Editorial
To
be an artist
Poems
Just
Like You
flower
of the night
Round
Table Talk
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Novel
Adonis Blue (6)
Adonis
Blue (7)
Relay
Writing
Cafe
Evergreen
Adonis Blue (6)
Chapter Four (1)
One morning, Ken
was sweeping the street in front of his shop. A neighbourhood housewife
called to him.
'Hi dear Ken, you're always holding up beautifully'
'Oh, good morning, ma'am'
'You two young folks
are very hardworking. I'm so impressed! I wish my kids could follow in
your footsteps!'
'No, think nothing of it. You're always helpful to us'
'Ya flatter me! Oh, by the way, your Crystal looks grown-up lately, doesn't
she?'
Ken's expression
changed. But he put on a front and replied.
'No, no, that's not it. She's still a kid'
'Well, I doubt it. I suppose she's getting beautiful - of course she's
been the best cutie around. I wonder if she's got a boyfriend...'
She walked away with a rough laugh. Ken looked after her with a sullen
expression.
Ken noticed something
odd in his little sister's attitude these days. She often looked pensive,
heaved a weary sigh which she had never done before, and her mind was
somewhere else even if he called to her. The most worrisome matters to
him were that shadows were cast upon her clear eyes, and her innocent
smile had slipped away.
'Hey Crystal, why
don't you eat 'em all?'
Ken called to Crystal who was leaving food on her plate at dinner.
'Huh, I haven't got much of an appetite...'
'Don't ya think of that guy again?'
She lowered her eyes.
'Crystal, forget
him, that slayer'
'Even you told me such a thing, dear Ken? Dear Jeanne's not a bad guy,
he can't do such a thing! For sure you know that, my dear brother, don't
you?'
Ken was surprised
that Crystal, who had never talked back to him, went against her elder
brother for the first time.
'That said, he wrote so by himself'
'That must be some mistake'
'Stop it, forget him anyway'
'That doesn't make sense! How can you change your tune that way, only
if you know he did wrong, even though we'd been living happily together
until that? Crystal believed only you, dear brother, was the last to say
such a thing...'
Crystal got up from
her seat and went back to her room.
Ken was left alone in the dining room.
'Shit, that rat...'
He began to sense a foreboding feeling that his docile sister was growing
away from him for the first time.
Jeanne became friends
with a boy of the same age, named Tane, who was a vendor of silver goods.
No sooner did Tane hear Jeanne's name than Tane said.
'You're the one who painted the picture of a rainbow which won the grand
prix at something big? I saw your signature at the bottom of the painting'
'...Whereabouts?'
'At the entrance lobby of a humungous corporate building. It was like
a gallery and opposite the girls at the reception desk. I was hired by
the day to help display that a week ago'
'...did ya attach a security gadget to it?'
'It's a given'
The die is cast.
Tane and Jeanne roamed across the country keeping street stalls together.
Jeanne painted pictures of those who dropped by, ranged his drawings for pleasure, sold them and made money, while Tane laid in a stock of silver accessories and sold them beside Jeanne.
Their earnings every day mostly went for drink. It was parks or under bridges or streets where they slept.
To Jeanne that was
no different from his skipper life, but it was the first time he had company.
Jeanne found Tane the easiest to get along with among the boys he had ever got acquainted with.
Tane was a boy of few words and inexpressive.
Not to mention he didn't call in customers. He did nothing but stand by those interested in his silver goods and came by scoping them.
At his side Jeanne also rarely spoke up.
Nevertheless there was no oppressive silence felt but a cosy unpronounced state as if they could get through to each other with no words.
(Continued Overleaf)
Novel
'Adonis Blue'
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Epilogue
