"I think, house work very well, how ‘bout you?"
"Yasubo..." Mayumi replied as she looked over at Satoshi with a malicious glare. "The price may be right, but there's only three bedrooms. what happens when the boys are older. You...people are probably going to have to move out." she looked over at Helena who tried not to shudder at the evil witch who was just gloating in the emotional and mental trauma that she could inflict on those around her. "...have you thought about the fact that if my mother wants to come over to the house and look after the boys...then what then? What are we going to do with these two taking up the two spare bedrooms...Yasubo...are you even listening to me?” Yasunobu Chikamori was too busy checking out the rhododendrons that were lining the front of the house. It was what had drawn Yasunobu to Asilomar in the first place. He could enjoy himself doing what he loved which was gardening, partly to get away from the shrew that was harping at him.
Meanwhile Torao and Haruo, one year apart were just sitting happily on the ground looking around at each other – each were in the midst of being taught how to talk. Both by Mayumi who didn’t have a patient bone in her body for those she thought were her lessers and by Helena Griesen, Satoshi’s girlfriend and mother of Torao, who Mayumi derisively said wasn’t a pure-blood Japanese and expected that Helena would agree to send the little konketsuji would be sent to juku to at least have some knowledge of how to speak fluent Japanese and maybe he could somehow pass for being literate rather than being thought of as retarded. (author’s note: back during the 70s, there was no political correctness, we called a spade a spade. So since this is set in the 70s – that’s the way I’m going to approach it)
"We expand house." was Yasunobu's simple explanation.
"How are we going to do that. You're making $13.00 an hour at your glass-cutting job; and the boss isn't about to give you a raise." Mayumi's eyebrows raised in frustration.
"We get loan from bank. My credit good. I talk to bank manager and see..."
"...and what...put house up for collateral. Yasubo, are you even thinking this through?" Mayumi rolled her eyes. She hadn’t wanted kids. But of course, the guilt trip laid on her by her brothers about giving Dad a grandchild before he died had ended up following through, as it was she figured her Dad probably wasn’t going to see the outside of 1972. Hopefully the kid wasn’t an idiot but she wasn’t going to hold her breath – what had she had to give up in terms of the life she wanted just so that she could make someone else happy. What did she get out of the whole deal except for more onerous tasks outside of the teaching job she had raising other people’s spawn, teaching them how to read, write and do arithmetic. She looked over at Satoshi, who was eyeing her warily, “Do you two share a brain or something? Take turns? Have you got it right now?”
She continued on her rant while Satoshi and Helena rolled their eyes so hard they could probably see the back of the insides of their skulls. “If it wasn’t for Yasubo trying to help his co-worker and his tart out...we’d have an extra room. I swear, money doesn’t grow on trees. And you two don’t have a lick of common sense between the two of you. You too, Helena. Maybe you should get a job!”
Fiona was evidently counting how many insults Mayumi could spawn in ten minutes. Evidently she was going to break the record.
(to be continued)
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