Chapter Eight - A Different Kind of Peace (Part Five)
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...”
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.
(End Chapter Eight)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Though we leave in sorrow
All the joys we've known
We can face tomorrow
Knowing we'll never walk alone
When the ivy walls are far behind
No matter where our paths may wind
We'll remember always, always
Graduation day ~The Freshmen
School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
Well, we got no class
And we got no principals - (Watcher: or was it principles... ~evil smirk~) We ain't got no innocence We can't even think of a word that rhymes - Alice Cooper - "School's Out Forever"
So much for five years of post-elementary school education.
In the morning of Friday, June 30, 1988; they received a call stating that there was to be a graduation ceremony for Haruo, River, Phil and Noel...since they were the only four that were left to graduate out of that year’s class. And it happened to be that they would be called down to the city hall around nine o’clock or so or depending on when the school got the sound-system and stage set up. Considering the ad hoc graduation ceremonies that end up in this town, they just might as well keep the stage setup up all year. It would save them having to take it down and put it back up the next day. But of course, they had to have some make-work for all those who didn’t have much to do other than to take stuff down and put it away... and then take it back out four days later...and set it all back up again. Politics.
Maybe...it might be a good thing to have just one set day a month to have a graduation? But no, that would make too much sense, wouldn’t it?
Bebe on the other hand was thankful that yesterday was the last day she had to work as a playground monitor. Now she got to monitor classes in-class...as a teacher’s aide. Which meant that she had to make sure kids were listening when the teacher taught a class and try not to fall asleep herself if she ended up in a class that she herself had taken as a student that was taught by a teacher who was dull and an effective teacher as banging a rock with a two-by-four hoping to make a hole. Luckily for her, that wouldn’t count towards her final grade or cutting points off her grade. Unfortunately sleeping on the job could cost her her job. Time for coffee. Could they get Biohazard Coffee there in Canada; 928 mg of caffeine per 12-oz – guaranteed to keep you hanging off the rafters like a chimp at the Greater Vancouver Zoo; (Watcher: they don’t have any in real life) screeching not included. At least, considering the fact that she was a family member of the graduates, she wouldn’t have to be sitting in those hard chairs...this time around.
Well, at least this time around the graduates would be Haruo, River, Torao and whoever the others were. They suspected that it would be Phil...or on the off-chance, Parker, who was only one day younger than Torao and River.
Phil was already a fire-captain in the Sunset Valley Fire Department and was making great strides career-wise for someone who was completely insane. Oh wait, having to run into a raging fire versus running out of the blaze was a perfect job for someone who was magnanimous...and had friggin’ bats in the belfry.
Haruo and River preferred nice sedate jobs, preferably at home: River had painting and Haruo went out to fish. Torao would be busy in the garden and well, Bebe was the only one who had to commute.
Haruo, after finishing his meal, headed out to the front of the house, still in his underwear (luckily it was dark and only three in the morning...so he didn’t freak out anyone else not within his family circle) to pay the bills, then he headed over after changing into his every-day clothes over to see Moses Joseph to consign yet another group of items that needed consigning. After which he would check out the other consignment shop and see if he could get rid of some of the meteors that he’d had assessed.
When Haruo went over to the other consignment store, he’d realized that in his zeal that he forgot exactly what time it was. Naturally at 4:59AM, the consignment store would NOT be open. Well, duh. Unlike the Chikamoris, nobody else in town was insane enough to get up at 3 in the morning to start their work-day. After all, getting out of a nice, warm comfortable bed to get met by a cold blast of morning air; no matter how hot it would get in the midday would be any enticement to become an early-bird; worm or no worm. (Watcher: I’m quite certain that most sims’ palates would not extend to sampling Lumbricus terrestris no matter how appetizing it might be for robins).
So considering the fact that the consignment store down at 280 Sunnyside Blvd was not open, Haruo returned to the Elixir Consignment store at 365 Oak Grove Road and went to consign his space-rocks there – the Watcher, being holy, is resisting the urge to say something about Haruo getting his rocks off...
...to consignment.)
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Evidently the school was a bit more on the ball that morning and called at around 6AM to let them know that the school graduation would start at exactly 9AM; which is the way that all graduations should be run. A specific time, a specific place, a specific duration of time and it shouldn’t start any later than 9:15AM to prevent late-comers from milling around essentially not knowing what the heck they’re doing. Which of course prompts Murphy to show up and present his 🐸🐸🐸🐸; in other words, everything goes to hell in a hand-basket.
Uncomfortableness abounded that morning as Fiona decided that she would do the driving to the graduation ceremony instead of the family taking a cab and enriching Yellow Cab’s coffers by §160.00. And she placed Haruo in the shotgun seat which meant that she could keep an eye on him; which also meant that he couldn’t sit with River in the back and neck. No heavy petting, no lips on lips...and most definitely NO woohoo...especially NOT until they were married.
Oh, yes, graduation again was a long-winded affair; especially with teachers and faculty all having something to say to the graduates...and in actual fact, bloviating for the sake of bloviation which extended the graduation ceremony from a one hour affair of “walking across the stage, getting your high-school certificate and shaking the teacher’s hand and getting the flark off the stage.” to a three hour “sit in your chair and hope your tail-end doesn’t go numb”. Bebe sat in the audience hoping that she wouldn’t hear the same exhortations to greatness that she heard the first time around when it was her turn to graduate three days ago. That hope got blown to shreds when Mr. Isaac Klassen, the biology teacher pulled out a well-worn, much folded piece of paper and proceeded to read from it by rote. “Dear fellow faculty, and graduates of the School for the Gifted...” oh for the love of the Watcher...make it stop.
Meanwhile the band in the background softly played “Land of Hope and Glory” over and over again... We've heard this song before
On endless repeat,
Stuck here in our chairs for...
Hours listening to speeches.
Can we please get out of here,
So we can go eat?
That was about the sum of it...and eventually all expounding of exhortations came to a halt; either because of those at the dais running out of oxygen or running out of cogent things to say – it wasn’t certain as to which but to the utter relief of the graduates that were present; it was clear that they would get out of the graduation hall within a timely fashion...though not timely enough for them. At least it wouldn’t be one o’clock before they managed to sit down at a fashionable restaurant to intake some food; thank goodness.
...and just to put a damper on things...when they got out of the ceremony, they ended up finding that the sunny day that they were expecting had clouded over; a metaphor for their life to come after the sunny days of no responsibilities other than getting their school-work done for the next day at school...or for Haruo, trying to come up with believable excuses for why his homework hadn’t been completed. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Frew...my dog buried my homework while searching for space-rocks.” Welcome to young adulthood and a mountain of responsibilities where excuses will end up giving you a nice little cushy spot on the unemployment line.
Or for Haruo...a lifetime of working for himself – self-employment being perfect for someone who doesn’t like answering to anyone other than himself; or to someone who just buys the fish that he is going to catch; thus having chosen the life of an angler.
But for now...there was trying to find sustenance thanks to Yasunobu offering to take them all out for a meal to celebrate their graduation. Ah yes, a good meal to start off their life of employment...
...and again the Watcher provided them a metaphor...to learn something about life. It started hailing. Sometimes life has a habit of kicking you in your happy place...painfully.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Pretty much most of the family members looked resigned that they hadn’t brought umbrellas to the graduation. But of course, no-one knew that the weather, after the pontificating of at least half the faculty and graduating valedictorian, would have changed from blissfully sunny to excreting hail-showers.
Satoshi, being a roadie, oft-wondered what he was doing with his life, however being as he was always a rebellious metal-head, he didn’t tend to wonder about other’s opinions of him. His attitude was unlike most other Japanese who were a bunch that tended to follow the crowd; making the tried and true their path in life. Satoshi blazed his own path; in essence marched to the beat of his own drummer.
In fact most of the Chikamoris tended to blaze their own paths. Now that Mayumi, the one who least liked dissension from who she considered her rank and file was out of the way; Haruo was free to be himself. In fact now that he didn’t have to deal any more with Mayumi who had been hell-bent on marrying him off to a timid woman whom she could control, he was free...to be with River...whom he’d admitted now to himself, had loved from the time they could walk – even though at the time he didn’t realize what those feelings were. Haruo realized just how fortunate he was that his evil mother, Mayumi was resting in pieces.
When they were finally in the doors it was not a minute too soon as a paparazzi wandered in...trying to look for sound-bites from the newly graduated. Which of course was stopped in its tracks by a resounding crackle of electricity and a clap of thunder which resulted in a rather strangled pained scream. Evidently the paparazzi had need of reading the following book by the Right Reverend Aster Royd.
It would certainly be rather en-light(e)ning, no pun intended.
Flashback Prior to the Bistro
During the discussions prior to the meal at the Bistro, Haruo and River had discussed a few matters regarding what their plans were for post-secondary. He had mentioned, "I think we really should get our post-secondary education out of the way so that we can get that over with. I think it's hard to go to university after you have kids, but it's that much harder to do so and of course if we manage to do what we can to get our degrees now it would make it so much easier on us in the future, wouldn't you say?"
“I’m inclined to agree with you. It’s been on my mind a lot. I want to get my fine arts degree before we go travelling. Like you’ve always said, business before pleasure...or shall we say education before pleasure.” River responded looking at Haruo with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
She paused for a long moment looking over at Bebe and Torao who were in the midst of their own clinch and said, “I think Bebe said she wanted to get her degree in technology so that she can pursue a higher educational position – like a tech teacher in high-school.
Haruo looked amazed, “But...isn’t Bebe technophobic?”
“Pushing boundaries, my love...” River commented. “She may be uncomfortable with the thought of technology, but if she doesn’t pursue it she doesn’t tackle her phobias head-on and beat them.” River gave him a kiss. “Just like you overcame your apprehensions about how I would react to finding out that you love me.”
“I do...very much...” Haruo said.
Bebe and Torao were having pretty much the same conversation about post-secondary.
And frankly Bebe needed a break from the little hooligans, including little Johnny Keaton. Evidently Bebe had caught little Johnny in a racket. Evidently the school kids were talking about how dense Little Johnny was... “Yeah...we asked him if he wanted the nickle or the dime...heck he’s so schtupid that he took the nickle. Yeah we keep showing that to everyone and they all think he’s slow.”
Bebe had asked Johnny, “Why do you let the other kids pick on you about the nickel and the dime? Don’t you know that a dime is worth more than a nickel?”
“Well...Ms. Hart...” Little Johnny Keaton grinned at her, “y’see, if I took the dime, they’d stop doing it... I’ve made more than twenty bucks...off ‘em.”
Well at least he wasn’t making adult jokes in class.
Torao thought that it might be a good choice to have Bebe relax a bit by going to university...even though the classes for technology might be hard, at least it wasn’t annoying as having to make sure that Little Johnny Keaton was behaving himself and not getting himself in detention by asking the teacher about the difference between animal excretions.
Maybe she wouldn't be so stressed afterwards.
(End Part Two)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Post-graduation involved some blues as not seeing their friends whom they’d graduated with any more or had left behind since those friends were a year or more younger than those who had their commencement ceremonies – of course in university...a more fancy term would be used once they graduated – it would be called a convocation. Six of one and half dozen of the other... University, the penultimate goal of every person who wants to be considered educated – a current year (1988) value of §15,180 to get a piece of paper to hang in a frame on the wall denoting that you are edumacated so “respect ma authoritah!!!”
Anyhow, the next morning was pretty much the same as before; having to get up and go to work in the morning, for both Bebe and Fiona. Fiona’s place of work was at Doo Peas where she worked as an investigative reporter. It was a keep-you-on-your-toes kind of work which appealed to Fiona’s innate curiosity for details. She was constantly writing articles about politics and other things that appealed to the readers of the Sunset Valley Leader and Sunset Valley Times. It involved a lot of nosing around for things to write about and making sure that her articles didn’t cross the line into subjective slander staying within the bounds of legal critique of local politicians. At least it paid §126 an hour.
Meanwhile, Franz was busy hustling the good hustle finding rocks, gems and metals to get for his favorite humans. He was up from dawn till dusk staking out good locations and digging. Of course he’d occasionally unearth bones and sometimes either objects such as maple leaves, empty chip bags, snake-skins and colourful feathers...which usually meant he’d have to dig three more places each find to make up for the latter four items. It usually ended up that he came home tired and hungry. But if it meant that his humans would be the richest darned sims in Sunset Valley, he’d do his part. Asides from a few good toys, a luxury doggie house, a fancier food bowl and a lot of gourmet pet food, the humans would reap the benefit of his labours.
Haruo did his best to improve his martial arts; now a brown belt he set his goal at breaking boards with the ultimate goal to toughen up his hands by giving them microfractures which would heal and supposedly make his hand-bones tough as steel allowing him to go after spacerocks and smash them to pieces allowing him to harvest the gemstones that lay within. That would also add to their net-worth. He had now progressed from blue-belt to brown-belt and was now tackling oak-boards though he warmed up with a few foam boards to condition his hands to start smashing the harder boards.
River painted some more paintings in order to make sure that she progressed in her fine-arts mastery. She was now at a level where she could start to take commissions for her work and though the requests were spotty at the moment, eventually it would get to the point where she was able to get regular work. Her paintings were astounding and Haruo was constantly impressed by her attention to detail and the subtle colour shifts in her paintings.
Meals were a welcome break in the monotony of work to obtain simoleons and of course Haruo and River made time to talk with other members of the family which went a long away to easing the laborious nature of the work needing to be done. Yasunobu headed out to do the gardening...while coaching Torao on the finer details of raising plants from seedling to mature plants and how to increase their quality. It was a labour of love with regards to tending plants as the plants provided nourishing food for their table and any excess was sold off to the stores. For the tender of the land, it was backbreaking but satisfying work.
Haruo headed off to fish as he’d chosen that sedate career to enjoy his time. He spent his time at either Pinochle Pond, or at one of the other various lakes or the seashore in order to pull out his fishing reel n’rod and look for the not so smart of the finny-tribe. “Uh...duh...what’s that little shiny thing in the water...hey look there’s a worm...attached to it...wonder how it ta-...” ...Darwin.
Yup...that’s a hook.
And of course nights were cozy when they were exhausted enough to drop into bed and fall asleep in each other’s arms – no hanky-panky; at least not until they were married. Although it was sheer torture for the both of them, feeling their body warmth close by and it would have been so easy to give in to their desires for one another. But they knew that waiting was worth it and it would be so much more satisfying within the bonds of marriage...to give to each other what they had been holding off of for so long.
Torao was also curled up with Bebe and the two of them were just as close as Haruo and River.
It was one morning about two days later that Haruo was down fishing by the seashore in a little secluded area in direct view of the island that they were considering laying down money on to purchase outright as their final place where they would settle...off the coast of Sunset Valley in the middle of Boundary Bay. At first Haruo couldn’t tell but it appeared that there was someone who had happily tied their houseboat to the dock...and Haruo realized who it was that had parked her houseboat illegally at that dock. It was that woman; one of the Rackets, that noisome bunch from Twinbrook who had moved to Sunset Valley; one Marigold Racket to be certain who was planning to try to heist that island from any potential buyers by doing a right by possession by being present on the property with no abstainers from that right. Well...that wasn’t going to be the case for Marigold Racket on this property.
Haruo picked up his cell-phone – the good ol’ Dynatac 8000x brick...that you could use to concuss people you didn’t like as well as make calls, “Hey, hon?”
River picked up the landline, “What is it, sweetie?”
“That Marigold Racket just tied up her houseboat on the dock of the island that we were looking at buying.”
There was a dead silence on the other end of the line and Haruo could feel the vibrating anger that was emanating from the other end of the phone-line. “That double-dealing 🐸🐸🐸🐸...” was River’s exclamation as she paced the room that she was in. “I knew the Rackets were trouble when they moved to Sunset Valley.”
“I take it we’re going to have to take the plunge and nail down that property.”
“Oh you’re right we’re going to nail down that property. There’s no way that I’m letting that Twinbrook slime swipe that property out from under our noses.” River paused for a moment. “I’m gonna head down to city hall. Was the last balance on our bank account correct?”
“Last I knew. I haven’t spent anything on it other than something to drink.”
“Good. Because I’m going to buy both the lot and the dock...then I’m going to take a water-taxi out to the island and personally hand-deliver that eviction notice to that 🐸🐸🐸🐸 and tell her with great pleasure to GET THE EFFING HELL OFF OUR ISLAND!” River exclaimed vociferously.
“Take Hank...with you... I’ll give him a call letting him know that you need police presence, you don’t know what that woman is capable of.” Haruo warned River. “I mean it, River...you shouldn’t confront Marigold Racket on your own.”
“OK...honey, I’ll stop by the police station and pick up Hank and then serve Marigold with her walking papers. Are you sure we don’t have any access to det packs?” River asked.
“Haven’t gotten that far in inventing yet.” Haruo returned.
River simpered, “Oh...that’s too bad...”
“Why?”
“Because if that effing witch wasn’t about to leave the island in peace. I was going to give her houseboat to her in pieces.” River’s tone was vehement. “Try to take our island, that’s going to make one enemy out of me. Marigold Racket better watch her back.”
“Wow! And I thought I was the one who had the temper.”
"Be quiet, Honey."
(End Part Three)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
By the time that River and Hank had gotten to the water taxi, the clouds had moved in and Haruo had headed back to the Central Park. They would head over to the island.
Haruo heard from River later that Marigold had thrown a conniption fit regarding the fact that she had invariably tied up her houseboat to a dock that had been sold in the last few hours. “I didn’t know...” The Matriarch Racket had fumed.” River told Haruo that she considered that his piece of advice for her to take Hank to the island to give the eviction order was well thought-out. As Haruo’d figured, Marigold Racket didn’t take the eviction well at all.
“Well, Ms. Rackett, you are going to have to move your houseboat...as Ms. McIrish and her fiancé have legally binding documents attesting to their ownership of the island.”
“BUT...I was going to the city hall to buy the property...”
Yeah, sure, Marigold, sure you were... you were hoping to build something on the property and squat there claiming right of ownership. River thought to herself. Well at least hubby told me that she was there so that we could claim the island and make sure that we were the ones in legal possession of it by actually purchasing the land rights to the property.
It finally took Hank having to threaten Marigold Racket with arrest and seizure of her houseboat to get her to move. Muttering under her breath, Marigold untied her houseboat from the dock and sailed away, cursing at River and telling her, “You haven’t heard the last of this...”
It was Hank moving in front of River to protect her, that caused Marigold to subside and move her houseboat clear without further confrontation.
“You were right, honey,” River said to Haruo, “She didn’t take it well at all. If I had been there on my own, there was a good chance that she would have done something to me.”
“I thought so...” Haruo replied, noting mentally that he may have to take care of the Rackets later on down the road in life. Lolly appeared to be the only good Racket out of the bunch. And of course Ethan Bunch was going to pull Lolly away from her family to try to redeem the Racket name. It had been said that the Rackets had ties to the Irish mob. And considering the actions that the Rackets had been committing, it was quite certain that Marigold was one of them. He’d have to keep a closer eye on them. "I told you to take Hank because I had a gut feeling and with having grown up with my mother's idiosyncracies and whims, I've learned to trust them. It's not fate if you walk into a situation knowing full well that you could have prevented the situation - it's stupidity."
On top of that once they were finished with their studies at university, they would be moving to the island. Haruo had always been an introvert and he preferred solitude. In a way, though River was more friendly and outgoing, she was the same way. She preferred solitude over being in a large crowd. So this island was going to be like an idyllic place to live for the two of them. They could make their start in life and have a family and use it as their base of operations for their travels. Plus it provided solitude for to recharge. Bebe and Torao were the same way so it was going to end up being their little refuge for their families. Bebe and River had always been friends and thus it was nice for River to find that she and Bebe would be related.
The island had always been a place Haruo and River had been interested in; large with only one structure located on it. The island was far enough away from the mainland that it would keep those curious wandering lookie-loos from trespassing on their property. It was a large enough island that they could also turn around and make a graveyard and put their deceased on the island as well. Though, of course, the thought of sharing the island with a bunch of spirits probably wasn’t the most reassuring thing in the world. Nothing like let’s freak out the kids when despised Gramma makes an untimely visitation. That might actually scare them into eating their vegetables.
The next afternoon being sunny, Yasunobu headed down to Central Park to pick some of the fruits off the trees, since nobody else seemed to be eating them and he’d be able to create a bit of an orchard in the new property on the island by planting what he picked. Haruo joined him at the park and went to pick a few flowers as well as fish. In the afternoon however Haruo headed over to the bookstore and picked up a few bait-books so that he could learn more about the fish that he was going after. It was necessary to have that kind of knowledge in place so that he could more readily have the bait on the hook that would catch whatever fish he was after.
Some of the denizens in the town seemed to have major fashion malfunctions as Haruo came out of the bookstore. Noticing a townie in a brilliant yellow baseball jersey and a fedora – the kind of thing that would make Alexander McQueen go off the rails. It was a fashion eye-sore on the order that could make one’s brain explode with a searing question: How the hell does one end up wearing that out in public?
Catching the taxi back home, Haruo came home to find Bebe and River at the kitchen table. Bebe was taking time to write while River was digging into birthday cake. That was the problem with having multiple people having birthdays on the same day or consecutive days. There was enough birthday cake to last several days of eating if not several weeks. One could pretty much get sick of birthday cake. It appeared from the constant pungent swearing from upstairs that Torao was at the chemistry table. He hadn’t had much luck even though he’d reached a proficient enough level of logic that he should have ordinarily been able to find potions with relative ease.
When River was done with her cake, she let Haruo know that she had to head out for a bit since she’d had a commission sale she had to deliver to a client.
The following day in the midst of a deluge, Haruo headed out to go fish with one thing in mind: to catch a clownfish. Evidently while River was gone to deliver the painting to her client, he’d received a call letting him know that he was to try to catch a clownfish for delivery to the theatre. Well, a clownfish was on the line after he’d managed to get completely soaked from the rainfall. But at least the Amphiprioninae Pomacentridae was of satisfactory proportions and mood that he did manage to get §470 out of the whole deal. It compensated him for getting drenched. Hopefully he wouldn’t catch pneumonia.
While Haruo was out, River was swearing up a storm having been doing a house-cleaning of the entire residence. “Oh for crying out loud, do you two ever clean your toilet. This is absolutely disgusting.” Having to attack the third floor toilet that the boys used was absolutely horrendous. There were things that looked as though they were growing in that toilet. She was quite certain that she had to toss the toilet brush out when she was done. If that growth in the upper left hand corner of the toilet bowl grew an eye and blinked at her, she was going to be out of there so fast she’d leave a smoke-trail behind her.
Torao had to go down to the bookstore and get a few skill books to read. One of those books was a book on handiness. But he also wasn’t the only one that had to go down to get books. River and Bebe headed down as well. As Bebe needed to work on her charisma as well as her handiness. River wanted to work on her cooking skills so that she was able to take over cooking from Molly who was considering finding her own place eventually as soon as she was able to find something. Of course though Satoshi was making the moves on her so that probably wasn’t about to happen since she could potentially end up becoming part of the family.
Evidently the elevator door had a bone to pick with Satoshi. He got sandwiched between the closing doors before he could get out and ended up on the floor face down on the carpet which was not a pleasant situation to be in since he ended up with rugburns on his elbows. Needless to say, it didn’t serve to put him in a very good mood as he stalked towards the fridge to get himself something to eat since he was the first one up that morning.
The rest of the family soon followed suit as they each woke up and headed downstairs.
Their diet was probably not one the doctors recommend as they were each trying to polish off the cake before it started growing things that were best left unmentionable. Since they had the top notch fridge that kept things from going bad, at least things weren’t blinking at them from the inside of the fridge or genetically evolving sentience asking them, “How are things out there?” That would not be a good thing. At least they weren’t going to be debating the nihilist pre-existentialism ponderings of Neitzsche with a genetic pizza in a plate, "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." How apt.
(End Part Four)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
That morning, Torao headed back upstairs, after eating his portion of the cake, directly to the potion table. After all his main objective was to find several different potions that were of use to the family. The first of which was the sleeping potion which would cut down their required sleep time to half of what they currently were utilizing. More time spent awake would increase their productivity two hundred percent of what they currently were outputting.
His secondary goal was to locate the Young Again Potion which would reset everyone’s age back to the beginning of their young adult stage. This woud allow members of the family to essentially live forever. If he was able to do that, then the Chikamori family would essentially live forever. Torao’s interest had always been the sciences. Truth be told, he should have gone into science as a career, however one of Torao’s other loves was the love of the earth which he would be able to grow vegetables and fruits that his family would be able to eat and the fact that he and his cousin were such close friends and that two good schoolfriends, one of which was his cousin’s fiancee, and the other; his girlfriend of several years were slated to become family in the near future made that necessity of making sure that both their families were fed well and finding a good set of potions to ensure their continued health down the road a necessity.
Torao’s father otherwise known as Haruo’s uncle had no such lofty goals in mind. In fact his own immediate satisfaction was foremost in his train of thought. And while his nephew went out to fish for members of the finny tribe, and his son was fishing for ideas on how to come up with the next potion that he was going to discover; well, Satoshi went fishing for...Molly (not the fish)
...and all it took was for Satoshi to turn his charm on to one hundred and fifty percent to hook Molly; line and sinker. After all, Satoshi and Molly both lived for immediate gratification and mutual attraction was the ultimate high as far as getting to one’s happy-place. Compliments were key in reeling Molly in. Considering Molly was flirty, a daredevil and a party-animal; she was right up Satoshi’s alley.
Satoshi, after all, had been the most charismatic of the older generation of Chikamori siblings. Poor Haruo being an only child after all and the target of Mayumi’s focused abuse, hadn’t the benefits of having brothers or sisters and thus he didn’t have the experiences of such a close upbringing with family members his own age. His fiancee was the only one that he’d grown up with; and his own son as a family member almost as close as a brother.
But Satoshi’s mind at that very moment was entirely on Molly and the fact that she had enthusiastically responded to his advances was all that he wanted. He enjoyed her attentions and relished the fact that she wanted him. After all, he wanted her too. She was like the rose that was on the bush, radiant and fair...and he was hoping that she was attracted to him too. He was reaching his fifties and he wanted to make sure that he was ready to settle down with someone who appreciated him. And to him, Molly appeared to be that very person.
Rolling her eyes, she saw her mother and Satoshi disappear into the elevator and head upstairs to do Watcher-Knows-What. Frankly, she didn’t even want to consider the situation - she just settled for giving Satoshi a reproachful look.
Luckily for everyone still there, the floors and walls were thick.
Haruo spent his day fishing in full view of the island in which they were planning to move to eventually once they had finished their post-secondary schooling.
After enjoying themselves Molly wanted to see if there were any interesting books that had been placed on consignment and Satoshi, prior to working decided to head over to the Elixir Consignment shop to harass the bees. Needless to say, the bees were not impressed and had it in for him. Evidently Satoshi’s screams could be heard all the way to Central Park.
Satoshi hopped around but wearing loose-fitting Japanese clothing was not the way to keep bees out from one’s clothes. They managed to infiltrate every single layer and sting him. And unfortunately for Satoshi, the honey that he’d harvested exacted a very painful price in terms of cost for him. He would end up going to work in pain from the numerous sites where he was stung on his body. And that would put him in a not very happy mood for the rest of the day; not to mention the stress he was under at work. So all in all, Satoshi would be a very miserable person for the rest of the day. So much for the woohoo. In very bit of pleasure there is a little pain...or in this case a whole LOT of pain.
For those who came to Aleister’s Elixir Shoppe and Consignment Store, those patrons hadn’t had this much entertainment in years.
Moses stated, “I’m sorry about the noise. Unfortunately it seems that the bees were rather disturbed this afternoon. If you’d like, I’m looking into sound-proofing the walls.”
Poor Satoshi.
He had some time before he had to head in for work so he decided to assuage his tenderized and stung ego by pulling out his guitar and serenading his now lover, Molly.
Molly looked impressed. A man who could hunt and gather as well as sing. What a precious find, she thought. Perhaps she had made the right choice in taking him as her lover and perhaps it would lead farther to something better than the choice she made that produced Sandi though she loved her daughter dearly. She felt as though she was getting on in years and needed to find someone whom she could spend the rest of her life with and Satoshi looked like a good candidate. After all they shared a great many similar characteristics which bode well for a continued wonderful relationship.
The Next Morning
The next morning involved a lot of enjoyment in their morning shower for Satoshi and Molly. After all, getting up in the morning involved a lot of sound effects...mostly relating to the aches and pains of advancing age. Satoshi and Molly worked out all their aches and pains with a nice, relaxing, hot shower... in more ways than one.
(The Watcher suspects it’s not necessary to mention anything regarding the other things that they did in the shower)
After all, they were consenting adults and didn’t need to be minded like others within the nuclear family.
After all the showering...and grunting and groaning...from aching muscles, Satoshi headed down to breakfast which was again...cake. They were getting tired of cake and of course since Yasunobu had managed to survive through the war years when they were short of supplies and food, he was very insistent upon not letting any food go to waste. Tabemono o nokosanaide, ne... Mottainai yo
Haruo wanted to talk to his uncle about the fact that he was trying to decide what to do; whether going to university was the best possible solution for the fact that he was planning to work as an angler. After all it seemed like he was wasting money when it could be put towards perhaps buying a boat or something to fish with. But his uncle told him. “What if there’s a downturn in the fishing industry and you need to find something else? You need to know that your future is secure. Your best bet, Haruo-kun...go to university; get your degree and make sure that you have your options secure, neh. You don’t know what the future will bring. Mirai o yosoku suru koto wa dekimasen (You can't predict the future)."
“But Ojisan, you think that going to university won’t waste four years that I could be getting ahead in fishing?”
“Look, Haruo-kun, you go to university and you’ll have a secure plan B. Then you can do your job without fearing that you’re going to have no options if something happens that you can’t do your job any more. Look at it as a way to keep your head above water financially. It’s insurance, nephew...” He paused eating, put down his fork and looked over at his nephew, "It's something that you need to do before you start picking up your burdens in life. Make something of yourself and do what you need to do."
Haruo could see that there was wisdom in what his Uncle Satoshi was saying and he nodded; “Then that’s what I’ll do. The University Mascot brought us the bucket so I figure, why not do the test...in fact, I think I’ll do it after I get back from the park with River, Torao and Bebe.”
“Good thing, nephew...You won’t regret going to university, as always, it’s a piece of paper, but it’s a valuable piece of paper that will guarantee that you will always have options.”
At the Park
River and Haruo sat on a bench at Central Park. “I was talking to my uncle today...and he confirmed that I should go to university.” he ventured, “It’s been on my mind, but there’s always been doubts as to whether since I had that much trouble with schoolwork in high-school that going to do a further four years of post-secondary education is worth it.”
River looked at him, “So what did he tell you?”
Inviting River to nestle into his arms, Haruo wrapped his arm around River’s shoulders and River nestled into his embrace. Haruo continued,“He told me that it was a good choice to go get further education, that it could possibly mean a plan B for me if there is a downturn in the fishing industry. And well...I’m sure it’s a good investment, but the entry evaluation scares me. I’m not sure how well I’m going to do on it, if I even do well, he sighed... “And yet, the time that I spend with you at Uni will be fun...if I make it.”
“That’s a lot of ifs you just said, Haruo.” River replied, “Why don’t you just say...when. After all if you go into it with the mindset that you are going to do well, then you won’t be giving yourself doubts? Right?”
Haruo nodded, “You’re right. I shouldn’t give myself doubts. I just gotta do it and just let things fall where they fall and just go for it.” He looked at her tenderly, “You’ve always been my rock, River.”
"...and you've been mine..." River said to Haruo...as she leaned in...and lovingly placed a tender kiss on his lips.
"...always...and forever...River..." Haruo whispered and a passionate clinch ensued.
When they separated for air, River, her voice soft and breathy, whispered, “I want you so much right now...”
She continued, her voice throaty, “If you keep this up...we’re not going to wait till marriage because I’m going to want you in my bed...making passionate love to me...”
(End Chapter Nine)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
So far Satoshi had not had his life completely turned upside down by getting together with Molly, his days went as per usual. Get up, in his underwear, go downstairs, head to the fridge, get something to eat and vegetate for the day until his shift started at one o’clock where he would get dressed and head down to the theatre to do his daily routine of working till nearly nine at night before heading back home and doing it all over the next night. It wasn’t a bad routine of sorts. It had some regularity to it and Satoshi was perfectly happy. And to top it all off, Molly was the icing on the cake of sorts. It was peaceful to say the least.
That peace and quiet came to an abrupt, screeching halt when she, after a few too many passionate interludes between the two of them, had to make a dash for the washroom. No...it wasn’t mold growing on the birthday cake – the fridge was kept too cold for that to happen. Let’s just say that the Watcher thinks that it would be a rather cold shower for the two’s ardour. It could be classified as a viral infection that caused her illness, a stomach flu of sorts. One that takes eighteen years to get rid of at the earliest – at least in Canada. South of the border, it took until twenty-one before you could kick it out of the house.
Molly and Satoshi’s collective reaction to this news was “oh...flark!”
The rest of the family were too busy with the rest of their lives to worry about the fact that there was going to be a screaming, squalling and stinking addition to the house and very likely a big disruption to their peaceful existence. There would be l’essence de parfume de extrémité arrière or L’eau D’Excrement if one wanted to be fancy. In other words the house would reek with diapers.
All of that prompted the four youngsters, the young adults, that is; to hastily do their best to get the hell out of the house and go do other things, like get themselves prepared to take their scholastic aptitude tests in preparation for university. Hail to the Thunderbirds! Hail UBC!
Thunder and lightning — Onward to victory!
Hail to the Blue and Gold, Hail UBC.
UBC Forever, Onwards to Victory.
The Thunderbird, a long standing tradition at the school and the revered mascot was under fire by those who thought that utilizing the native symbol of the Thunderbird was disrespectful to the Native population of BC and thus were seeking to substitute it with the noble Llama. The four were directly in the camp that they should be able to use the Thunderbirds and be referred to as Thunderbirds despite the support for the Llama mascot by those who were inured with political correctness. Somehow the llama didn’t have as much ruthless aggression to it as using the Thunderbird. When one pictured a llama, one pictured a South American ruminant chewing its cud and looking rather blearily at the camera. And Haruo couldn’t imagine playing hockey with the UBC Llamas – that mascot would look just horrifically comical on ice.
Meanwhile, Satoshi was trying to figure out what happened. Even while being questioned by Haruo on how the SATs would benefit him in the future as he was going to be an angler, he was still trying to figure out what could possibly be done about the situation with Molly’s gravid state. This was going to take all of his brain-power to figure out and Satoshi felt that he’d really put himself and Molly in a situation. He had always been told that one should marry the mother of his child and in that respect that would be the proper thing to do. On top of that, he also had to now raise the child of someone who hadn’t had the proper fortitude to own up to their mistakes and raise their own child. So was he prepared to take on Sandi as his child? That was the main question that he had to ask himself. But considering the fact that he was able to divide his attention between the fact that he had his own set of problems and give Haruo cogent advice on his own problems, it was pretty well certain that Satoshi had the makings of a decent father.
For Haruo, River, Bebe and Torao, the Scholastic Aptitude Test was quite a brain-yanker. Some of the questions took a straw, jammed it up their nostrils right into their cranial cavity and gave their lipton-noodle-soup a good stir. Stuff like: The number of radians of arc in a circle is 2π (pi)... so was that cherry or lemon or since there was 2...could you have both?
“Oh, Torao, how many electrons in a 🐸🐸🐸🐸?” Haruo asked jabbing Torao in the ribs.
“1.5 x 10^28 electrons in a human being; the last time I checked you were missing two which is about the right total for a 🐸🐸🐸🐸.” Torao shot back. Ah...the love of relatives.
Bebe and River ignored the two of them jawing at each other. It had always been like this. Brotherly pranks between two cousins who were as close as brothers having grown up with each other. They were all a family. Haruo and River having been together since birth and Bebe and Torao growing closer together as a couple.
“The chemical formula of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is now well established. The molecule is a very long chain, the backbone of which consists of a regular alternation of sugar and phosphate groups. To each sugar is attached a nitrogenous base, which can be of four different types. Two of the possible bases—adenine and guanine—are purines, and the other two—thymine and cytosine—are pyrimidines. So far as is known, the sequence of bases along the chain is irregular. The monomer unit, consisting of phosphate, sugar and base, is known as a nucleotide...” River was starting to think that her brain was starting to short out...by the fifth paragraph.
“The authors use the word “backbone” in lines 3 and 39 to indicate that:
A) only very long chains of DNA can be taken from an organism with a spinal column. the main structure of a chain in a DNA molecule is composed of repeating units.
C) a chain in a DNA molecule consists entirely of phosphate groups or of sugars.
D) nitrogenous bases form the main structural unit of DNA.”
AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!
“Exactly how the hell is this supposed to benefit me in the arts?” River muttered caustically to herself as she grasped pencil to fill in the multiple choice question answer selection sheet making doubly sure that she was filling in the right line so that the automated checker wouldn’t attribute her selection to the wrong question.
(End Part One)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
With the fact that Satoshi had ended up getting Molly pregnant, there was only one thing that could be done. Yasunobu was adamant about one thing, the new Chikamori child was not going to be an illegitimate off-spring, so thus Satoshi was told that he was to put Molly in wedlock...immediately and as head-of-the-household, Yasunobu set down the rules. Since the mantle of head-of-the-household fell to the oldest of the family, the oldest of the family would end up wielding the decisions of the family. From there, the mantle of family decisions would fall to Haruo as the firstborn son (and frankly, only son) of the preceding generation’s oldest family member. This was the way of Japanese families and as Yasunobu was an immigrant to Canada, that was the way things would go; following the old Japanese traditions.
So...if Yasunobu, head of the family, told Satoshi to “marry Molly” for the sake of family reputation; so it would be. And Molly had no problems with that either – Satoshi adored Sandi as a daughter and he loved Molly and Molly loved him...so it was really no skin off their back.
“You have dishonored the family, Satoshi!” Yasunobu was absolutely horrified at the casual way that Satoshi had broached the fact that Molly had a nice little bun in the oven. Anata wa kazoku o fumeiyo ni shimashita!Anata ga morī to kekkon shinakereba, watashitachi wa meiyaku kakesareru! If you do not marry Molly, we shall be covered in shame.”
“Relax, my brother, Rirakkusu, Ani, watashi wa Molly to kekkon shimasu, ima anata wa tamuyu-ka? I will be marrying Molly, now will you ease off?”
Yasunobu shook his head as if frustrated, “How you manage to get yourself into things...I have no idea. Dō yatte jibun o konran sa seru koto ga wakaranai yo...”
Satoshi shrugged his shoulders as Yasunobu rolled his eyes.
It was quite apparent that Satoshi was quite complacent about the whole deal of Molly's pregnancy. Not that he wouldn't step in and do his part as a father. After all as a Chikamori, he was duty-bound to be a responsible father and to not cast shame on the family name.
This was something that was hard to understand for those not of their family; the concept of meiyaku; shame and family honor - a word that straddled both illusory concepts and made it so that the Japanese as a society were constantly looking to save face. And making sure that if they committed no offence to others, that they would have none inflicted upon them. At least in the latter half of the twentieth century. And they had a long laundry list to atone for in the early half.
But anyhow there were no criminals in the family, as far as anyone knew and except for the soon-to-be mooch who would become the father-in-law to Torao, there really was no shame to be had within the family.
Needless to say, though that the pregnancy had thrown a major monkey wrench into the works. And there would now be a wedding to prepare for after the baby showed up. That was going to make for some fun times for Satoshi.
Haruo was out fishing. The less he spent time hanging out at home the less likely it was that he was going to fall prey to what he wanted which was full on happy time with River which would have put their desire to wait until the marriage bed into serious jeopardy.
And of course that night was the night that Bebe and Torao decided that they were going to take the plunge into full on engaged bliss.
"You know we've been dating each other for how long?" Torao stated as he gazed into Bebe's eyes.
"On and off again since Grade 10 and steady since Grade 12." Bebe murmured softly. She had an inkling of where this was going and was curious if Torao had the same idea.
"You know I've always had feelings for you...". Torao stated. Bebe nodded, mutely. She'd known that Torao liked her a lot and it took quite some time being on-again, off-again friends to finally give them a shove towards being girlfriend and boyfriend in Grade 12. "Aside from the steadiness, we weren't that much different than my cousin". He informed her.
"Yeah. It took them a long time to come to the conclusion they were right for each other." Bebe said. "...and now they're engaged to be married.".
"So what does that say about us?" Torao grinned.
Bebe smirked, "OMG. That means we're slow?" Both Torao and Bebe burst out laughing at the utter ridiculousness of the whole thing. Bebe had been so focused on getting her friends together that she hadn't realized the extent of the bond she had with Torao.
"Well..." Bebe found her boyfriend on one knee, "Shall we fix that problem?" He asked holding up a velvet colored box in his hands, open to show her a pretty glittering diamond engagement ring. A nice solitaire cut in a princess cut that glittered reflecting off the ambient light in the room.
It took a long moment for her to realize just exactly what had been said to her and yet it seemed to take no time at all. "Oh...MY GOD!" She exclaimed. "Oh my god. Oh my god..." She repeated.
Torao was starting to fear he'd broken Bebe since that was all she could repeat for a few minutes. "Uh...Bebe?" He said looking up at her. "Will you do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Chikamori?"
With one final, "Oh my god!" Bebe said "Yes. I will." Gazing incredulously at the ring, as Torao slipped it onto her ring finger; she admired it and then threw her arms around her fiance nearly smothering him with a kiss.
"Unlike River and Haruo, even though I have all the respect in the world for their decision to wait," Bebe smirked, "I have no intention of delaying any mutual gratification till the time is right." She raised her eyebrows meaningfully and inclined her head towards the bathroom door. What followed was sheer utter blissful ecstacy for both Bebe and Torao.
River and Haruo on the other hand, curled up together in bed and slept content in the knowledge that one of these days they would give of themselves to one another and it would be sheer utter wanton pleasure for them on their honeymoon. Hopefully they wouldn't end up in the family way before coming back from their post nuptial travels.
A bun in the oven was not the most economical way to start off their married life.
As far as Yasunobu, worried about the shame that an unwedded pregnancy could cast on the family, was concerned; Satoshi could get married at anytime while Molly was adamant that she was doing no such thing until she could fit into her wedding dress after losing whatever baby weight she had gained. So Satoshi tried to avoid the whole matter by heading into work as a stage-hand, just so he wouldn't have to hear the kvetching from both ends.
So things were tense all around. The one thing that Bebe and Torao agreed upon was that their schooling came first so they would wait to get married until.after university.
Fiona was exceedingly busy considering her boss was constantly on her about writing articles and reviews. In fact there were limited restaurants to review. And the movies being put out by Starlight Shores and Hollywood were lacklustre at best. Shark Attack looked promising but fizzled halfway through with no character development or a wandering plot that led through a side story about two bullied high-school students luring their classmates onto a boat then all the bullies getting eaten by the shark. Fiona tuned out of that movie after the first hour. If it had a halfway decent plot, maybe it could have worked. It didn't.
The other option was reviewing the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) Llamas latest field efforts. Soccer or what was known as European football was considered boring by North American standards. North American football was violent and a lot of players got injured but it was exciting. Fiona was more into hockey, that was what she grew up with. With the WHL and then the Canucks entering into the league the year River and Haruo were both born.
Players wore boots with blades on their feet, carried a bladed stick. The pads were generally thinner and more flexible. And oh, it was fast. Names like Hull, Gretzky, LaFontaine, Messier, Lemieux, These were the players in the late 80s that carried the NHL.
The BCHL's Sunset Valley Llamas were the cream of the crop with two Junior Cup wins as far as the BCHL was concerned, but to get drafted and get to The Show was the big dream of many a Canadian kid and to hoist Lord Stanley's mug over their head and do a victory lap around the rink with their team-mates after drubbing their opponents 3-0 on the ice.
It wasn't the case for Haruo. Even though he loved hockey, he knew his meagre skill level wouldn't get him to the show. In fact it would barely get him recognized by Jungle B (Junior and it would be a long tough slog to make it to the NHL from there. It was a long shot.
Maybe he would be good enough to make the fourth line at the college level. Who knew? And the UBC T-Birds had inquired into whether he was interested in playing for them since he'd played minor hockey through his life.
River was busy with her painting. Having recently received a commission to do ten paintings for an office. She was nearly halfway through the project having mastered her painting skill and was hoping for an inspiration of a masterpiece however the efforts to brush a masterpiece was exceedingly illusive. Unfortunately inspiration was a fleeting exercise in frustration and disinclined to stick around.
(End Part 2)
Post edited by Nikkei_Simmer on
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Needless to say that fact made it even more annoying as everyone thought outside of her husband-to-be thought her works were brilliant and her husband-to-be thought they were masterpieces but she knew better and it irked her that it was taking so long to perfect a masterpiece.
For Molly, the most annoying thing about the pregnancy was the waddle that developed as her center of gravity shifted forward. And this wasn't some stationary object either. Every so often it would shift and then give her a solid kick in the bladder which prompted her to have to make a frantic dash to the lavatory or risk an embarrassing accident by peeing on herself.
It was at breakfast one morning that River asked Haruo if they just might as well get married early because the frustration of waiting to go to university due to Molly's pregnancy, the waiting until they both had their degrees and waiting for marriage to do the deed, so to speak, was driving River hormonally crazy not to mention the once a month visit from Aunt Flo which did nothing but to make River cranky as hell.
That time of the month was when Haruo usually decided his best bet for his long-term survival was to go fishing and stay out till dark. Of course at the fishing hole he couldn't avoid hooking the equally cranky black goldfish which he promptly got rid of to the Langley RCMP which contrary to their national Dudley Do-Right "Always Get Our Man"; "arrest 50 armed gunmen with one Mountie" historical reputation; terrified the living 🐸🐸🐸🐸 out of the law-enforcement staff at the station.
"Well.what do you want me to do with the things?"
"Feed them to the piranhas?"
"I put them in a cooler together; I expected the piranhas to make short work of the little bugger: I open the cooler and I got the one intact black goldfish at the center of the cooler with fifteen piranhas, some missing pieces of their fins, cowering in the corner.".Haruo told them. "You think that was going to work?"
"Oh Flark." was the general consensus from the law enforcement agents.
"Besides, your chief inspector's the one who wanted this black goldfish to be at the station." At this statement the RCMP constables turned pale white as Haruo passed over the goldfish bowl containing one absolutely 🐸🐸🐸🐸 off black goldfish which turned a bulbous malevolent golden eye at the shaking police officers and glared.
"J-j-just put the b-b-bowl d-d-down on the c-c-; leave it there." And all sixteen officers backed away as far as they could get from the counter. The fear in the officers' eyes did prove to be amusing.
However with River's assertion that they should get married before they went off to university held just as much an appeal to Haruo as it did to River considering how much they wanted each other's bodies; that was another story. That was more of an aggravation than amusing.
"I don't know, River. Don't you think we should be concentrating on our school-work at university. Besides there is a lot to do there and some of the exams are going to be tough."
"Yeah, I know" River heaved a heavy sigh. "but it just seems like such a grind to constantly be studying and not taking time to enjoy our relationship."
"But think of the end-goal. We have degrees that will carry over into life and potential careers." Haruo reasoned with her.
River nodded, standing up and moving closer to him pulling him closer to her, "but it doesn't alleviate just how much I want you..." She leaned in and purred in his ear. Haruo's eyes widened.
"Oh, Watcher, River, you're going to make me wish I didn't make that decision to not do anything until marriage, aren't you?" Haruo groaned as River smiled wickedly and nodded.
"...and this way you are going to so be in knots by the time our wedding night rolls around.". She whispered in his ear and then licked his ear-lobe and brushed her hand along his front which made him really uncomfortable.
She laughed as he headed out, rather awkwardly, she thought. He was trying to keep from having his front end visible as he exited the kitchen. That was just being an absolutely wicked tease, but she was frustrated and wanted him just as frustrated as she was.
She knew just how much he wanted her and she wanted him just as bad and hearing amatory sounds coming from the third floor bathroom over the sound of running water as Bebe and Torao took and gave of each other just made her frustrated to no end when all River wanted to do was jump Haruo's bones and make both her and him absolutely satisfied and wrung out.
Anyhow back to the painting.
Haruo stood at the pond, fishing rod in hand wondering just how he was going to get through the next few years of university without tossing in the towel so far as his and River's decision to remain celibate till marriage. Just the warmth and nearness of her body while they slept made him regret every word when he wanted to lose himself with her.
By the time their wedding night rolled around they'd be so 🐸🐸🐸🐸 that they'd end up ravishing each other for hours. How had they come from being innocent childhood friends to wanting each other physically as lovers. Haruo wryly grinned.
It was rather clear to see that River had certainly filled out in all the right places, that she'd become absolutely gorgeous, with beautiful fiery red locks of hair worn long and flowing; stunning green eyes that stopped men in their tracks to gaze at her and a curvaceous hourglass figure, lithe and gorgeous was what could be said about her. Her lips were full and so soft and kissable and she had eyes only for him, Haruo thought to himself. "I'm a lucky man" he said quietly to himself as he eased in his line and then cast it back into the water hoping to catch some more fish he could sell at the market.
It was with some sense of relief for Molly and the waiting-to-go-to-university kids when Molly went into labour one morning at breakfast. The rather ample size of her belly had had made walking an exercise in balancing herself since she couldn't see her feet and had to go on balance alone.
Everyone else had other things to do. River painted, Haruo fished. Torao went to the community garden and got vegetables and fruits. Yasunobu trimmed trees and worked on his own garden. Fiona wrote and went and reviewed restaurants, movies and sports events. Bebe went to work as a teacher's aide, Satoshi went and did his own thing at the theatre where he was a stage-hand. And well, Molly stewed being stuck at home until she gave birth. She was loath to cook anything because the fridge was already stocked full of eats.
The distinct focus of the Chikamori family now that the malevolent narcissist Mayumi was out of the picture was that everyone pulled together for each other's mutual benefit. Everyone knew their role in the family and each new member of the family that joined that structure instinctively knew what it was that needed to be done.
It was early afternoon when the family heard that Molly'd had twins and was headed back with Satoshi in a taxi. Molly was so exhausted that she lay down and went to sleep. Satoshi joined her and plumb forgot about Sally Akiko French who ended up.outside in the front yard.
If it wasn't for Yasunobu, who knew what would have become of poor Sally. Maybe she would have been snatched by baby slavers or worse. As it was Yasunobu woke Satoshi and raged at him, "How could you leave Sally outside. How dare you be so careless with your own child?"
This time Satoshi couldn't ease his way out of it. He had to be penitent. The party-animal in him always sought enjoyment and self-gratification above else but leaving a child in their own yard where there were dogs and not minding the child was irresponsible and careless, according to Yasunobu and Yasunobu was livid. "Don't ever do that again, Satoshi. I don't want River and Haruo to have to parent a child before they're ready but if you can't take care of your own off-spring. You're going to force my hand."
It was clear that Yasunobu wanted his family to be upright citizens and was prepared to exact some painful punishments if his edicts were not obeyed. Fiona marveled that Yasunobu could go from hen-pecked to lord-of-the-manor so quickly upon Mayumi getting killed. But even if he was harsh at what Satoshi and Molly had done, it was fair considering the severity of the situation.
Being irresponsible carried it's own set of consequences and Satoshi realized the ramifications of what could have potentially happened to Sally and Satoshi knew Yasunobu was right to grill him over hot coals.
Mayumi on the other hand would have been evil enough to call MCFD on the couple and potentially have all three of their children taken away. Satoshi's eldest son was a young adult so he was no longer at-risk of that happening but Sandy, Sally and Diane were all of an age where it could happen to them.
(End Part Three)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
It was unsure as to what Satoshi and Molly had planned in terms of wedding bells but Yasunobu was not going to settle on a "hmmm, maybe down the road." When it came to the twins, he insisted that they be legitimized immediately so as to not tarnish the Chikamori family name. And he was definitively not going to take no for an answer. Especially when Torao was the son of a pair of divorcees which was shame enough according to Yasunobu.
Which was one of the reasons behind Haruo wanting to wait until they were legally married to do anything like the horizontal tango. The intimate "dance of lovers" was completely out of the question; no way - no how.
Yasunobu or Fiona would have killed them. Or both at the same time (which pair the Watcher is referring to, he will leave you to guess).
In other news, Cordell Van Watson, the illegitimate get of the town harpy, taking after his mother, Madison, was making life miserable for Miraj Alvi so the Watcher did an intercession answering the age old question from Handel's Messiah from one of his tenor (or soprano) airs (opera solos are called arias; oratorio solos are called airs which in any case is completely different from the phrase putting on airs which is what you would do if you want to be supercilious or if you are listening to an oratorio straight through on a recording - Confusing? Me too...) "Who makes intercession for us?". Well in this case, Miraj got a direct answer from the Almighty Watcher since Cordell got fried.
In any case Cordell won't be doing that again if he doesn't want to risk the wrath of the Almighty.
Ten bucks say he's stupid enough to do it again.
Haruo went over to see Moses, not the biblical one, at the elixir shop.
"How are you, Haruo?" Moses Joseph asked, "...and how's that pretty wife-to-be of yours?"
"We're both doing great, Moses." Haruo grinned back at the long-time elixir shop attendant. "She and I are planning on heading to university soon."
"That's a good choice. Can't go wrong getting a post-secondary education."
"That's the long and the short of it. At least what it'll do is give us some options." Haruo stated. "And I'll have a good chance of making some money with the collecting at least even if I don't put the degree to use. In any rate, I'll have choices."
"Gotta say those pups have some good noses."
"You bet." Haruo grinned at him propping a rainbow gem on the counter.
"Dang. Largest one I've seen yet." Moses commented.
"Franz doesn't find small ones and the other two are finding their tracking skills pretty well."
Moses raised an eyebrow, "That's pretty good."
After stopping by the elixir shop. Haruo headed back home. At least things had settled back down somewhat after the incessant brouhaha over Molly having twins out of wedlock. Thank goodness for that. Otherwise he would probably have had to stay out and fish all night. Oh deer... ~smirk~
Needless to say there was a stigma attached to such things and for Yasunobu; face was always important. If one had to save face one always was on the wrong end of things. The best thing to do was just make sure that one did not step wrong. And that was difficult to do at the best of times.
River's paintings were selling quite well and she wasn't doing too badly on the quality front. In any case the some fact that the paintings had some interest proved that River had made the right choice to pursue painting as a career choice. After all finding that niche in one's career path was not an easy task.
Haruo figured spending his day out with rod and reel was as good an option as any considering Molly's tots were at an age where the screaming coming from Satoshi and Molly's room could wake the dead. Luckily River, Haruo, Bebe and Torao were on the top floor on the other side which meant that any screaming they heard was after going down on the elevator. After. Molly stopped screaming, she would feed the tots before THEY started screaming.
Until Molly's kidlets were of an age where they could walk and talk the four of Bebe, Haruo, River and Torao would be stuck making money and then they could head off to university. And fishing was relaxing unless you had a snapping blacktip or a psychopathic black goldfish on the other end of the line which made life really fun for Haruo.
Every so often Torao would enjoy coming out to fish but that wouldn't last long. Those black goldfish scared the living bejesus out of him. And forgetting putting them in his ruck. It was just as well that goldfish didn't have teeth or they might be calling him Three-Fingers Torao.
Torao knowing that his soon to be step-mom.needed help decided to be the ever-helpful stepson and take one of his soon-to-be step-sisters and teach her how to walk and talk now that they were toddlers. Yes, it was certainly taking a long time for Haruo, River, Bebe and Torao to go to university. Besides Molly was expected to be back at work on Sunday at her usual place of employ.
Fiona was pretty disgusted at the lack of decent films coming out of Starlight Shores the poor man's Hollywood. "Love in the Time of Llamas" was pure foreign romantic schlock, tripping ALL the tropes for such drivel. Figures it would have come out of Champs Les Sims. "The Dictator of Bandar Abbas" was yet another dismal flop with only those who would be interested in the dour war genre being enthralled by this particular one out of the country of pyramids; Al Simhara. The only flick that seemed to have a faint hope of being any good was "Crouching Tiger; Hidden Llama" which proved to be good for about the first twenty minutes then plummeted into a no-plot chop-socky Kung Fu flick. So much for any silver screen hope from perennial Oscar favorite, Shang Sim La. Maybe she should have just put her reviewer's brain on off and subjected herself to "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". A most truly excellent piece of cinematic achievement. STATION!!!
Molly had a lot of things to do and once she was finished dealing with teaching Sally Akiko how to talk she was dealing with teaching her how to walk which in any case was not going to be that hard since Torao was taking care of Diana Mariko.
In actual fact with Torao helping her Molly was able to teach the twins in short order to talk, walk and go potty in that order. Which would seem.to be the logical order. Teach the kid to talk so he or she can say "Mommy, go potty." So tot doesn't leave a nice mess in her diaper. Teach her to walk so she can make it over there and keep Mommy from throwing out her back. And finally teach her to go potty so that laundry from.accidents is lessened. Actually the last two could potentially be interchangeable. Pottie before walkie is also good so that tot knows just why walking is so good. Get to the potty before go poopie in pants. Now there's a concept.
Meanwhile Satoshi was at the park up by Summerhill Court which allowed him to fish on his day off. Hardly anyone came to this park which made for a very tranquil park for the likes of Torao, Yasunobu and Haruo. But for Satoshi, long hours of nothing exciting was pure boredom and he hated it. With the exception of biting fish which livened up a few moments, even fishing was an exercise in tedium which in the end made Satoshi resolve to never do this ever again. Although in his defence he did reach level seven in his fishing skill which would allow him to have enough skill to catch for Molly's benefit the fish used to make dinner be it fish and chips or grilled salmon. Was there a function for the tuna? The Watcher figures it's for tuna sandwiches.
Before Haruo could get out the door to join Satoshi at the park he got dragooned by River who told him, "Sweetheart, could you do something about the shower in the bathroom in our suite? I think Sandi broke it again." Of course when River gave him that oh-so-sweet I'll definitely make this favour you do for me worth your while when we get married look, Haruo could not resist. Oh little did he know that was the way of countless wives to coerce their husbands into doing stuff the wives wanted their husbands to do even though the husbands didn't really want to do it in the first place. Then they would sit around the tables with their female friends comparing notes.
"Hey John fixed the gutters last weekend."
"Way to go, Sarah. So what did Dave do, Eileen?"
"Oh he repaved the driveway, mowed the lawn and replaced the shingles on the roof."
"WOOOOOOAH!!! " Winner winner chicken dinner.
"How did she break this?" Haruo asked River incredulously when he saw the geysering shower-head. "Did she hang off the thing like monkey-bars?"
"Watcher only knows" River rolled her eyes. So guess what Haruo was doing for the rest of the day?
Haruo proceeded to then wrench the hot water tap in the shower. WATCHER: "Hey, dude, if the showerhead is doing a good impression of Old Faithful; chances are, you got a busted O-ring. It's not gonna do anything for you to wrench the hot water tap."
(End Part Four)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Well, with Yasunobu breathing fire at Satoshi, Satoshi and Molly decided that they'd better look into getting married or they would be toasted over a roasting spit. It wasn't as though Satoshi didn't know this. Even if Yasunobu wasn't primped and stuck-up about it, he held to the old-world Japanese tradition of face which meant you kept your actions in your everyday life as honorable as possible and did nothing to bring shame upon one's family.
To the younger generations, that was easier said than done. Owing as to emotions and hormones running rampant. But Satoshi was nearly fifty: so what was his problem? Evidently he hadn't grown up yet. With at least twenty-five years left to go, let's just say that he didn't have much time left to get it right.
Anyhow being born in 1940 Satoshi had gone through the war as a baby and coming out the end as a five year old. Which meant for him that life was meant to be enjoyed.
Yasunobu on the other hand born in 1934 was six years old when the war started for him and eleven when the war ended which gave him a very different view of what life should be. Because he had spent most of the war providing for his brothers and his mother. His view was that life and time should not be squandered; that every moment wasted was a moment that couldn't be recovered. For him study was important, because it meant the chance at a better life.
Though he wasn't anywhere as psycho as Mayumi, he was displeased when Haruo squandered time and was exceedingly proud of him when he demonstrated academic prowess.
The upshot of Yasunobu's decision was that Satoshi and Molly needed to get married in three days time and not waste any more time for the children to go to university by their indecision.
Well that was that. And Satoshi capitulated, knowing that he had to accede to the wishes of the head of the household.
So the next three days were a whirlwind of wedding preparations in any case so that they were able to go ahead and get married and for Yasunobu, the only thing that would satisfy him was a public declaration of marriage so that tongues didn't wag about those wanton Chikamoris and their propensity to have children out of wedlock. That would not go over well with Yasunobu at all.
Mayumi, if the hated old bat was still around would be throwing tantrums about how Molly didn't deserve to become a famy member and that they deserved to be excommunicated from the family for the shame they'd brought to them all.
However family blood ties were important to Yasunobu and a stern castigation as opposed to throwing the poor bum on the street was warranted. Any thing more severe than a harsh talking to on the subject of family honour was overboard.
And so, with three days to plan and execute the wedding, things went into overdrive. After all the destination was in the family back-yard which meant the poor dogs would have their houses and food bowls removed to a different spot in the yard and a wedding arch would be set up for Molly and Satoshi to take their vows. This was to keep costs down for those having to pay for the wedding to take place.
The officiant was a portly priest of the Shinto faith. A Reverend Otaro Yamagata; a priest in his late fifties. He had no problems with the couple wearing Western clothing for taking their wedding vows. And would make sure that they were properly endowed with the right blessings from the Almighty Kamisama. After all the couple were getting married to legitimize their children so why not be blessed as well.
Perhaps that might help with the diaper changes. At least maybe cut down the smell a bit. Maybe? After all, what are blessings for? Heavenly Assistance in Childcare.
When the day of the wedding dawned it was clearly apparent that the Watcher was clearly in favour of Satoshi and Molly's union as the sun shone bright. And as it was a weekend morning the wedding was going to start bright and early. The better to have Molly and Satoshi married off and into their new lives together. Where they would happily sit in a cottage together on the island where all the Chikamoris would all eventually live, away from the hustle and bustle of the ever-expanding Sunset Valley municipality.
Ideally the Chikamoris should have a much bigger island, a large island world to populate (much like Maple Ridge where the Watcher grew up only Maple Ridge didn't have a coast-line) but this will have to do until the Chikamoris have enough simoleons to get their own island. (The Watcher wishes he had HIS own island too but unless he wins the lottery; that isn't going to happen anytime soon.
Of course the sun shone bright as Molly and Satoshi watched the guests gather and waited by the arch for the ceremonies to begin.
When the officiant had gathered the couple together at the wedding arch, he read some Shinto scriptures and blessed the couple and then Molly and Satoshi made their vows to each other. The good Reverend Yamagata blessed them again and read another bunch of scriptures. Then they were asked to sign the marriage licence papers stating to the Province of British Columbia that they were married in the eyes of the Crown of the Queen of Canada, also the Queen of England and the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth as her loyal subjects even though they'd taken vows of marriage not in a religion officially recognized by the Crown of the Commonwealth.
How does that work again? Oh, religious freedom.
And then the Reverend blessed them again. With all this blessing they should rightly now be completely filled to the brim with happy happy blessings of joy joy.
And now they were married in the eyes of the public and Sally Akiko and Diana Mariko would no longer be considered illegitimate offspring and a shame to the family.
Which opinion is stuffy to say the least but it partly stems from the morality doctrine that gets shoveled down their throats to justify persecution of those who don't toe the line of societal norms.
Anyways Molly and Satoshi were now married, Yasunobu was happy. Bebe, Torao, Haruo and River were all happy because they could escape this madhouse and now go to university to get their degrees and enter the hamster wheel of 9-5. Bebe in.a classroom; the others deciding that the cubicle wasn't in their future. The dogs were ecstatic because they got their houses put back and every thing was all happy happy joy joy big boat y'know. Hunky Dory.
End Chapter 10
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
After Satoshi and Molly’s wedding hoopla had died down, Bebe turned in her further education intent letter to the school where she was currently employed as a teacher’s aide and they granted her the time. Which was great because her only other option was to say “I quit.” And anyhow, the school being just fine with her post-secondary schooling said. “Here ya go, enjoy your unpaid sabbatical for four years.
Well, at least, at the end of it she would be a teacher in a specialty that would pay her a decent wage.
Haruo and River were starting to pack for university. Haruo was vascillating between the offer from the school for a sports scholarship or doing sciences; he was going to stay as far away from chemistry as possible – he didn’t want to turn the school lab into a smoking ruin. And considering the advanced chemicals and reactive elements that university chemistry students worked with, the devastation wrought on the lab could potentially have a damage radius of up to ten miles with the surrounding area glowing a luminescent green. Needless to say; a little uranium goes a long way.
The fact that post-secondary school, also known as university or colleges in some parts of the world, was nearly upon them was an exhilarating feeling. It was the feeling of freedom, of new opportunities to explore and live life as young adults albeit knowing that no-one cared if they did reasonably well, succeeded more than their wildest dreams or failed spectacularly.
University was a stepping stone to real life, that attendance at classes assignment completion and doing well on tests was on their shoulders; their own responsibility. No-one was going to look over their shoulder to see what they were doing, to castigate them for poor attendance, for slacking off and not doing their work. They needed to do this work for themselves and hone themselves into successful adults who would make an impact in the world.
They would make an imprint on life as life would make their impression on them.
River was ready to go. She was as impatient as a racehorse in the stocks waiting for the gate to swing open so she could run full-tilt down the course. That anxiety and eagerness translated into checking and double-checking her scores on her aptitude test to make sure that they were right and counting down the days until they headed off to UBC.
And River, being her loving self, was going to wind her boyfriend, now fiance, into knots throughout their time at university so that he would essentially beg to get married as soon as they got home. That is if Satoshi hadn’t populated the town with French-Chikamoris by then. If that was the case, they would have to just find themselves their own island to populate.
Just the thought of all that populating made River woohooally frustrated. Maybe she could drag Haruo into the shower? Or would the frustration she felt make that first time they coupled intimately even better? Anyhow, all that would have to wait till she got to university where they would ultimately decide the direction of their lives. And how they would ultimately live it. But they definitely had plans to go to see different countries before she ended up pregnant with their first child.
Pregnancy had always been a consideration even though they hadn’t really talked about children very much. Haruo liked the idea of having children and River and Haruo both having been only children meant that for the most part they’d only had each other as siblings. They wanted their own children to have blood-siblings. And they’d just wasted three years of post-secondary life waiting on Molly and Satoshi to get their kid out and into toddler stage meaning that the three younger young adults were pushing twenty-two. They would be pushing twenty six by the time they graduated university and River worried that her best child-bearing years would be behind her. Or would it?
Sandi French, Molly’s little urchin had always talked a little crazy, but lately she’d been yammering about a young-again potion that she said she’d discovered. Considering the fact that Sandi liked to stand on chairs and posture regally carrying on royal airs as well as sitting on the couch making engine noises like a race-car driver, wearing biking helmet and goggles; no-one put stock in the idea that she could have conceivably come up with a potion to significantly prolong life.
Maybe they might try it on a whim but as far as they were concerned no such thing existed in any frame of the imagination and anyone who waxed on too much about such things would be liable to end up in the nuthouse.
Were they prepared for everything that they would encounter at university? The school-work and balancing leisure activities with studying. University was primarily a learning atmosphere but a lot of young students liked to experiment socially to see what relationships were like. River already had found the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and she wasn’t going there to experiment. She just wanted him so badly that when they got to their dorm room, she wanted to lock the door, push him on the bed and have her merry way with him, mutually taking each other’s respectability, She let out a frustrated sigh which caught Bebe’s attention.
"You just want to have your merry way with him, don’t you?” Bebe smirked at her amatorially frustrated and discombobulated friend, being directly lewd for the first time. They were young adults who were of legal age of consent. It shouldn’t shock River.
"Bebe!"
"What? Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about that." Bebe teased.
"Well, it's kinda hard not to think about it with you and Torao playing hide-the-banana in the shower every chance you two get. We hear you, you know." River shot back irritably.
"Oh, he’s a wonderful specimen of manhood." Bebe elaborated on Torao’s amatory prowess and gave River a wink. "Considering he and Haruo are related..." she ventured on with a teasing tone in her voice.
River narrowed her eyes at Bebe. Oh, River knew all-too-well Haruo was well-endowed. When they slept at night together in the bed, it was hard to not curl up spooned together when he pressed up against her for warmth and comfort. And the warmth of her own body tantalized him when they spooned in their sleep. River shivered in anticipation at the thought of just letting him do with her what he wanted. For heaven’s sake, all this talk about the their men was just making River antsy and irritable. "Will you stop, Bebe, I swear..." River muttered crossly, "It's like you have a one-track mind that keeps going on only one thing; who is going to do what with whom, how and when." Bebe laughed her head off which only served to make River more cross.
"Well..." Bebe grinned at her friend, “a dirty mind is such a shame to waste.” She smirked. "Have to keep it leashed at school; don’t want to corrupt the kiddies at school with all the lewd jokes so you get to be the beneficiary of my happy thoughts." River cringed. "Miss Hart..." Bebe gestured at herself "...to her students is as pure and innocent as the driven snow." She proclaimed clasping her hand to her heart batting wide hazel eyes at her friend in visual approximation of said innocence. Bebe was stunningly pretty and River had to admit that if she didn’t know her friend better, she’d have fell for the Little Miss Innocence schtick, batting eyelashes and all.
River choked down a snort of laughter as she had another sip of coffee. "Pure and innocent..." she laughed...as soon as she got down the swig, "Yeah, Bebe, I’ll believe that when pigs fly."
"So what do you think of Ethan getting together with Lolly? I know that Lolly was sweet on Haruo at one point." Bebe said with another smirk.
River aimed a well-earned glare at Bebe, “Let’s just say that once we’re on the island, Little Miss Trollop won’t have the chance to come near my Haruo. She had no wish for that Racket, as nice as she was in comparison to her siblings, to go anywhere near her man.
"Ooh, a little jealous and possessive, are we?"
"🐸🐸🐸🐸 straight, hell yes!" was River’s growling reply, “Haruo is mine.” Bebe grinned at her. Engagement meant hands off to any woman other than River herself and River was prepared to stake her claim so there was no uncertainty in anyone else’s mind as to who she was with and in further clarification to anyone dumb enough to try who her man was with. Woe betide anyone else who tried to claim-jump her Haruo.
(end part 1)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Haruo was sorting out his luggage in preparation. Clothes, he had definitive need of, a book to read during leisure, namely some obscure military tome that he’d always been interested in; namely about the US and its involvement in the Vietnam War; the wind-down happening in the first five years of his life with the eventual withdrawal of US forces in Vietnam happening in 1973 and the Fall of Saigon in 1975.
When Haruo was just a toddler, his mother and father had used the TV to babysit him while his grandmother did chores around the house and during those earliest years, he remembered the news broadcasts from the killing fields of Nam being played into his living room. From the dying days of the war: men dying in the rice paddies, USAF F-4s and F-100s doing napalm runs sending up billowing explosions of red and orange quickly turning into black sooty smoke as the surrounding vegetation burned. And the daily kill count. All of that etched into a distant fading memory as fifteen years had passed in what seemed like a torturously long time to a youngster yet was really only a blink of an eye.
Now he was a young adult.
Canada had been both a refuge for those against the war, deserters and dissenters alike as well as a place for hawks to disparage. And Haruo was grateful that his country hadn’t been dragged into the quagmire like Australia and France or many of the now mid-thirty to mid-forty somethings would have been killed in those same fields that the American Gis and Marines had died in. It was in these same late Eighties years that the talk of the Vietnam Memorial being constructed was starting to take place.
Haruo wasn’t sure about what else to take with him to dorm at UBC. There had always been model kits including an F-15 Eagle kit that he’d wanted to build but unfortunately his skills weren’t all that great to begin with in terms of building. A lack of patience along with a desire to see the completed bird wasn’t conducive to building a museum quality piece. So since he was going to university to study, he would leave his model airplanes at home.
What else was there really, food and snacks? He could readily get those at the grocery store near UBC. There was a sports shop where he could get hockey equipment when he needed it, tape, sticks, skates, pads etc.
If he was going to take the sports scholarship, he might as well play for the school team. He knew he didn’t have the talent to get drafted to the NHL. At best he would be a third-line plug forward who could potentially be counted on to get the puck on net two, maybe three times in a blue moon. What he did do well with his stocky big but short frame and his mean attitude on the ice was rack up PIMs (penalties in minutes). If someone went after one of his team’s star players, he’d be right in there throwing right hooks to the player’s face with his left grabbing the offending player’s jersey to hold him in place.
Five for fighting, possibly a ten-minute game misconduct and ejection for instigating too – maybe if the team was unlucky, he’d get a suspension.
Torao looked over at his cousin. “So, what do you think of playing hockey for the Thunderbirds?”
“It’ll keep me from going completely stark-raving nuts.” was Haruo’s response. Torao’s and Bebe’s explorations in congress would be enough to drive anyone stark-raving insane who was within earshot. Hence the reason why River was wound up as tight as a drum kit – it was as a result of listening to Bebe and Torao going at it in the shower and the fact that they (River and Haruo) were abstaining served to frustrate her to no end.
Frankly the fact that Bebe wasn’t in the family way yet was surprising enough. At least they were using protection as far as Haruo knew. Evidently they didn’t want an unexpected happy happy bundle of joy joy which would proceed to stench up their dormitory and force the Chancellor of UBC to ask if it might be possible to defer her education; quite possibly until the ankle-biter was twenty.
Ah but such were preparations to go away to university. Lots of oopportunity to find one’s vocation in life and with a switch of vowels, it could be defined as a temporary escape from reality; namely the sour fact that Bebe would be coming back to a classroom filled with non-listening, non-cooperating juveniles who wanted to upstage you and be the center of attention...
...and that was just the teachers.
The kids at the school or at least the recalcitrant ones could drive one to drink hard alcohol 80 proof. When Bebe graduated university, she could become a high-school teacher and eventually aspire to higher levels much like Haruo’s un-lamented malignant late mother though Bebe had a much softer touch in terms of guiding the student body and coaxing them to higher levels of learning. At least she would do her job with the enjoyment of teaching rather than the mind-twisting and malevolent intentions of Haruo’s late mother towards her charges back when the witch was alive.
River had no idea of what was to come in terms of her post-secondary academics. Would she be studying the works of Renoir, the paintings of Michelangelo, the mind-bending output of Picasso or the weird and wacky modernist style of Andy Warhol. She had no aspirations to be like any of them.
In other words, she preferred the happy little trees of Bob Ross, ex-United States Air Force Master Sergeant and former drill instructor, who, in any case, had a blinding revelation and decided that he would no longer yell at anyone and never did again after viewing a tableau of grizzlies calmly fishing in a stream nearby against a backdrop of majestic mountains filled with happy little trees; picked up paint and brush and never looked back.
So River was planning to study the artworks of the great Masters and glean what esoteric knowledge of light and brush technique was available to her.
Monet, Raphael; all would be covered in those textbooks; the painting techniques of the great masters mastered and it would all boil down to Bob Ross and his happy little trees.
(End Part 2)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Torao was headed towards the science route and he was looking at getting a job at the Landgraab Science Center which hopefully would help in terms of income into the family coffers. Torao wasn’t a dreamer like his dad, his step-mother or River; he and Haruo were practically minded and dreams were nothing more than the subconscious working out an obvious solution to a problem in one’s downtime. There were no practical reasons for a dream since that was all that remained unless you got off your duff and did something about it.
Torao knew that science was a practical subject in his field. At least if he became a research assistant, he’d be making quite a few simoleons. Torao would let Haruo do the fishing and some of the gardening since he would have to be at the lab most of the time. Hopefully some of the opportunities would fall to either one of them and it didn’t hurt to have them both do gardening. At least the Watcher would be looking over them and Torao could pray for good fortune.
“So what do you plan to do, Torao?” asked Haruo as he tossed a few more t-shirts into his luggage that he was taking to UBC.
“I’m going into the sciences department.” Torao said as he looked over at his cousin. “Horticultural studies would come in handy in any case, especially if I plan to garden. I could use that knowledge to better the quality of my plants.”
“Just make sure you don’t genetically design a Triffid...” Haruo jibed "...or you might bring about the end of humanity.” He was only partially joking. There were rumors of plant-beings, essentially people that looked like plants who live off water and sunk themselves into the ground to rejuvenate. It was eerie and unsettling to know that there were those amongst human society who were not of their kind. Most, it was said, were normal law-abiding citizens who went about their every-day business doing whatever they needed to do to survive: grocery shopping, laundry, paying bills, going to work.
But then again, there were that few that loved to make life hell for other people, the evil ones whose idea of fun was poisoning others or seriously hurting them. Those were the ones who deserved a good dose of weed-killer.
Haruo had no dealings with plant-people nor did he want to. But he knew that he would be going to a school now that drew in many from all walks of life. Or should he say life-forms?
Needless to say, the University of British Columbia would be an eye-opening experience. And as such he would need to keep his prejudices in check.
Haruo put on some Handel on his stereo; a love of classical music he’d inherited from his father though he preferred Baroque music. The rondo form from the first movement of the Op. 6 Number 10 in D minor filled the air. That particular Concerto Grosso was one of his favorites. The complicated passages intersected with each other in an amazing counterpoint only surpassed by that of J.S. Bach. https://youtu.be/Ei5nDMiyDXg
“You love that stuff, don’t you?” Torao commented.
“Yeah.” Haruo stated grinning. “Can’t get into the stuff that they’re playing on the airwaves nowadays.”
“Oh, c’mon. Tell me that you don’t like Iron Maiden.”
“It’s not my first choice to listen to if I had a choice in the matter.” Haruo retorted. “Rock music is so...pedestrian.” He found the perfect description. Yup, it hit a nerve...with Torao.
“Classical snob.”
“Plebeian.” Haruo shot back.
“You should have taken music.” Torao rejoindered, “You would be in good company...” He smirked. “...with all the other snobs.”
“Very funny, egghead.” Haruo snickered. “Really rich coming from someone who’s going to have his head stuck in a lab coat and Erlenmeyer flask for four years straight.”
Perhaps it would have turned into an all-out argument, but it was interrupted by River and Bebe, the former of; put her arms around Haruo, put her head on Haruo’s right shoulder and said, “Oh, that’s beautiful, is that a piece of classical music that you’re listening to?”
Haruo and Torao settled for sticking their tongues out at each other. In insult as each were taken in arms by their respective fiancées.
River kissed her fiancé as she wrapped her arms around him. “I’m looking forward to getting out of this house and heading off to university.” She proclaimed. Ever since that heavy petting session prior to Bebe’s grad ceremony, Haruo and River had been watched with eagle-eyed intensity by Fiona and Yasunobu who were all of the opinion that woohoo was reserved for the marriage bed and not for anything prior to their nuptials.
(End Part 3)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Unlike Bebe and Torao whose parents didn’t really hold to the notions that the marriage bed was sanctified and that woohoo was therefore forbidden. Satoshi was easy-going in that regards owing as to how he’d progenitored Torao. And well, Bebe’s mother and father, now living down the block, were too busy with their respective careers to care about whether their daughter was playing “Dr. Touchy-Feely Chiropractor” with her fiance. And of course Bebe and Torao took it to the next level. When their bedroom door was shut, it was implicitly understood that you didn’t knock on their door let alone go into their room unless you wanted to see them in flagrante delicto.
The Next Morning
Meanwhile Molly had three children under the age of six and she decided unilaterally that Sandi had to depart. Frankly, it was rather upsetting to Sandi, but Molly had her hands full with Sally and Diane and considering the concerns the pediatrician had expressed about Sandi’s need for attention and personal growth, Sandi was headed for the School of Peace and Love headed by the Baghwan Shree Rajneesh; and unfortunately for Sandi, she was stuck having to go. There was no way out. It was Molly’s responsibility and when she side-stepped that responsibility, unfortunately there wasn’t a way for others to intervene especially at that time in history. Well, she had played the piper and she decided that she wasn’t going to pay her dues; after all, she had a career to consider as a chef and she had two other little ones to raise...so poor Sandi got the short end of the stick. Yes, it was unfair, but that was life especially with a mother that only cared about what she wanted in life.
Molly was a hedonistic party animal and thus really wasn’t family oriented. Sandi was a result of a quick romp in the hay with a guy that she really didn’t care about, but ended up taking to her bed regardless because she felt like she wanted some fun. Unfortunately that fun stayed with her and she wasn’t enjoying it. Parenting was drudgery for her and when the advertisement for the School of Peace and Love came across her doorstep, she decided to take full advantage of it and at the first available opportunity sent Sandi packing.
It was nine-o’clock that Sandi was picked up by the boarding school taxi and she didn’t say a word to anyone. The haunted look in her eyes about how her mother could do this to her was telling enough and it would be a long time before she would ever say anything to her mother ever again.
River was furious and she swore up and down that she would never ever do that to any of her children. What children came from her loins were hers and Haruo’s and they would never, ever send any of them away.
Bebe had dragged Torao into the bathroom and was quietly stripping him down to a state of no clothes, all the while removing her own. She wanted her fiance; all of him, and she wasn’t about to wait. She only let him go long enough to turn on the shower. Her fiancee’s eyes opened wide as she slid down the wall to her knees and her hands started questing for him. Torao’s head nearly exploded as he felt sensations as Bebe made him more limp than a noodle.
River and Haruo, on the other hand, headed out to their usual haunt up in Pinochle Pond cherishing the time they had with each other before they dove head-first into post-secondary studies. At twenty-two, they’d saved themselves for each other and it was getting frustrating for both of them because they wanted each other so much. Nestling into Haruo’s arms, River gazed at the pond.
“I’m so glad that Molly’s kids are at the stage where they are just about ready to age up and go to pre-school. But it certainly puts a crimp in our time-table; doesn’t it?” River complained. Haruo understood completely. They’d had to defer their own education so that Molly and Satoshi had ready child-care ever since Satoshi had accidentally left one of his daughters in yard. River was definitely not happy about it, However River had managed to master her painting in the meantime.
Haruo nodded, “Well, ...” he paused for a long moment. With his mother, roadblocks were to be expected and an obstacle to be worked around. But she was no longer interfering in his life as she had no life of her own period, unless one considered the afterlife a life. Haruo noticed that his uncle and Molly tended to be self-absorbed and living for the moment. And sometimes things tended to slip their minds. He understood why his father was so adamant to have other sets of eyes watching over the twins. However it certainly didn’t help their case as it delayed their education. “...you know you can never tell when roadblocks are going to pop up. We’ll just have to go with the flow, right?”
“it annoys me because if we had gone to university upon graduation, we’d be done by now and enroute to getting married.” River pouted a bit; then she leaned in closer and whispered sensuously in Haruo’s ear. “And I wouldn’t be so frustrated right now about wanting to jump your bones.” She flicked her tongue out and lightly licked his ear-lobe.
“Watcher, River...” Haruo gasped, his consternation belied by a merry twinkle in his eye, “that’s scandalous.”
“Hmmph...” her offended pout looked so cute. Haruo took her into his arms and started kissing her and it was far less innocent kisses than when they had first admitted their feelings for one another.
Duelling tongues and questing hands. River looked up at Haruo, pupils dilated, her lips parted. “You don’t know just how much I want to say to hell with it and have you screw me senseless.” she sighed deeply. “Every time I feel your body against me...” She trailed off...then somehow found the words. “I just want you to rip my clothes off and have your way with me.”
Haruo felt the same way but he knew it would be much more special if they waited; that their first time in the marriage bed would bring them to an utter peak.
They contented themselves with heavy petting and sat gazing at the water hoping that this year was the one that would make their post-secondary education at university a reality.
“What do you plan to do for extracurricular activities at university?” Haruo peered at her with a questioning gaze.
“I don’t know.” River stated. “I know I have to do a well-rounded arts degree; not just painting, guitar and writing. University Chorus is looking for singers. So I thought I might try out for it. Maybe get a spot as a second soprano. And it’ll fill a spot as an elective course.”
“Sounds interesting.” Haruo said as he looked deep into his fiancee’s eyes.
“Why don’t you audition too?” River suggested as she stroked his arm. “You were in high-school choir and they could use a few more 🐸🐸🐸🐸. It seems the lower end male voices are always needed.”
“I’ll see depending on how my science and athletic course-loads are. I may join pending that, depending on the need for 🐸🐸🐸🐸 and baritones.” River snuggled into his arms as he said this and she looked up at him.
“It’ll be so romantic.” River purred. “Y’know they say the bathroom always has the best acoustics of any room in the house, second only to the stairwell.” Haruo raised an eyebrow laced with innuendo. “Stop that or I’m going to drag you into the stairwell and have my merry way with you. And if the acoustics are as good as they say, everyone will know exactly what we’re doing in the dorm stairwells.” She gave him a loving squeeze.
“I love you.” Haruo whispered in River’s ear.
“You know I love you too.” River whispered back as Haruo gathered her in an intimate embrace. River raised her right hand to caress her fiance’s cheek and Haruo leaned his forehead against River’s “...oh so much, my love.” It was a classic tableau of young love; two young lovers embraced in a tranquil setting, their focus on nothing other than each other.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Torao grinned widely as he tried not to inhale the water from the spray of the shower. Their machinations in the shower had always been an intimate part of their relationship when they weren’t having passionate woohoo in bed. Frankly, Bebe was putty in Torao’s hands and they had explored every single part of each other’s body. It never grew old. Woohoo was just the icing on the cake that was their passionate relationship.
“You always make me feel like a beautiful woman...” Bebe said, her face buried in Torao’s bare wet shoulder, dripping with the shower spray over both of their bodies.
“You are a beautiful woman.” Torao whispered in her ear. “You’re beautiful both inside and out.”
She looked up at him, her eyes twinkling. “Well...I’m certainly lucky to have you, Torao...and frankly...it’s a good thing that I have an income that will cover the cost of the pill, since...I can’t get enough of you.”
That morning was the day that Sandi was picked up for her ride to the School of Peace and Love and frankly, the way that she was unceremoniously told to go stand out on the street and wait for the taxi by Molly was deflating to the rest of the family who pretty much had nurtured their own children from infancy to young adulthood. One never stopped being a parent and if Molly was about to do that to her own flesh and blood, well, there wasn’t a maternal bone in Molly French’s body.
...and it was on that rather suck-the-air-out-of-the-balloon note that the four young adults were headed off to university. With all the packing done and out of the way...it was just a matter of making sure that everything was together.
The four soon-to-be university students and Franz left the house soon after leaving only the adults and toddlers at the house to do whatever it was that adults do when the children are away. A long journey awaited the young adults who were headed up to UBC, especially on the weekends where the #1 Highway was jam-packed with people trying to go out of town and the main thing was trying to get from point A to point B without ending up in a fender-bender. As it was they decided to take Highway 1a...through the Massey Tunnel and onwards towards Richmond from there, they would take the Cambie Bridge and head into Vancouver and towards Point Grey and the University Endowment lands.
When they reached the University Endowment Lands, it was cloudy and miserable; the skies grey and threatening to open up with a deluge. They had left a Sunset Valley farther up the Fraser Valley which was in a downpour. The rain had tapered off as they moved farther up the coast to Vancouver proper and they were now renting a §818.00/mo rental of an entire house, a three-bedroom home, two-levels and they would have Sunday to themselves before starting their first semester of university. They even had a garage where if they so chose, they could buy their first car and store it so that they could get to university classes on time.
“Wow!” was the exclamation from the four as they were handed the keys to their new accommodation on the university campus. These were nice digs, Torao thought as he looked the bluish-grey house, a two storey three bedroom in the University Lands area of Lower Mainland BC.
“Not bad…man”. Haruo said “Lay me five. bud…”. He high-fived his cousin. “We just landed like cats in the cream.” He looked around at the house’s exterior, it was mostly plain grass, no trees except for one large oak; it would be a simple chore of making sure that the leaves were raked up and that was just a matter of regular maintenance of the house whose condition they had been entrusted during their tenancy.
Of course, while the cat was away, the mice will play and Torao and Bebe got “busy” in one of the bedrooms while Haruo was hungry and decided to make some pancakes. He was also hoping that he would progress in his cooking and start to learn more recipes. However his main focus was going to be playing the blue-line in his role as number four defenceman for the UBC Thunderbirds.
River sighed looking over at her fiancé who was slavishly cooking over the Simmer-Char, a stove that had a propensity to turn into a conflagration the second one’s attention was drawn away from the task of cooking. Frankly it was a menace, but unfortunately the expense of upgrading the stove in a place that they weren’t staying long-term was not going to be worth it. When he was done, he made the wait worthwhile by taking her into his arms and kissing her. The makeout session was absolutely amazing and they decided to head upstairs, keeping their clothes on however.
River asked him, “Are you sure we want to wait till marriage?” she purred, as she ran a finger down his chest and that touch made Haruo wish that he hadn’t made that promise of abstinence until marriage.
There were a great many things to do at University: sign-in was at the head office and they had a week’s window to get fully settled in and get ready for the semester to start. They managed to fully move in by Sunday and were acclimating to being up at Point Grey searching out the things that they needed to know about the area – where the grocery store was, where the UBC Bookstore was. Then they would head up to the administration and sign up for courses.
Haruo and Bebe headed over to the lake to fish for some dinner after getting a fishing license at the local bait shop. River decided to use the house’s easel to paint a large painting and Torao decided to use one of the house’s computers to experiment with writing.
Were they ready to dive into the next part of their education? Post-secondary education was certainly going to be a grind...at least for the next four years. The urge to not rush into things was great and Haruo was certainly feeling that. Was he ready for the grind? Was he prepared to stick nose to grind-stone and get ahead in life?
It all remained to be seen.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
It was a heady feeling to be out in the big world in terms of adulting. Haruo, River, Bebe and Torao were pumped to be away from the parents and doing what they needed to do to get ahead in life.
University was a step in the direction in which they wanted to send their life. The classes and studying they had to put in would prepare them for the rest of their life; their experiences governing the direction of their subsequent failures or successes. It would behoove them to work hard and not be too inclined to party the nights away.
There had been a long conversation over lunch and they’d come to the mutual decision to enroll immediately. This would get their education on track quickly and get them their university degrees. So after lunch, they decided to walk down to the university administration building.
“I think athletics is worth taking.” Haruo informed the rest. “It’s something I like doing and frankly, if it comes down to it, I can teach Phys-Ed in Sunset Valley Secondary.” He looked over at the spires up above and marveled that the school had been established in 1908, eighty plus years ago. Man, this building is oool. Haruo thought to himself.
“So when is hockey practice for you?” River inquired.
“Practice is at five in the morning; five days a week, goes for two hours, get a shower and then head to class. I think the T-Birds have power-play drills tomorrow morning, at least as far as Coach Kelley says. “I gotta re-tape my stick, the tape’s going on it; getting worn from practicing slap-shots and get some tape wax.” River smiled at Haruo as he went through some of the stuff he had to do before he got on the ice.
“When’s the first game, Honey?” River looked at the T-Bird’s schedule that she purloined from Haruo’s hand.
“Four days from now. babe. Exhibition against U of A Golden Bears. (University of Alberta), Coach had a sit down intro to performance expectations on the ice. You get cut if your mark goes below a B average.”
“Ouch!” Torao said. “That’s a rough guideline to hold up to.”
“Naw 3.5 in academics shouldn’t be hard to maintain if I crack the books. The worry’s if I get injured during the season. Rehab will cut into my study time. It would matter if I wanted to make the A or get signed on to an NHL team, but I’m just doing this for the varsity letter and the connections that it’ll give me in the future.”
“So…you’re just milkin’ it for the benefits, huh?” Bebe teased him. Haruo pantomimed shock and let out a small “oh…” and all of them laughed.
“Hey, an CICHL (Canadian Inter-Collegiate Hockey League) Championship is nothing to sneeze at.” Haruo pretended to be offended. That caused another outburst of laughter.
Registration at the Admin building was quick. Haruo had a few changes to his schedule now that Coach had drafted his schedule of practices. One of his Athletics department courses would have conflicted. But now he had a schedule that worked for what he needed.
And early morning practices were going to be hell to get up for but he’d signed on the dotted line. He was a second pairing defenseman and could look at about seven to ten minutes of ice time a shift depending on the line-matchups with the other team. He was paired with a six-two bruiser of a d-man and they both checked hard so Coach Kelley was going to put them out against the top-line of opposition teams to forecheck and blunt their attack into the blue-line. Campbell’s role was to stand in front of the goalie and knock opposition forwards who tried to screen the crease.
At least that was the plan.
Bebe’s stomach chose that moment to complain. “Oh jeez, that was embarrassing.” She flushed pink.
“Guess we’re all hungry.” Torao grinned at her. “Where to?”
“I thought I saw a burger joint around here somewhere.” Haruo stated. “…y’know…when we were driving in.
“Yeah down by the first corner. Right across from the theatre.” Bebe said. “I saw it. Haruo was too busy with the rental truck.”
“There really isn’t much other than that; other than a cafeteria that sells snacks. There really isn’t much of a grocery store, except on the other end of town.” River added.
They all finally agreed to get burgers over at the fast food joint. They felt that it was a good idea to make sure they ate well considering that they would be making their new accommodations livable. Unpacking would take them the rest of the day.
As Haruo approached the restaurant, a blonde middle-aged woman was eying him like this morning’s prime Grade A beef sirloin steak. As River was following right behind him, she caught the woman’s interested gaze at her fiancé and barely restrained herself from saying “Hey witch, keep your cougar eyeballs to yourself. Get yourself your own man. You cradle-snatching tramp.”
Let’s just say that River had no intention of letting anyone near her man and she had a pretty vicious right hook as several girls found out who tried to bully her in high school. And frankly now that it was official that she was getting married to Haruo when they returned to Sunset Valley from UBC, there was no bloody way she was going to let anyone try to get in between her and her fiancé. Anyone who tried would find out the hard way that River McIrish, soon to be River McIrish-Chikamori was no pushover.
River gave the woman a cold stare as she went by her in challenge.
The four went into the restaurant and picked a table; evidently their specialty was the taco burger with taco sauce and a half oz. burger slathered in guacamole and and salsa. Torao and River decided on that burger while Bebe opted for the Swiss Mushroom and Haruo decided on the Hawaiian burger which had three slices of bacon, a pineapple ring slathered in Polynesian sauce on yet another flame-grilled half oz. patty.
The aromas emanating from the kitchen of the restaurant were making their mouths water and Haruo was glad that the wait wasn’t too long. In fact they all headed to the drink fountain to get their drinks before collecting their burgers and fries. The buns and patties measured at least four and a half inches across so they were big burgers.
“So tomorrow’s gonna be a rush out the door, eh?” Bebe grinned. “First class for all of us is at 8.”
“Speak for yourself, my 🐸🐸🐸🐸 has to be on the ice by five in the morning so my butt has to be out of bed at four. Two hour practice, get out of my gear and take a shower. Then hustle my butt to class.”
“Awwww….” River grinned at him. “Such a hard life…”. She teased him playfully.
“Hockey is life…” Haruo grinned back at her.
“And the macho chest-beating starts…” Torao interrupted Haruo’s train of thought as he was about to pontificate on the excitement that was inherent in lacing up the skates, grabbing one’s stick, jamming your helmet on your head and going out to do battle on the ice. To put the puck right where he intended it to go; the satisfaction your stick meeting the puck and sending it laser-beam delivery past the butterflied goalie sprawled prone on the ice while watching helplessly as the puck headed, unimpeded, for the back of the net.
Haruo looked thoroughly blissful as he talked about his on-ice enjoyment while Torao rolled his eyes and the girls giggled in amusement. “UBC Thunderbirds…HOCKEY…” and let out a sound that sounded like a dog barking; a large dog.
“OK Hon.” River chided him affectionately, “calm down or the university might send the dogcatcher around to restrain any one exhibiting animal-like behavior”
Haruo subsided very quickly after that admonition.
(end part 1)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
The four settled into chairs and pulled open their books in order to get ahead on the studying. They wanted to make sure they were ahead of the game insofar as learning their course materials was concerned.
Haruo knew that part of his course curriculum involved staying physically fit. That meant time in the gym toning his body and making sure he was able to perform well on the ice. College hockey for some was a stepping stone to the NHL. Haruo on the other hand wasn’t going to count on making it to the NHL to deal with having any sort of a career. He had other plans. Hockey was a fun game but it wasn’t going to be his future. There were a lot more talented players ahead of his position in line.
However, he was looking forward to the games knowing that some of the players whom he was playing with would be signing with an NHL team and if he could hang with them in terms of his on-ice ability, then he wasn’t that bad. At least he could say that he was able to skate with future NHL’rs. After all Canadians were born on skates, so it was said.
Haruo had to sit himself in a room of his own to study because he had to have music going on in order to have the atmosphere to be able study; on the stereo he had Arcangelo Corelli’s Trio Sonata for Violin and Cembalo #4 in F major, Op. 5 Allegro playing in the background. He didn’t want to disturb the rest of his room-mates or fiancée who needed silence to be effective in their studying. It was his own idiosyncrasy to want to have something playing. And he found baroque music suited him much better than any other music. It had been that way since he was a child and his dad had put classical music on. He felt so hyper-focused on his course materials when he was bent over the textbook with the music running in the background. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49Jyv4ikV1g
“How can you study with that on?” Bebe asked; a grin plastered all over her face.
Haruo answered her with a smug look, “According to researchers: brain imaging research using electroencephalography found that Baroque music can bring about a balanced, stable, calm state of mind and improve learning efficiency.” Along with a wink to let her know that he was not taking himself seriously even if the research was accurate.
Bebe nearly rolled on the floor laughing at just how comical Haruo looked since he had on this smug air of superiority.
It was a late night of studying as the students made sure they knew their course materials because there could be a spot question on the quizzes that the instructors gave to know if you had studied the course material. It would behoove them to be well prepared for midterms, since rumor had it that those exams were insanely difficult.
And that wasn’t the only thing. Even the D was supposed to play the “transition game”; to move the puck through the blue-line and into the center ice area to transition forwards into offense. The last thing any team wanted was to be trapped in their zone. What they wanted was puck possession and moving it out across the opposition’s blue-line on the attack. Which meant that Haruo had to study tape and make sure he got familiar with the playing styles of his opposition so that he could counter their play and get them off their game.
And of course Haruo had to study for his lecture courses too so he had what seemed like twice the studying to do. After all his coach wanted to see performance on the ice or his position would go to someone who was hungry to reach the NHL. And his teachers wanted to see academic performance. A whole lot of pressure for Haruo to be under. And plus, this education was costing his dad an arm and a leg in money.
So thus was the strain in education for Haruo.
Bebe also was under a lot of pressure. Her parents had only discovered their prowess late in life and she had a lot to prove that she wasn’t like them in the slightest: dedicated, hard-working, punctual and smart were to be her key characteristics. And a head-start at a teaching career bolstered those views of her.
River on the other hand was self-driven to succeed. What she wanted, she went after with single-minded purpose. Her love of art transcended any other, except for her love towards Haruo, her best friend in life next to her mom. She put her whole heart and soul into her artistic efforts and it showed. Between that and her general knowledge courses at university, she was going to be quite busy during the school term.
Torao on the other hand was undertaking a mentally taxing course-load. His line of study was in medicine and he was headed for a life dedicated to the healing arts. Anyone who has studied medicine knows just how mind-numbingly intensive the course-load was. There were no margins for error. These were the men and women who fought death daily on the front-lines of healthcare. Hence the reason why in UBC Faculty of Medicine, a pass mark was 90% on tests. If you did not know your stuff inside out, you were not being let out to practice medicine. After all. A wrong call on a diagnosis could result in the Reaper paying a nice little visit and no one wanted him around.
It was around one in the morning before anyone got to sleep. And it certainly wasn’t unusual for students to pull an all-nighter in order to make sure that they knew their course materials inside out. The systematically thorough study habits of the students certainly were quite intensive in their attempt to know everything for their tests.
By the time Haruo’s and River’s heads hit their pillows it was clear that the temptation to have unmarried intercourse was the least of their problems. Haruo was exhausted and so was River and the only thing they could do was cuddle in bed.
Monday morning was insanity times four. People having to eat, use the facilities and get to class combined in a rather volatile state of affairs.
“Aren’t you out of the washroom yet?!!”, bellowed Torao who was waiting on Haruo to get out of the washroom since he had to go pee.
“Well excuse me if I can’t excrete on command. Why don’t you use the one upstairs?!!! There’s two washrooms upstairs!!!”
“BECAUSE THE GIRLS ARE USING THE OTHER TWO WASHROOMS!!!! THAT’S WHY!!!”
A scream of frustration ensued when Haruo roared back. “Go use the ******* BUSH!!!!”
Somehow they all managed to get out the door without killing each other.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Classes for River were always interesting. There was always a lecture on an artistic medium that she was interested in: Romanticism, Post-Impressionistic, Renaissance…you name in, as well as lectures on artists and how their works affected modern day artistic efforts. Lectures on types of mediums and what they were used for: watercolours, oils, graphite pencils, etchings, etc. And on the days off from classes, River usually could be seen either at the easel or sitting on the floor working on a pencil sketch.
It wasn’t certain what Bebe was doing, but she was neck-deep into technology studies at UBC. And learning about these new emerging tech gave her a leg-up in teaching since she would educate the next generation. The world of computing was starting to switch from hard disks and floppies into optical drives and such was that medium that capacities were being expanded from kilobytes to megabytes of data. The days of gigabytes, terabytes and petabytes would loom distant on the horizon, but data was infinite and would be compiled as quickly as could be coded in storage sizes that could make one’s head spin.
Torao was studying medical terminology which was a total mind-blast. Some of the medical terms were so convoluted and complex that it would give a person nightmares just trying to remember it all. Oncology: the study of cancer. Epidemiology; the study of epidemics and how they occur, Virology; the study of viruses and its sister study; Bacteriology; naturally, the study of bacteria…were all straightforward. But complicated terms like endovascular surgical neuroradiology were brain-twisters. All anyone who wasn’t prepared to undertake a four year pre-med degree before jumping into medicine was that it had to do something with the body’s blood transport system; your veins and arteries and usually you were sent to the endovascular surgical radiology department when something was going haywire with your vascular and endovascular systems, such as an aneurysm or some sort of disease attacking said veins or arteries.
Haruo, on the other hand, was on the ice for two hours a day five days a week and in the gym for three out of those five days working on his body, getting it back into shape for being on the ice and taking hits along the boards. He was muscular but he wasn’t tall and big like most hockey players. If you were 5’10” you were on the short side for a hockey player and NHL teams tended to overlook you at the draft.
Sleep came early and so did wakeup that first morning. First practice was on Tuesday so that the coach could determine just what his lines were going to be, so that Monday morning was just a meet and greet during regular classes. It was still early and Haruo was not looking forward to the 4AM wakeup to get to the rink by five.
That was the time that had to be met if he wanted to get any sort of breakfast in him before Coach made them do bag skates down the length of the rink.
Bebe headed into her morning class and in technology which was quite an eye-opener in terms of learning experience. There was more to the field of tech than she’d originally known. There were new forms: cybernetics, computers, data storage and robotics. All sorts of fields were going to open up in the future and if that was what she wanted to learn she would be on the cutting edge of her field. And a B.Ed in Tech would help her immensely in terms of what salary she could command.
River was annoyed at the fact that she, being the last out of the house, had to wait at the entrance to the lecture hall for the class to begin. Meanwhile the rest of the students milled around aimlessly socializing, while blocking the entrance. River was focused, a perfectionist and frankly, anything that detracted from her goals frankly 🐸🐸🐸🐸 her off immensely.
“For crying out loud, will you guys get a grip and figure where in hell you’re gonna stand? Others have to get to class…y’know?” She muttered caustically under her breath. She gave the most intrusive one the evil eye when he looked her up and down, his eyes straying to her assets. “My eyes are up here.”
“Well you’re a fine one…” Mahmoud Yavari grinned at her.
River gave him a frosty grin that signaled and you ain’t gettin’ any of this. And shot Yavari down in flames.
“Yeah, my fiancé thinks so. He’s a brown belt in Kung Fu. I’m not sure if you’d like to meet him.”
Mahmoud Yavari was certain of two things: one; that River McIrish was one fine piece of womanhood and two; that he would find himself wrapped like a pretzel around a tree if he meddled in the relationship of that guy that he’d seen River McIrish take her lunch breaks with.
Mahmoud may have been Persian in ethnicity, (his parents had emigrated to Canada in the 60s) but he had been born in Canada and was well aware of its social graces. Plus he wasn’t suicidal enough to get involved with River McIrish because of her man that played sports and, despite that man’s minimal height, could bend him into the shape of an accordion and quite possibly knock his teeth into next Thursday.
(end Part Three)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 12 - "University Life" (Part Four)
River’s fiancé, Haruo, was Japanese-Canadian and he was on the university hockey team. Haruo was also someone who was very physically fit and could probably turn Yavari’s spine into a pretzel. Was he willing to risk that kind of physical beating just to get a piece of River McIrish no matter how cute she was. The answer was a resounding no. It was clear Mahmoud Yavari preferred self-preservation over self-indulgence. And at the revelation that not only did River’s guy did martial arts as well as play hockey made Mahmoud look for the quickest exit where he could save face as possible.
River saw Mahmoud’s unwanted advance crumble beneath her revelation and smiled savagely. Serves him right. If he was blind enough not to see my engagement ring, then he deserves whatever he gets.
She walked off, knowing Mahmoud’s eyes were trailing her six. She smiled as she saw her fiancé exit the main doors of the athletic building. “Hey lover…” she called out to him.
“What’s up, sweetheart?” Haruo acknowledged her hail.
“Oh, just wanted to know if you had some time between classes.” She smiled up at him.
“Next class is at two, so I have time."
“Wanna get something to eat?”
“Sure”, Haruo smiled at her as River slipped her arm in the crook of Haruo’s elbow and they walked towards the SUB (Student Union Building). “Been feeling a bit hungry since we left the house.”
“Then, honey, it’s a good thing we’re going to grab a bite to eat, isn’t it?” River’s cheeky grin lit up his day.
“Yeah…” he pulled River into a tight embrace. “I am lucky…”.
River leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Wanna get lucky tonight?” Her smirk was deliciously lascivious.
“Your mother would castrate me.” Haruo raised an eyebrow.
“…what she doesn’t know…” River murmured softly as Haruo silenced her by kissing her hungrily, his hands playing in her hair. “Oh, Watcher,” she gasped into his ear. “You know, I just want to skip the rest of the day and take you to bed?”
“Can’t have that, can we?” River let out a frustrated sigh as Haruo pulled away.
They walked over, arm-in-arm, to the burger joint located in the Student Union Building. The SUB had some pretty good food and they were more than happy to spend their money at the food kiosk A burger, some fries and a Coke were what the two got and sitting down at an outside table taking in the fall air, they enjoyed.the closeness.
River knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him and the looks she got from him told her that Haruo felt the same about her. They were joined together in a way, heart and soul, that no-one else could put asunder.
(End Part Four)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Bebe came running up, “Hey, you guys, I met another Chikamori. He’s going to UBC too. His name’s Kosuke. He doesn’t think you’re related but ask your dad, Maybe he can move in with us for the duration of university studies.” River raised her eyebrows. So much for the private, intimate lunch.
“You know…” Haruo nodded, I think we may have to move out of that rental place and just build something for the five of us to live in. You think we can rent a lot and put three trailers on it?”
Bebe shrugged her shoulders “…could…hmmm…work.” She paused, “Y’know…he’s dating someone…really pretty girl too. A girl by the name of Samantha...Gray, I think her last name was.”
River chimed in, “I know Samantha, she’s in the same program as me. She’s also an artist. Yeah I recall her saying something about dating this Japanese guy.” She turned with a mischievous grin, “…so, what if he really is a long-lost Chikamori relative?”
Haruo shrugged his shoulders as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know…if he is, I guess, we’ll, um, welcome him into the family…?” He paused, weighing his thoughts and feelings about the whole matter, “…and find out more about him and his mom and dad.”
When they got home from their first day at university, they had yet another surprise, there was a new tenant at the house, putting her belongings into a room that they had used the night before for a study room only realizing after the fact that there was an actual bed in the room. Evidently the landlord was trying to maximize income from the rental property. “Hi, my name is Michelle...” It wasn’t sure if Haruo’s jaw managed to shatter at the news. The blonde was friendly.
“So, how are we going to do this?” Haruo asked River. “We have way too many people if we’re going to have Sam and Kosuke join us at the house to offset the rent.”
River grinned at him, “Well, how about we take the garage.”
“It won’t be too cold?” Haruo thought for a moment about what living in the garage would entail. “We might need to get ourselves a heater...for those cold winter nights.”
River smirked at him, “Why not something else?” her tone a sly innuendo, “We still get to use the washrooms, kitchen and common areas inside the house...”
“So we don’t have to have a Port-a-Potty shipped in and dig a nice deep hole?”
“Ewwwwww...”
“Evidently the landlord had the same idea, he’s coming over to rough in a washroom and we should have it by the end of next day, he’s going to attach it to the garage.” ...and the landlord was as good as his word. By the end of Sunday, they had a door and a washroom with toilet, shower and sink. They still shared accommodation with the house and were able to make use of the fridge and stove...and the common areas inside the house, but their garage/bedroom was nice and quiet. At least they didn’t have a car so it made it that much easier to do this. The landlord had also insulated the walls and the roll-door had a nice rubber air-block to prevent rain, snow qnd cold air from coming in. However it was at least ten degrees chillier still in the garage so one of the things River insisted on was blankets; plenty of them to keep them warm.
It just so happened that Kosuke had a brother and that brother was dating their new female room-mate, so Haruo turned around and said, “Well...why don’t we just all room together and that way we can all save on some rent. Kosuke thought Yoshiharu would agree to it, especially if it came down to living with his girlfriend, Michelle. “Fair enough”...Haruo had said and Yoshiharu moved in with Michelle Eberhard; they both were artists. Mornings were going to be insane.
Despite the fact that Franz was bringing home countless gemstones, Haruo and River decided that they were going to try to keep things reasonable and use only the cash they had on them at the time. They had so much money saved up (all of it their own from selling gemstones and those toads oh so long ago) that it would have been easy to go on an ego trip to impress their classmates, but River and Haruo weren’t like that.
They preferred living life incognito. But what others did notice was that when it came time to pay the bills at any place they went out to, River and Haruo always paid their way, never borrowing a cent or begging off others. They were upfront and honest and when the bill came around at the end of the night, they paid their share promptly without quibble.
And that was what people liked about Haruo and River. They weren’t pretentious though they had a decent amount of money. They’d worked hard for what they earned and paid their dues even if they were young in comparison to those who were in the upper echelon of wealth. They were not millionaires by any stretch of the imagination but they were what most people in the 90s would consider comfortably well-off and that was how they conducted themselves.
River looked over at Haruo as he glanced in the washroom. “We have a separated dual shower, single tub setup.” River murmured coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist and snuggling into his back. “I sooooo want to test that out.” She purred, as Haruo turned around to look at her with eyebrows raised in a questioning look. She curled her lips in a lascivious smirk as she said throatily, “…together.” She paused for a moment and impishly asked, “Wanna?”
By that time, Haruo’s reaction made it clear that he would need to pay extra attention to clearing the door when he went into the bathroom. “Oh, Watcher…” he breathed heavily.
“Wrong deity, I’m River…”
Haruo burst out in helpless laughter and River did too. It was a long time before they could even look at each other without the other’s face setting them off in more fits of laughter.
They collapsed against each other on the nearby couch, their faces close to each other. “I love you.” River murmured softly, her lips against Haruo’s as they kissed, “Not to sound sappy or anything, but you make me the happiest woman in the world.”
“I do?” Haruo asked, sounding inquisitive.
River nudged him gently with her shoulder, “You do…and I find it really sweet that you want to wait until we become husband and wife before we make love.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, but…” she paused for a long moment. “You know, this waiting when we know we want each other and the fact that it’s just getting downright frustrating. It’s making me want to jump your bones in the shower and let you have your merry way with me.” She whispered in his ear. “Doesn’t it make more sense to just ease our passions so that we can concentrate on our schoolwork? Losing my maidenhood to you isn’t going to make it any less a commitment when we do get married, y’know.” She stroked his arm and leaned in so that he could smell her perfume that she had on. And it was seriously arousing Haruo.
It was sensory overload and Haruo’s inhibitions were starting to fray at the very edges, a little voice inside him called out a warning and he voiced it, “What...if you end up pregnant?” For him, release was a simple matter. For River, if the situation went sideways could involve nine months of discomfort and the birthing process was a risky one.
“Then we deal with the cards that life throws us.” River didn’t hesitate in the slightest in response. “I’ve wanted to be a mother. And I think we’re both adult enough that we can handle the situation if it comes down to it.” River brushed her lips along Haruo’s.
“I love you, River...” Haruo said softly; the part of him that still had any sort of resistance shattered and he gave in to his desires. A frantic shedding of clothes ensued as each beheld each other naked. “I’ve wanted you for so long...” River’s smile warmed his heart as they ran their hands over each other’s body.
“You don’t know just how frustrating it was...I think we made a promise in haste...not realizing just how much we want each other...” River told him...and breathed a sigh as Haruo lowered his mouth on her lips, hungrily kissing her. “Have me, Haruo... oh...” she let out a bit of a pained gasp as Haruo settled himself...
Author's note: This following section won't be posted here...but it will be posted at another more "adult section"...I leave the details to your own imagination.
Later when they had been sated they looked at each other with contented grins on their faces.
“So...was it everything that you thought it would be?” Haruo asked.
River gave him a satisfied smile, “Everything I imagined...and more...” she buried her face in his shoulder. “I think I’m happily satiated now...”
“You know morning is going to be early...” Haruo smirked, noting the time. It was around 2 in the morning.
“Awwww, does that mean you gotta bump and leave?” River grinned coquettishly at him.
(End Chapter 12)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Comments
Chapter Eight - A Different Kind of Peace (Part Five)
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.
(End Chapter Eight)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter Nine - "Graduation Day" (Part One)
Though we leave in sorrow
All the joys we've known
We can face tomorrow
Knowing we'll never walk alone
When the ivy walls are far behind
No matter where our paths may wind
We'll remember always, always
Graduation day ~The Freshmen
School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
Well, we got no class
And we got no principals - (Watcher: or was it principles... ~evil smirk~)
We ain't got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes - Alice Cooper - "School's Out Forever"
So much for five years of post-elementary school education.
In the morning of Friday, June 30, 1988; they received a call stating that there was to be a graduation ceremony for Haruo, River, Phil and Noel...since they were the only four that were left to graduate out of that year’s class. And it happened to be that they would be called down to the city hall around nine o’clock or so or depending on when the school got the sound-system and stage set up. Considering the ad hoc graduation ceremonies that end up in this town, they just might as well keep the stage setup up all year. It would save them having to take it down and put it back up the next day. But of course, they had to have some make-work for all those who didn’t have much to do other than to take stuff down and put it away... and then take it back out four days later...and set it all back up again. Politics.
Maybe...it might be a good thing to have just one set day a month to have a graduation? But no, that would make too much sense, wouldn’t it?
Bebe on the other hand was thankful that yesterday was the last day she had to work as a playground monitor. Now she got to monitor classes in-class...as a teacher’s aide. Which meant that she had to make sure kids were listening when the teacher taught a class and try not to fall asleep herself if she ended up in a class that she herself had taken as a student that was taught by a teacher who was dull and an effective teacher as banging a rock with a two-by-four hoping to make a hole. Luckily for her, that wouldn’t count towards her final grade or cutting points off her grade. Unfortunately sleeping on the job could cost her her job. Time for coffee. Could they get Biohazard Coffee there in Canada; 928 mg of caffeine per 12-oz – guaranteed to keep you hanging off the rafters like a chimp at the Greater Vancouver Zoo; (Watcher: they don’t have any in real life) screeching not included. At least, considering the fact that she was a family member of the graduates, she wouldn’t have to be sitting in those hard chairs...this time around.
Well, at least this time around the graduates would be Haruo, River, Torao and whoever the others were. They suspected that it would be Phil...or on the off-chance, Parker, who was only one day younger than Torao and River.
Phil was already a fire-captain in the Sunset Valley Fire Department and was making great strides career-wise for someone who was completely insane. Oh wait, having to run into a raging fire versus running out of the blaze was a perfect job for someone who was magnanimous...and had friggin’ bats in the belfry.
Haruo and River preferred nice sedate jobs, preferably at home: River had painting and Haruo went out to fish. Torao would be busy in the garden and well, Bebe was the only one who had to commute.
Haruo, after finishing his meal, headed out to the front of the house, still in his underwear (luckily it was dark and only three in the morning...so he didn’t freak out anyone else not within his family circle) to pay the bills, then he headed over after changing into his every-day clothes over to see Moses Joseph to consign yet another group of items that needed consigning. After which he would check out the other consignment shop and see if he could get rid of some of the meteors that he’d had assessed.
When Haruo went over to the other consignment store, he’d realized that in his zeal that he forgot exactly what time it was. Naturally at 4:59AM, the consignment store would NOT be open. Well, duh. Unlike the Chikamoris, nobody else in town was insane enough to get up at 3 in the morning to start their work-day. After all, getting out of a nice, warm comfortable bed to get met by a cold blast of morning air; no matter how hot it would get in the midday would be any enticement to become an early-bird; worm or no worm. (Watcher: I’m quite certain that most sims’ palates would not extend to sampling Lumbricus terrestris no matter how appetizing it might be for robins).
So considering the fact that the consignment store down at 280 Sunnyside Blvd was not open, Haruo returned to the Elixir Consignment store at 365 Oak Grove Road and went to consign his space-rocks there – the Watcher, being holy, is resisting the urge to say something about Haruo getting his rocks off...
...to consignment.)
[img][/img]
Evidently the school was a bit more on the ball that morning and called at around 6AM to let them know that the school graduation would start at exactly 9AM; which is the way that all graduations should be run. A specific time, a specific place, a specific duration of time and it shouldn’t start any later than 9:15AM to prevent late-comers from milling around essentially not knowing what the heck they’re doing. Which of course prompts Murphy to show up and present his 🐸🐸🐸🐸; in other words, everything goes to hell in a hand-basket.
Uncomfortableness abounded that morning as Fiona decided that she would do the driving to the graduation ceremony instead of the family taking a cab and enriching Yellow Cab’s coffers by §160.00. And she placed Haruo in the shotgun seat which meant that she could keep an eye on him; which also meant that he couldn’t sit with River in the back and neck. No heavy petting, no lips on lips...and most definitely NO woohoo...especially NOT until they were married.
Oh, yes, graduation again was a long-winded affair; especially with teachers and faculty all having something to say to the graduates...and in actual fact, bloviating for the sake of bloviation which extended the graduation ceremony from a one hour affair of “walking across the stage, getting your high-school certificate and shaking the teacher’s hand and getting the flark off the stage.” to a three hour “sit in your chair and hope your tail-end doesn’t go numb”. Bebe sat in the audience hoping that she wouldn’t hear the same exhortations to greatness that she heard the first time around when it was her turn to graduate three days ago. That hope got blown to shreds when Mr. Isaac Klassen, the biology teacher pulled out a well-worn, much folded piece of paper and proceeded to read from it by rote. “Dear fellow faculty, and graduates of the School for the Gifted...” oh for the love of the Watcher...make it stop.
Meanwhile the band in the background softly played “Land of Hope and Glory” over and over again...
We've heard this song before
On endless repeat,
Stuck here in our chairs for...
Hours listening to speeches.
Can we please get out of here,
So we can go eat?
That was about the sum of it...and eventually all expounding of exhortations came to a halt; either because of those at the dais running out of oxygen or running out of cogent things to say – it wasn’t certain as to which but to the utter relief of the graduates that were present; it was clear that they would get out of the graduation hall within a timely fashion...though not timely enough for them. At least it wouldn’t be one o’clock before they managed to sit down at a fashionable restaurant to intake some food; thank goodness.
...and just to put a damper on things...when they got out of the ceremony, they ended up finding that the sunny day that they were expecting had clouded over; a metaphor for their life to come after the sunny days of no responsibilities other than getting their school-work done for the next day at school...or for Haruo, trying to come up with believable excuses for why his homework hadn’t been completed. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Frew...my dog buried my homework while searching for space-rocks.” Welcome to young adulthood and a mountain of responsibilities where excuses will end up giving you a nice little cushy spot on the unemployment line.
Or for Haruo...a lifetime of working for himself – self-employment being perfect for someone who doesn’t like answering to anyone other than himself; or to someone who just buys the fish that he is going to catch; thus having chosen the life of an angler.
But for now...there was trying to find sustenance thanks to Yasunobu offering to take them all out for a meal to celebrate their graduation. Ah yes, a good meal to start off their life of employment...
...and again the Watcher provided them a metaphor...to learn something about life. It started hailing. Sometimes life has a habit of kicking you in your happy place...painfully.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
$38,000 for spire-cut gems? OMG how do you do that? He wouldn't have to "work" but a couple days a month doing that.
I laughed at the looks Fiona was giving them two. Perfect photo-op!
I used Retuner to shorten the length of the graduation, because of that monotony.
Chapter Nine - "Graduation Day" (Part Two)
Pretty much most of the family members looked resigned that they hadn’t brought umbrellas to the graduation. But of course, no-one knew that the weather, after the pontificating of at least half the faculty and graduating valedictorian, would have changed from blissfully sunny to excreting hail-showers.
Satoshi, being a roadie, oft-wondered what he was doing with his life, however being as he was always a rebellious metal-head, he didn’t tend to wonder about other’s opinions of him. His attitude was unlike most other Japanese who were a bunch that tended to follow the crowd; making the tried and true their path in life. Satoshi blazed his own path; in essence marched to the beat of his own drummer.
In fact most of the Chikamoris tended to blaze their own paths. Now that Mayumi, the one who least liked dissension from who she considered her rank and file was out of the way; Haruo was free to be himself. In fact now that he didn’t have to deal any more with Mayumi who had been hell-bent on marrying him off to a timid woman whom she could control, he was free...to be with River...whom he’d admitted now to himself, had loved from the time they could walk – even though at the time he didn’t realize what those feelings were. Haruo realized just how fortunate he was that his evil mother, Mayumi was resting in pieces.
When they were finally in the doors it was not a minute too soon as a paparazzi wandered in...trying to look for sound-bites from the newly graduated. Which of course was stopped in its tracks by a resounding crackle of electricity and a clap of thunder which resulted in a rather strangled pained scream. Evidently the paparazzi had need of reading the following book by the Right Reverend Aster Royd.
It would certainly be rather en-light(e)ning, no pun intended.
Flashback Prior to the Bistro
During the discussions prior to the meal at the Bistro, Haruo and River had discussed a few matters regarding what their plans were for post-secondary. He had mentioned, "I think we really should get our post-secondary education out of the way so that we can get that over with. I think it's hard to go to university after you have kids, but it's that much harder to do so and of course if we manage to do what we can to get our degrees now it would make it so much easier on us in the future, wouldn't you say?"
“I’m inclined to agree with you. It’s been on my mind a lot. I want to get my fine arts degree before we go travelling. Like you’ve always said, business before pleasure...or shall we say education before pleasure.” River responded looking at Haruo with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
She paused for a long moment looking over at Bebe and Torao who were in the midst of their own clinch and said, “I think Bebe said she wanted to get her degree in technology so that she can pursue a higher educational position – like a tech teacher in high-school.
Haruo looked amazed, “But...isn’t Bebe technophobic?”
“Pushing boundaries, my love...” River commented. “She may be uncomfortable with the thought of technology, but if she doesn’t pursue it she doesn’t tackle her phobias head-on and beat them.” River gave him a kiss. “Just like you overcame your apprehensions about how I would react to finding out that you love me.”
“I do...very much...” Haruo said.
Bebe and Torao were having pretty much the same conversation about post-secondary.
And frankly Bebe needed a break from the little hooligans, including little Johnny Keaton. Evidently Bebe had caught little Johnny in a racket. Evidently the school kids were talking about how dense Little Johnny was... “Yeah...we asked him if he wanted the nickle or the dime...heck he’s so schtupid that he took the nickle. Yeah we keep showing that to everyone and they all think he’s slow.”
Bebe had asked Johnny, “Why do you let the other kids pick on you about the nickel and the dime? Don’t you know that a dime is worth more than a nickel?”
“Well...Ms. Hart...” Little Johnny Keaton grinned at her, “y’see, if I took the dime, they’d stop doing it... I’ve made more than twenty bucks...off ‘em.”
Well at least he wasn’t making adult jokes in class.
Torao thought that it might be a good choice to have Bebe relax a bit by going to university...even though the classes for technology might be hard, at least it wasn’t annoying as having to make sure that Little Johnny Keaton was behaving himself and not getting himself in detention by asking the teacher about the difference between animal excretions.
Maybe she wouldn't be so stressed afterwards.
(End Part Two)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter Nine - "Graduation Day" (Part Three)
The Next Day
Post-graduation involved some blues as not seeing their friends whom they’d graduated with any more or had left behind since those friends were a year or more younger than those who had their commencement ceremonies – of course in university...a more fancy term would be used once they graduated – it would be called a convocation. Six of one and half dozen of the other... University, the penultimate goal of every person who wants to be considered educated – a current year (1988) value of §15,180 to get a piece of paper to hang in a frame on the wall denoting that you are edumacated so “respect ma authoritah!!!”
Anyhow, the next morning was pretty much the same as before; having to get up and go to work in the morning, for both Bebe and Fiona. Fiona’s place of work was at Doo Peas where she worked as an investigative reporter. It was a keep-you-on-your-toes kind of work which appealed to Fiona’s innate curiosity for details. She was constantly writing articles about politics and other things that appealed to the readers of the Sunset Valley Leader and Sunset Valley Times. It involved a lot of nosing around for things to write about and making sure that her articles didn’t cross the line into subjective slander staying within the bounds of legal critique of local politicians. At least it paid §126 an hour.
Meanwhile, Franz was busy hustling the good hustle finding rocks, gems and metals to get for his favorite humans. He was up from dawn till dusk staking out good locations and digging. Of course he’d occasionally unearth bones and sometimes either objects such as maple leaves, empty chip bags, snake-skins and colourful feathers...which usually meant he’d have to dig three more places each find to make up for the latter four items. It usually ended up that he came home tired and hungry. But if it meant that his humans would be the richest darned sims in Sunset Valley, he’d do his part. Asides from a few good toys, a luxury doggie house, a fancier food bowl and a lot of gourmet pet food, the humans would reap the benefit of his labours.
Haruo did his best to improve his martial arts; now a brown belt he set his goal at breaking boards with the ultimate goal to toughen up his hands by giving them microfractures which would heal and supposedly make his hand-bones tough as steel allowing him to go after spacerocks and smash them to pieces allowing him to harvest the gemstones that lay within. That would also add to their net-worth. He had now progressed from blue-belt to brown-belt and was now tackling oak-boards though he warmed up with a few foam boards to condition his hands to start smashing the harder boards.
River painted some more paintings in order to make sure that she progressed in her fine-arts mastery. She was now at a level where she could start to take commissions for her work and though the requests were spotty at the moment, eventually it would get to the point where she was able to get regular work. Her paintings were astounding and Haruo was constantly impressed by her attention to detail and the subtle colour shifts in her paintings.
Meals were a welcome break in the monotony of work to obtain simoleons and of course Haruo and River made time to talk with other members of the family which went a long away to easing the laborious nature of the work needing to be done. Yasunobu headed out to do the gardening...while coaching Torao on the finer details of raising plants from seedling to mature plants and how to increase their quality. It was a labour of love with regards to tending plants as the plants provided nourishing food for their table and any excess was sold off to the stores. For the tender of the land, it was backbreaking but satisfying work.
Haruo headed off to fish as he’d chosen that sedate career to enjoy his time. He spent his time at either Pinochle Pond, or at one of the other various lakes or the seashore in order to pull out his fishing reel n’rod and look for the not so smart of the finny-tribe. “Uh...duh...what’s that little shiny thing in the water...hey look there’s a worm...attached to it...wonder how it ta-...” ...Darwin.
Yup...that’s a hook.
And of course nights were cozy when they were exhausted enough to drop into bed and fall asleep in each other’s arms – no hanky-panky; at least not until they were married. Although it was sheer torture for the both of them, feeling their body warmth close by and it would have been so easy to give in to their desires for one another. But they knew that waiting was worth it and it would be so much more satisfying within the bonds of marriage...to give to each other what they had been holding off of for so long.
Torao was also curled up with Bebe and the two of them were just as close as Haruo and River.
It was one morning about two days later that Haruo was down fishing by the seashore in a little secluded area in direct view of the island that they were considering laying down money on to purchase outright as their final place where they would settle...off the coast of Sunset Valley in the middle of Boundary Bay. At first Haruo couldn’t tell but it appeared that there was someone who had happily tied their houseboat to the dock...and Haruo realized who it was that had parked her houseboat illegally at that dock. It was that woman; one of the Rackets, that noisome bunch from Twinbrook who had moved to Sunset Valley; one Marigold Racket to be certain who was planning to try to heist that island from any potential buyers by doing a right by possession by being present on the property with no abstainers from that right. Well...that wasn’t going to be the case for Marigold Racket on this property.
Haruo picked up his cell-phone – the good ol’ Dynatac 8000x brick...that you could use to concuss people you didn’t like as well as make calls, “Hey, hon?”
River picked up the landline, “What is it, sweetie?”
“That Marigold Racket just tied up her houseboat on the dock of the island that we were looking at buying.”
There was a dead silence on the other end of the line and Haruo could feel the vibrating anger that was emanating from the other end of the phone-line. “That double-dealing 🐸🐸🐸🐸...” was River’s exclamation as she paced the room that she was in. “I knew the Rackets were trouble when they moved to Sunset Valley.”
“I take it we’re going to have to take the plunge and nail down that property.”
“Oh you’re right we’re going to nail down that property. There’s no way that I’m letting that Twinbrook slime swipe that property out from under our noses.” River paused for a moment. “I’m gonna head down to city hall. Was the last balance on our bank account correct?”
“Last I knew. I haven’t spent anything on it other than something to drink.”
“Good. Because I’m going to buy both the lot and the dock...then I’m going to take a water-taxi out to the island and personally hand-deliver that eviction notice to that 🐸🐸🐸🐸 and tell her with great pleasure to GET THE EFFING HELL OFF OUR ISLAND!” River exclaimed vociferously.
“Take Hank...with you... I’ll give him a call letting him know that you need police presence, you don’t know what that woman is capable of.” Haruo warned River. “I mean it, River...you shouldn’t confront Marigold Racket on your own.”
“OK...honey, I’ll stop by the police station and pick up Hank and then serve Marigold with her walking papers. Are you sure we don’t have any access to det packs?” River asked.
“Haven’t gotten that far in inventing yet.” Haruo returned.
River simpered, “Oh...that’s too bad...”
“Why?”
“Because if that effing witch wasn’t about to leave the island in peace. I was going to give her houseboat to her in pieces.” River’s tone was vehement. “Try to take our island, that’s going to make one enemy out of me. Marigold Racket better watch her back.”
“Wow! And I thought I was the one who had the temper.”
"Be quiet, Honey."
(End Part Three)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter Nine - "Graduation Day" (Part Four)
By the time that River and Hank had gotten to the water taxi, the clouds had moved in and Haruo had headed back to the Central Park. They would head over to the island.
Haruo heard from River later that Marigold had thrown a conniption fit regarding the fact that she had invariably tied up her houseboat to a dock that had been sold in the last few hours. “I didn’t know...” The Matriarch Racket had fumed.” River told Haruo that she considered that his piece of advice for her to take Hank to the island to give the eviction order was well thought-out. As Haruo’d figured, Marigold Racket didn’t take the eviction well at all.
“Well, Ms. Rackett, you are going to have to move your houseboat...as Ms. McIrish and her fiancé have legally binding documents attesting to their ownership of the island.”
“BUT...I was going to the city hall to buy the property...”
Yeah, sure, Marigold, sure you were... you were hoping to build something on the property and squat there claiming right of ownership. River thought to herself. Well at least hubby told me that she was there so that we could claim the island and make sure that we were the ones in legal possession of it by actually purchasing the land rights to the property.
It finally took Hank having to threaten Marigold Racket with arrest and seizure of her houseboat to get her to move. Muttering under her breath, Marigold untied her houseboat from the dock and sailed away, cursing at River and telling her, “You haven’t heard the last of this...”
It was Hank moving in front of River to protect her, that caused Marigold to subside and move her houseboat clear without further confrontation.
“You were right, honey,” River said to Haruo, “She didn’t take it well at all. If I had been there on my own, there was a good chance that she would have done something to me.”
“I thought so...” Haruo replied, noting mentally that he may have to take care of the Rackets later on down the road in life. Lolly appeared to be the only good Racket out of the bunch. And of course Ethan Bunch was going to pull Lolly away from her family to try to redeem the Racket name. It had been said that the Rackets had ties to the Irish mob. And considering the actions that the Rackets had been committing, it was quite certain that Marigold was one of them. He’d have to keep a closer eye on them. "I told you to take Hank because I had a gut feeling and with having grown up with my mother's idiosyncracies and whims, I've learned to trust them. It's not fate if you walk into a situation knowing full well that you could have prevented the situation - it's stupidity."
On top of that once they were finished with their studies at university, they would be moving to the island. Haruo had always been an introvert and he preferred solitude. In a way, though River was more friendly and outgoing, she was the same way. She preferred solitude over being in a large crowd. So this island was going to be like an idyllic place to live for the two of them. They could make their start in life and have a family and use it as their base of operations for their travels. Plus it provided solitude for to recharge. Bebe and Torao were the same way so it was going to end up being their little refuge for their families. Bebe and River had always been friends and thus it was nice for River to find that she and Bebe would be related.
The island had always been a place Haruo and River had been interested in; large with only one structure located on it. The island was far enough away from the mainland that it would keep those curious wandering lookie-loos from trespassing on their property. It was a large enough island that they could also turn around and make a graveyard and put their deceased on the island as well. Though, of course, the thought of sharing the island with a bunch of spirits probably wasn’t the most reassuring thing in the world. Nothing like let’s freak out the kids when despised Gramma makes an untimely visitation. That might actually scare them into eating their vegetables.
The next afternoon being sunny, Yasunobu headed down to Central Park to pick some of the fruits off the trees, since nobody else seemed to be eating them and he’d be able to create a bit of an orchard in the new property on the island by planting what he picked. Haruo joined him at the park and went to pick a few flowers as well as fish. In the afternoon however Haruo headed over to the bookstore and picked up a few bait-books so that he could learn more about the fish that he was going after. It was necessary to have that kind of knowledge in place so that he could more readily have the bait on the hook that would catch whatever fish he was after.
Some of the denizens in the town seemed to have major fashion malfunctions as Haruo came out of the bookstore. Noticing a townie in a brilliant yellow baseball jersey and a fedora – the kind of thing that would make Alexander McQueen go off the rails. It was a fashion eye-sore on the order that could make one’s brain explode with a searing question: How the hell does one end up wearing that out in public?
Catching the taxi back home, Haruo came home to find Bebe and River at the kitchen table. Bebe was taking time to write while River was digging into birthday cake. That was the problem with having multiple people having birthdays on the same day or consecutive days. There was enough birthday cake to last several days of eating if not several weeks. One could pretty much get sick of birthday cake. It appeared from the constant pungent swearing from upstairs that Torao was at the chemistry table. He hadn’t had much luck even though he’d reached a proficient enough level of logic that he should have ordinarily been able to find potions with relative ease.
When River was done with her cake, she let Haruo know that she had to head out for a bit since she’d had a commission sale she had to deliver to a client.
The following day in the midst of a deluge, Haruo headed out to go fish with one thing in mind: to catch a clownfish. Evidently while River was gone to deliver the painting to her client, he’d received a call letting him know that he was to try to catch a clownfish for delivery to the theatre. Well, a clownfish was on the line after he’d managed to get completely soaked from the rainfall. But at least the Amphiprioninae Pomacentridae was of satisfactory proportions and mood that he did manage to get §470 out of the whole deal. It compensated him for getting drenched. Hopefully he wouldn’t catch pneumonia.
While Haruo was out, River was swearing up a storm having been doing a house-cleaning of the entire residence. “Oh for crying out loud, do you two ever clean your toilet. This is absolutely disgusting.” Having to attack the third floor toilet that the boys used was absolutely horrendous. There were things that looked as though they were growing in that toilet. She was quite certain that she had to toss the toilet brush out when she was done. If that growth in the upper left hand corner of the toilet bowl grew an eye and blinked at her, she was going to be out of there so fast she’d leave a smoke-trail behind her.
Torao had to go down to the bookstore and get a few skill books to read. One of those books was a book on handiness. But he also wasn’t the only one that had to go down to get books. River and Bebe headed down as well. As Bebe needed to work on her charisma as well as her handiness. River wanted to work on her cooking skills so that she was able to take over cooking from Molly who was considering finding her own place eventually as soon as she was able to find something. Of course though Satoshi was making the moves on her so that probably wasn’t about to happen since she could potentially end up becoming part of the family.
Evidently the elevator door had a bone to pick with Satoshi. He got sandwiched between the closing doors before he could get out and ended up on the floor face down on the carpet which was not a pleasant situation to be in since he ended up with rugburns on his elbows. Needless to say, it didn’t serve to put him in a very good mood as he stalked towards the fridge to get himself something to eat since he was the first one up that morning.
The rest of the family soon followed suit as they each woke up and headed downstairs.
Their diet was probably not one the doctors recommend as they were each trying to polish off the cake before it started growing things that were best left unmentionable. Since they had the top notch fridge that kept things from going bad, at least things weren’t blinking at them from the inside of the fridge or genetically evolving sentience asking them, “How are things out there?” That would not be a good thing. At least they weren’t going to be debating the nihilist pre-existentialism ponderings of Neitzsche with a genetic pizza in a plate, "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." How apt.
(End Part Four)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter Nine - "Graduation Day" (Part Five)
That morning, Torao headed back upstairs, after eating his portion of the cake, directly to the potion table. After all his main objective was to find several different potions that were of use to the family. The first of which was the sleeping potion which would cut down their required sleep time to half of what they currently were utilizing. More time spent awake would increase their productivity two hundred percent of what they currently were outputting.
His secondary goal was to locate the Young Again Potion which would reset everyone’s age back to the beginning of their young adult stage. This woud allow members of the family to essentially live forever. If he was able to do that, then the Chikamori family would essentially live forever. Torao’s interest had always been the sciences. Truth be told, he should have gone into science as a career, however one of Torao’s other loves was the love of the earth which he would be able to grow vegetables and fruits that his family would be able to eat and the fact that he and his cousin were such close friends and that two good schoolfriends, one of which was his cousin’s fiancee, and the other; his girlfriend of several years were slated to become family in the near future made that necessity of making sure that both their families were fed well and finding a good set of potions to ensure their continued health down the road a necessity.
Torao’s father otherwise known as Haruo’s uncle had no such lofty goals in mind. In fact his own immediate satisfaction was foremost in his train of thought. And while his nephew went out to fish for members of the finny tribe, and his son was fishing for ideas on how to come up with the next potion that he was going to discover; well, Satoshi went fishing for...Molly (not the fish)
...and all it took was for Satoshi to turn his charm on to one hundred and fifty percent to hook Molly; line and sinker. After all, Satoshi and Molly both lived for immediate gratification and mutual attraction was the ultimate high as far as getting to one’s happy-place. Compliments were key in reeling Molly in. Considering Molly was flirty, a daredevil and a party-animal; she was right up Satoshi’s alley.
Satoshi, after all, had been the most charismatic of the older generation of Chikamori siblings. Poor Haruo being an only child after all and the target of Mayumi’s focused abuse, hadn’t the benefits of having brothers or sisters and thus he didn’t have the experiences of such a close upbringing with family members his own age. His fiancee was the only one that he’d grown up with; and his own son as a family member almost as close as a brother.
But Satoshi’s mind at that very moment was entirely on Molly and the fact that she had enthusiastically responded to his advances was all that he wanted. He enjoyed her attentions and relished the fact that she wanted him. After all, he wanted her too. She was like the rose that was on the bush, radiant and fair...and he was hoping that she was attracted to him too. He was reaching his fifties and he wanted to make sure that he was ready to settle down with someone who appreciated him. And to him, Molly appeared to be that very person.
Rolling her eyes, she saw her mother and Satoshi disappear into the elevator and head upstairs to do Watcher-Knows-What. Frankly, she didn’t even want to consider the situation - she just settled for giving Satoshi a reproachful look.
Luckily for everyone still there, the floors and walls were thick.
Haruo spent his day fishing in full view of the island in which they were planning to move to eventually once they had finished their post-secondary schooling.
After enjoying themselves Molly wanted to see if there were any interesting books that had been placed on consignment and Satoshi, prior to working decided to head over to the Elixir Consignment shop to harass the bees. Needless to say, the bees were not impressed and had it in for him. Evidently Satoshi’s screams could be heard all the way to Central Park.
Satoshi hopped around but wearing loose-fitting Japanese clothing was not the way to keep bees out from one’s clothes. They managed to infiltrate every single layer and sting him. And unfortunately for Satoshi, the honey that he’d harvested exacted a very painful price in terms of cost for him. He would end up going to work in pain from the numerous sites where he was stung on his body. And that would put him in a not very happy mood for the rest of the day; not to mention the stress he was under at work. So all in all, Satoshi would be a very miserable person for the rest of the day. So much for the woohoo. In very bit of pleasure there is a little pain...or in this case a whole LOT of pain.
For those who came to Aleister’s Elixir Shoppe and Consignment Store, those patrons hadn’t had this much entertainment in years.
Moses stated, “I’m sorry about the noise. Unfortunately it seems that the bees were rather disturbed this afternoon. If you’d like, I’m looking into sound-proofing the walls.”
Poor Satoshi.
He had some time before he had to head in for work so he decided to assuage his tenderized and stung ego by pulling out his guitar and serenading his now lover, Molly.
Molly looked impressed. A man who could hunt and gather as well as sing. What a precious find, she thought. Perhaps she had made the right choice in taking him as her lover and perhaps it would lead farther to something better than the choice she made that produced Sandi though she loved her daughter dearly. She felt as though she was getting on in years and needed to find someone whom she could spend the rest of her life with and Satoshi looked like a good candidate. After all they shared a great many similar characteristics which bode well for a continued wonderful relationship.
The Next Morning
The next morning involved a lot of enjoyment in their morning shower for Satoshi and Molly. After all, getting up in the morning involved a lot of sound effects...mostly relating to the aches and pains of advancing age. Satoshi and Molly worked out all their aches and pains with a nice, relaxing, hot shower... in more ways than one.
(The Watcher suspects it’s not necessary to mention anything regarding the other things that they did in the shower)
After all, they were consenting adults and didn’t need to be minded like others within the nuclear family.
After all the showering...and grunting and groaning...from aching muscles, Satoshi headed down to breakfast which was again...cake. They were getting tired of cake and of course since Yasunobu had managed to survive through the war years when they were short of supplies and food, he was very insistent upon not letting any food go to waste. Tabemono o nokosanaide, ne... Mottainai yo
Haruo wanted to talk to his uncle about the fact that he was trying to decide what to do; whether going to university was the best possible solution for the fact that he was planning to work as an angler. After all it seemed like he was wasting money when it could be put towards perhaps buying a boat or something to fish with. But his uncle told him. “What if there’s a downturn in the fishing industry and you need to find something else? You need to know that your future is secure. Your best bet, Haruo-kun...go to university; get your degree and make sure that you have your options secure, neh. You don’t know what the future will bring. Mirai o yosoku suru koto wa dekimasen (You can't predict the future)."
“But Ojisan, you think that going to university won’t waste four years that I could be getting ahead in fishing?”
“Look, Haruo-kun, you go to university and you’ll have a secure plan B. Then you can do your job without fearing that you’re going to have no options if something happens that you can’t do your job any more. Look at it as a way to keep your head above water financially. It’s insurance, nephew...” He paused eating, put down his fork and looked over at his nephew, "It's something that you need to do before you start picking up your burdens in life. Make something of yourself and do what you need to do."
Haruo could see that there was wisdom in what his Uncle Satoshi was saying and he nodded; “Then that’s what I’ll do. The University Mascot brought us the bucket so I figure, why not do the test...in fact, I think I’ll do it after I get back from the park with River, Torao and Bebe.”
“Good thing, nephew...You won’t regret going to university, as always, it’s a piece of paper, but it’s a valuable piece of paper that will guarantee that you will always have options.”
At the Park
River and Haruo sat on a bench at Central Park. “I was talking to my uncle today...and he confirmed that I should go to university.” he ventured, “It’s been on my mind, but there’s always been doubts as to whether since I had that much trouble with schoolwork in high-school that going to do a further four years of post-secondary education is worth it.”
River looked at him, “So what did he tell you?”
Inviting River to nestle into his arms, Haruo wrapped his arm around River’s shoulders and River nestled into his embrace. Haruo continued,“He told me that it was a good choice to go get further education, that it could possibly mean a plan B for me if there is a downturn in the fishing industry. And well...I’m sure it’s a good investment, but the entry evaluation scares me. I’m not sure how well I’m going to do on it, if I even do well, he sighed... “And yet, the time that I spend with you at Uni will be fun...if I make it.”
“That’s a lot of ifs you just said, Haruo.” River replied, “Why don’t you just say...when. After all if you go into it with the mindset that you are going to do well, then you won’t be giving yourself doubts? Right?”
Haruo nodded, “You’re right. I shouldn’t give myself doubts. I just gotta do it and just let things fall where they fall and just go for it.” He looked at her tenderly, “You’ve always been my rock, River.”
"...and you've been mine..." River said to Haruo...as she leaned in...and lovingly placed a tender kiss on his lips.
"...always...and forever...River..." Haruo whispered and a passionate clinch ensued.
When they separated for air, River, her voice soft and breathy, whispered, “I want you so much right now...”
She continued, her voice throaty, “If you keep this up...we’re not going to wait till marriage because I’m going to want you in my bed...making passionate love to me...”
(End Chapter Nine)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter Ten - "Satoshi and Molly" (Part One)
So far Satoshi had not had his life completely turned upside down by getting together with Molly, his days went as per usual. Get up, in his underwear, go downstairs, head to the fridge, get something to eat and vegetate for the day until his shift started at one o’clock where he would get dressed and head down to the theatre to do his daily routine of working till nearly nine at night before heading back home and doing it all over the next night. It wasn’t a bad routine of sorts. It had some regularity to it and Satoshi was perfectly happy. And to top it all off, Molly was the icing on the cake of sorts. It was peaceful to say the least.
That peace and quiet came to an abrupt, screeching halt when she, after a few too many passionate interludes between the two of them, had to make a dash for the washroom. No...it wasn’t mold growing on the birthday cake – the fridge was kept too cold for that to happen. Let’s just say that the Watcher thinks that it would be a rather cold shower for the two’s ardour. It could be classified as a viral infection that caused her illness, a stomach flu of sorts. One that takes eighteen years to get rid of at the earliest – at least in Canada. South of the border, it took until twenty-one before you could kick it out of the house.
Molly and Satoshi’s collective reaction to this news was “oh...flark!”
The rest of the family were too busy with the rest of their lives to worry about the fact that there was going to be a screaming, squalling and stinking addition to the house and very likely a big disruption to their peaceful existence. There would be l’essence de parfume de extrémité arrière or L’eau D’Excrement if one wanted to be fancy. In other words the house would reek with diapers.
All of that prompted the four youngsters, the young adults, that is; to hastily do their best to get the hell out of the house and go do other things, like get themselves prepared to take their scholastic aptitude tests in preparation for university.
Hail to the Thunderbirds! Hail UBC!
Thunder and lightning — Onward to victory!
Hail to the Blue and Gold, Hail UBC.
UBC Forever, Onwards to Victory.
The Thunderbird, a long standing tradition at the school and the revered mascot was under fire by those who thought that utilizing the native symbol of the Thunderbird was disrespectful to the Native population of BC and thus were seeking to substitute it with the noble Llama. The four were directly in the camp that they should be able to use the Thunderbirds and be referred to as Thunderbirds despite the support for the Llama mascot by those who were inured with political correctness. Somehow the llama didn’t have as much ruthless aggression to it as using the Thunderbird. When one pictured a llama, one pictured a South American ruminant chewing its cud and looking rather blearily at the camera. And Haruo couldn’t imagine playing hockey with the UBC Llamas – that mascot would look just horrifically comical on ice.
Meanwhile, Satoshi was trying to figure out what happened. Even while being questioned by Haruo on how the SATs would benefit him in the future as he was going to be an angler, he was still trying to figure out what could possibly be done about the situation with Molly’s gravid state. This was going to take all of his brain-power to figure out and Satoshi felt that he’d really put himself and Molly in a situation. He had always been told that one should marry the mother of his child and in that respect that would be the proper thing to do. On top of that, he also had to now raise the child of someone who hadn’t had the proper fortitude to own up to their mistakes and raise their own child. So was he prepared to take on Sandi as his child? That was the main question that he had to ask himself. But considering the fact that he was able to divide his attention between the fact that he had his own set of problems and give Haruo cogent advice on his own problems, it was pretty well certain that Satoshi had the makings of a decent father.
For Haruo, River, Bebe and Torao, the Scholastic Aptitude Test was quite a brain-yanker. Some of the questions took a straw, jammed it up their nostrils right into their cranial cavity and gave their lipton-noodle-soup a good stir. Stuff like: The number of radians of arc in a circle is 2π (pi)... so was that cherry or lemon or since there was 2...could you have both?
“Oh, Torao, how many electrons in a 🐸🐸🐸🐸?” Haruo asked jabbing Torao in the ribs.
“1.5 x 10^28 electrons in a human being; the last time I checked you were missing two which is about the right total for a 🐸🐸🐸🐸.” Torao shot back. Ah...the love of relatives.
Bebe and River ignored the two of them jawing at each other. It had always been like this. Brotherly pranks between two cousins who were as close as brothers having grown up with each other. They were all a family. Haruo and River having been together since birth and Bebe and Torao growing closer together as a couple.
“The chemical formula of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is now well established. The molecule is a very long chain, the backbone of which consists of a regular alternation of sugar and phosphate groups. To each sugar is attached a nitrogenous base, which can be of four different types. Two of the possible bases—adenine and guanine—are purines, and the other two—thymine and cytosine—are pyrimidines. So far as is known, the sequence of bases along the chain is irregular. The monomer unit, consisting of phosphate, sugar and base, is known as a nucleotide...” River was starting to think that her brain was starting to short out...by the fifth paragraph.
“The authors use the word “backbone” in lines 3 and 39 to indicate that:
A) only very long chains of DNA can be taken from an organism with a spinal column.
C) a chain in a DNA molecule consists entirely of phosphate groups or of sugars.
D) nitrogenous bases form the main structural unit of DNA.”
AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!
“Exactly how the hell is this supposed to benefit me in the arts?” River muttered caustically to herself as she grasped pencil to fill in the multiple choice question answer selection sheet making doubly sure that she was filling in the right line so that the automated checker wouldn’t attribute her selection to the wrong question.
(End Part One)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter Ten - "Satoshi and Molly" (Part Two)
With the fact that Satoshi had ended up getting Molly pregnant, there was only one thing that could be done. Yasunobu was adamant about one thing, the new Chikamori child was not going to be an illegitimate off-spring, so thus Satoshi was told that he was to put Molly in wedlock...immediately and as head-of-the-household, Yasunobu set down the rules. Since the mantle of head-of-the-household fell to the oldest of the family, the oldest of the family would end up wielding the decisions of the family. From there, the mantle of family decisions would fall to Haruo as the firstborn son (and frankly, only son) of the preceding generation’s oldest family member. This was the way of Japanese families and as Yasunobu was an immigrant to Canada, that was the way things would go; following the old Japanese traditions.
So...if Yasunobu, head of the family, told Satoshi to “marry Molly” for the sake of family reputation; so it would be. And Molly had no problems with that either – Satoshi adored Sandi as a daughter and he loved Molly and Molly loved him...so it was really no skin off their back.
“You have dishonored the family, Satoshi!” Yasunobu was absolutely horrified at the casual way that Satoshi had broached the fact that Molly had a nice little bun in the oven. Anata wa kazoku o fumeiyo ni shimashita!Anata ga morī to kekkon shinakereba, watashitachi wa meiyaku kakesareru! If you do not marry Molly, we shall be covered in shame.”
“Relax, my brother, Rirakkusu, Ani, watashi wa Molly to kekkon shimasu, ima anata wa tamuyu-ka? I will be marrying Molly, now will you ease off?”
Yasunobu shook his head as if frustrated, “How you manage to get yourself into things...I have no idea. Dō yatte jibun o konran sa seru koto ga wakaranai yo...”
Satoshi shrugged his shoulders as Yasunobu rolled his eyes.
It was quite apparent that Satoshi was quite complacent about the whole deal of Molly's pregnancy. Not that he wouldn't step in and do his part as a father. After all as a Chikamori, he was duty-bound to be a responsible father and to not cast shame on the family name.
This was something that was hard to understand for those not of their family; the concept of meiyaku; shame and family honor - a word that straddled both illusory concepts and made it so that the Japanese as a society were constantly looking to save face. And making sure that if they committed no offence to others, that they would have none inflicted upon them. At least in the latter half of the twentieth century. And they had a long laundry list to atone for in the early half.
But anyhow there were no criminals in the family, as far as anyone knew and except for the soon-to-be mooch who would become the father-in-law to Torao, there really was no shame to be had within the family.
Needless to say, though that the pregnancy had thrown a major monkey wrench into the works. And there would now be a wedding to prepare for after the baby showed up. That was going to make for some fun times for Satoshi.
Haruo was out fishing. The less he spent time hanging out at home the less likely it was that he was going to fall prey to what he wanted which was full on happy time with River which would have put their desire to wait until the marriage bed into serious jeopardy.
And of course that night was the night that Bebe and Torao decided that they were going to take the plunge into full on engaged bliss.
"You know we've been dating each other for how long?" Torao stated as he gazed into Bebe's eyes.
"On and off again since Grade 10 and steady since Grade 12." Bebe murmured softly. She had an inkling of where this was going and was curious if Torao had the same idea.
"You know I've always had feelings for you...". Torao stated. Bebe nodded, mutely. She'd known that Torao liked her a lot and it took quite some time being on-again, off-again friends to finally give them a shove towards being girlfriend and boyfriend in Grade 12. "Aside from the steadiness, we weren't that much different than my cousin". He informed her.
"Yeah. It took them a long time to come to the conclusion they were right for each other." Bebe said. "...and now they're engaged to be married.".
"So what does that say about us?" Torao grinned.
Bebe smirked, "OMG. That means we're slow?" Both Torao and Bebe burst out laughing at the utter ridiculousness of the whole thing. Bebe had been so focused on getting her friends together that she hadn't realized the extent of the bond she had with Torao.
"Well..." Bebe found her boyfriend on one knee, "Shall we fix that problem?" He asked holding up a velvet colored box in his hands, open to show her a pretty glittering diamond engagement ring. A nice solitaire cut in a princess cut that glittered reflecting off the ambient light in the room.
It took a long moment for her to realize just exactly what had been said to her and yet it seemed to take no time at all. "Oh...MY GOD!" She exclaimed. "Oh my god. Oh my god..." She repeated.
Torao was starting to fear he'd broken Bebe since that was all she could repeat for a few minutes. "Uh...Bebe?" He said looking up at her. "Will you do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Chikamori?"
With one final, "Oh my god!" Bebe said "Yes. I will." Gazing incredulously at the ring, as Torao slipped it onto her ring finger; she admired it and then threw her arms around her fiance nearly smothering him with a kiss.
"Unlike River and Haruo, even though I have all the respect in the world for their decision to wait," Bebe smirked, "I have no intention of delaying any mutual gratification till the time is right." She raised her eyebrows meaningfully and inclined her head towards the bathroom door. What followed was sheer utter blissful ecstacy for both Bebe and Torao.
River and Haruo on the other hand, curled up together in bed and slept content in the knowledge that one of these days they would give of themselves to one another and it would be sheer utter wanton pleasure for them on their honeymoon. Hopefully they wouldn't end up in the family way before coming back from their post nuptial travels.
A bun in the oven was not the most economical way to start off their married life.
As far as Yasunobu, worried about the shame that an unwedded pregnancy could cast on the family, was concerned; Satoshi could get married at anytime while Molly was adamant that she was doing no such thing until she could fit into her wedding dress after losing whatever baby weight she had gained. So Satoshi tried to avoid the whole matter by heading into work as a stage-hand, just so he wouldn't have to hear the kvetching from both ends.
So things were tense all around. The one thing that Bebe and Torao agreed upon was that their schooling came first so they would wait to get married until.after university.
Fiona was exceedingly busy considering her boss was constantly on her about writing articles and reviews. In fact there were limited restaurants to review. And the movies being put out by Starlight Shores and Hollywood were lacklustre at best.
Shark Attack looked promising but fizzled halfway through with no character development or a wandering plot that led through a side story about two bullied high-school students luring their classmates onto a boat then all the bullies getting eaten by the shark. Fiona tuned out of that movie after the first hour. If it had a halfway decent plot, maybe it could have worked. It didn't.
The other option was reviewing the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) Llamas latest field efforts. Soccer or what was known as European football was considered boring by North American standards. North American football was violent and a lot of players got injured but it was exciting. Fiona was more into hockey, that was what she grew up with. With the WHL and then the Canucks entering into the league the year River and Haruo were both born.
Players wore boots with blades on their feet, carried a bladed stick. The pads were generally thinner and more flexible. And oh, it was fast. Names like Hull, Gretzky, LaFontaine, Messier, Lemieux, These were the players in the late 80s that carried the NHL.
The BCHL's Sunset Valley Llamas were the cream of the crop with two Junior Cup wins as far as the BCHL was concerned, but to get drafted and get to The Show was the big dream of many a Canadian kid and to hoist Lord Stanley's mug over their head and do a victory lap around the rink with their team-mates after drubbing their opponents 3-0 on the ice.
It wasn't the case for Haruo. Even though he loved hockey, he knew his meagre skill level wouldn't get him to the show. In fact it would barely get him recognized by Jungle B (Junior
Maybe he would be good enough to make the fourth line at the college level. Who knew? And the UBC T-Birds had inquired into whether he was interested in playing for them since he'd played minor hockey through his life.
River was busy with her painting. Having recently received a commission to do ten paintings for an office. She was nearly halfway through the project having mastered her painting skill and was hoping for an inspiration of a masterpiece however the efforts to brush a masterpiece was exceedingly illusive. Unfortunately inspiration was a fleeting exercise in frustration and disinclined to stick around.
(End Part 2)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter Ten - "Satoshi and Molly" (Part Three)
Needless to say that fact made it even more annoying as everyone thought outside of her husband-to-be thought her works were brilliant and her husband-to-be thought they were masterpieces but she knew better and it irked her that it was taking so long to perfect a masterpiece.
For Molly, the most annoying thing about the pregnancy was the waddle that developed as her center of gravity shifted forward. And this wasn't some stationary object either. Every so often it would shift and then give her a solid kick in the bladder which prompted her to have to make a frantic dash to the lavatory or risk an embarrassing accident by peeing on herself.
It was at breakfast one morning that River asked Haruo if they just might as well get married early because the frustration of waiting to go to university due to Molly's pregnancy, the waiting until they both had their degrees and waiting for marriage to do the deed, so to speak, was driving River hormonally crazy not to mention the once a month visit from Aunt Flo which did nothing but to make River cranky as hell.
That time of the month was when Haruo usually decided his best bet for his long-term survival was to go fishing and stay out till dark. Of course at the fishing hole he couldn't avoid hooking the equally cranky black goldfish which he promptly got rid of to the Langley RCMP which contrary to their national Dudley Do-Right "Always Get Our Man"; "arrest 50 armed gunmen with one Mountie" historical reputation; terrified the living 🐸🐸🐸🐸 out of the law-enforcement staff at the station.
"Well.what do you want me to do with the things?"
"Feed them to the piranhas?"
"I put them in a cooler together; I expected the piranhas to make short work of the little bugger: I open the cooler and I got the one intact black goldfish at the center of the cooler with fifteen piranhas, some missing pieces of their fins, cowering in the corner.".Haruo told them. "You think that was going to work?"
"Oh Flark." was the general consensus from the law enforcement agents.
"Besides, your chief inspector's the one who wanted this black goldfish to be at the station." At this statement the RCMP constables turned pale white as Haruo passed over the goldfish bowl containing one absolutely 🐸🐸🐸🐸 off black goldfish which turned a bulbous malevolent golden eye at the shaking police officers and glared.
"J-j-just put the b-b-bowl d-d-down on the c-c-; leave it there." And all sixteen officers backed away as far as they could get from the counter. The fear in the officers' eyes did prove to be amusing.
However with River's assertion that they should get married before they went off to university held just as much an appeal to Haruo as it did to River considering how much they wanted each other's bodies; that was another story. That was more of an aggravation than amusing.
"I don't know, River. Don't you think we should be concentrating on our school-work at university. Besides there is a lot to do there and some of the exams are going to be tough."
"Yeah, I know" River heaved a heavy sigh. "but it just seems like such a grind to constantly be studying and not taking time to enjoy our relationship."
"But think of the end-goal. We have degrees that will carry over into life and potential careers." Haruo reasoned with her.
River nodded, standing up and moving closer to him pulling him closer to her, "but it doesn't alleviate just how much I want you..." She leaned in and purred in his ear. Haruo's eyes widened.
"Oh, Watcher, River, you're going to make me wish I didn't make that decision to not do anything until marriage, aren't you?" Haruo groaned as River smiled wickedly and nodded.
"...and this way you are going to so be in knots by the time our wedding night rolls around.". She whispered in his ear and then licked his ear-lobe and brushed her hand along his front which made him really uncomfortable.
She laughed as he headed out, rather awkwardly, she thought. He was trying to keep from having his front end visible as he exited the kitchen. That was just being an absolutely wicked tease, but she was frustrated and wanted him just as frustrated as she was.
She knew just how much he wanted her and she wanted him just as bad and hearing amatory sounds coming from the third floor bathroom over the sound of running water as Bebe and Torao took and gave of each other just made her frustrated to no end when all River wanted to do was jump Haruo's bones and make both her and him absolutely satisfied and wrung out.
Anyhow back to the painting.
Haruo stood at the pond, fishing rod in hand wondering just how he was going to get through the next few years of university without tossing in the towel so far as his and River's decision to remain celibate till marriage. Just the warmth and nearness of her body while they slept made him regret every word when he wanted to lose himself with her.
By the time their wedding night rolled around they'd be so 🐸🐸🐸🐸 that they'd end up ravishing each other for hours. How had they come from being innocent childhood friends to wanting each other physically as lovers. Haruo wryly grinned.
It was rather clear to see that River had certainly filled out in all the right places, that she'd become absolutely gorgeous, with beautiful fiery red locks of hair worn long and flowing; stunning green eyes that stopped men in their tracks to gaze at her and a curvaceous hourglass figure, lithe and gorgeous was what could be said about her. Her lips were full and so soft and kissable and she had eyes only for him, Haruo thought to himself. "I'm a lucky man" he said quietly to himself as he eased in his line and then cast it back into the water hoping to catch some more fish he could sell at the market.
It was with some sense of relief for Molly and the waiting-to-go-to-university kids when Molly went into labour one morning at breakfast. The rather ample size of her belly had had made walking an exercise in balancing herself since she couldn't see her feet and had to go on balance alone.
Everyone else had other things to do. River painted, Haruo fished. Torao went to the community garden and got vegetables and fruits. Yasunobu trimmed trees and worked on his own garden. Fiona wrote and went and reviewed restaurants, movies and sports events. Bebe went to work as a teacher's aide, Satoshi went and did his own thing at the theatre where he was a stage-hand. And well, Molly stewed being stuck at home until she gave birth. She was loath to cook anything because the fridge was already stocked full of eats.
The distinct focus of the Chikamori family now that the malevolent narcissist Mayumi was out of the picture was that everyone pulled together for each other's mutual benefit. Everyone knew their role in the family and each new member of the family that joined that structure instinctively knew what it was that needed to be done.
It was early afternoon when the family heard that Molly'd had twins and was headed back with Satoshi in a taxi. Molly was so exhausted that she lay down and went to sleep. Satoshi joined her and plumb forgot about Sally Akiko French who ended up.outside in the front yard.
If it wasn't for Yasunobu, who knew what would have become of poor Sally. Maybe she would have been snatched by baby slavers or worse. As it was Yasunobu woke Satoshi and raged at him, "How could you leave Sally outside. How dare you be so careless with your own child?"
This time Satoshi couldn't ease his way out of it. He had to be penitent. The party-animal in him always sought enjoyment and self-gratification above else but leaving a child in their own yard where there were dogs and not minding the child was irresponsible and careless, according to Yasunobu and Yasunobu was livid. "Don't ever do that again, Satoshi. I don't want River and Haruo to have to parent a child before they're ready but if you can't take care of your own off-spring. You're going to force my hand."
It was clear that Yasunobu wanted his family to be upright citizens and was prepared to exact some painful punishments if his edicts were not obeyed. Fiona marveled that Yasunobu could go from hen-pecked to lord-of-the-manor so quickly upon Mayumi getting killed. But even if he was harsh at what Satoshi and Molly had done, it was fair considering the severity of the situation.
Being irresponsible carried it's own set of consequences and Satoshi realized the ramifications of what could have potentially happened to Sally and Satoshi knew Yasunobu was right to grill him over hot coals.
Mayumi on the other hand would have been evil enough to call MCFD on the couple and potentially have all three of their children taken away. Satoshi's eldest son was a young adult so he was no longer at-risk of that happening but Sandy, Sally and Diane were all of an age where it could happen to them.
(End Part Three)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter Ten - "Satoshi and Molly" (Part Four)
It was unsure as to what Satoshi and Molly had planned in terms of wedding bells but Yasunobu was not going to settle on a "hmmm, maybe down the road." When it came to the twins, he insisted that they be legitimized immediately so as to not tarnish the Chikamori family name. And he was definitively not going to take no for an answer. Especially when Torao was the son of a pair of divorcees which was shame enough according to Yasunobu.
Which was one of the reasons behind Haruo wanting to wait until they were legally married to do anything like the horizontal tango. The intimate "dance of lovers" was completely out of the question; no way - no how.
Yasunobu or Fiona would have killed them. Or both at the same time (which pair the Watcher is referring to, he will leave you to guess).
In other news, Cordell Van Watson, the illegitimate get of the town harpy, taking after his mother, Madison, was making life miserable for Miraj Alvi so the Watcher did an intercession answering the age old question from Handel's Messiah from one of his tenor (or soprano) airs (opera solos are called arias; oratorio solos are called airs which in any case is completely different from the phrase putting on airs which is what you would do if you want to be supercilious or if you are listening to an oratorio straight through on a recording - Confusing? Me too...) "Who makes intercession for us?". Well in this case, Miraj got a direct answer from the Almighty Watcher since Cordell got fried.
In any case Cordell won't be doing that again if he doesn't want to risk the wrath of the Almighty.
Ten bucks say he's stupid enough to do it again.
Haruo went over to see Moses, not the biblical one, at the elixir shop.
"How are you, Haruo?" Moses Joseph asked, "...and how's that pretty wife-to-be of yours?"
"We're both doing great, Moses." Haruo grinned back at the long-time elixir shop attendant. "She and I are planning on heading to university soon."
"That's a good choice. Can't go wrong getting a post-secondary education."
"That's the long and the short of it. At least what it'll do is give us some options." Haruo stated. "And I'll have a good chance of making some money with the collecting at least even if I don't put the degree to use. In any rate, I'll have choices."
"Gotta say those pups have some good noses."
"You bet." Haruo grinned at him propping a rainbow gem on the counter.
"Dang. Largest one I've seen yet." Moses commented.
"Franz doesn't find small ones and the other two are finding their tracking skills pretty well."
Moses raised an eyebrow, "That's pretty good."
After stopping by the elixir shop. Haruo headed back home. At least things had settled back down somewhat after the incessant brouhaha over Molly having twins out of wedlock. Thank goodness for that. Otherwise he would probably have had to stay out and fish all night. Oh deer... ~smirk~
Needless to say there was a stigma attached to such things and for Yasunobu; face was always important. If one had to save face one always was on the wrong end of things. The best thing to do was just make sure that one did not step wrong. And that was difficult to do at the best of times.
River's paintings were selling quite well and she wasn't doing too badly on the quality front. In any case the some fact that the paintings had some interest proved that River had made the right choice to pursue painting as a career choice. After all finding that niche in one's career path was not an easy task.
Haruo figured spending his day out with rod and reel was as good an option as any considering Molly's tots were at an age where the screaming coming from Satoshi and Molly's room could wake the dead. Luckily River, Haruo, Bebe and Torao were on the top floor on the other side which meant that any screaming they heard was after going down on the elevator. After. Molly stopped screaming, she would feed the tots before THEY started screaming.
Until Molly's kidlets were of an age where they could walk and talk the four of Bebe, Haruo, River and Torao would be stuck making money and then they could head off to university. And fishing was relaxing unless you had a snapping blacktip or a psychopathic black goldfish on the other end of the line which made life really fun for Haruo.
Every so often Torao would enjoy coming out to fish but that wouldn't last long. Those black goldfish scared the living bejesus out of him. And forgetting putting them in his ruck. It was just as well that goldfish didn't have teeth or they might be calling him Three-Fingers Torao.
Torao knowing that his soon to be step-mom.needed help decided to be the ever-helpful stepson and take one of his soon-to-be step-sisters and teach her how to walk and talk now that they were toddlers. Yes, it was certainly taking a long time for Haruo, River, Bebe and Torao to go to university. Besides Molly was expected to be back at work on Sunday at her usual place of employ.
Fiona was pretty disgusted at the lack of decent films coming out of Starlight Shores the poor man's Hollywood. "Love in the Time of Llamas" was pure foreign romantic schlock, tripping ALL the tropes for such drivel. Figures it would have come out of Champs Les Sims. "The Dictator of Bandar Abbas" was yet another dismal flop with only those who would be interested in the dour war genre being enthralled by this particular one out of the country of pyramids; Al Simhara. The only flick that seemed to have a faint hope of being any good was "Crouching Tiger; Hidden Llama" which proved to be good for about the first twenty minutes then plummeted into a no-plot chop-socky Kung Fu flick. So much for any silver screen hope from perennial Oscar favorite, Shang Sim La. Maybe she should have just put her reviewer's brain on off and subjected herself to "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". A most truly excellent piece of cinematic achievement. STATION!!!
Molly had a lot of things to do and once she was finished dealing with teaching Sally Akiko how to talk she was dealing with teaching her how to walk which in any case was not going to be that hard since Torao was taking care of Diana Mariko.
In actual fact with Torao helping her Molly was able to teach the twins in short order to talk, walk and go potty in that order. Which would seem.to be the logical order. Teach the kid to talk so he or she can say "Mommy, go potty." So tot doesn't leave a nice mess in her diaper. Teach her to walk so she can make it over there and keep Mommy from throwing out her back. And finally teach her to go potty so that laundry from.accidents is lessened. Actually the last two could potentially be interchangeable. Pottie before walkie is also good so that tot knows just why walking is so good. Get to the potty before go poopie in pants. Now there's a concept.
Meanwhile Satoshi was at the park up by Summerhill Court which allowed him to fish on his day off. Hardly anyone came to this park which made for a very tranquil park for the likes of Torao, Yasunobu and Haruo. But for Satoshi, long hours of nothing exciting was pure boredom and he hated it. With the exception of biting fish which livened up a few moments, even fishing was an exercise in tedium which in the end made Satoshi resolve to never do this ever again. Although in his defence he did reach level seven in his fishing skill which would allow him to have enough skill to catch for Molly's benefit the fish used to make dinner be it fish and chips or grilled salmon. Was there a function for the tuna? The Watcher figures it's for tuna sandwiches.
Before Haruo could get out the door to join Satoshi at the park he got dragooned by River who told him, "Sweetheart, could you do something about the shower in the bathroom in our suite? I think Sandi broke it again." Of course when River gave him that oh-so-sweet I'll definitely make this favour you do for me worth your while when we get married look, Haruo could not resist. Oh little did he know that was the way of countless wives to coerce their husbands into doing stuff the wives wanted their husbands to do even though the husbands didn't really want to do it in the first place. Then they would sit around the tables with their female friends comparing notes.
"Hey John fixed the gutters last weekend."
"Way to go, Sarah. So what did Dave do, Eileen?"
"Oh he repaved the driveway, mowed the lawn and replaced the shingles on the roof."
"WOOOOOOAH!!! " Winner winner chicken dinner.
"How did she break this?" Haruo asked River incredulously when he saw the geysering shower-head. "Did she hang off the thing like monkey-bars?"
"Watcher only knows" River rolled her eyes. So guess what Haruo was doing for the rest of the day?
Haruo proceeded to then wrench the hot water tap in the shower.
WATCHER: "Hey, dude, if the showerhead is doing a good impression of Old Faithful; chances are, you got a busted O-ring. It's not gonna do anything for you to wrench the hot water tap."
(End Part Four)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter Ten - "Satoshi and Molly" (Part Five)
Well, with Yasunobu breathing fire at Satoshi, Satoshi and Molly decided that they'd better look into getting married or they would be toasted over a roasting spit. It wasn't as though Satoshi didn't know this. Even if Yasunobu wasn't primped and stuck-up about it, he held to the old-world Japanese tradition of face which meant you kept your actions in your everyday life as honorable as possible and did nothing to bring shame upon one's family.
To the younger generations, that was easier said than done. Owing as to emotions and hormones running rampant. But Satoshi was nearly fifty: so what was his problem? Evidently he hadn't grown up yet. With at least twenty-five years left to go, let's just say that he didn't have much time left to get it right.
Anyhow being born in 1940 Satoshi had gone through the war as a baby and coming out the end as a five year old. Which meant for him that life was meant to be enjoyed.
Yasunobu on the other hand born in 1934 was six years old when the war started for him and eleven when the war ended which gave him a very different view of what life should be. Because he had spent most of the war providing for his brothers and his mother. His view was that life and time should not be squandered; that every moment wasted was a moment that couldn't be recovered. For him study was important, because it meant the chance at a better life.
Though he wasn't anywhere as psycho as Mayumi, he was displeased when Haruo squandered time and was exceedingly proud of him when he demonstrated academic prowess.
The upshot of Yasunobu's decision was that Satoshi and Molly needed to get married in three days time and not waste any more time for the children to go to university by their indecision.
Well that was that. And Satoshi capitulated, knowing that he had to accede to the wishes of the head of the household.
So the next three days were a whirlwind of wedding preparations in any case so that they were able to go ahead and get married and for Yasunobu, the only thing that would satisfy him was a public declaration of marriage so that tongues didn't wag about those wanton Chikamoris and their propensity to have children out of wedlock. That would not go over well with Yasunobu at all.
Mayumi, if the hated old bat was still around would be throwing tantrums about how Molly didn't deserve to become a famy member and that they deserved to be excommunicated from the family for the shame they'd brought to them all.
However family blood ties were important to Yasunobu and a stern castigation as opposed to throwing the poor bum on the street was warranted. Any thing more severe than a harsh talking to on the subject of family honour was overboard.
And so, with three days to plan and execute the wedding, things went into overdrive. After all the destination was in the family back-yard which meant the poor dogs would have their houses and food bowls removed to a different spot in the yard and a wedding arch would be set up for Molly and Satoshi to take their vows. This was to keep costs down for those having to pay for the wedding to take place.
The officiant was a portly priest of the Shinto faith. A Reverend Otaro Yamagata; a priest in his late fifties. He had no problems with the couple wearing Western clothing for taking their wedding vows. And would make sure that they were properly endowed with the right blessings from the Almighty Kamisama. After all the couple were getting married to legitimize their children so why not be blessed as well.
Perhaps that might help with the diaper changes. At least maybe cut down the smell a bit. Maybe? After all, what are blessings for? Heavenly Assistance in Childcare.
When the day of the wedding dawned it was clearly apparent that the Watcher was clearly in favour of Satoshi and Molly's union as the sun shone bright. And as it was a weekend morning the wedding was going to start bright and early. The better to have Molly and Satoshi married off and into their new lives together. Where they would happily sit in a cottage together on the island where all the Chikamoris would all eventually live, away from the hustle and bustle of the ever-expanding Sunset Valley municipality.
Ideally the Chikamoris should have a much bigger island, a large island world to populate (much like Maple Ridge where the Watcher grew up only Maple Ridge didn't have a coast-line) but this will have to do until the Chikamoris have enough simoleons to get their own island. (The Watcher wishes he had HIS own island too but unless he wins the lottery; that isn't going to happen anytime soon.
Of course the sun shone bright as Molly and Satoshi watched the guests gather and waited by the arch for the ceremonies to begin.
When the officiant had gathered the couple together at the wedding arch, he read some Shinto scriptures and blessed the couple and then Molly and Satoshi made their vows to each other. The good Reverend Yamagata blessed them again and read another bunch of scriptures. Then they were asked to sign the marriage licence papers stating to the Province of British Columbia that they were married in the eyes of the Crown of the Queen of Canada, also the Queen of England and the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth as her loyal subjects even though they'd taken vows of marriage not in a religion officially recognized by the Crown of the Commonwealth.
How does that work again? Oh, religious freedom.
And then the Reverend blessed them again. With all this blessing they should rightly now be completely filled to the brim with happy happy blessings of joy joy.
And now they were married in the eyes of the public and Sally Akiko and Diana Mariko would no longer be considered illegitimate offspring and a shame to the family.
Which opinion is stuffy to say the least but it partly stems from the morality doctrine that gets shoveled down their throats to justify persecution of those who don't toe the line of societal norms.
Anyways Molly and Satoshi were now married, Yasunobu was happy. Bebe, Torao, Haruo and River were all happy because they could escape this madhouse and now go to university to get their degrees and enter the hamster wheel of 9-5. Bebe in.a classroom; the others deciding that the cubicle wasn't in their future. The dogs were ecstatic because they got their houses put back and every thing was all happy happy joy joy big boat y'know. Hunky Dory.
End Chapter 10
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 11 - Advanced Education
After Satoshi and Molly’s wedding hoopla had died down, Bebe turned in her further education intent letter to the school where she was currently employed as a teacher’s aide and they granted her the time. Which was great because her only other option was to say “I quit.” And anyhow, the school being just fine with her post-secondary schooling said. “Here ya go, enjoy your unpaid sabbatical for four years.
Well, at least, at the end of it she would be a teacher in a specialty that would pay her a decent wage.
Haruo and River were starting to pack for university. Haruo was vascillating between the offer from the school for a sports scholarship or doing sciences; he was going to stay as far away from chemistry as possible – he didn’t want to turn the school lab into a smoking ruin. And considering the advanced chemicals and reactive elements that university chemistry students worked with, the devastation wrought on the lab could potentially have a damage radius of up to ten miles with the surrounding area glowing a luminescent green. Needless to say; a little uranium goes a long way.
The fact that post-secondary school, also known as university or colleges in some parts of the world, was nearly upon them was an exhilarating feeling. It was the feeling of freedom, of new opportunities to explore and live life as young adults albeit knowing that no-one cared if they did reasonably well, succeeded more than their wildest dreams or failed spectacularly.
University was a stepping stone to real life, that attendance at classes assignment completion and doing well on tests was on their shoulders; their own responsibility. No-one was going to look over their shoulder to see what they were doing, to castigate them for poor attendance, for slacking off and not doing their work. They needed to do this work for themselves and hone themselves into successful adults who would make an impact in the world.
They would make an imprint on life as life would make their impression on them.
River was ready to go. She was as impatient as a racehorse in the stocks waiting for the gate to swing open so she could run full-tilt down the course. That anxiety and eagerness translated into checking and double-checking her scores on her aptitude test to make sure that they were right and counting down the days until they headed off to UBC.
And River, being her loving self, was going to wind her boyfriend, now fiance, into knots throughout their time at university so that he would essentially beg to get married as soon as they got home. That is if Satoshi hadn’t populated the town with French-Chikamoris by then. If that was the case, they would have to just find themselves their own island to populate.
Just the thought of all that populating made River woohooally frustrated. Maybe she could drag Haruo into the shower? Or would the frustration she felt make that first time they coupled intimately even better? Anyhow, all that would have to wait till she got to university where they would ultimately decide the direction of their lives. And how they would ultimately live it. But they definitely had plans to go to see different countries before she ended up pregnant with their first child.
Pregnancy had always been a consideration even though they hadn’t really talked about children very much. Haruo liked the idea of having children and River and Haruo both having been only children meant that for the most part they’d only had each other as siblings. They wanted their own children to have blood-siblings. And they’d just wasted three years of post-secondary life waiting on Molly and Satoshi to get their kid out and into toddler stage meaning that the three younger young adults were pushing twenty-two. They would be pushing twenty six by the time they graduated university and River worried that her best child-bearing years would be behind her. Or would it?
Sandi French, Molly’s little urchin had always talked a little crazy, but lately she’d been yammering about a young-again potion that she said she’d discovered. Considering the fact that Sandi liked to stand on chairs and posture regally carrying on royal airs as well as sitting on the couch making engine noises like a race-car driver, wearing biking helmet and goggles; no-one put stock in the idea that she could have conceivably come up with a potion to significantly prolong life.
Maybe they might try it on a whim but as far as they were concerned no such thing existed in any frame of the imagination and anyone who waxed on too much about such things would be liable to end up in the nuthouse.
Were they prepared for everything that they would encounter at university? The school-work and balancing leisure activities with studying. University was primarily a learning atmosphere but a lot of young students liked to experiment socially to see what relationships were like. River already had found the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and she wasn’t going there to experiment. She just wanted him so badly that when they got to their dorm room, she wanted to lock the door, push him on the bed and have her merry way with him, mutually taking each other’s respectability, She let out a frustrated sigh which caught Bebe’s attention.
"You just want to have your merry way with him, don’t you?” Bebe smirked at her amatorially frustrated and discombobulated friend, being directly lewd for the first time. They were young adults who were of legal age of consent. It shouldn’t shock River.
"Bebe!"
"What? Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about that." Bebe teased.
"Well, it's kinda hard not to think about it with you and Torao playing hide-the-banana in the shower every chance you two get. We hear you, you know." River shot back irritably.
"Oh, he’s a wonderful specimen of manhood." Bebe elaborated on Torao’s amatory prowess and gave River a wink. "Considering he and Haruo are related..." she ventured on with a teasing tone in her voice.
River narrowed her eyes at Bebe. Oh, River knew all-too-well Haruo was well-endowed. When they slept at night together in the bed, it was hard to not curl up spooned together when he pressed up against her for warmth and comfort. And the warmth of her own body tantalized him when they spooned in their sleep. River shivered in anticipation at the thought of just letting him do with her what he wanted. For heaven’s sake, all this talk about the their men was just making River antsy and irritable. "Will you stop, Bebe, I swear..." River muttered crossly, "It's like you have a one-track mind that keeps going on only one thing; who is going to do what with whom, how and when." Bebe laughed her head off which only served to make River more cross.
"Well..." Bebe grinned at her friend, “a dirty mind is such a shame to waste.” She smirked. "Have to keep it leashed at school; don’t want to corrupt the kiddies at school with all the lewd jokes so you get to be the beneficiary of my happy thoughts." River cringed. "Miss Hart..." Bebe gestured at herself "...to her students is as pure and innocent as the driven snow." She proclaimed clasping her hand to her heart batting wide hazel eyes at her friend in visual approximation of said innocence. Bebe was stunningly pretty and River had to admit that if she didn’t know her friend better, she’d have fell for the Little Miss Innocence schtick, batting eyelashes and all.
River choked down a snort of laughter as she had another sip of coffee. "Pure and innocent..." she laughed...as soon as she got down the swig, "Yeah, Bebe, I’ll believe that when pigs fly."
"So what do you think of Ethan getting together with Lolly? I know that Lolly was sweet on Haruo at one point." Bebe said with another smirk.
River aimed a well-earned glare at Bebe, “Let’s just say that once we’re on the island, Little Miss Trollop won’t have the chance to come near my Haruo. She had no wish for that Racket, as nice as she was in comparison to her siblings, to go anywhere near her man.
"Ooh, a little jealous and possessive, are we?"
"🐸🐸🐸🐸 straight, hell yes!" was River’s growling reply, “Haruo is mine.” Bebe grinned at her. Engagement meant hands off to any woman other than River herself and River was prepared to stake her claim so there was no uncertainty in anyone else’s mind as to who she was with and in further clarification to anyone dumb enough to try who her man was with. Woe betide anyone else who tried to claim-jump her Haruo.
(end part 1)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 11 - Advanced Education (Part 2)
Haruo was sorting out his luggage in preparation. Clothes, he had definitive need of, a book to read during leisure, namely some obscure military tome that he’d always been interested in; namely about the US and its involvement in the Vietnam War; the wind-down happening in the first five years of his life with the eventual withdrawal of US forces in Vietnam happening in 1973 and the Fall of Saigon in 1975.
When Haruo was just a toddler, his mother and father had used the TV to babysit him while his grandmother did chores around the house and during those earliest years, he remembered the news broadcasts from the killing fields of Nam being played into his living room. From the dying days of the war: men dying in the rice paddies, USAF F-4s and F-100s doing napalm runs sending up billowing explosions of red and orange quickly turning into black sooty smoke as the surrounding vegetation burned. And the daily kill count. All of that etched into a distant fading memory as fifteen years had passed in what seemed like a torturously long time to a youngster yet was really only a blink of an eye.
Now he was a young adult.
Canada had been both a refuge for those against the war, deserters and dissenters alike as well as a place for hawks to disparage. And Haruo was grateful that his country hadn’t been dragged into the quagmire like Australia and France or many of the now mid-thirty to mid-forty somethings would have been killed in those same fields that the American Gis and Marines had died in. It was in these same late Eighties years that the talk of the Vietnam Memorial being constructed was starting to take place.
Haruo wasn’t sure about what else to take with him to dorm at UBC. There had always been model kits including an F-15 Eagle kit that he’d wanted to build but unfortunately his skills weren’t all that great to begin with in terms of building. A lack of patience along with a desire to see the completed bird wasn’t conducive to building a museum quality piece. So since he was going to university to study, he would leave his model airplanes at home.
What else was there really, food and snacks? He could readily get those at the grocery store near UBC. There was a sports shop where he could get hockey equipment when he needed it, tape, sticks, skates, pads etc.
If he was going to take the sports scholarship, he might as well play for the school team. He knew he didn’t have the talent to get drafted to the NHL. At best he would be a third-line plug forward who could potentially be counted on to get the puck on net two, maybe three times in a blue moon. What he did do well with his stocky big but short frame and his mean attitude on the ice was rack up PIMs (penalties in minutes). If someone went after one of his team’s star players, he’d be right in there throwing right hooks to the player’s face with his left grabbing the offending player’s jersey to hold him in place.
Five for fighting, possibly a ten-minute game misconduct and ejection for instigating too – maybe if the team was unlucky, he’d get a suspension.
Torao looked over at his cousin. “So, what do you think of playing hockey for the Thunderbirds?”
“It’ll keep me from going completely stark-raving nuts.” was Haruo’s response. Torao’s and Bebe’s explorations in congress would be enough to drive anyone stark-raving insane who was within earshot. Hence the reason why River was wound up as tight as a drum kit – it was as a result of listening to Bebe and Torao going at it in the shower and the fact that they (River and Haruo) were abstaining served to frustrate her to no end.
Frankly the fact that Bebe wasn’t in the family way yet was surprising enough. At least they were using protection as far as Haruo knew. Evidently they didn’t want an unexpected happy happy bundle of joy joy which would proceed to stench up their dormitory and force the Chancellor of UBC to ask if it might be possible to defer her education; quite possibly until the ankle-biter was twenty.
Ah but such were preparations to go away to university. Lots of oopportunity to find one’s vocation in life and with a switch of vowels, it could be defined as a temporary escape from reality; namely the sour fact that Bebe would be coming back to a classroom filled with non-listening, non-cooperating juveniles who wanted to upstage you and be the center of attention...
...and that was just the teachers.
The kids at the school or at least the recalcitrant ones could drive one to drink hard alcohol 80 proof. When Bebe graduated university, she could become a high-school teacher and eventually aspire to higher levels much like Haruo’s un-lamented malignant late mother though Bebe had a much softer touch in terms of guiding the student body and coaxing them to higher levels of learning. At least she would do her job with the enjoyment of teaching rather than the mind-twisting and malevolent intentions of Haruo’s late mother towards her charges back when the witch was alive.
River had no idea of what was to come in terms of her post-secondary academics. Would she be studying the works of Renoir, the paintings of Michelangelo, the mind-bending output of Picasso or the weird and wacky modernist style of Andy Warhol. She had no aspirations to be like any of them.
In other words, she preferred the happy little trees of Bob Ross, ex-United States Air Force Master Sergeant and former drill instructor, who, in any case, had a blinding revelation and decided that he would no longer yell at anyone and never did again after viewing a tableau of grizzlies calmly fishing in a stream nearby against a backdrop of majestic mountains filled with happy little trees; picked up paint and brush and never looked back.
So River was planning to study the artworks of the great Masters and glean what esoteric knowledge of light and brush technique was available to her.
Monet, Raphael; all would be covered in those textbooks; the painting techniques of the great masters mastered and it would all boil down to Bob Ross and his happy little trees.
(End Part 2)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 11 - Advanced Education (Part 3)
Torao was headed towards the science route and he was looking at getting a job at the Landgraab Science Center which hopefully would help in terms of income into the family coffers. Torao wasn’t a dreamer like his dad, his step-mother or River; he and Haruo were practically minded and dreams were nothing more than the subconscious working out an obvious solution to a problem in one’s downtime. There were no practical reasons for a dream since that was all that remained unless you got off your duff and did something about it.
Torao knew that science was a practical subject in his field. At least if he became a research assistant, he’d be making quite a few simoleons. Torao would let Haruo do the fishing and some of the gardening since he would have to be at the lab most of the time. Hopefully some of the opportunities would fall to either one of them and it didn’t hurt to have them both do gardening. At least the Watcher would be looking over them and Torao could pray for good fortune.
“So what do you plan to do, Torao?” asked Haruo as he tossed a few more t-shirts into his luggage that he was taking to UBC.
“I’m going into the sciences department.” Torao said as he looked over at his cousin. “Horticultural studies would come in handy in any case, especially if I plan to garden. I could use that knowledge to better the quality of my plants.”
“Just make sure you don’t genetically design a Triffid...” Haruo jibed "...or you might bring about the end of humanity.” He was only partially joking. There were rumors of plant-beings, essentially people that looked like plants who live off water and sunk themselves into the ground to rejuvenate. It was eerie and unsettling to know that there were those amongst human society who were not of their kind. Most, it was said, were normal law-abiding citizens who went about their every-day business doing whatever they needed to do to survive: grocery shopping, laundry, paying bills, going to work.
But then again, there were that few that loved to make life hell for other people, the evil ones whose idea of fun was poisoning others or seriously hurting them. Those were the ones who deserved a good dose of weed-killer.
Haruo had no dealings with plant-people nor did he want to. But he knew that he would be going to a school now that drew in many from all walks of life. Or should he say life-forms?
Needless to say, the University of British Columbia would be an eye-opening experience. And as such he would need to keep his prejudices in check.
Haruo put on some Handel on his stereo; a love of classical music he’d inherited from his father though he preferred Baroque music. The rondo form from the first movement of the Op. 6 Number 10 in D minor filled the air. That particular Concerto Grosso was one of his favorites. The complicated passages intersected with each other in an amazing counterpoint only surpassed by that of J.S. Bach.
“You love that stuff, don’t you?” Torao commented.
“Yeah.” Haruo stated grinning. “Can’t get into the stuff that they’re playing on the airwaves nowadays.”
“Oh, c’mon. Tell me that you don’t like Iron Maiden.”
“It’s not my first choice to listen to if I had a choice in the matter.” Haruo retorted. “Rock music is so...pedestrian.” He found the perfect description. Yup, it hit a nerve...with Torao.
“Classical snob.”
“Plebeian.” Haruo shot back.
“You should have taken music.” Torao rejoindered, “You would be in good company...” He smirked. “...with all the other snobs.”
“Very funny, egghead.” Haruo snickered. “Really rich coming from someone who’s going to have his head stuck in a lab coat and Erlenmeyer flask for four years straight.”
Perhaps it would have turned into an all-out argument, but it was interrupted by River and Bebe, the former of; put her arms around Haruo, put her head on Haruo’s right shoulder and said, “Oh, that’s beautiful, is that a piece of classical music that you’re listening to?”
Haruo and Torao settled for sticking their tongues out at each other. In insult as each were taken in arms by their respective fiancées.
River kissed her fiancé as she wrapped her arms around him. “I’m looking forward to getting out of this house and heading off to university.” She proclaimed. Ever since that heavy petting session prior to Bebe’s grad ceremony, Haruo and River had been watched with eagle-eyed intensity by Fiona and Yasunobu who were all of the opinion that woohoo was reserved for the marriage bed and not for anything prior to their nuptials.
(End Part 3)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 11, - Advanced Education (Part Four)
Unlike Bebe and Torao whose parents didn’t really hold to the notions that the marriage bed was sanctified and that woohoo was therefore forbidden. Satoshi was easy-going in that regards owing as to how he’d progenitored Torao. And well, Bebe’s mother and father, now living down the block, were too busy with their respective careers to care about whether their daughter was playing “Dr. Touchy-Feely Chiropractor” with her fiance. And of course Bebe and Torao took it to the next level. When their bedroom door was shut, it was implicitly understood that you didn’t knock on their door let alone go into their room unless you wanted to see them in flagrante delicto.
The Next Morning
Meanwhile Molly had three children under the age of six and she decided unilaterally that Sandi had to depart. Frankly, it was rather upsetting to Sandi, but Molly had her hands full with Sally and Diane and considering the concerns the pediatrician had expressed about Sandi’s need for attention and personal growth, Sandi was headed for the School of Peace and Love headed by the Baghwan Shree Rajneesh; and unfortunately for Sandi, she was stuck having to go. There was no way out. It was Molly’s responsibility and when she side-stepped that responsibility, unfortunately there wasn’t a way for others to intervene especially at that time in history. Well, she had played the piper and she decided that she wasn’t going to pay her dues; after all, she had a career to consider as a chef and she had two other little ones to raise...so poor Sandi got the short end of the stick. Yes, it was unfair, but that was life especially with a mother that only cared about what she wanted in life.
Molly was a hedonistic party animal and thus really wasn’t family oriented. Sandi was a result of a quick romp in the hay with a guy that she really didn’t care about, but ended up taking to her bed regardless because she felt like she wanted some fun. Unfortunately that fun stayed with her and she wasn’t enjoying it. Parenting was drudgery for her and when the advertisement for the School of Peace and Love came across her doorstep, she decided to take full advantage of it and at the first available opportunity sent Sandi packing.
It was nine-o’clock that Sandi was picked up by the boarding school taxi and she didn’t say a word to anyone. The haunted look in her eyes about how her mother could do this to her was telling enough and it would be a long time before she would ever say anything to her mother ever again.
River was furious and she swore up and down that she would never ever do that to any of her children. What children came from her loins were hers and Haruo’s and they would never, ever send any of them away.
Bebe had dragged Torao into the bathroom and was quietly stripping him down to a state of no clothes, all the while removing her own. She wanted her fiance; all of him, and she wasn’t about to wait. She only let him go long enough to turn on the shower. Her fiancee’s eyes opened wide as she slid down the wall to her knees and her hands started questing for him. Torao’s head nearly exploded as he felt sensations as Bebe made him more limp than a noodle.
River and Haruo, on the other hand, headed out to their usual haunt up in Pinochle Pond cherishing the time they had with each other before they dove head-first into post-secondary studies. At twenty-two, they’d saved themselves for each other and it was getting frustrating for both of them because they wanted each other so much. Nestling into Haruo’s arms, River gazed at the pond.
“I’m so glad that Molly’s kids are at the stage where they are just about ready to age up and go to pre-school. But it certainly puts a crimp in our time-table; doesn’t it?” River complained. Haruo understood completely. They’d had to defer their own education so that Molly and Satoshi had ready child-care ever since Satoshi had accidentally left one of his daughters in yard. River was definitely not happy about it, However River had managed to master her painting in the meantime.
Haruo nodded, “Well, ...” he paused for a long moment. With his mother, roadblocks were to be expected and an obstacle to be worked around. But she was no longer interfering in his life as she had no life of her own period, unless one considered the afterlife a life. Haruo noticed that his uncle and Molly tended to be self-absorbed and living for the moment. And sometimes things tended to slip their minds. He understood why his father was so adamant to have other sets of eyes watching over the twins. However it certainly didn’t help their case as it delayed their education. “...you know you can never tell when roadblocks are going to pop up. We’ll just have to go with the flow, right?”
“it annoys me because if we had gone to university upon graduation, we’d be done by now and enroute to getting married.” River pouted a bit; then she leaned in closer and whispered sensuously in Haruo’s ear. “And I wouldn’t be so frustrated right now about wanting to jump your bones.” She flicked her tongue out and lightly licked his ear-lobe.
“Watcher, River...” Haruo gasped, his consternation belied by a merry twinkle in his eye, “that’s scandalous.”
“Hmmph...” her offended pout looked so cute. Haruo took her into his arms and started kissing her and it was far less innocent kisses than when they had first admitted their feelings for one another.
Duelling tongues and questing hands. River looked up at Haruo, pupils dilated, her lips parted. “You don’t know just how much I want to say to hell with it and have you screw me senseless.” she sighed deeply. “Every time I feel your body against me...” She trailed off...then somehow found the words. “I just want you to rip my clothes off and have your way with me.”
Haruo felt the same way but he knew it would be much more special if they waited; that their first time in the marriage bed would bring them to an utter peak.
They contented themselves with heavy petting and sat gazing at the water hoping that this year was the one that would make their post-secondary education at university a reality.
“What do you plan to do for extracurricular activities at university?” Haruo peered at her with a questioning gaze.
“I don’t know.” River stated. “I know I have to do a well-rounded arts degree; not just painting, guitar and writing. University Chorus is looking for singers. So I thought I might try out for it. Maybe get a spot as a second soprano. And it’ll fill a spot as an elective course.”
“Sounds interesting.” Haruo said as he looked deep into his fiancee’s eyes.
“Why don’t you audition too?” River suggested as she stroked his arm. “You were in high-school choir and they could use a few more 🐸🐸🐸🐸. It seems the lower end male voices are always needed.”
“I’ll see depending on how my science and athletic course-loads are. I may join pending that, depending on the need for 🐸🐸🐸🐸 and baritones.” River snuggled into his arms as he said this and she looked up at him.
“It’ll be so romantic.” River purred. “Y’know they say the bathroom always has the best acoustics of any room in the house, second only to the stairwell.” Haruo raised an eyebrow laced with innuendo. “Stop that or I’m going to drag you into the stairwell and have my merry way with you. And if the acoustics are as good as they say, everyone will know exactly what we’re doing in the dorm stairwells.” She gave him a loving squeeze.
“I love you.” Haruo whispered in River’s ear.
“You know I love you too.” River whispered back as Haruo gathered her in an intimate embrace. River raised her right hand to caress her fiance’s cheek and Haruo leaned his forehead against River’s “...oh so much, my love.” It was a classic tableau of young love; two young lovers embraced in a tranquil setting, their focus on nothing other than each other.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 11 - Advanced Education (Part Five)
Back at the house
Torao grinned widely as he tried not to inhale the water from the spray of the shower. Their machinations in the shower had always been an intimate part of their relationship when they weren’t having passionate woohoo in bed. Frankly, Bebe was putty in Torao’s hands and they had explored every single part of each other’s body. It never grew old. Woohoo was just the icing on the cake that was their passionate relationship.
“You always make me feel like a beautiful woman...” Bebe said, her face buried in Torao’s bare wet shoulder, dripping with the shower spray over both of their bodies.
“You are a beautiful woman.” Torao whispered in her ear. “You’re beautiful both inside and out.”
She looked up at him, her eyes twinkling. “Well...I’m certainly lucky to have you, Torao...and frankly...it’s a good thing that I have an income that will cover the cost of the pill, since...I can’t get enough of you.”
That morning was the day that Sandi was picked up for her ride to the School of Peace and Love and frankly, the way that she was unceremoniously told to go stand out on the street and wait for the taxi by Molly was deflating to the rest of the family who pretty much had nurtured their own children from infancy to young adulthood. One never stopped being a parent and if Molly was about to do that to her own flesh and blood, well, there wasn’t a maternal bone in Molly French’s body.
...and it was on that rather suck-the-air-out-of-the-balloon note that the four young adults were headed off to university. With all the packing done and out of the way...it was just a matter of making sure that everything was together.
The four soon-to-be university students and Franz left the house soon after leaving only the adults and toddlers at the house to do whatever it was that adults do when the children are away. A long journey awaited the young adults who were headed up to UBC, especially on the weekends where the #1 Highway was jam-packed with people trying to go out of town and the main thing was trying to get from point A to point B without ending up in a fender-bender. As it was they decided to take Highway 1a...through the Massey Tunnel and onwards towards Richmond from there, they would take the Cambie Bridge and head into Vancouver and towards Point Grey and the University Endowment lands.
When they reached the University Endowment Lands, it was cloudy and miserable; the skies grey and threatening to open up with a deluge. They had left a Sunset Valley farther up the Fraser Valley which was in a downpour. The rain had tapered off as they moved farther up the coast to Vancouver proper and they were now renting a §818.00/mo rental of an entire house, a three-bedroom home, two-levels and they would have Sunday to themselves before starting their first semester of university. They even had a garage where if they so chose, they could buy their first car and store it so that they could get to university classes on time.
“Wow!” was the exclamation from the four as they were handed the keys to their new accommodation on the university campus. These were nice digs, Torao thought as he looked the bluish-grey house, a two storey three bedroom in the University Lands area of Lower Mainland BC.
“Not bad…man”. Haruo said “Lay me five. bud…”. He high-fived his cousin. “We just landed like cats in the cream.” He looked around at the house’s exterior, it was mostly plain grass, no trees except for one large oak; it would be a simple chore of making sure that the leaves were raked up and that was just a matter of regular maintenance of the house whose condition they had been entrusted during their tenancy.
Of course, while the cat was away, the mice will play and Torao and Bebe got “busy” in one of the bedrooms while Haruo was hungry and decided to make some pancakes. He was also hoping that he would progress in his cooking and start to learn more recipes. However his main focus was going to be playing the blue-line in his role as number four defenceman for the UBC Thunderbirds.
River sighed looking over at her fiancé who was slavishly cooking over the Simmer-Char, a stove that had a propensity to turn into a conflagration the second one’s attention was drawn away from the task of cooking. Frankly it was a menace, but unfortunately the expense of upgrading the stove in a place that they weren’t staying long-term was not going to be worth it. When he was done, he made the wait worthwhile by taking her into his arms and kissing her. The makeout session was absolutely amazing and they decided to head upstairs, keeping their clothes on however.
River asked him, “Are you sure we want to wait till marriage?” she purred, as she ran a finger down his chest and that touch made Haruo wish that he hadn’t made that promise of abstinence until marriage.
There were a great many things to do at University: sign-in was at the head office and they had a week’s window to get fully settled in and get ready for the semester to start. They managed to fully move in by Sunday and were acclimating to being up at Point Grey searching out the things that they needed to know about the area – where the grocery store was, where the UBC Bookstore was. Then they would head up to the administration and sign up for courses.
Haruo and Bebe headed over to the lake to fish for some dinner after getting a fishing license at the local bait shop. River decided to use the house’s easel to paint a large painting and Torao decided to use one of the house’s computers to experiment with writing.
Were they ready to dive into the next part of their education? Post-secondary education was certainly going to be a grind...at least for the next four years. The urge to not rush into things was great and Haruo was certainly feeling that. Was he ready for the grind? Was he prepared to stick nose to grind-stone and get ahead in life?
It all remained to be seen.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 12-"University Life" (Part 1)
It was a heady feeling to be out in the big world in terms of adulting. Haruo, River, Bebe and Torao were pumped to be away from the parents and doing what they needed to do to get ahead in life.
University was a step in the direction in which they wanted to send their life. The classes and studying they had to put in would prepare them for the rest of their life; their experiences governing the direction of their subsequent failures or successes. It would behoove them to work hard and not be too inclined to party the nights away.
There had been a long conversation over lunch and they’d come to the mutual decision to enroll immediately. This would get their education on track quickly and get them their university degrees. So after lunch, they decided to walk down to the university administration building.
“I think athletics is worth taking.” Haruo informed the rest. “It’s something I like doing and frankly, if it comes down to it, I can teach Phys-Ed in Sunset Valley Secondary.” He looked over at the spires up above and marveled that the school had been established in 1908, eighty plus years ago. Man, this building is oool. Haruo thought to himself.
“So when is hockey practice for you?” River inquired.
“Practice is at five in the morning; five days a week, goes for two hours, get a shower and then head to class. I think the T-Birds have power-play drills tomorrow morning, at least as far as Coach Kelley says. “I gotta re-tape my stick, the tape’s going on it; getting worn from practicing slap-shots and get some tape wax.” River smiled at Haruo as he went through some of the stuff he had to do before he got on the ice.
“When’s the first game, Honey?” River looked at the T-Bird’s schedule that she purloined from Haruo’s hand.
“Four days from now. babe. Exhibition against U of A Golden Bears. (University of Alberta), Coach had a sit down intro to performance expectations on the ice. You get cut if your mark goes below a B average.”
“Ouch!” Torao said. “That’s a rough guideline to hold up to.”
“Naw 3.5 in academics shouldn’t be hard to maintain if I crack the books. The worry’s if I get injured during the season. Rehab will cut into my study time. It would matter if I wanted to make the A or get signed on to an NHL team, but I’m just doing this for the varsity letter and the connections that it’ll give me in the future.”
“So…you’re just milkin’ it for the benefits, huh?” Bebe teased him. Haruo pantomimed shock and let out a small “oh…” and all of them laughed.
“Hey, an CICHL (Canadian Inter-Collegiate Hockey League) Championship is nothing to sneeze at.” Haruo pretended to be offended. That caused another outburst of laughter.
Registration at the Admin building was quick. Haruo had a few changes to his schedule now that Coach had drafted his schedule of practices. One of his Athletics department courses would have conflicted. But now he had a schedule that worked for what he needed.
And early morning practices were going to be hell to get up for but he’d signed on the dotted line. He was a second pairing defenseman and could look at about seven to ten minutes of ice time a shift depending on the line-matchups with the other team. He was paired with a six-two bruiser of a d-man and they both checked hard so Coach Kelley was going to put them out against the top-line of opposition teams to forecheck and blunt their attack into the blue-line. Campbell’s role was to stand in front of the goalie and knock opposition forwards who tried to screen the crease.
At least that was the plan.
Bebe’s stomach chose that moment to complain. “Oh jeez, that was embarrassing.” She flushed pink.
“Guess we’re all hungry.” Torao grinned at her. “Where to?”
“I thought I saw a burger joint around here somewhere.” Haruo stated. “…y’know…when we were driving in.
“Yeah down by the first corner. Right across from the theatre.” Bebe said. “I saw it. Haruo was too busy with the rental truck.”
“There really isn’t much other than that; other than a cafeteria that sells snacks. There really isn’t much of a grocery store, except on the other end of town.” River added.
They all finally agreed to get burgers over at the fast food joint. They felt that it was a good idea to make sure they ate well considering that they would be making their new accommodations livable. Unpacking would take them the rest of the day.
As Haruo approached the restaurant, a blonde middle-aged woman was eying him like this morning’s prime Grade A beef sirloin steak. As River was following right behind him, she caught the woman’s interested gaze at her fiancé and barely restrained herself from saying “Hey witch, keep your cougar eyeballs to yourself. Get yourself your own man. You cradle-snatching tramp.”
Let’s just say that River had no intention of letting anyone near her man and she had a pretty vicious right hook as several girls found out who tried to bully her in high school. And frankly now that it was official that she was getting married to Haruo when they returned to Sunset Valley from UBC, there was no bloody way she was going to let anyone try to get in between her and her fiancé. Anyone who tried would find out the hard way that River McIrish, soon to be River McIrish-Chikamori was no pushover.
River gave the woman a cold stare as she went by her in challenge.
The four went into the restaurant and picked a table; evidently their specialty was the taco burger with taco sauce and a half oz. burger slathered in guacamole and and salsa. Torao and River decided on that burger while Bebe opted for the Swiss Mushroom and Haruo decided on the Hawaiian burger which had three slices of bacon, a pineapple ring slathered in Polynesian sauce on yet another flame-grilled half oz. patty.
The aromas emanating from the kitchen of the restaurant were making their mouths water and Haruo was glad that the wait wasn’t too long. In fact they all headed to the drink fountain to get their drinks before collecting their burgers and fries. The buns and patties measured at least four and a half inches across so they were big burgers.
“So tomorrow’s gonna be a rush out the door, eh?” Bebe grinned. “First class for all of us is at 8.”
“Speak for yourself, my 🐸🐸🐸🐸 has to be on the ice by five in the morning so my butt has to be out of bed at four. Two hour practice, get out of my gear and take a shower. Then hustle my butt to class.”
“Awwww….” River grinned at him. “Such a hard life…”. She teased him playfully.
“Hockey is life…” Haruo grinned back at her.
“And the macho chest-beating starts…” Torao interrupted Haruo’s train of thought as he was about to pontificate on the excitement that was inherent in lacing up the skates, grabbing one’s stick, jamming your helmet on your head and going out to do battle on the ice. To put the puck right where he intended it to go; the satisfaction your stick meeting the puck and sending it laser-beam delivery past the butterflied goalie sprawled prone on the ice while watching helplessly as the puck headed, unimpeded, for the back of the net.
Haruo looked thoroughly blissful as he talked about his on-ice enjoyment while Torao rolled his eyes and the girls giggled in amusement. “UBC Thunderbirds…HOCKEY…” and let out a sound that sounded like a dog barking; a large dog.
“OK Hon.” River chided him affectionately, “calm down or the university might send the dogcatcher around to restrain any one exhibiting animal-like behavior”
Haruo subsided very quickly after that admonition.
(end part 1)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 12 - "University Life" (Part Two)
Back at the residence
The four settled into chairs and pulled open their books in order to get ahead on the studying. They wanted to make sure they were ahead of the game insofar as learning their course materials was concerned.
Haruo knew that part of his course curriculum involved staying physically fit. That meant time in the gym toning his body and making sure he was able to perform well on the ice. College hockey for some was a stepping stone to the NHL. Haruo on the other hand wasn’t going to count on making it to the NHL to deal with having any sort of a career. He had other plans. Hockey was a fun game but it wasn’t going to be his future. There were a lot more talented players ahead of his position in line.
However, he was looking forward to the games knowing that some of the players whom he was playing with would be signing with an NHL team and if he could hang with them in terms of his on-ice ability, then he wasn’t that bad. At least he could say that he was able to skate with future NHL’rs. After all Canadians were born on skates, so it was said.
Haruo had to sit himself in a room of his own to study because he had to have music going on in order to have the atmosphere to be able study; on the stereo he had Arcangelo Corelli’s Trio Sonata for Violin and Cembalo #4 in F major, Op. 5 Allegro playing in the background. He didn’t want to disturb the rest of his room-mates or fiancée who needed silence to be effective in their studying. It was his own idiosyncrasy to want to have something playing. And he found baroque music suited him much better than any other music. It had been that way since he was a child and his dad had put classical music on. He felt so hyper-focused on his course materials when he was bent over the textbook with the music running in the background.
“How can you study with that on?” Bebe asked; a grin plastered all over her face.
Haruo answered her with a smug look, “According to researchers: brain imaging research using electroencephalography found that Baroque music can bring about a balanced, stable, calm state of mind and improve learning efficiency.” Along with a wink to let her know that he was not taking himself seriously even if the research was accurate.
Bebe nearly rolled on the floor laughing at just how comical Haruo looked since he had on this smug air of superiority.
It was a late night of studying as the students made sure they knew their course materials because there could be a spot question on the quizzes that the instructors gave to know if you had studied the course material. It would behoove them to be well prepared for midterms, since rumor had it that those exams were insanely difficult.
And that wasn’t the only thing. Even the D was supposed to play the “transition game”; to move the puck through the blue-line and into the center ice area to transition forwards into offense. The last thing any team wanted was to be trapped in their zone. What they wanted was puck possession and moving it out across the opposition’s blue-line on the attack. Which meant that Haruo had to study tape and make sure he got familiar with the playing styles of his opposition so that he could counter their play and get them off their game.
And of course Haruo had to study for his lecture courses too so he had what seemed like twice the studying to do. After all his coach wanted to see performance on the ice or his position would go to someone who was hungry to reach the NHL. And his teachers wanted to see academic performance. A whole lot of pressure for Haruo to be under. And plus, this education was costing his dad an arm and a leg in money.
So thus was the strain in education for Haruo.
Bebe also was under a lot of pressure. Her parents had only discovered their prowess late in life and she had a lot to prove that she wasn’t like them in the slightest: dedicated, hard-working, punctual and smart were to be her key characteristics. And a head-start at a teaching career bolstered those views of her.
River on the other hand was self-driven to succeed. What she wanted, she went after with single-minded purpose. Her love of art transcended any other, except for her love towards Haruo, her best friend in life next to her mom. She put her whole heart and soul into her artistic efforts and it showed. Between that and her general knowledge courses at university, she was going to be quite busy during the school term.
Torao on the other hand was undertaking a mentally taxing course-load. His line of study was in medicine and he was headed for a life dedicated to the healing arts. Anyone who has studied medicine knows just how mind-numbingly intensive the course-load was. There were no margins for error. These were the men and women who fought death daily on the front-lines of healthcare. Hence the reason why in UBC Faculty of Medicine, a pass mark was 90% on tests. If you did not know your stuff inside out, you were not being let out to practice medicine. After all. A wrong call on a diagnosis could result in the Reaper paying a nice little visit and no one wanted him around.
It was around one in the morning before anyone got to sleep. And it certainly wasn’t unusual for students to pull an all-nighter in order to make sure that they knew their course materials inside out. The systematically thorough study habits of the students certainly were quite intensive in their attempt to know everything for their tests.
By the time Haruo’s and River’s heads hit their pillows it was clear that the temptation to have unmarried intercourse was the least of their problems. Haruo was exhausted and so was River and the only thing they could do was cuddle in bed.
Monday morning was insanity times four. People having to eat, use the facilities and get to class combined in a rather volatile state of affairs.
“Aren’t you out of the washroom yet?!!”, bellowed Torao who was waiting on Haruo to get out of the washroom since he had to go pee.
“Well excuse me if I can’t excrete on command. Why don’t you use the one upstairs?!!! There’s two washrooms upstairs!!!”
“BECAUSE THE GIRLS ARE USING THE OTHER TWO WASHROOMS!!!! THAT’S WHY!!!”
A scream of frustration ensued when Haruo roared back. “Go use the ******* BUSH!!!!”
Somehow they all managed to get out the door without killing each other.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 12 - "University Life" (Part Three)
Classes for River were always interesting. There was always a lecture on an artistic medium that she was interested in: Romanticism, Post-Impressionistic, Renaissance…you name in, as well as lectures on artists and how their works affected modern day artistic efforts. Lectures on types of mediums and what they were used for: watercolours, oils, graphite pencils, etchings, etc. And on the days off from classes, River usually could be seen either at the easel or sitting on the floor working on a pencil sketch.
It wasn’t certain what Bebe was doing, but she was neck-deep into technology studies at UBC. And learning about these new emerging tech gave her a leg-up in teaching since she would educate the next generation. The world of computing was starting to switch from hard disks and floppies into optical drives and such was that medium that capacities were being expanded from kilobytes to megabytes of data. The days of gigabytes, terabytes and petabytes would loom distant on the horizon, but data was infinite and would be compiled as quickly as could be coded in storage sizes that could make one’s head spin.
Torao was studying medical terminology which was a total mind-blast. Some of the medical terms were so convoluted and complex that it would give a person nightmares just trying to remember it all. Oncology: the study of cancer. Epidemiology; the study of epidemics and how they occur, Virology; the study of viruses and its sister study; Bacteriology; naturally, the study of bacteria…were all straightforward. But complicated terms like endovascular surgical neuroradiology were brain-twisters. All anyone who wasn’t prepared to undertake a four year pre-med degree before jumping into medicine was that it had to do something with the body’s blood transport system; your veins and arteries and usually you were sent to the endovascular surgical radiology department when something was going haywire with your vascular and endovascular systems, such as an aneurysm or some sort of disease attacking said veins or arteries.
Haruo, on the other hand, was on the ice for two hours a day five days a week and in the gym for three out of those five days working on his body, getting it back into shape for being on the ice and taking hits along the boards. He was muscular but he wasn’t tall and big like most hockey players. If you were 5’10” you were on the short side for a hockey player and NHL teams tended to overlook you at the draft.
Sleep came early and so did wakeup that first morning. First practice was on Tuesday so that the coach could determine just what his lines were going to be, so that Monday morning was just a meet and greet during regular classes. It was still early and Haruo was not looking forward to the 4AM wakeup to get to the rink by five.
That was the time that had to be met if he wanted to get any sort of breakfast in him before Coach made them do bag skates down the length of the rink.
Bebe headed into her morning class and in technology which was quite an eye-opener in terms of learning experience. There was more to the field of tech than she’d originally known. There were new forms: cybernetics, computers, data storage and robotics. All sorts of fields were going to open up in the future and if that was what she wanted to learn she would be on the cutting edge of her field. And a B.Ed in Tech would help her immensely in terms of what salary she could command.
River was annoyed at the fact that she, being the last out of the house, had to wait at the entrance to the lecture hall for the class to begin. Meanwhile the rest of the students milled around aimlessly socializing, while blocking the entrance. River was focused, a perfectionist and frankly, anything that detracted from her goals frankly 🐸🐸🐸🐸 her off immensely.
“For crying out loud, will you guys get a grip and figure where in hell you’re gonna stand? Others have to get to class…y’know?” She muttered caustically under her breath. She gave the most intrusive one the evil eye when he looked her up and down, his eyes straying to her assets. “My eyes are up here.”
“Well you’re a fine one…” Mahmoud Yavari grinned at her.
River gave him a frosty grin that signaled and you ain’t gettin’ any of this. And shot Yavari down in flames.
“Yeah, my fiancé thinks so. He’s a brown belt in Kung Fu. I’m not sure if you’d like to meet him.”
Mahmoud Yavari was certain of two things: one; that River McIrish was one fine piece of womanhood and two; that he would find himself wrapped like a pretzel around a tree if he meddled in the relationship of that guy that he’d seen River McIrish take her lunch breaks with.
Mahmoud may have been Persian in ethnicity, (his parents had emigrated to Canada in the 60s) but he had been born in Canada and was well aware of its social graces. Plus he wasn’t suicidal enough to get involved with River McIrish because of her man that played sports and, despite that man’s minimal height, could bend him into the shape of an accordion and quite possibly knock his teeth into next Thursday.
(end Part Three)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 12 - "University Life" (Part Four)
River’s fiancé, Haruo, was Japanese-Canadian and he was on the university hockey team. Haruo was also someone who was very physically fit and could probably turn Yavari’s spine into a pretzel. Was he willing to risk that kind of physical beating just to get a piece of River McIrish no matter how cute she was. The answer was a resounding no. It was clear Mahmoud Yavari preferred self-preservation over self-indulgence. And at the revelation that not only did River’s guy did martial arts as well as play hockey made Mahmoud look for the quickest exit where he could save face as possible.
River saw Mahmoud’s unwanted advance crumble beneath her revelation and smiled savagely. Serves him right. If he was blind enough not to see my engagement ring, then he deserves whatever he gets.
She walked off, knowing Mahmoud’s eyes were trailing her six. She smiled as she saw her fiancé exit the main doors of the athletic building. “Hey lover…” she called out to him.
“What’s up, sweetheart?” Haruo acknowledged her hail.
“Oh, just wanted to know if you had some time between classes.” She smiled up at him.
“Next class is at two, so I have time."
“Wanna get something to eat?”
“Sure”, Haruo smiled at her as River slipped her arm in the crook of Haruo’s elbow and they walked towards the SUB (Student Union Building). “Been feeling a bit hungry since we left the house.”
“Then, honey, it’s a good thing we’re going to grab a bite to eat, isn’t it?” River’s cheeky grin lit up his day.
“Yeah…” he pulled River into a tight embrace. “I am lucky…”.
River leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Wanna get lucky tonight?” Her smirk was deliciously lascivious.
“Your mother would castrate me.” Haruo raised an eyebrow.
“…what she doesn’t know…” River murmured softly as Haruo silenced her by kissing her hungrily, his hands playing in her hair. “Oh, Watcher,” she gasped into his ear. “You know, I just want to skip the rest of the day and take you to bed?”
“Can’t have that, can we?” River let out a frustrated sigh as Haruo pulled away.
They walked over, arm-in-arm, to the burger joint located in the Student Union Building. The SUB had some pretty good food and they were more than happy to spend their money at the food kiosk A burger, some fries and a Coke were what the two got and sitting down at an outside table taking in the fall air, they enjoyed.the closeness.
River knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him and the looks she got from him told her that Haruo felt the same about her. They were joined together in a way, heart and soul, that no-one else could put asunder.
(End Part Four)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
Chapter 12 - "University Life" (Part Five)
Bebe came running up, “Hey, you guys, I met another Chikamori. He’s going to UBC too. His name’s Kosuke. He doesn’t think you’re related but ask your dad, Maybe he can move in with us for the duration of university studies.” River raised her eyebrows. So much for the private, intimate lunch.
“You know…” Haruo nodded, I think we may have to move out of that rental place and just build something for the five of us to live in. You think we can rent a lot and put three trailers on it?”
Bebe shrugged her shoulders “…could…hmmm…work.” She paused, “Y’know…he’s dating someone…really pretty girl too. A girl by the name of Samantha...Gray, I think her last name was.”
River chimed in, “I know Samantha, she’s in the same program as me. She’s also an artist. Yeah I recall her saying something about dating this Japanese guy.” She turned with a mischievous grin, “…so, what if he really is a long-lost Chikamori relative?”
Haruo shrugged his shoulders as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know…if he is, I guess, we’ll, um, welcome him into the family…?” He paused, weighing his thoughts and feelings about the whole matter, “…and find out more about him and his mom and dad.”
When they got home from their first day at university, they had yet another surprise, there was a new tenant at the house, putting her belongings into a room that they had used the night before for a study room only realizing after the fact that there was an actual bed in the room. Evidently the landlord was trying to maximize income from the rental property. “Hi, my name is Michelle...” It wasn’t sure if Haruo’s jaw managed to shatter at the news. The blonde was friendly.
“So, how are we going to do this?” Haruo asked River. “We have way too many people if we’re going to have Sam and Kosuke join us at the house to offset the rent.”
River grinned at him, “Well, how about we take the garage.”
“It won’t be too cold?” Haruo thought for a moment about what living in the garage would entail. “We might need to get ourselves a heater...for those cold winter nights.”
River smirked at him, “Why not something else?” her tone a sly innuendo, “We still get to use the washrooms, kitchen and common areas inside the house...”
“So we don’t have to have a Port-a-Potty shipped in and dig a nice deep hole?”
“Ewwwwww...”
“Evidently the landlord had the same idea, he’s coming over to rough in a washroom and we should have it by the end of next day, he’s going to attach it to the garage.” ...and the landlord was as good as his word. By the end of Sunday, they had a door and a washroom with toilet, shower and sink. They still shared accommodation with the house and were able to make use of the fridge and stove...and the common areas inside the house, but their garage/bedroom was nice and quiet. At least they didn’t have a car so it made it that much easier to do this. The landlord had also insulated the walls and the roll-door had a nice rubber air-block to prevent rain, snow qnd cold air from coming in. However it was at least ten degrees chillier still in the garage so one of the things River insisted on was blankets; plenty of them to keep them warm.
It just so happened that Kosuke had a brother and that brother was dating their new female room-mate, so Haruo turned around and said, “Well...why don’t we just all room together and that way we can all save on some rent. Kosuke thought Yoshiharu would agree to it, especially if it came down to living with his girlfriend, Michelle. “Fair enough”...Haruo had said and Yoshiharu moved in with Michelle Eberhard; they both were artists. Mornings were going to be insane.
Despite the fact that Franz was bringing home countless gemstones, Haruo and River decided that they were going to try to keep things reasonable and use only the cash they had on them at the time. They had so much money saved up (all of it their own from selling gemstones and those toads oh so long ago) that it would have been easy to go on an ego trip to impress their classmates, but River and Haruo weren’t like that.
They preferred living life incognito. But what others did notice was that when it came time to pay the bills at any place they went out to, River and Haruo always paid their way, never borrowing a cent or begging off others. They were upfront and honest and when the bill came around at the end of the night, they paid their share promptly without quibble.
And that was what people liked about Haruo and River. They weren’t pretentious though they had a decent amount of money. They’d worked hard for what they earned and paid their dues even if they were young in comparison to those who were in the upper echelon of wealth. They were not millionaires by any stretch of the imagination but they were what most people in the 90s would consider comfortably well-off and that was how they conducted themselves.
River looked over at Haruo as he glanced in the washroom. “We have a separated dual shower, single tub setup.” River murmured coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist and snuggling into his back. “I sooooo want to test that out.” She purred, as Haruo turned around to look at her with eyebrows raised in a questioning look. She curled her lips in a lascivious smirk as she said throatily, “…together.” She paused for a moment and impishly asked, “Wanna?”
By that time, Haruo’s reaction made it clear that he would need to pay extra attention to clearing the door when he went into the bathroom. “Oh, Watcher…” he breathed heavily.
“Wrong deity, I’m River…”
Haruo burst out in helpless laughter and River did too. It was a long time before they could even look at each other without the other’s face setting them off in more fits of laughter.
They collapsed against each other on the nearby couch, their faces close to each other. “I love you.” River murmured softly, her lips against Haruo’s as they kissed, “Not to sound sappy or anything, but you make me the happiest woman in the world.”
“I do?” Haruo asked, sounding inquisitive.
River nudged him gently with her shoulder, “You do…and I find it really sweet that you want to wait until we become husband and wife before we make love.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, but…” she paused for a long moment. “You know, this waiting when we know we want each other and the fact that it’s just getting downright frustrating. It’s making me want to jump your bones in the shower and let you have your merry way with me.” She whispered in his ear. “Doesn’t it make more sense to just ease our passions so that we can concentrate on our schoolwork? Losing my maidenhood to you isn’t going to make it any less a commitment when we do get married, y’know.” She stroked his arm and leaned in so that he could smell her perfume that she had on. And it was seriously arousing Haruo.
It was sensory overload and Haruo’s inhibitions were starting to fray at the very edges, a little voice inside him called out a warning and he voiced it, “What...if you end up pregnant?” For him, release was a simple matter. For River, if the situation went sideways could involve nine months of discomfort and the birthing process was a risky one.
“Then we deal with the cards that life throws us.” River didn’t hesitate in the slightest in response. “I’ve wanted to be a mother. And I think we’re both adult enough that we can handle the situation if it comes down to it.” River brushed her lips along Haruo’s.
“I love you, River...” Haruo said softly; the part of him that still had any sort of resistance shattered and he gave in to his desires. A frantic shedding of clothes ensued as each beheld each other naked. “I’ve wanted you for so long...” River’s smile warmed his heart as they ran their hands over each other’s body.
Author's note: This following section won't be posted here...but it will be posted at another more "adult section"...I leave the details to your own imagination.
Later when they had been sated they looked at each other with contented grins on their faces.
“So...was it everything that you thought it would be?” Haruo asked.
River gave him a satisfied smile, “Everything I imagined...and more...” she buried her face in his shoulder. “I think I’m happily satiated now...”
“You know morning is going to be early...” Haruo smirked, noting the time. It was around 2 in the morning.
“Awwww, does that mean you gotta bump and leave?” River grinned coquettishly at him.
(End Chapter 12)
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~