Minoru is trapped working in a brothel in turn of the century Japan. But he has a dream to come to America. He can taste it.

————

I. The Kitchen Mama

The sun has not risen yet. It is early morning at a house of prostitution in a small city in the southern part of the island of Honshu, Japan. The year is 1910. Shizuko, a beautiful woman in her late thirties, prepares breakfast. Her 17-year-old son Minoru opens the door and is carrying cordwood for the kitchen stove. The morning is cold and both Shizuko and Minoru wear coats.

“Don’t forget your mask,” Shizuko said. “And here is your lunch.”

“Mother, I have it,” Minoru said.

“Don’t rush,” Shizuko said. “Just take your time.”

“Don’t worry so much.” Minoru said. “I will be home by afternoon.”

“I really liked your drawings and new poems,” Shizuko said.

“Thank you Mother,” Minoru said.

“You are talented and getting better,” Shizuko said. “Last night I dreamed that you were living in America and you were driving a grand brand new black shiny car with your pretty wife and two young daughters . . . America . . . Minoru . . . Dream of it. . . Then make it happen. Minoru, find who you are. Once you find who you are, don’t let anyone else define you. Paint your own canvas in life. Your life is your own and belongs to no one else.”

---

Shizuko is washing rice in the kitchen. Steam from the first pot of rice is already rising from the black pot, bubbling over on the wood burning stove. Shizuko adds sticks of wood to the fire.

She can feel someone looking at her. She looks at the reflection in the window and sees Kodama the Elder standing in the kitchen doorway. He swallows hard as he looks upon the former beauty.

---

Yong Ran Pei, the beautiful prostitute sits on the balcony of the second floor of the brothel and watches the people moving in the street. Her face is painted white and lips red. She is singing as she combs her long black hair that falls on the front of her white silk kimonos.

On the street, Fujinaka, the blind bookkeeper, cocks his head as he listens to Yong Ran Pei’s lilting voice. “She is just like Shizuko was,” Fujinaka said to himself. “Same history. Same fate. Well, some things should be left unsaid.”

II. The Shit Collector

Minoru pushed a wooden cart that rattled along the cobblestone street. People cover their noses and run from the stink. A man covering his nose with a cloth quickly hands Minoru him a covered bucket then disappears into his building. Ryoji, the brothel owner’s son, looks upon Minoru from the second balcony of the brothel. He is dressed in a suit and tie. He has a thin mustache. He looks down upon Minoru with sadness.

---

Minoru arrives at the farm of Matsumura the Mayor on the outskirts of the city. Matsamura is 50 with jet black hair. He is clean shaven with a medium build. Minoru is selling bags of dried human waste to the farmers. He has big hands and a kind face.

“I have a question for you Minoru san,” Matsamura said. “I hope it does not offend you.”

“Yes.”

“Why are you always so happy?” he asked. “This world is so full of sadness and injustice. And the bad are rewarded while the good suffer.”

“Why do you think I am always happy when I wear a mask all the time?”

“I can tell by the way you walk - the way you move,” the mayor said. “And you are always singing such happy songs.”

“I don’t really know. It seems to me life is a gift and every day offers new

presents.”

“I like what you say,” the mayor said. “We will see you again next week. I would like to talk more with you.”

---

“Why are you wasting your time and energy on Yong Ran Pei?” Shizuko asked her son. “Do you see this coat? Do you think it keeps you warm? No. That is only an illusion. It is the heat from your own body that keeps you warm. The coat only allows you to retain you own heat. Be like your body – the source of your own warmth.”

“I’m not wasting my time,” Minoru said.

“She is a prostitute,” Shizuko said. “She is not the kind of girl you marry. She is not even Japanese.”

“I never said I would marry her,” Minoru said.

“You don’t have to say anything. I know you. I can see it in your eyes. The Chinese have a saying ‘Don’t play a musical instrument to a cow.’ ”

“What harm is there in it?”

“She will only bring you tears. Can’t you see she sleeps with Kodama the Elder, Kodama the Younger and the customers, all who have money. We don’t have anything. See her new red silk kimono – a gift from Kodama the Younger. Her shiny new gold pendant – a gift from Kodama the Elder. What do you have to give her?

“Love.”

“All your tears for someone incapable of love,” his mother said. “Focus your efforts on improving yourself and you will find someone who will appreciate your gifts.”

“Thoughts of Yong Ran Pei make me eager to get up each and every day.”

“Youth is fleeting. The gifts will stop some day, then you find you are just like everyone else. And then you just stop caring. People get older. Outer beauty is transient. Inner beauty is eternal. Dream of America. Taste it. Breathe it. When you get there, your past will not matter. You will be able to succeed on your own abilities. Prepare yourself and be bold when the moment comes. Be ready for opportunity when it presents itself. Success or failure in life turns on a few key moments.”

“I will bring you with me,” Minoru said. His mother looked beautiful again when she was twenty. She smiled as her breasts heaved.

“No, Minoru,” Shikoku said. “This is your dream. Maybe it could have been my dream once upon a time but I am old and my life is here.

“I will bring you with me,” he said.

“Yes, Minoru,” Shikoku laughed. He eyes lit up. “I would like that. Some day we will climb to the top of the Statue of Liberty together. Now here is dinner for Kodama the Elder and Kodama the Younger. Please take them their meals.”

Kodama the Elder comes into the room. Kodama is small but strongly built. He is in his mid 40s but looks much younger and has jet black hair. “Hello, Shizuko and Minoru,” he said kindly. “I hope I am not interrupting anything.”

“Nothing important Kodama san,” Shikoku said her eyes looking down.

“I have more drawing paper and ink for your son,” Kodama the Elder said. “Minoru is very talented. We are all so very proud of him. And here is a book on Western paintings.

“Thank you Uncle,” Minoru said.

“I must be on my way,” the brothel owner said. “I have business to take care of. I will be back tonight. Study hard, Minoru.”

Please take your meal before you go,” Shikoku said. “Minoru, serve Kodama san his meal. I prepared your favorite broiled salmon.”

---

Matsumura the Mayor and Minoru stood outside the mayor farm house.

“I have the answer to your question Matsumura san,” Minoru said.

“What question was that?” the mayor asked.

“The one you asked me last week.”

“You mean about happiness?”

“Yes.”

“What is the answer then?”

“I dream about America.”

“How do you know about America?”

“I read about it.”

“I didn’t know you could read.”

“My mother taught me.”

“Ah, the beautiful Shizuko. Who taught your mother how to read?”

“I don’t know. I never thought about it.”

“What a beautiful soul your mother has. She only thinks of you.”

“America is the place where anyone can become president. You are only limited by your own limitations and the limits of your imagination.”

“Ah, if only such a wonderful place existed. The world is so full of pettiness and oppression.

Minoru pointed to the temple and smiled. “It does exist and I will get there. To make

great things happen you must dream them first.

Matsumura clapped Minoru on the back. “Young man, I like the way you think. Dream, Minoru. Dream.”

Suddenly, the two men hear a loud shriek. The mayor’s wife came ruining. “Ryoske, Bunni has fallen into the cesspool,” she shouted in panic.

Both men ran to the cesspool. Minoru, running ahead of the mayor, jumps into the cesspool and pulls the child out of the sewage. “Get clean water,’ Minoru shouted.

The young man carried the child out of the pond. They go to the well. They wash the child. Minoru takes off his own filthy clothes and then he washes his body. The stench is unbearable. The mayor’s wife brings a bowl of cold water for Minoru

“Thank you Minoru san,” the mayor’s wife said, tears in her eyes.

“Yes. Minoru san,” the mayor said. “We owe our lives to you.”

Minoru bowed his head.

“A thousand thanks to you,” the mayor’s wife said.

“I will bring you some new clothes,” the mayor said. “:You can wear my clothes.”

“Please wash my clothes,” Minoru said. “I will wear them when they are dry. You are

too kind to me.”

“You will wear my clothes,” the mayor insisted. “I will tell Kodama san about this. His family once lived here as samurai family. What can I do for you Minoru san?

“Nothing. What I did was nothing.”

“You are too humble.”

“Yes, Matsumura san.”

“What do you really want? Please tell me.”

“Nothing, really.”

“You must want something.”

Minoru thought, hesitated and then spoke. “I want to learn how to ride a horse and shoot

a gun like a samurai.”

“I will teach you myself,” Masumura said.

III. The Prostitute

Minoru sat stoically, cross legged, on the wood floor outside of the prostitute Yong Ran Pei’s room. Laughter from a young man and the young woman emanate from the room. The man calls to Minoru from the room. It is the owner’s son Kodama the Younger. He is short, slight with a thin pencil mustache. Kodama, dressed in a colorful blue and white cloth kimono, sat on a silk cushion behind a low cherry wood table, drinking sake from a black and red lacquer bowl. “Minoru, fetch the red kimono in my room and bring it here.”

“Yes, Kodama san,” he said his eyes downcast. “Right away.” Minoru leaves and then returns quickly with the beautiful red silk kimono. “May I enter the room.”

“Yes, come in,” Kodama the Younger said as he eyed the young prostitute Yong Ran Pei who is sitting next to Kodama. She is half naked, her kimono covering her hips. Her silken hair half covers her firm young breasts.

“You see my darling, I am a man who knows few words,” Kodama the Younger said, imperiously lifting his bowl of sake. “But I am a man of action.” Kodama the Younger gives the expensive silk kimono to Yong Ran Pei. She squeals with delight, flashing her beautiful smile.

“This is beautiful,” she said, feigning surprise. Although she was young, she was used to receiving gifts from rich men. “Thank you Kodama san.”

Kodama the Younger noticing Minoru was still in the room said curtly “ Fool, what are you doing still standing here like a country bumpkin? Can’t you see we are having a private

moment? Wait outside.”

Minoru bowed his head and returns to his place outside the room.

---

Minoru is lying in a flat bed with the beautiful Korean prostitute Yong Ran Pei. Her gold pendant around her neck dances as she moves. Yong Ran Pei gets up and folds her red kimono and puts it on a pile of other kimonos.

“You are beautiful,” Minoru said, his eyes sparkling.

“I know,” she said and laughed.

“I love you,” Minoru said.

She looks at him for a moment. Her large dark eyes melting. She heaves a sigh. “I know.”

“I have something for you,” he said as she folder her red silk kimono and placed it in the closet with her other gifts.

“What is it?” she said turning and smiling.

“You must turn your back.”

“What kind of present?

Minoru motions for her to turn her back. He hands her a package wrapped in light red paper and tied with a dark red ribbon. She opens the present. It is a poem with a drawing on it. She is delighted.

“You know I can’t read. Read it to me.

They both sit up on the mat on the floor. She smiles at him.

Minoru recited his haiku.

“Your white knight is here,

Not atop a great war steed,

But walking on foot.”

“Some day I will marry you and take you to America.”

“Aiyo!” she said. “You are such a dreamer. And what makes you think I would like to

go to America?”

“Because in an America even a poor man can own a mansion, wear the finest clothes and

eat steak every night.

“You talk too much.

“I just say what is in my heart.”

“Minoru, you can’t change your fate. Your fate is decided by the gods.”

“You can change your fate. If you let other lesser people define your dreams, then your

fate will be decided. Life is a canvas. And the canvas is blank. You must paint your own

canvas with your own dreams.”

“What makes you so restless?”

“Sometimes I feel like I have buried alive in a tomb. I either have to break free or kill

myself.

“Minoru, you are a good boy but poor and from a poor family. Have you considered that I

may have dreams of my own?”

“We are poor but why should we live in cages build by others.. What are your dreams?

Define yourself. Do you love me?”

“I don’t love any one. I don’t believe in love.

“If you do not love any one, including yourself, then how can anyone love you?

Sometimes, love is all we have.”

“I don’t like you when you are like this. Talk, talk, talk. It gives me a headache.

“Do you love me?

She looked away. “No. You are a poor boy.”

“I ask again: do you love me?”

“Sometimes, I love you.”

---

“You are a good boy, Minoru,” Fujinaka the blind bookkeeper said. “But some day you will learn the natural order to things. It is better you learn this sooner rather than later. The gods distain the impertinent.

“Alexander was king of Epirus. In Epirus, the River Acheron flowed. It was foretold that Alexander would die at the River Acheron. So when Alexander invaded Italy with his mighty army he was sure of his success for he knew he would die at the River Acheron in Greece.

“When Alexander was crossing a river in Italy, the enemy appeared in great numbers. When Alexander asked his Italian companions what was the name of the river, they told him Acheron. Alexander then charged the enemy and died a noble death. You see Minoru even kings cannot escape their fate.”

“Did my mother speak to you?”

“Yes of course. She is concerned about you. She has enough worries don’t you think? Life is difficult and not always fair. You must learn to endure.

“Yes. Uncle. You are right about everything.”

“You must know your place. The Matsumuras ruled this community with the Kodamas

sitting at their right hand. The Kodamas became too arrogant and fell from grace. They did not

know their place. The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.”

“Yes, uncle.”

“Men who do not know how to live by the rules are men on their own. They are outlaws,

animals, not fit to live in a society of men. Let me tell you the story about the monkey god. The

monkey god was talented but undisciplined. Finally, the monkey god became so power

hungry that he challenged the king of the gods himself for hegemony over the universe.

Finally, the king of gods put a mountain on top of the monkey god, imprisoning the monkey god

for a thousand years in granite. Grass bends and is eternal. But even the hardest stone gets worn down by rushing water and is washed away to the sea. Know your place. You cannot change your destiny.”

IV. The Mayor

Mayor Matsumura invited Minoru to join him and his men to buy horses in Kyoto.

“I must ask Kodama san,” Minoru said.

“I spoke with him already. It has all been arranged. I have a gun and a horse for you. We leave on Saturday. Be here at dawn.” The mayor gave Minorus and handful of coins. “This is for you.”

“Thank you,” Minoru said. “I will give them to my master.”

“Kodama san has been paid. These are for you my young friend. When I look into your eye, I can see a thousand things going on behind your eyes. I see a great future for your Minoru.

Greatness can come from anywhere, even from the most humble.”

---

Matsumura and his entourage passed through Rashomon Gate, and entered into the ancient capital. Nicha, a Buddhist monk, dressed in saffron robes, preached to a hostile crowd that had gathered at the market to watch a tightrope walker crossed a high wire strung across two temple towers.

“Friends. I herald the coming of the higher man.,” the monk said. “God is dead. There

is only beast and man. Rise above the common man, the herd. Live the life of the higher man. I

is only beast and man. Rise above the common man, the herd. Live the life of the higher man. I

am the monk Nicha from Nagasaki, the city of the Christian martyrs. I’ve come down from the

mountains to save you. There are no sinners; no saints. There is no afterlife. Rise above the

common man. Rely upon yourselves for your own salvation. I love followers who are leaders

and leaders who follow. I love those who love to think and think to love. I love those who know

their own limits and know that there are no limits. I love those that hate me and hate those that

love me. I love those who fly free to be devoured by those that are caged. I herald the higher

man who will smash the tablets of morality and created a new set of values.

“We have heard enough of this,” a man said. “We want to see the tightrope walker.”

“You have evolved from worms to man,” the monk said. “Yet you still are worms. Man laughs at apes. Similarly the higher man laughs at the common man. I see you laughing at me. Such icy laughter.”

The tightrope walker emerged from one of the temple towers. He proceeded to cross the tight rope. When he got half-way across, a jester emerged from the same tower.

“Out of my way,” the jester said. “Make way for your better.”

The jester jumped over the tightrope walker, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground, his arms flailing in the air. The crowd gasped and scattered as the tightrope walker fell to this death.

The monk quietly spoke to the dying tightrope walker. The monk then hoisted the corpse of the tightrope walker over his shoulder and walk through the parting crowd toward Rashomon Gate.

Matsumura turned to Minoru and said “Everything is always before us. Some people see it and others don’t.”

---

Matsumura, two of his men and Minoru rode their horses on their return trip

from Kyoto. Matsumura’s men held the reins of four additional horses that

Matsumura bought in Kyoto. They came to a clearing at the end of the cedar

forest. There was a small cemetery to the right of the men. The freshly dug graves housed the bodies of the soldiers who died in the recently concluded Russo-Japanese War.

In the clearing at the crossroad, four bandits armed with carbines dressed in tattered Army uniforms approach. The leader wears a back patch over his left eye. The left side of his face appears to be half melted. He has a withered left arm and he walks with a limp. He brandishes a pistol in his right hand.

“We are revenue collectors,” the bandit leader said.

“For which town?” Mayor Matsumura said. “I may know your mayor.”

“Is it not enough that we just say it?” the bandit asked.

“What do you say we owe?” the mayor asked.

“What do you have? Never mind. I will check for myself.”

“Stop where you are,” the mayor said through his clenched teeth. “We are not going to give you anything. If you take another step you are a dead man.”

Minoru thought that if he were the bandits he would put someone behind them. Since they are evenly matched there must be a reason why they are so bold. He looks at the tree behind to the right and sees a part of feet dangling from the branches.

“We are not looking for trouble,” the bandit chief said.

“Neither are we,” the mayor said. “Step aside.”

“As you wish,” the bandit said.

The bandit then turned his back and started to walk away. He then spins and draws a handgun. Minoru shoots him in the chest. Matsumura shoots and wounds a second bandit who turns and runs.

Minoru then turns and shoots the bandit in a tree. The bandit falls and hits the bushes below the trees.

One of Matsumura’s men shoots a fourth bandit fleeing bandit in the back. The fifth bandit escapes unharmed.

Minoru gets off his horse. He approaches the mortally wounded bandit leader who is crawling toward the cemetery. Minoru then shoots the mortally wounded bandit leader in the back his head.

“Good work young Minoru,” the mayor said. The mayor threw him a white cloth handkerchief. “I was thinking the same thing. Wipe the blood from your face and hands. I thought they had a man behind us. I just couldn’t see him. You are a young man of talent. A man of talent is always useful.

“Thank you Matsumura san. You are too kind.”

“Here. Take this horse. It is my gift to you.”

V. The Brothel Owner

Kodama the Elder, Kodama the Younger and Minoru stand together beneath the balcony of the brothel. Kodama the Elder and Minoru talk as Kodama the Younger stands stoically with them eyes downcast.

“I am very proud of you Minoru,” Kodama the Elder said and smiled. “You are a man. Matsumura san has told me all you have done. Be patient. I have my own plans for you.

“Thank you my Uncle. I am not worthy of your honor.”

---

Kodama the Younger and the bouncer Nomi waited at the stable next to the brothel. “You

are a shit collector. Nothing more. That is all you are. That is all you will ever be. I am from a

Samurai family. If we had not suffered such reversals we would still be with Matsumura and

you and your mother would be on the streets. That horse is mine. We own you. We own your

mother. You are our servant. Everything that you own belongs to us.

“I am sorry Kodama san but you are mistaken,” Minoru said, eyes downcast. “Matsumura

san gave the horse to me for killing the bandits. He taught me how to ride and shoot a gun. If

anything is unclear, Matsumura san can clarify everything.

“There is nothing to clarify. It is you that is mistaken. The beast is mine. The girl is mine too. You know your poem? It made great toilet paper.

“It is not surprising that you would think that is what it is for.”

“You are very womanish. Poems. Drawings. You are a woman!”

“The horse is mine Kodama san.”

“You will pay for your insolence. Nomi grab him.

The large bouncer grabbed Minoru from behind then tied him up wrapping a rope around his arms. He then forced Minoru down on his knees. Nomi forced Minoru’s right hand onto a stone. With the side of a steel ax, Kodama the Younger smashed his right hand. Minoru screamed in pain.

Kodama the Elder and Fujinaka the blind bookkeeper entered the stable.

“What is this?” Kodama the Elder said.

“My god!” Fujinaka said.

Kodama the Younger and Nomi quickly stand at attention. They look at the ground.

“Send for the doctor,” Kodama the Elder said to his bookkeeper. Kodama the Elder his face red looked up a Nomi who was a head taller than him. The bouncer trembled. Kodama cuffed him, knocking him to the ground. “You have five minutes to pack your things and leave,” he told the bouncer.

“Papa san, the horse is ours,” Kodama the Younger said.

“That is for me alone to say. Did you break Minoru’s hand?”

Kodama the Elder picked up the ax and raised it up to the light.

“I hit Minoru with the ax Papa san,” Kodama the Younger said, eyes downcast. Kodama the Elder slaps Kodama the Young in the face and punches him in the stomach. He then grabs him by the hair before punching him in the face.

“Papa san, Nomi is not responsible. He was doing as I told him.”

“Each man is responsible for his own action.” Kodama the Elder turned to Minoru. “Let me see you hand.”

“Papa san, I take full responsibility,” Kodama the Younger said.

“You are lucky that I don’t crush your hand. Idiot! Get out of my sight.”

---

Kodama the Elder and Fujinaka are together on the street below the brothel. “This won’t happen again. I’m going to hit them where it hurts. They will not fight anymore.

“What are you going to do?” Fujinaka said.

“What I must do.”

---

Minoru returns to see Yong Ran Pei but she is gone. Kodama the Elder, Kodama the Younger and Minoru’s mother is there to greet him. Minoru’s right hand is bandaged.

“Control your anger,” Shizuko said. “No more violence. Violence never satisfies anger. It only feeds a greater appetite for more anger.

“You boys are not to fight like that again,” Kodama the Elder said.

“I did nothing,” Minoru said.

“Put it all behind you,” his mother said.

“It does not matter,” Kodama the Elder said. “She’s gone. I sold her. There is nothing to fight about any more.

“Do you mean the horse?”

“No, the girl,” Kodama the Elder said.

“Not Yong Ran Pei.”

“Now do you see what you’ve done?” Kodama the younger said. He was furious.

“Be quiet,” Kodama the Elder said.

“She is all I have,” Minoru said.

“And you did not really have her either,” Kodama the Younger taunted. “We owned her too.”

“I told you to keep quiet,” Kodama the Elder growled.

“Your mother is my father’s concubine,” Kodama the Younger said. “She warms his bed at night and warms his meals during the day. And you are our servant.”

Minoru in a rage rushes Kodama the Younger and knocks him backward out the second story window. Kodama the Younger breaks his neck and dies in the fall.

The elder Kodama charges at Minoru. He punches him and then pulls out a knife. Minoru kicks him in the groin. Minoru runs to his room and grabs in pistol. With his left hand he shoots Kodama the Elder in the chest. Minoru then shoots the groaning Kodama in head.

Minoru turns to see his mother saw the whole thing. Her mouth is open and

tears run down her cheeks.

“What have you done?” his mother said. “You must go now. Go to the Mayor. He is a good man and will help you.”

“Come with me,” Minoru said.

“No, this is my home,” his mother said. Turning to one of the prostitutes, she said: “Send for the police and the doctor. Turning to a second prostitute, she said “Call Fujinaka, the bookkeeper. Go. I will see you in the next life. America, Minoru. Go to America, the land where dreams come true. Go quickly.

Minoru turns and runs out the brothel. He goes to the stable, mounts his horse and rides to the Mayor’s farm.

---

“You must leave quickly,” the mayor said. “Here is some food and money to get you to Osaka. Fujinaka has arranged for you to work as a sailor on a merchant ship called the Phoenix bound for America. Meet him at the old inn.”

“Thank you Matsumura san.”

“No time for thank you’s. You must go quickly. If you get caught, I had never saw you.”

“Goodbye uncle. Thanks for everything.”

“I hope you find your dreams in America. I think you will succeed. You are a capable young man. Now, go.”

--

“Now that we are safely about the train, I must tell you something terrible that has happened,” Fujinaka said.

Minoru is silent, still thinking of that had just happened. He looks up with a vacant look in his eyes.

“I did not want to tell you earlier because I did not want to impede your escape,” the bookkeeper said.

“What can be worse than what has already happened?

Fujinaka is silent for a moment, reluctant to further hurt the sensitive young man, but at the same time eager to get it over with. “Your mother is dead.”

Minoru stares back in silence.

“She hung herself shortly after you left.”

“My God! Am I responsible Fujinaka san?”

“It is complicated. You must judge for yourself. I will also tell you who your father is. “Is he alive?”

“He was until you killed him. Kodama the Elder was your father and Kodama the Younger was your half brother. Your mother was his favorite prostitute. She was very intelligent and so he hired tutors to secretly educate her. After his wife died giving birth to Kodama the Younger. He asked your mother to marry him but she refused.

“My god. How could I be so blind?”

“The Kodamas had always protected the unprotected. That is why the clan had a falling out with the Matsumuras. A powerful member of the Matsumura clan raped a prostitute, so a Kodama killed him. At first the Kodamas protected the prostitutes and then they started running the brothels. Soon they became dependent on the trade. Your father was an uneducated man but someone who appreciated the value of education and who always did his best to be a just man.

“ Your father loved you too. He had you sell dung to the farmers and then held the money in trust for you. When you get to Seattle, you need to swim ashore. The captain will report you dead. Find the Waterfront Hotel and more money will be waiting for you there. I have friends there.

“My god.”

“As far as your brother, he was a good boy. He was just so jealous of you

“Jealous of me? I have nothing.’

“He had no mother to look out for him. And what kind of talent did he really have?

“All I know is that he hated me.”

“You need to be able to walk in another’s shoes to really understand them. There is no time to dwell on it. We’ve got to get to Osaka. You have been hired as a sailor for the merchant ship Phoenix. The ship leaves in two days for Seattle. Put all this behind you. It has been your mother’s dream to give you a new life. There was only oppression for you here Minoru. You are a very capable young man. Seek your fortunes in America. I lived in America for ten years. It may not be the country you think it is. But nothing is for free in this world. And things that are hard earned are more valuable than things that are given to you for free.”

“Do you know where Young Ran Pei is?”

“Yes. But I will not tell you. All these people have died so you can now live. Minoru

make the most of your life. The gods control everything. The gods say people cannot escape

their fates. But maybe you can. Good luck Minoru.”

---

Minoru is naked on the deck of the ship in Puget Sound. It is pitch black on a moonless night naked. He holds a small bundle of clothes and shoes in his left hand.

“Death or a new life,” Minoru said. Minoru then jumps from the deck of the ship into the frigid water of Puget Sound and swims for land. The small bundle of clothes is tied to his head.

By Anonymous

From: United States