Author’s Notes: This and the
following chapter were written as a joint thing, but seeing as the next one
starts on a new year, I figured it was an appropriate beginning spot. That, and I didn’t
want this one to be too long. >>
shat·ter
(shăt’Ər)
The little old woman didn’t bother looking
up from her potted plants as she watered them at the window ledge. The two men had been nervously scuffing their
feet on the cement in front of the boarding house she owned, every now and
again adding another explanation as to why they had no paperwork and how they
would be only the best renters.
Setting the watering can down, she finally
looked up at them. “I don’t care what
your sob story is – everyone here’s got one.
You can either pay me in cash or in work – I don’t care which. Take number 107,” she said quickly before
returning to her pitiful garden.
*****
Opening the door after a mild fight with
the lock and key, Gackt ushered Cha inside and quickly followed him into their
new home.
He could tell Cha was far from pleased.
“It’s so small,” the older man whispered,
more to himself than anybody.
“It has to be small, Cha,” Gackt
replied. “There are twenty floors, over
forty rooms per floor, and it’s right in the middle of
the red light district.”
“Are you sure this was on the list?”
“Positive.” Gackt walked into the kitchen niche and
started opening cabinets. “In fact,” he
added as he checked to see if the refrigerator and the faucet at the sink were
working, “it was the only one left on the list that wasn’t filled up or over
our budget.” Looking up at his friend he
bit the inside of his cheek. Cha was
standing in the hallway, his arms wrapped tightly about himself, looking
thoroughly unsure about their present condition. Gackt sighed and crossed to him, placing his
hands on Cha’s shoulders. The other
didn’t meet his eyes. “Look, if you
want, in a few minutes we can go down to the shopping district and spend
money,” he said with a smile. “We’ll buy
some futons, blankets, clothes, dishware…whatever we need, we can get.” He placed his fingers under Cha’s chin and
tilted his face up to look at him.
“We’ll be okay, Cha. Trust me?”
The other’s dark eyes slipped shut and he
felt him heave a deep sigh against him.
Looking back up at Gackt, he said, “Okay.”
*****
The young man knocked twice and glanced
down at his wife. Her belly was growing
rounder and it made him smile. She was
due some time in December, so he had till then to get them out of this Hellhole
of an apartment.
He could do it. He wasn’t entirely sure how, but where there was a will, there was always a way.
The door opened and he looked up, smile
still in place. Bowing in greeting, he
said, “Hello, my name’s Yosh. This is my wife, Naomi. We live next door,” he added, gesturing to
the door across the hall. “We just came
over to introduce ourselves and say ‘hi.’”
The man in the doorway glanced from one to
the other, looking mildly surprised, before saying almost shyly, “Hi.” He
glanced behind him. “Um…would you like
to come in?”
Naomi shook her head politely. “Oh, we don’t want to intrude--”
The man was about to cut her off but
someone unseen beat him to it. “No, it’s
alright.”
He smiled and opened the door, gesturing
for them to enter. “You’ll have to
excuse the mess, we’re still unpacking.”
She smiled and shook her head, “Oh, no,
it’s quite alright,” as she and her husband stepped inside.
The apartment was the same size as
theirs. Boxes of various sizes were
stacked in the living area and in the kitchen.
A shorter man – who, Naomi noted, seemed a little too thin – was
kneeling by the apparently just-put-together dining set, screw driver in
hand. His hair was bound back in a
ponytail and he stood with a smile when they entered. Extending his hand to Yosh,
he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Yosh,” he
responded, taking the other’s hand in his.
“Yosh? I
had a friend named Yosh…very nice guy. I’m Yukihiro.
Pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Yosh
replied, glancing to the man who had greeted them at the door.
“Aah…” he seemed
embarrassed to have forgotten his own introduction. “I’m Gakuto.” He shook his and Naomi’s hand before
muttering to himself, “We bought a tea kettle…somewhere in the…” and wandered
back into the kitchen looking rather distracted.
With a soft chuckle, Yosh
assumed at his friend’s antics, Yukihiro gestured to the table and said, “Won’t
you sit down? I just made it, so I can
guarantee that it’s in the best condition right now that it’s going to be for
the next few years.”
*****
Cha smiled in what he hoped was a pleasant
manner. The landlady was once again
watering her garden, and wasn’t about to let anyone interrupt her.
Or so it seemed.
Clearing his throat – after all, she
seemed rather old and may not have heard or seen him enter – Cha continued
waiting.
“Yes, I saw you come in, but for the life
of me, I can’t figure out why.”
“You said that we could pay for rent
through money or work. We’re going to
try to pay money more often than not, and we already paid for this month’s
rent, but I figured I’d come down and let you know that I’d be more than
willing to work as well.”
“For rent?”
“Yeah.”
“‘Just in case,’
right?”
“Yeah…” Cha replied, feeling his spirits
fall ever so slightly.
“Well,” she began, dropping the watering
can unceremoniously down on a lawn chair, she gestured for Cha to take a seat
beside her, “I will tell you a little story.
Not a long one, as you seem to be the fidgety type, and your fingers are
yellowing, so you’re obviously a smoker, and without your nicotine fix, it just
makes the problem worse, doesn’t it?”
Cha smiled in spite of himself.
“Plants are not my thing,” she said,
waving at the sorry excuse for a garden, “as you can see. Keeping it looking nice was my
granddaughter’s job, but she ran off with some boy in a uniform. So…if
you can do any better, that can be your rent.
That and whenever I need help in the shop across the street. How’s that sound?”
He could barely contain his delight.
“That’d be wonderful!”
“Well before you start jumping for joy,
Sweetie, I want you to know that I want this garden at top shape, all year
round. I want bright colors, herbs,
vegetables, and most importantly – live plants.” She was silent for a moment. “And of course, help at the shop. Especially when Naomi goes
and has her baby.”
“I’d be more than happy to grow whatever
you want, and help at the store.”
“In that case,” she said, standing and
dusting herself off, “it’s a deal.”
*****
The newspaper dropped down in front of Cha
on the table and Gackt swung into the seat next to him. “What’s this?” he asked, putting the bowl of
rice and chopsticks down to pick up the paper.
“Proof that I’m not one to be outdone.”
Spotting the circle in red ink, Cha red
the contents inside it aloud, “‘Wanted:
part-time/full-time workers for road construction…Call for more details.’” He looked over at Gackt, shocked. “Construction work? You?”
The other nodded. “I already went in and talked to the
overseer. He seems like a really nice
guy – very honest, from what I could tell, and I’m pretty good at reading
people like that. He said that most of
the applicants are out-of-work non-Union members.”
“Artists?”
“Oh, everything. Artists, bankers, businessmen, dog
trainers…you name it, they’re there.”
“How much are you making?”
“About a thousand
an hour. And there weren’t any
full-time positions available anymore, but there are plenty of part-time. And he said I could take over someone else’s
time if something came up.”
Cha was silent a moment, waiting. When Gackt said nothing more, he asked, “What
happens if you get hurt?”
Gackt bit his lip. “I don’t get hurt.”
*****
There was a knock at the door. If pounding on a piece of cheap wood could
sound frantic, this would be it. With a
quick glance at Cha – who shrugged – Gackt crossed to the door and opened it to
find a young woman very red in the face.
“Naomi? What’s wrong?”
“Have you seen this?” She raised her hand which clutched a piece of
paper in its fist.
“What is it?”
“Can I come in?”
“Oh!
Yes, I’m sorry,” Gackt said quickly, stepping aside and gesturing her
into the apartment. She was evidently
very distraught. Closing the door behind
her, Gackt turned back to her to find Cha standing and offering her a seat at
the table, which she graciously accepted.
Taking a seat as well, Gackt asked again, “Now what’s all this about?”
Smoothing the crumpled paper on the table,
she read, her voice shaking, “All non-Union artists, actors, etc. – please see
back of sheet for complete list – will from hence forth be forbidden to
distribute, pay with, or otherwise handle common currency--”
“What?”
Naomi raised a finger to Cha’s
interjection and continued, “--and are expected to only deal in government
issued stamps. These stamps will be used
for clothing, food stuffs, living conditions, supplies, and the like where
accepted. They will be issued to all
non-Union artists, actors, etc. on the first of each month, starting next
Tuesday. All bank accounts of non-Union
artists, actors, etc. will be seized by the proper authorities by Tuesday. Owners of the accounts seized will be
reimbursed by the government in stamps and supplies in certain circumstances.”
“They’re seizing our bank accounts?!”
“What are these ‘certain circumstances?’”
“They don’t say. That’s the thing. And this is only part of the announcement –
they’ve been running a longer one on most of the news networks for the majority
of the morning.”
“This is ridiculous.” The trio turned to find Yosh
standing in the doorway shaking his head.
It was evident he was still in shock.
“Do you have any idea why they’re doing
this? It sounds absolutely crazy –
wouldn’t it just be easier to use actual cash?”
“One would think,” the younger man said,
entering the apartment and resting his hands on his wife’s shoulders. “They’re making us dependent.”
*****
Naomi’s due date was quickly
approaching. Her belly was as large as a
soccer ball if not bigger, Cha reflected, as he stacked the shelves at their
landlady’s store with knick-knacks and absolutely useless garbage that people
just seemed compelled to buy. Glancing
over at the young woman, he asked, “When are you due?”
“Three weeks,” she replied.
“It’s really coming down to the wire,
isn’t it?” She nodded. “Are you…are you and Yosh
staying in the apartment?”
“No…” she said softly. “No, we’re not. We don’t think it’s the best place to have a
baby, you know?”
“Yeah. Where are you going to go?”
“Well…Yosh has a
friend – I think you’ve met him. His
name’s Ken. He and Yosh
were friends back in University. Yosh was the artist, Ken was the
doctor-to-be. Well, when the Unions came
around, he told them to basically fuck off.”
Cha chuckled. “Sounds like my kind of guy.”
“Yeah, well…it cost him ownership of his
house down the road. Thankfully, by then
he had decent friends who were in Unions.
He’s renting his own house from one of them.”
“Are you going to go live with him?”
“No, we’re…we’re actually trading.”
“Trading?”
“Yeah. He’s going to come and live here and we’ll be
in his house.”
“Oh?
That works out pretty well.”
“The reason why I thought you had met him
was because he told us to tell our friends that should they need anything, he’d
be more than willing to help.”
“Really?” Cha wracked his brain for a memory of this
man named Ken. He was coming up blank,
but that wasn’t anything unusual, and he and Gackt could very well have met the
man. “Help how?”
“Well…” Naomi glanced around and bent her
head close, whispering, “He’s an underground practitioner. The Unions didn’t stop at his house – they
took his license too. But he’s excellent. He’s the one who’s been keeping an eye on
me.”
“Wow…”
“But it’s all very hush-hush, especially
since he’s not supposed to be
practicing. He treats the people that
can’t afford a licensed Union doctor. So
if either you or Gakuto come down with something, you
know where to go.” She pressed her
finger to her lips and backed away.