could Torao and Bebe who seemed to be doing the same dance around each other - people after all were saying that River and Haruo were joined at the hip, colloquially speaking (to the ever increasing ire of Ethan Bunch and Parker Langerak who had their own designs on River McIrish).
Yasunobu looked up at the sky and smiled. With senior year approaching for his son and his long-time friend, this fall would be chaos.
"Yasubo! Rokudemonai musuko wa doko ichata-ka? Where is that no-good son!" A shrill voice penetrated his thoughts like a drill pushing through a piece of gypsum board as he winced. What the hell was that harpy going on about now? "Mata, sono kitane yariman to issho ni pondo te itta ne. Again, he must have gone together to the pond with that dirty harlot!" Mayumi spat derogatively.
Yasunobu winced again. He wasn't sure of how to deal with his wife and how disdainful she was of their son and his friend. "Hontōni sono yōna gengo o shiyō suruka? Are you really going to use that kind of language?" He asked, a sharp note of censure in his tone of voice. But it was more than abundantly clear that Mayumi had no small amount of disdain for her son.
" hnnn, Boku no musuko wa yakunitatanai. Kare wa nani ni mo naranai... my son is useless, he won't ever amount to anything." Mayumi scoffed as she turned to go back into the house. Over her shoulder she called out "Kare to sono yakunitatanai gomi ga modotte kitara, yarubeki sūgaku no mondai ronbun ga ju-go-mai aru - when he and that useless piece of garbage get back, tell him I have fifteen sheets of math problems for him to do!" She scoffed over her shoulder.
"shi-tsureina kusobaabaa!" Yasunobu muttered sharply under his breath. Why he ever put up with that hag, he'd never know.
River was revelling in her friend's nearness as they both sat close to each other. When they'd first started going to high school she noticed others hooking up and getting dates but nothing other than her studies interested her. She had a plan for her life that involved a lot of traveling and that would require a lot of money if she was going to travel on a regular basis. She was good with the brush and could craft a compelling story weaving words that left her classmates spellbound. She could see herself traveling the world armed with a paintbrush, canvases, pen and pad and earn a decent living from each. Maybe travel articles and paintings from France, China and Egypt. They were all the rage as far as travel was concerned and to be able to capture some of the sights that were available to the senses was more than reason enough to go.
"Have you ever thought about what you're going to do once you graduate?"
Haruo was startled out of his blissful contemplation of the water ripples on the surface of the pond as River's question broke into his quiet reverie. He shifted his position slightly so as to not lose his balance and fall against her even if he was in a seated position. Turning to look at her he responded cautiously, "With all the schoolwork that we've had, I really haven't had much time to think about it." He turned back to staring at the pond for a long moment of silence. It was so long that River thought he'd forgotten her question. "I'm thinking about writing as a career with maybe a side into gardening like Dad when he's not busy at his business career." He finished.
Those were homebody types of careers River thought as she continued to lock her gaze on him. To her it seemed as though he felt most comfortable at home...even if his mother was a Grade A bitch of the rankest odour. She hoped however for his sake that he managed to get clear of his mother's claws.
"Have you thought about your plans after high school?" Was the return question to her and River smiled softly thinking inwards.
Haruo gave her an indulgent look nodding as if to say go on and she did.
"There's so many things I want to do, to climb Machu Picchu. And visit the old Inca ruins. To explore the salt flats in Bolivia. To go to Seoul and experience the feeling of what its like to eat authentic Korean cuisine."
"...everything, eh?" Haruo said looking at her, "it looks like you've got your future planned out better than me. You should do all that." He encouraged her.
River looked into his eyes, and saw that despite his encouraging words that there was a lingering sadness in his eyes.
"I hope I can make a career out of being a writer." Haruo sighed looking up at the trees and intertwining the fingers of his left and right hands behind his head as he lay back on the grass looking up at the sky. He let out a deep breath. "My mom seems to think that writing is a dead end job." He paused exhaling in frustration. "She wants me to become a teacher like her. I have no passion for teaching and I want to blaze my own path." He let out an exasperated sigh.
River thought to herself, Writing is a dead-end job? Then why are there people making a living out of being writers? Mayumi is so full of shit it's a wonder she doesn't have a whole squadron of bot-flies hanging around her from the stench. She wouldn't know how to really motivate somebody even if she learned directly from the guy who played Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. It was a wonder how Mayumi could treat her own son this way. River had received nothing but encouragement from her mother when she had informed Fiona of her intent to travel and potentially become a travel writer traveling the world and writing about new exotic places. But Haruo had no one to encourage him.
Then she had a crazy idea. Shang Sim La had a kung fu school and if Haruo came with her he could train there, writing articles on kung fu, maybe write a story, somewhere away from his mother's toxic influence. Allow him to break free of his mother's clutches. And it would give me a chance to stay in Shang Sim La too to take pictures, paint landscapes and...and.., she enthused silently, looking over at her friend who was silently still staring up at the sky. I'd be able to see him thrive away from that bitch of a mother River thought to herself surprising herself as to how possessive and protective she sounded.
"You know maybe we should head back and get some lunch." Haruo looked over at his digital watch, a Casio A159W, which he'd managed to get for a Christmas present from his Uncle Satoshi. He showed her the time on the display. It read 4:27 if they walked they'd get into town about six in the evening. By then Molly would be working her shift at Hogan's. Hogan's Diner was the local greasy spoon which had franchised across the Lower Mainland; the menu options being slightly better fare than McDonald's on the edibility scale. The edibility tended to vary widely at the Sunset Valley Hogan's generally depending on who was manning the grill from edible and rather tasty when Molly was manning the line cook position to near heave-inducing when Jared Frio was at the helm of the grill station (considering Jared Frio's cooking skills - he seemed to spend more of his time improving OTHER skills).
But they say, beggars can't be choosers, and frankly, as long as there wasn't a cloud of flies emanating from the restaurant anytime one opened the door, the fare, if it didn't kill you, at least was filling.
"i think so too..." River concurred. To tell the truth she felt a bit hungry and her stomach was letting her know that if she didn't feed it in a reasonable amount of time she would regret not paying it any mind. Walking would keep her mind off the situation but eventually it would come to having to mollify her stomach. Maybe she could think of what to get on the walk with Haruo.
They both set out leaving Pinochle Pond behind. It had been their go-to place for many years. And River felt at peace there when the both of them would come up to the pond.
Walking across the fields brought them to Landgraab Ave which they would take all the way down past the SVPD station and past City Hall. It was a long walk in the heat but the anticipation at biting into a juicy delicious triple-stacked cheese burger and a tall cold glass of Pepsi was a dreamy prospect -thank goodness for high metabolism.
They were exhausted and sweaty by the time they reached Hogan's. Molly greeted them with a cheery "Hi, River; Hi Haruo..." from her station at the grill. River ordered the triple stacked cheeseburger heavy on the cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Haruo went with the triple stacked cheesy mushroom which the photo on the menu board showed it practically over-flowing with mushrooms. They both ordered a large Pepsi. This might take a while to digest, River thought to herself. At least the Sunset Valley Summer Festival was in town with roller-skating, a soccer field where one could take shots on the other and the slurpee machines were free in any case. Just in case they got overheated while playing shoot on goal.
The contemplation was interrupted by the server calling out their order number and like Pavlov's dogs, their mouths started to water. The cheeseburgers were large and dripping with greasy flavor; the triple burger patties slightly smoky from the grill-top. They were in burger heaven. River and Haruo were absolutely famished.
"Great burger, eh?" Haruo said between mouthfuls.
River nodded, her mouth full of juicy ground beef patties. The fries to the side looked crispy golden brown and gave off a fried potato aroma with a hint of sea-salt. And it tasted oh-so good. She giggled a bit as Haruo bit into his burger, rolled his eyes upwards and gave a look of absolute bliss. "What?" She asked when she could get the words out after swallowing her burger bite.
"Mmmm-mush-rooms" Haruo had a glazed look on his eyes, a blissful expression and a giddy smile plastered across his face as he gazed dreamily up at the ceiling of the restaurant. River cracked up laughing.
Even with the hilarity, they were both able to finish their late-afternoon lunch before two thirty though of course they would more than likely have to wait two hours before going into the water. There really wasn't anything that said there was any harm in going into the water without waiting but they figured that waiting two hours was worth it to not have to contend with a muscle spasm while swimming. Besides, eating a large meal meant that their stomachs would be digesting for a while.
River slipped into her bikini at the fitness centre women's changing room. She had also took a quick shower in order to clean the sweat off before slipping into the pool.
Likewise Haruo was doing the same. After playing soccer shootout, he was sweating. Pulling on his swimming trunks, he glanced in the mirror and grinned. His kung fu practices had honed his muscles making them wiry and flexible enough to make an explosive dragon claw counter punch -the last time he used that technique it made VJ Alvi measure his own length in the mud of the school football field knocked out cold. VJ left him alone after that; presumably after seeing Ursa Major rotate around his head a few dozen times.
Haruo was limber and his toned martial arts trained body was fit, he noted. He wasn't big, nor was his intention to get huge like Lee Haney who won the 86 Mr Olympia and was enroute to quite possibly winning again in 1987.
He flexed at the mirror and then walked out. The pool was a rectangular shaped one and uniformly deep. Most who went into the pool dog-paddled to keep afloat.
"Haruo!" River called to him.
And Haruo responded with a warm smile as she walked over to him and looked him over; her eyes halting her inspection of his torso at the level of his bare chest, an admiring look as she noted his wiry muscles.
River gazed at him appreciatively. "You look good." She assessed him seeing the wiry muscles that years of kung fu training had given him as he dropped into a kung fu pose grinning resembling a crouching dragon. She marveled at the easy way he was able to assume the position and the natural way his arms and hands seemed to position themselves into a dragons claws ready to lash out.
She'd seen him in grade eight put a grade eleven student on the ground with two moves: a lashing palm strike that whipped the student's head back and a spinning foot sweep kicking the student's legs out from under him. And that was for the student pushing a grade eight student head first into the door of a locker. That junior class-man had deserved everything he'd gotten. And now they had been the juniors and going into their senior year with graduation just around the corner and uncertain job prospects. They would have to make their way and hope that they struck opportunities at the right moment.
Haruo gazed appreciatively at River as well. Her hair was already damp and slicked back from the shower she'd taken to wash off the street-dust before going into the pool and she was in a black bikini which pretty much left nothing to the imagination.
But all that would wait as their only goal right now was to go swimming. "Cannon-ball!" Haruo charged for the pool...risking getting an admonition from the life-guards at the rec center. "Last one in the pool is a rotten egg..." River playfully taunted as she took a step off the edge of the poolside and into the water, submerging completely before rising to the surface treading water favoring him with an impish grin, her sodden hair contouring to the shape of her head, her eyes twinkling in merriment, rivulets of pool-water streaming down her face.
River wasn't fast enough as Haruo hit the water scant seconds before she jumped in.
Coming back up he saw her looking at him again with a look that appeared as though she was appraising him. "Like what you see?" He asked jokingly while treading water himself.
"Mmm-hmmm..." River responded, nodding her head as she swam closer to him inadvertently brushing her torso against his sending an electric charge coursing through his body as he had to quite remember to breathe. They'd flirted before but more as a joke.
"Wanna have a breath-holding contest?" Haruo asked River, trying to break up the intimate tension that had suddenly filled the air. However it was uncomfortably clear that his longtime friend was maturing into a young woman and as a young man, Haruo did react quite noticeably to that. He groaned softly, inaudibly. He wasn't going to be able to get out of the pool for a while as he was clearly interested in River.
“Yeah...how many times has it been 25-0?” River grinned at him. “You want to make it twenty six to zip?”
“Yeah, right, McIrish...blah blah blah...enough trash-talk, let’s do this...”
Sinking to the bottom of the pool, they held their breaths for as long as possible. Haruo could barely stand it...and his lungs were burning from holding in his breath for such a long while. Searching for River with his foot, he used his toes to tickle her thigh. That did it. She emitted a large stream of bubbles from her mouth as she exhaled her breath and shot for the surface. Breaking the surface she looked down at him and letting out an exhale of mock-outrage, protested, “That’s cheating, you tickled me and made me lose!"
Oh, she knew just how uncomfortable she was making him and she had him pinned like a butterfly to a specimen board. “Say you cheated...” she smirked at him.
“No...” he grinned up at her. “Not gonna say it...” he resisted.
“Guess I’m going to have to make you really uncomfortable...” she said moving herself closer to him, if there was any daylight between the two of them, it couldn’t readily be seen. Haruo could feel her body heat as she leaned in really close and whispered, “You are going to say you cheated...” she grinned at him, putting her hands on the sides of his head and coaxing him up from the back of the recliner.
Haruo's mind fled; God, she's beautiful... he thought
For Haruo, it was a lost cause, "Anything you say, River..." he acquiesced.
Two Hours Later
Emerging from the pool, Haruo noticed his friend lying on the poolside recliner looking out at the pool smiling. "Think we should start heading back?" He asked her.
"Yeah. But I want to get something quick for the walk back." She answered him with a smile. "Meet you by the counter after showering off?"
"Sounds good to me. Think the fair kiosks are open?"
"It's nine-thirty; they usually close by nine. We may end up having to eat at Hogan's again." River answered his query as she headed off to the women's change rooms.
River, while taking her swimsuit off and diving into the shower to wash the chlorine out of her hair and off her body, smiled to herself as she recalled Haruo's reaction to her closing the distance in the pool with him and brushing up against him had made him respond as though he'd been zapped by an electric charge. It was harmless flirting after all. By this time she was washing the lather out of her hair ensuring that it was squeaky clean of harsh chemicals from the pool and putting another palm full of shampoo for a second wash to make doubly sure.
Innocent flirting was just that, wasn't it!? She pondered as she finished her ablutions. But lately doubts about the innocence of their interactions as long-time friends were starting to creep into her mind. They'd been together for so long that it didn't seem natural to not have him around. And that she wasn't sure if travel itself could ever replace a
friend who was always there for her. The longer she thought about it, the more she realized that traveling alone wouldn't replace the want of life companion.
And maybe those little innocent flirtations with him were just masking a desire for something greater than friendship. River sighed, frustrated as she finished up and toweled herself off changing back into street clothes.
Maybe time would tell, but she had already started thinking of Haruo as something more than just her longtime friend and she wondered if he had ever thought of her in that same way. But the thought of unrequited affection put a damper on that thought very quickly.
But that seed would despite all efforts to stamp it out would sit there all through the summer; through the move from her home and into the triplex and their senior year, germinating into a hope for the future.
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