In the Age of Love and Chocolate

bowing, I was presented with a bouquet of pink tulips, a basket of oranges, a box of Ono candies, and a silk purse that contained several pairs of elaborately embroidered socks.

“Is Ono-san’s house close by?” I asked one of the women.

“No, Anya-san, we have to go into Tokyo. There, we will take the bullet train to Osaka.”

I had been to Japan as a child, but I didn’t remember much about it. Physically, the urban parts were not unlike New York, I suppose, though the train (and the air) was much cleaner. At first the view consisted of the familiar gray and neon flashes of a vertical city: red signs indicating stores or bars or girls; impressive steel-and- glass balconies with unexpectedly old-fashioned clotheslines strung across them. I find such views relaxing as they remind me of my home and indeed, I fell asleep. When I awoke, we were speeding through a green swirl of forest. Too much nature makes me anxious; I fell asleep again. When I next awoke, the view had shifted once more: ocean, modest skyscrapers. This was Osaka.

We drove in long black cars with tinted windows to the Ono estate. I could not shake the feeling that I was in a funeral procession.

Finally we came to a gate with two iron doors mounted in stone walls. A guard waved us through.

The Ono house was two stories high, with dark walnut siding and a gray tile roof. It sprawled across the land, low but somehow muscular. A member of the entourage explained that the house was in the traditional Japanese style. There were canals along the perimeter, several ponds, and groomed trees. When we reached the house entrance, I knew to take off my shoes. Perhaps that explained the gift of socks.

Kazuo, Yuji’s bodyguard, told me that my luggage would be brought to my room and that dinner was laid out for me if I was hungry—I wasn’t. “May I say hello to Yuji?” I asked. I was told he’d already retired for the evening.

A female house servant dressed in a maroon kimono led me down a hallway. The hallways ran along the perimeter of the building. The servant slid open a door that also acted as a wall.

I went into the bedroom, which had tatami mats on the floor and walls, but a Western-style bed. The room had a distant view of a pond. A cat roamed the grounds, and I wondered if she was a descendant of the cat Natty and I had met on our visit over a decade ago. Or perhaps it was the same cat? Cats live a long time, sometimes longer than people.

I unpacked my suitcase and then lay down on the bed. Silly to say, but it began to seem of pivotal importance that I find out the weather for tomorrow, my wedding day. I turned on my phone, but it wouldn’t work. I turned on my slate; slates were said to be more reliable than phones when you were traveling. A message came up on the screen.

win-win: Anya?

anyaschka66: I’m here.

win-win: I hoped you might be using your slate since you were traveling abroad. You’re in Japan, right?

anyaschka66: Yes.

win-win: That means you’re getting married tomorrow.

anyaschka66: Are you going to try to stop me?

win-win: I’d never try to stop you from doing anything anymore. I’m slow, but I learned my lesson.

anyaschka66: Smart boy.

win-win: I was thinking that it was nice seeing you at Natty’s graduation, though.

anyaschka66: Yes.

win-win: This is tiring. Why did our grandparents ever like doing this? Why didn’t people pick up phones?

anyaschka66: They had a lot more acronyms than us. My nana used to tell me them sometimes. She won a speed-texting competition when she was fifteen or maybe sixteen. OMG. LOL.

win-win: I know OMG but what’s LOL?

anyaschka66: Laughing out loud.

win-win: So you don’t need that one much.

anyaschka66: What’s that supposed to mean?

win-win: You’re kind of serious. You’re kind of a funeral of a girl.

anyaschka66: I’m funny.

win-win: Not LOL funny.

anyaschka66: LOL.

win-win: Wait, are you actually laughing out loud?

anyaschka66: I’m not laughing out loud. Probably no one is EVER laughing out loud when they write LOL. Actually, I’m ROTFL.

win-win: What’s that one?

anyaschka66: I’ll tell you the next time I see you.

win-win: When will that be?

anyaschka66: Maybe not for a long while. I’ll be based in Japan for the next several months at least, though I’ll be traveling to the other club locations, too. I will be in Boston briefly for Natty’s freshman orientation at MIT.

win-win: Look me up if you have time. I’ll congratulate you on your marriage, and I can help you and Natty if you need a big, strong man to move boxes or whatever.

anyaschka66: Who’s this big, strong man you’re talking about?

win-win: LOL.

anyaschka66: I should go. I’m getting married in the morning.

win-win: OMG.

anyaschka66: Look at you, using those fancy acronyms.

win-win: DDT YLRPANG IS IMY IHTYMYO IKIDHARBIDWAETHY ITIMSLY IDHMR

anyaschka66: Now you’re making stuff up.

win-win: All of it stood for something, I assure you.

anyaschka66: I don’t think a one of those acronyms has any chance of catching on.

win-win: Congratulations, Annie. Congratulations, my old friend. I’m serious. Be well and be safe and no matter what happens to either of us in life, let’s promise never to go so long without talking again. LOL.

anyaschka66: I think you might be misusing LOL, Win. Unless you meant that last part as a joke.

He must have already turned off his slate, because he did not reply. I turned off my slate and got into bed.

I could see that peacock feather sitting on my suitcase across the room. I felt as if the eye was looking at me, and so I got out of bed and tucked the feather into the sheath of my machete.

* * *

That night, I did not sleep. It may have been the jet lag.

* * *

It may just have been the jet lag.

XVI