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Chapter Fifteen: A Night Amongst the Lights
The Satou sisters stayed for dinner and afterward, taking advantage of their long weekend to catch up with their extended relatives as best they could. Some were happier with this idea than others, although Lilly and Shizune had managed to maintain their detente, and were playing chess in the living room while sipping at some wine. It was a special board designed for the blind, and it was pretty clear Shizune, despite her disdain for the game, was winning. Lilly didn’t seem to mind, though, and was in fact enjoying herself. So was Shizune, though she would be unlikely to admit it to anyone.
While the two cousins played the game of kings, Mr. Hakamichi had somehow wrangled Akira, Hisao, and Hideaki into a game of Mahjong, having pulled out a clearly antique table from a closet somewhere for just such a purpose. Mr. Hakamichi was winning by a large margin, despite Hisao’s best efforts. Akira seemed irked to be playing an “old people game” while Hideaki just did what he could to mess with the other players.
Lynda watched the game from a chair with the air of a dog watching the television, while Misha sat across her lap and texted her friends in between sips of her tea. So she wouldn’t have to move, she had made iced tea and grabbed a straw. Lynda wasn’t drinking anything, as she was afraid she might spill something on her partner.
After a particularly impressive move by Mr. Hakamichi, Akira groaned and leaned back on her arms.
“Of course the old man would be good at an old man game,” she grumbled.
“He always does well when he’s East,” Hideaki stated.
Misha looked up from her cell phone to look the game over. After a couple seconds watching the four look over their tiles, she looked up at Lynda.
Smirking at her lost expression, Misha asked, “Do you know how to play?”
Lynda shook her head, “Not a clue. You?”
Misha nodded, “My Dad plays and taught me. I’m not very good and haven’t played in forever~.”
“Does Shizune play?” Lynda asked.
Misha nodded, and with a grin and glance to the woman herself, added, “She’s not very good, either.”
Glancing at the chess game, Lynda remarked, “She seems to be better at chess, at least. Even though she doesn’t like it.”
“And I’m afraid I’m not very good at the game myself,” Lilly remarked, having picked up the two’s conversation.
Considering how horribly mangled her forces were, that was a fair assessment. Lynda glanced between the two games, watching Mr. Hakamichi chew away at the other three’s points and Shizune cut a bloody swath through Lilly’s pieces.
Lynda sighed, and Misha once again looked up from her phone.
“Somethin’ on your mind?” she asked.
Lynda, her eyes still on the chess game, shrugged, “I’ll be heading home tomorrow. I won’t see you for a while.”
“Two weeks,” Misha stated, “Then we’re going to your family in Vancouver.”
Lynda sighed again.
Misha pouted, “You’re not having second thoughts, are you~?”
Lynda rolled her eyes, “I’ve been having second thoughts since I agreed to it last year, but I owe it to Dad, Will, you… Daddy….”
Lynda trailed off, her eyes becoming unfocused as she started to lose herself in her own thoughts. Already sensing she was worrying herself into a fit, Misha gently held Lynda’s chin and turned her head so Lynda was looking down at her.
“Come with me for a bit,” she said, “I have an idea.”
Lynda raised an eyebrow as Misha carefully hopped out of the chair. Grabbing Lynda’s hand, she headed for the backyard, her partner in tow. Confused but intrigued, Lynda allowed Misha to lead the way out of the room and towards the back door.
Mr. Hakamichi watched them leave and gave a mild grunt of disapproval. Akira, well versed in the grunts of jaded businessmen, rolled her eyes.
“Like you were any different at that age,” she remarked.
“I had the sense to be discreet about such things,” Mr. Hakamichi declared. A ghost of a wistful smirk appeared on his face for a brief moment as he added, “and my father’s gardens were large enough to allow a great deal of discretion.”
“So are ours,” Hideaki stated.
All four gathered around the table looked at each other for a moment, then turned their heads toward the doorway to the hall.
“My, my,” Lilly remarked, “How quickly all your minds go to the gutter.”
Akira chuckled, “You were thinkin’ it, too.”
Lynda had had similar thoughts as well, but put them aside as Misha opened the door to the backyard. Misha was smart enough not to pull something like that so brazenly, even if Lynda would’ve appreciated the gesture.
Misha dragged a still confused Lynda outside, closing the door behind them. Raising an eyebrow at her partner, Lynda opened her mouth to speak. Misha grinned and pressed a finger to her lips.
“Ah-ah-ah~!” Misha chirped, “Let’s go for a walk around the garden, okay~?”
Misha didn’t remove her finger until Lynda nodded. Grinning, Misha gently adjusted her grab on Lynda’s hand into a more relaxed handhold. Lynda raised an eyebrow. Misha just smiled and gestured toward the garden.
Even though it was night and cloudy, the garden was lined with small ground lamps at the base of the bushes, bathing the ground and lower green with faint, yellow light.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Misha asked.
Lynda nodded.
“Sometimes I come out here at night to walk around,” Misha explained, “It helps, even if it’s hard to stay awake sometimes. I figured it’d help you, too. And if not, at least we get to spend some time together, right?”
Lynda smiled, nodded again, and waited for Misha to lead the way. Lynda was used to being the dominant one in her relationships, and it was nice when Misha took the lead, because it was when Lynda needed it most.
Misha led them to the right of the expansive garden, where a row of bushes across from the fence formed a path. The shrubs and bushes formed walls along the patio and garden itself, which formed a cross of paths that met in the garden’s center, which had a second patio. Misha guided Lynda along the outer path against the fence, pausing every now and then to look at a particular shrub or tree that caught her fancy.
With no large trees and only a few flower beds of perennials at the garden’s center, the lawn was relatively low maintenance. Besides some pruning and mowing, there wasn’t a lot of work involved in it. It was a simple solution to the problem of such a large lawn and garden, and it still gave the backyard a natural beauty while not requiring Mr. Hakamichi to hire any help, which he seemed to avoid at every turn.
Once they had gone around the out path once, Misha took them along the path that ran perpendicular to the house’s length. Once at the center, she gestured to one of the backed metal benches. Lynda nodded, and the two sat.
When they were both seated, Misha leaned back in the bench and closed her eyes. Lynda raised an eyebrow again and opened her mouth to speak.
“Um, what-”
“Shh,” Misha whispered, “Listen.”
Lynda did as she was told, copying Misha’s posture. At first she just heard the supposed silence of night, which was a welcome change from the constant chattering of cicadas during the day. Sometimes Lynda wondered how people could stand the things.
After a few moments, though, she started to make out the sounds of night; crickets chirping below and around them, bats tittering above them, the two’s breathing, the dull hum of car traffic in the distance, and the occasional shout of an irritated neighbor.
Lynda felt Misha’s arm on her shoulder, felt the gentle squeeze of Misha’s hand, and the slow pull toward her own shoulder. Lynda let Misha lean her onto her shoulder, and Lynda squirmed a bit to get closer to Misha’s neck. This let her feel Misha’s pulse, a constant beat that she had learned long ago to be very soothing.
For a while the two stayed like that, Lynda on Misha’s shoulder, both of their eyes closed as they relaxed and listened to the night. Even though the summer air was slightly cooler at night, it was still humid, and beads of sweat formed on their bodies, clinging to their clothes and hair. Many of the shrub lights dimmed or went out, both to conserve electricity and avoid violating lighting ordinances. Still, the two stayed, awake yet unmoved, their breathing easily syncing as they sat.
Lynda knew it had to end, so, after a long, long time alone together, her partner’s pulse gently thumping against her, she whispered, “Can I talk yet?”
“Yep,” Misha whispered back.
“I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
“We should go back inside.”
Misha sighed and opened her eyes, the clouds above denying her the pleasure of a starry night, “Yeah….”
Lynda lifted herself from Misha’s shoulder, rolled her neck to get out the kinks, and kissed Misha on the cheek.
“Thank you,” she said.
Misha turned to Lynda, smiled, and eased over for a proper kiss. It was brief and simple, but it was enough. When they broke apart, they both stretched and hefted themselves up.
“I know you’re worried about being with your mother,” Misha said, “but I’ll be there with you from the start, and so will your Dad and Will.”
Lynda nodded, “Yeah. I know. It’s just… not something I’m looking forward to.”
“That’s because you’re focusing on the negative,” Misha said, “Try and focus on the positive. I know that’s hard now, but, in a few weeks….”
Lynda smirked, “I’m gonna be on an up while at Mom’s and a down while I was here. This is some messed up disorder, all right.”
Misha smirked and turned toward the back door, visible thanks to the lights left on inside.
“Ready to go back?” she asked.
Lynda nodded and gestured for Misha to lead the way. Smiling, Misha headed toward the back door, Lynda keeping pace beside her.
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Next Chapter
I’d like to think that Jigoro was a romantic sap in his youth, and that age and the death of his wife have made him jaded, bitter, and cynical.
Sounds like me, actually. ‘Cept my first wife ain’t dead yet, cuz there ain’t one yet.
Next Monday will be the Final Chapter, concluding my crazy summer schedule of specials and mental instability, and bringing us back to my normal level of mental questionability.
. I'll toss my Threepence into his turban for restitution.
