A Different Kind of Peace

Chapter Eight - A Different Kind of Peace

A Watcher’s Wrath

Whether it was cosmic intervention or the Watcher’s Divine Wrath that ended the reign of terror, it was oft speculated with various theories being brought to the forefront; however there was only one definitive conclusion to be drawn from all this. Mayumi had it coming.

For years Mayumi had terrorized her family; with her narcissistic rages, her hypocritical crazy-making behaviour and her viciousness. Nearly driving her son to paranoia; she focused on him with her malevolent gaze – focusing all her energies into making sure that his life was a life of misery. It was quite apparent that her ultimate end-goal was to create a pawn from which she could extract anything that she wanted, whether that be unfettered adulation or economic benefits – Mayumi wanted a pay-day from her son and she was willing to do everything that she could to extract that pecuniary reward out of him including destroying him.

But as sand when squeezed in one’s fist, trickles out between the fingers; Haruo managed to sneak his way out. When Mayumi learned of the fact that Haruo had in fact proposed to one River Annette McIrish, Mayumi went apoplectic. Demanding that he rescind his proposal produced no action on his part; the worm had truly turned. The end result was that he told her that she should take a long walk off the nearest short pier; explaining succinctly that he’d had enough of her bullshit and that he was not going to take any more of it and that he was no cultured fancy-pants; that if she raised her hand to him again, that he would hit back; warning her that “I’m not going to put up with it any longer, if you hit me, I’m going to hit you back twice as hard.” And considering Haruo’s height and physical mass, that was not a threat to be taken lightly. Mayumi chose the wiser course of action which was to back down.

After all, as a young adult, Haruo was no longer bound to her dominion; he could do anything he wanted and frankly she could lump it as far as he was concerned. And under no circumstances was he going to follow Mayumi’s guidance any longer. He certainly was not going to call off the engagement, no matter how much Mayumi demanded it. The evil hag could pound sand as far as he was concerned. In fact, Haruo and River realized that this was the ultimate decision that they'd made; to go back from this would mean an entire dissolution of their eighteen years of friendship. They had committed to each other; for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, enduring all things that the world would throw at them till death do they part. The only thing they hadn't done yet was the formalizing of their vows and that would be after graduation.

All in all, for the rest of the family, it was something to look forward to as far as events were concerned. But if it was really for someone other than the couple getting married, it certainly seemed that way. Marriage was not only a union between two people but a celebration that all others were witness to; that others got a chance to be a part of. And for the cynical, it was a time to take bets on how long the conjugal bliss would remain. Evidently that little scumbag, VJ Alvi, after hearing that marriage was looming on the horizon for his mortal enemy and his enemy’s girl, was running a line of 25-1 that the marriage would split in the first three months. It was tempting for Haruo to go beat his face in again. But as a young adult; there were other things to think about, like getting a job and providing for what would be Haruo and River’s family which at this point was two humans and a dog.

Mayumi was incandescent with rage...something that was usually her static state; if she kept it up she’d probably end up dying of a stroke or more favourably, a brain aneurysm. All her plans had come to naught and she was looking for someone to blame. She had counted on leeching off her son in her later years and was planning to set him up with a wife who would henpeck him enough that he’d capitulate if he wanted peace. Then she would tie her strings into his spouse and control him using her. And frankly she was furious that he’d broke the mold, unlocked his chains and fled. It was in that mood that she went storming out of the house in the middle of the night. There was nothing that she could do to reverse the damage to her future plans. She was done for.

But for all of her manipulative efforts and scheming, the one thing she did not count on was the weather nor astronomical phenomenon. Up in the heavens, the skies were dark and foreboding as a gloomy counterpoint to disastrous portent. The roiling clouds were backlit by lightning flashes intermittently flickering through dense, dark condensation. There was a crackle of electricity in the air that made the hair on one’s arms stand up and heart pound in primal fear. There was no calming of the nerves, being in fear of nature’s firework’s display was hard-wired into one’s primitive psyche.

Countless warnings by Environment Canada to others to not go out in a thunderstorm fell upon Mayumi’s deaf ears as she sought to escape the debacle of her own making. Fleeing across the street, she heard the thunderclap of a lightning bolt and was nearly deafened by a roll of thunder that was exceedingly loud. Evidently the bolt had fallen close enough by her, that the crackle of lightning and the boom of the thunder was nearly instantaneous.

That should have been warning enough that it was dangerous to go out in this particular thunderstorm, but Mayumi distraught at the dissolution of her plans was not paying any attention. At least until her hair stood on end and the prickly feeling of electrical discharge raised the hair on her limbs. And then a horrendous burning feeling cascaded through her in a deluge of pain. And in the back of her mind, she realized, I’ve been struck by lightning. Well, that wasn’t going to be all.

A thunderous crackle like a fighter jet screaming through the air, but at a much faster velocity than any earth-bound vehicle screamed through the air, splitting her eardrums and rendering her deaf crashed into the ground in a ball of incendiary flame. It was rather unfortunate for Mayumi that she happened to be standing right where the end target of the meteor happened to be. It was a mercifully quick end for a person who had been subjecting her family to years and years of mental torture. She never knew what hit her. In fact, her body was so pulverized into bits and incinerated that there was no way to find any human remains. All that would be left would be a tombstone to mark where and how she died.

What was left was pieces of meteor that lay in a circumference of over sixty feet. And that would be picked up by townsfolk for the family of the deceased to cover the funeral costs. How convenient was it to have a burial that was covered by the object that was responsible for killing the deceased?

With a clap of thunder, the Grim Reaper appeared above the gigantic space rock that had squashed Mayumi flatter than a pancake. He intoned the incantation that turned the remains into a spirit and Mayumi floated above the space rock. She looked around to gather her ethereal bearings and turned towards the hooded figure whose face wasn’t evident within the darkness of the hood. For all intents and purposes, Grim was faceless. His voice emanated as if from the very depths of a crypt. “It is time. Mayumi Chikamori, you are to come with me.”

For Mayumi, this was new horizons, death had opened up a retinue of opportunities for her and she was eager to get to the afterlife. And frankly she was planning an overthrow of the overlord of the dead. Grim looked into Mayumi’s eyes as she shook his hand that he’d proffered and saw the evil, malevolence behind them and his spine started to crawl. If only there was someplace else in the afterlife that he could have put her. And then Mayumi turned her back on him and made her leap into the headstone. On the one hand, once informed, Yasunobu was shocked at first, but not very surprised and very few in the family mourned her loss. River went over to get the headstone; half a symbolic gesture of victory over her husband-to-be’s hated nemesis and partly to recognize that despite the fact that they were enemies, Mayumi was still a family member and should be properly interred at the earliest possible convenience...as far away as possible.

Of course the fact that the Sunset Valley News-Leader published Mayumi’s unfortunate pulverization by asteroid and the subsequent economic benefit to the community as well as the Chikamori family who stood to gain almost §46,000 by conservative estimate depending on what the pieces of space rock sold for to research facilities across the country.

Depending on who one spoke to most thought that the cosmic punishment and subsequent removal from the planet by means of massive blunt force trauma was a good thing.

There wasn’t much gnashing of teeth or wailing at the news of Mayumi’s death from her family that she’d abused, yet there was time for introspection. Haruo spent some time with the stereo system, listening to pieces of classical music to come to grips with unresolved anger issues against his mother. It was his father who had provided him with that outlet into music and though his piano playing had lapsed, Haruo was still able to play at a level equivalent to 5 and perhaps with practice he would be able to progress of his own accord.

The next morning dawned to River’s and Torao’s aging up parties. Most everyone was still in their sleepwear, blinking tiredly like owls roused from their daytime slumber to gaze upon two birthday cakes replete with candles ready to be blown out celebrating the two teens’ progression from adolescent to young adult.

And from there they would progress to getting jobs and/or being self-employed (which is the next best thing to being unemployed ~sarcasm~). It was uncertain as to where they would end up finally in terms of a place to live, but after Mayumi’s death, it was clear to Yasunobu that he didn’t really want to stay in the house where Mayumi’s presence still lingered like a malevolent poltergeist. It was perhaps better to locate another place to live. Preferably far away from where they were currently so that the negative energies that existed near that area wouldn’t manifest into a haunting event.

Satoshi’s thoughts went to Molly and how good she looked. Of course his mind was wandering and not really paying much attention to the birthday celebrations of his brother’s son’s girlfriend and his own son.

River on the other hand was looking at the cake as if to say, If I eat that cake, that’s going to wreak havoc on my waistline. She was thin and lithesome, but had an inner core of steel, that much Satoshi and Yasunobu could deduce. And they were both happy that Haruo was going to marry River. Although, when exactly was still up in the air. They were still trying to come to a decision on whether they would end up going to university first and completing their degrees before tying the knot or just get married, then go. Haruo had nothing on his mind other than the fact that River looked very beautiful to him.

The noisemakers were making so much racket that it was surprising it didn’t wake up the dead in chronological order; which as Mayumi was the most recent decedent, it wasn’t something that was particularly wise to do.

River, on the other hand, was particularly happy about aging up today, since last night was extremely lonely in that bed without her Haruo to cuddle with. There was no hanky-panky, since they both were well aware of just what an unexpected pregnancy could do to their travel plans. But it certainly didn’t stop her fantasizing and her overheated imagination made her attempts to sleep absolutely miserable for that night. But now that she would become a young adult; those taboos fell away. She remembered her words to Bebe about wanting to wait...well, those words came back like unwanted pests to remind her that...once you give it away, you can’t get it back. Maybe you should wait? Oh bother.

Once everyone had assembled, River made a silent wish...then leaned forward and blew out the candles on her birthday cake. For a long time, while the cheering and noisemakers went on, nothing happened. And just as River was about to say something to that effect; the disassociating feeling kicked in and she felt like she was thrown out of her body... and just as quickly as that feeling came it was gone. She looked over to see Haruo who was gazing back at her with an enthralled expression. She was now taller and her hips and waist showcased a nice hourglass figure. And of course, Haruo was hooked; line and sinker. She was stunningly beautiful. It was lucky Phil wasn’t there as he would have heckled Haruo and asked him if he needed a mop and bucket to clean the drool off the floor. Then Haruo would have had to plant him...upside down...preferably.

Torao had blown out his candles and had aged up as well into a tall broad-shouldered young adult who looked just as handsome as his father, Satoshi. Albeit, he didn’t want to rock the long hair look and went for a nice short haircut. And now, he and Bebe had their whole lives ahead of them. Would the two couples match up together and start a joint farm/fishing lot so that they could earn money together? Both Bebe and River were good at painting and Bebe wanted to become a celebrated author so this would also mean that the two women would have their own self-employment.

Going to university was something that they would all have to sit down and discuss since if they were going to be self-employed, there wasn’t much use for a degree and could quite possibly be a waste of money. But then again, they would have to weigh the advantages and the disadvantages of having a degree and see if it was worth it to go and get their degree. Yasunobu and Satoshi were of the opinion that they wanted the four young adults to go to university and get their degrees. They had the time, they had the youth...so why not spend some time in university and come out with paper in hand that could be transferable to other occupations, should their attempt at self-employment not pan out. It was insurance; costly but necessary in today’s job-market. It would be something they would have to discuss together to see if it was in their plans to get further education.

After eating a piece of River’s birthday cake, Haruo had to go and hunt for a few gemstones that he would later cut and take over to the elixir shop. The proprietor there was still eager to see Haruo’s items that he was going to sell and even though they weren’t toads, the buyers who looked at the gemstones were always inspired to see what new cuts were available. Haruo preferred the spire-cut since he could maximize his earnings and buying a home for he and River to raise a family in was prime on his list of things that he wanted to accomplish.

Catching a taxi he went to a part of town where he was able to find a few gemstones that he was able to scoop up. From there he would return home, cut them and take them over to the elixir shop across the street. Mr. Joseph was still working in the store. He looked up from the cash register and smiled, “How are you doing? Haruo?”

“Oh, great...” Haruo returned, “Found a few gemstones, so any word from your buyers about the type of cuts they’re looking for?”

“Well, they certainly liked the quality of the cuts that you’re producing.” Moses Joseph stated, “I think I have another buyer who’s looking for a yellow sapphire...”

“Well, I just happened to find one; any idea on what cut he wanted?” Haruo asked.

Moses shrugged, “The last time he was in, he was looking for any cut.”

“Well, I’m going to be consigning this spire-cut yellow sapphire, so have your buyer take a look at it and see if it fits his requirements.”

“My goodness...that cut looks nice.” Moses exclaimed as Haruo handed over the gemstone. “It looks magnificent.”

“Good so you should be able to get a good consignment out of it.” Haruo nodded.

Moses glanced at Haruo with a look of wonderment. “You have certainly grown...Haruo, from consigning toads for my buyers to now dealing in quality gems.”

“Well, Mr. Joseph, couldn’t stay a kid forever.” Haruo grinned as he shook Moses’ hand. “So let me know if there’s any other gemstones and cuts that are on your buyers’ lists and I’ll do my best to see if I can fill them.”

“I certainly will, Haruo and...Haruo, one more thing...” Moses replied. Haruo was turning to go, when he paused for a moment to look back at him, “Call me Moses, you’re a young adult now...”

“Sure thing, Moses...I’ll see you tomorrow. I might have a couple more items that might suit your buyers.”

“I’ll contact them and let them know that they’re on your list to fill their orders.”

After he was done at the elixir shop, Haruo made his way across town to a park with a community garden and there he stocked up on fruits and vegetables. Perhaps he would be able to plant it at their new place which he knew that his father was looking for. From there they would springboard their options. Bebe and Torao would have the opportunity to do the same as what he and River were planning to do; marry and raise a family. And from there, the Chikamori family would grow into a large tree with lots of branches that needed taking care of as he was doing with the trees at the community garden and the fruits of that labour would plant the genesis of their garden at wherever they decided to set down their roots.

While Haruo was out toiling in the rain, River was working on her second painting. Getting the bright idea that painting was going to be her self-employment, she stopped just short of finishing the painting and headed out to city hall via taxi. Getting off at the corner right next to the city hall, she ran to get out of the rain; practically sprinting up the steps. Luckily for her it meant that she was able to avoid getting soaked. The permit process for becoming self-employed was relatively painless – no hidden fees, no surcharges and she was able to now earn money from commissions as soon as she made a name for herself. Making a name for herself, however, was going to be the big hurdle.

Some acidly stated that self-employment was a quick ticket to poverty, however River McIrish had a plan and that included a plan to get rich though it would be slow going. It would be quality paintings that she would make herself known for and that in itself bred exclusivity. City Hall was bathed in a light rain while the clouds formed a misty backdrop. If she had more skill she’d take a picture of the city hall and paint it from memory, however she still had a ways to go before being able to do that.

Because of the fact that Haruo needed to get his exercise skill up, he came back and started working on the treadmill. It was his hope to get from Level 4 to Level 8 before getting exhausted, somehow he managed to do so. Though River wasn’t too enamoured of his odour after his exercise. “Go take a shower...” she said, holding her nose, “You reek...”

“OK...ok...” Haruo rolled his eyes and headed to shower off.

After returning from his bathing duties, he walked back over to his fiancee, “So...do I smell any better?”

River purred, “Why, yes...you don’t stink up the room now.”

“Why, thank you... I love you too...I think...” Haruo smirked at her.

“Well...” River, a slight touch of merriment in her eyes responded as she took her fiance in her arms, “I love me too...” she teased.

“That’s reassuring...” Haruo grinned. A kiss ensued,

“Let’s get to bed, hon, we have a lot to do tomorrow.”

The Next Morning 1:45AM

Considering the time of the morning, it wasn’t surprising that Haruo was yawning his head off. “I heard there was a monster in the old mine...over near Pinochle Point.” River said, anxious that her fiance was planning to go hunt for some gemstones and metals down by the old mine.

“You believe that old wive’s tale?” Haruo asked incredulously. “I doubt there’s anything there but a bunch of rats that got lost from old man Racket’s barn.”

“Well, that’s what they told me.” She cautioned him. , “Just be careful.” And that was that. Haruo headed out in the darkness up to the old mine where there were gemstones that were said to generate.

After digging around for a while, he could find anything, but evidently out of the corner of his eyes he noticed two glowing yellow eyes. They were right, it’s a monster... his brain could barely comprehend what he saw. But instead of a growling snarl and a nasty monster breaking through the boarded up mine entrance and devouring him right then and there; a polite cough and a gravelly voice emanating from the mine posed a question.

“Excuse me? Do you know if the Vancouver Canucks won the Stanley Cup this year? I can’t get cable up here...”

Haruo was struck dumb for a few minutes trying to remember what teams were in this year’s Stanley Cup final – all he knew was that it was short. “Uh...no...I don’t think they did. It was the Bruins and the Oilers. The Edmonton Oilers took it in four.”

“Oh...that’s really too bad;” the mine-monster said, “I’ve been rooting for the Canucks for 18 years since they came into the league.”

“Yeah, sorry about that...” Haruo told him, “Canucks never even made it in to the play-offs this year. With a 25–46–9 record and 320 goals against, I don’t think they would have had a chance, eh?”

“Yeah, pity...oh well, maybe next year. Thanks for the news...” and the eyes disappeared and lumbering footsteps headed back deeper into the mine.

That was a strange conversation, Haruo thought, as he backed away from the mine and headed off back home; sometimes I wonder if I’m hearing things. When he got back to the triplex, he headed in to see River at the dining table eating some breakfast. Grabbing a plate of key lime pie, he sat down at the kitchen table.

“Did you find anything?” River asked him.

“Nope...tried looking around, but unfortunately nothing showed up.” Haruo told her; if he told her about the monster and the weird conversation he had, he’d probably get locked up in the insane asylum on a mental evaluation. “Hopefully, I’ll have better luck using the Collection Helper” The Collection Helper was the only thing that Mayumi left that was useful at any rate.

River nodded as she was eating her yoghurt, her fiancé would be working on his collecting skills which would translate into consignment items and considering that they would be able to get at least double the value of the consignment item. And when one took in a §37,000 Luminous gem, that translated into a lot of simoleons back. Franz had managed to get at least seven uncut Soulpeace gemstones out of the ground; estimated cut gem price was over §100K and if they managed to get double the price, they would be over §1M in value. So Haruo was sending in the lower value gems to build up his credit.

“I’m not sure if that will help us, because we need at least §80K to buy a new home. Prices have gone up quite a bit in recent years.” Haruo mentioned. “I feel like tossing in the higher-value cut gemstones too.”

“But then we’d get taxed out the ying-yang.” River commented, “We were trying to avoid having to send in the higher value gemstones that we have since the CRA would make us pay exorbitant amounts of tax.”

“True, there’s always that to consider.” Haruo speculated. “We have at least $1M in soulpeace gemstones if we cut it at the cut that brings in the most simoleons...but we’d get docked quite a considerable amount in income taxes. So you figure it’s best to save up slowly...”

“It probably would be wiser...” River commented while continuing eating. “The less we have to give to the CRA the better.”

“OK...so I guess that’s what we’ll do. What did our current bank balance say we were at?”

River looked over at him, “When I was at the bank yesterday depositing in my proceeds for the painting sale to Hogan’s in our joint account, I looked at our bank-balance, it was over §205,000.”

“That much?” Haruo was amazed. "I guess the last few gemstones that we consigned were real money makers."

"It appears that way.” River stated as she polished off the rest of her yoghurt and took it to the sink following Haruo who had polished off his key lime pie. Then she impishly looked over at her fiancé and asked, "So...what do you want to do this morning?"

“What did you have in mind?” Haruo asked slyly as he nodded silently to the door and mouthed the word, mailbox… meaning that he had to go make the bill-payment and get the mail.

“Something that might make my mom...and your dad go...ber...zerk…” she whispered as she followed Haruo out to the mailbox.

“Uh...huh?” Haruo replied getting a slight inkling of what River had in mind.

"Yeah...really..." River smirked at him. "Feel in the mood?"

“...in the mood for what?” Haruo had a feeling that he knew what was about to happen.

“...well...I’m feeling a bit tense right now…” River purred. Haruo’s eyes widened.

“Oh...really?” this was beginning to be a bit of a game. Haruo grinned widely as River took his hands and pulled him back inside the house. Grinning innocently at his dad who was still sitting at the kitchen table eating his breakfast, they ducked into the elevator and counted the seconds until the elevator reached the third floor.

“Oh...Haruo…” River sighed…a lot of heavy petting had ensued...once they’d gotten back in their room. But outside of that; nothing much else happened. Though there was much skin to skin contact, they didn’t want to take it any farther than that. They wanted their first time to be within the holy bonds of marriage. But there was nothing that said that heavy petting wasn’t allowed. “I love you…”. She whispered in his ear and drew him over her.

“I love you too, River…” he growled softly as he caressed her side as River pulled him to her and showered him with kisses.

River thought softly as she drank in another one of Haruo’s kisses, My mom would blow a gasket...if she knew what we were doing right now.

Later on that Day

After taking a shower, separately, around nine in the morning, they found out that Bebe’s graduation ceremony was to take place that day, so Haruo and River got dressed up to go to the graduation. River was in a gorgeous burgundy red floor length evening gown with a hip-high split; she looked gorgeous in Haruo’s opinion. Haruo on the other hand was in a tuxedo so that he and River could be matching each other.

River called out to Haruo who gazed at her in enraptured bliss. “So...what do you think?”

“You look absolutely stunning...ly beautiful…” Haruo enthused as he stared at her hourglass figure...and the hip-high slit from where he could see her thigh almost all the way up to mid-hip. Needless to say he was very aroused. River was pleased that she could elicit such a reaction out of her fiancé.

Bebe smirked at him, “Woah… down, boy.” and looked innocent as Haruo flushed red with embarassment. Bebe knew exactly what Haruo was thinking about his fiancée and couldn’t resist teasing her two best friends who had finally gotten their act together and were headed down the nuptial path. She knew just how much Haruo cared for River and was glad that they’d finally managed to tell each other and she hoped that Torao would do the same eventually.

Haruo’s father called a taxi and everyone headed down to the City Hall where the graduation ceremony would take place. Fortunately for the family, it was a sunny day and no umbrellas were needed; in fact, for Bebe it was the perfect day for a graduation. Bebe had found a career path already; she was employed at the school where she’d graduated from – she was employed as a “playground monitor” for the kindergarten kids and from there, once she matriculated university and then had her convocation conferring her a degree in education, she’d end up moving up three positions to elementary school teacher, which would mean a §15 an hour increase in her gross pay making it well worth the money to go to university. It would mean she would be the first in her family to go to university as Gus and Dorie hadn’t gone. Dorie and Gus both had only high-school diplomas.

When they had reached the city hall they assembled to head into the graduation ceremony. They were all dressed in their finery for Bebe’s graduation and Dorie and Gus would attend on their own as they’d moved out of the house. Of course the timing for their arrival was strictly dependent on whether or not Dorie could be excused from her political work, but she would make an appearance and Gus was making sure that he could make it and still be able to get to his work on time as he started his shift as a food quality control inspector at one in the afternoon.

Graduation was a joyous time for most high-school students. And as usual, it was a typical graduation ceremony, long...hot and laborious, sitting through endless names being called up to the podium to receive their high-school diploma...and well, frankly, if you were a part of the band, endless repeats of Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 or otherwise known as Land of Hope and Glory...which has now been played in every American and Canadian high-school since God Knows When! (Watcher: ...and yes, I've been in a concert band that has played at our high-school graduation ceremony (way back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth - for you young sarcastic types - my graduation ceremony memories have faded into the nebulous recesses of time)...after 60 repeats of Pomp and Circumstance, your lips start feeling like mush...(especially if you play the trumpet)).

After listening to endless speeches and exhortations about bearing a torch for the future and all sorts of other enlightening stuff like that, the graduate emerged...exhilerated with diploma in hand and a deepening fire in her belly to do something meaningful with her life. (Getting a 9-5 in a soul-siphoning classroom teaching recalcitrant rug-rats (six hours of teaching, two hours of teacher prepwork and a whole bunch of marking papers or at Bebe’s current career level: chasing screaming post-toddlers around the school grounds and breaking up fights)...at Sunset Valley School for the Gifted (a wonderful representation of the calibre of teaching positions available to those within the British Columbia Teacher’s Federation) was in her future...WELCOME TO ADULTHOOD. Don't let the high-school door hit you in the patootie on the way out...(cheerfully pedantic) Buh-bye...now… See you on Monday morning, don’t be late.) and this is what you have to look forward to, Bebe...47 years of soul-crushing servitude...43, if you go to university...oh...by the way, Happy Graduation."

Yes, Bebe had ascended the mantle of young adulthood; the day in which she would receive her high-school diploma and be able to be a responsible young adult, a day in which she would be judged worthy to her betters and a day of celebration in her freedom from mundane high-school schoolwork; a release from the prison of everyday questions from her teachers, "Did you do your homework?"

No more pencils,
No more books,
No more teachers’ dirty looks,
When the teacher rings the bell,
Drop your books and run like hell.

The graduations were long and well, considering it was spring; starting to reach boiling temperatures; both outside and inside. Which meant two hours of listening to teachers and fellow students exulting over their freedom from having to teach or listen to lectures and verbal exhortations designed to give someone an emotional kick in the rear-end. Whether that would help or not remained to be seen. When the speeches were finished there was an uproarious cheer and not a few "Oh, Thank the Watcher, I'm famished..." comments coming from those who'd had to put posterior end in hard seat for the two hours that it took for everyone including the class valedictorian to finish jabbering on about existential matters such as "stepping forward to make a difference in the world" and all that good stuff, all of which would be crushed ruthlessly when they set foot inside their 9-5 cubicle. That's life. Welcome to young adulthood and maturity.

It was definitely inspiring to see the newly minted high-school graduate emerge from the city hall in graduate robes, her spirits merry and looking forward to taking the bull of life by the horns and wrestling it to the ground. Of course every so often the bull with catch you unawares with a hoof to the side of the head. But she'll learn...she shall learn...that...yeah...maybe it might be better to go to university and STAY there...getting as many degrees as she can.

After all most students get the hell away from school as quickly as they can and try to get themselves pertinent education on their way to a fulfilling career track. Bebe, on the other hand, had to endure endless, “Congratulations on your graduation, Bebe… I’ll see you at work, Monday, right?” She was wondering if she needed a vacation after all this. But of course having just started work, her first three months were a blackout period. She needed to have her rear-end at work...rest of her body accompanying it and pulling a full pay-period. The only other option for relaxing after high-school was putting her buttinsky in a classroom seat at a post-secondary educational institution of known repute: The University of British Columbia or (UBC) otherwise known colloquially amongst Lower Mainlanders as the University of Bumbling Confusion or “Where the hell is my next class? I have to walk from Neville Scarfe to the Irving K. Barber Learning Center in ten minutes and I have an advisory session about career tracks in early childhood education at the Berwicke Child Development Center then I only have fifteen minutes left to get my lunch at the SUB (Watcher: Student Union Building)??? ARE THEY EFFING KIDDING ME!??!!! WTH is this?” (Watcher: I have no idea...I was stuck at Sauder Business School for most of my time doing the Agent’s exam for my real estate Agent 9.15 license; I didn’t go for a degree.).

After the long and brain-deadening graduation ceremony; they headed over to the Summerhill Court Park (not the Central Park across from the where they could enjoy themselves and have a bit of a relaxing afternoon. Though there was a line-up at the concession stands; they finally managed to get themselves fed before relaxing by fishing. Yasunobu, on the other hand; ever the consummate gardener, headed over to the section of park that housed the community garden and started harvesting the plantables there.

Haruo, River and Torao tried to fish from the same section of bridge; whereas it was very lucky that they didn’t manage to hook each other with the barbed fish-hooks. Nothing like a trip to the ER at Sacred Spleen to get a fish-hook removal right after a wonderful day celebrating Bebe’s graduation. Needless to say...that would have capped off the day with a bit of pain after some pleasure.

As it was, they fished until dark and then slowly made their way back home. And River and Haruo headed to bed, where they spent some time snuggling before finally dropping off to sleep.

And...Franz...ate some food before curling up for bed as well...after a long day of trying to increase Haruo and River’s wealth...eventually they would have enough to purchase a home.

Elsewhere in the Lower Mainland

Two men were standing outside a home conversing animatedly over a subject of hot debate. Lamenting the demise of their sister, the two stood formulating a plan to resurrect the woman. There had always been the three of them and it hit hard that their sister was no longer with them.

“Do you think it was the son who did it?” Michitake Sugihara stated; he had always been suspicious of the motives of the younger Chikamori.

Hidekazu Sugihara looked over at his brother. “No...it was stated in the paper that she was killed going out in a meteor storm and she got struck by lightning then was hit by a meteor that landed directly on top of her.”

“I don’t buy the pat obituary in the paper saying that she died being struck by a meteor, it’s just too convenient. I still think that kid was involved. So how do we resurrect her...she needs to live a full life.” Michitake insisted, “There has to be a way to bring her back.”

“She always has hated you, you know that.” Hidekazu stated. “Considering the fact that you picked on her for most of her child-hood.”

“I’m trying to make amends, but she has always been headstrong. And brother, you are the same way in some respects.” Michitake replied, his lips pursing in a scowl. “I always knew that there was something money-grubbing about that kid and I intend to get to the bottom of it. I doubt I’m wrong.”

“Don’t you think it smells kind of fishy that there was no inquest done on the body. They said that her body was incinerated by the heat of the meteor that hit her?” Hidekazu was starting to be convinced of some sort of foul-play that was involved in the death of her sister. Was it murder? Kill one of the three Sugiharas and the other two would go after the perpetrator of the deed like a bunch of rabid chihuahuas.

“What about Yasunobu?”

“I don’t know if he’s involved, but he seemed to have come into a lot of money recently.” Hidekazu nodded, “Money that very well should have been ours. Do you have a plan?”

“Notify the police of the fact that the death looks suspicious and who do you think would be able to formulate such a result from an investigation?” Michitake replied.

“I have a friend who was a police commissioner with the RCMP. I’m sure he could make some quiet in-roads into re-opening the case to ensure that there was a finding of foul-play.”

“Grandmother won’t like it...She always had a soft spot for that kid and remember, she raised him to seven years old.” Michitake stated; playing devil’s advocate.

“Well, Grandmother isn’t here now, is she?” Hidekazu stated. “...and justice needs to be done for Mayumi.”

“I agree. Nobody murders our sister and gets away with it.” Michitake said decisively. “We need to bring those Chikamori scum down.”

The Chikamori House – Morning

Weekday mornings were always hectic in the Chikamori household. Bebe had to get out early to head in to work as a playground monitor which was always fun; wrangling snot-nosed rugrats in kindergarten and elementary school grades and making sure that none of the little ankle-biters were fighting each other or likewise pummelling each other to pieces. It was quite evident that Bebe was now well aware of how her actions back when she was that age were galling to those who were playground monitors back then and she wasn’t a hellion like some of the other kids.

It was very clear that Bebe would have to be on her highest alert to make sure that she covered the entire playground area with her eyes monitoring everything that was going on. Bebe was glad that she was able to enjoy a leisurely breakfast of birthday cake (probably not the healthiest breakfast in the morning, but a dose of sugar might give her the energy to keep up pace with those little classroom psychos on speed) Little Jimmy Keaton was one of those little psychos who just loved to make Bebe’s work schedule into the shift from hell. If he wasn’t trying to hang upside down on the monkey-bars which nearly threatened to cause him to fall on his head, either breaking his neck in the process or giving him a major concussion, he was eating dirt in the corner. One of these days he’d probably die from an infection of Vibrio vulnificus, the bug that causes necrotizing fasciitis or otherwise more morbidly known as flesh-eating disease.

At least she was able to unload her frustrations by talking with her boyfriend Torao before heading into work.

Fiona came down and joined them at the table and of course since they’d had several birthday parties in consecutive order, there was plenty of birthday cake to go through. So Fiona had her share of birthday cake as well. Fiona though had other things on her mind. And of course when Haruo and River came down to join them at the kitchen table for breakfast...things got a little on the tense side.

It is well known that parents can tell when their children have been up to some “hanky-panky”. And of course, Fiona knew right off the bat that something was off.

Haruo got the feeling that he was under a fine magnifying glass...in the sun...because it was getting kind of unbearably hot. Fiona gave him yet another stare as she walked silently past him towards the kitchen sink.

River blushed pink...and mouthed, “I think she knows...” at her fiancé. Haruo winced. Evidently that heavy-petting session wasn’t going to go unremarked upon. But of course her mother said nothing...and headed upstairs. It was after all Fiona’s day off.

Bebe commented, “Boy, that was a close one...” she stage-whispered as Fiona headed out the back door and over to her side of the suite. Fiona had articles to write.

“Shhhhh...” River hissed, “I don’t need her chewing on me and Haruo because we just heavy-petted each other.”

“Heavy-petting?” Bebe smirked at her, “So...nothing more than that?” she insinuated. “No hot...stuff...”

“NO...” River said indignantly. “We are waiting for marriage...”

“oh...” Bebe grinned knowingly. “Just test-driving...”

“Bebe!”

"What?"

"Go to work!"

Elixir Consignment Shop

Haruo stopped over at the elixir shop and greeted Mr. Joseph. “How are you today.” He grinned, “I have a few more cut gemstones for you.”

Upon looking over them, Moses grinned at him and said, “These look great. I’m sure that the buyers will be most impressed by the quality of the cuts this time around...they look even better than the last ones.”

“Well...I seem to be getting more comfortable with the cutter; which probably translates into better quality in terms of cuts. Moses. I think we might get high-end five figures with this one.”

“I agree with that assessment.” Moses replied. “Let me talk to some of my more serious buyers about these...and they should get back to me with an purchase order today.”

“Great.”

After dropping off the cut gems, Haruo returned to the house and went upstairs to work on his martial arts. He had progressed from a blue-belt to a brown-belt one level down from black and two from martial arts mastery which meant that he would eventually be able to open his own martial arts studio if he so intended. But Haruo was more interested in angling as a career. His cousin, Torao, on the other hand had decided that he was going to become the gardener of the family and would apprentice under Haruo's father who was also a gardener.

River was working on her painting skill and growing more and more skilled with each painting that she created. This was truly her life’s calling, she mused as she mixed another color by taking bits of different colors from her palette and made a classic painting.

Eventually she would get skilled enough that she could memorize a scene in her mind and paint it from memory. At least that was what she was hoping to do one of these days.

Dinner was more birthday cake...and they wanted to finish off the birthday cake as stale cake was disgusting and would more than be a waste of money. So each of them looked consolingly at each other, grabbed fork and started digging into the cake for the second time that day.

...and then all too soon, it was bedtime...and Haruo and River headed off to bed.