Happy birthday then :) I did actually think that if you didn't notice my nudging I'd have to just use one of this week's prompts as a Hindsight prompt for you, but you've beaten me to the punch! Well, let's get out hero out of the hospital then and give him a chance at a happy ending.
Hindsight I'd had time to think by the time they let the angry policeman -- I'm just going to call him Roy like in the anime -- back into my room to talk me, and thinking back over the ambulance ride I thought I could see where I'd gone. Starting with Melina, though I thought that might have gone ok if we'd not bumped into Nina. And then Georgina came along and this whole mess had happened. So.... "Why did you let a strange woman, if that's what she was, try to cut you up at a Shrine?" Roy was quick to get to the point, though he wasn't shouting at least. "I was ill," I said. "The doctors here have told me I had concussion at the time. I didn't know what she was doing. Wait, what do you mean, if that's what she was?" "Ill." Roy didn't sound like he really believed me. "Ah so. No-one remembers seeing you with a woman." "People remember seeing me?" That was safer than my first instinct, which was to ask what Georgina could have been if she wasn't a woman. "Well, no. You are... immemorable." I figured out later that he probably meant forgettable but right then it sounded like he was saying that no-one could remember me even if they tried. Which was a bit disturbing, really. "Is that because of the shrine? Did the... ancestors make everyone forget me?" That turned out to be really the wrong thing to say as I got a lecture then about respecting ancestors and Japanese religion and what the shrines mean and why I shouldn't go desecrating them by trying to kill myself there, with or without a strange woman who carries knives. The doctors came in twice while he was talking and quietly left again. Only the third time they came in did they actually tell him that visiting hours were quite a lot over and he needed to leave. He nodded sharply, pulled out a pad of paper, wrote something on it in kanji, and gave it to me. "Don't get in any more trouble," he said, and left. "What is this?" I asked the doctor, showing them the note. I recognised some of the characters but my head was feeling fuzzy, my mouth dry and my stomach really, really empty. "A note saying that your case is closed," said the doctor, glancing at it. "Keep it safe, you may need it when you leave at the airport." That made sense, and I lay back on the pillows wondering if they'd bring me anything to eat, and fell asleep before I found out.
When I left the hospital the next morning, with sticking plaster all over my wrist and then wrapped up in a soft bandage to look like I'd sprained it rather than attempted suicide, I walked a short way away from it and found a bench to sit on and just look around and appreciate the world about me. A lot had happened in the past few months, and with a bit of time to think, hindsight was catching up with me. There seemed to be a lot of things I could have done differently if I'd stopped and thought a bit more at the time. "Hi?" The voice sounded distantly familiar, as though I'd heard it recently but not often. I looked up, letting my thoughts and regrets fade away into mist, and found Melina looking down at me. She was stood in front of the bench leaning on a single crutch, with her foot wrapped up in a bandage like the one on my wrist. "Hi," I said. "Did you cut yourself too?" With all the hindsight I had floating around you'd think I've had realised that that probably wasn't the best way to start a conversation, but it seems like my mouth likes its independence from my brain. Luckily for me she decided to laugh. "No, no such luck. I could fly if I'd just cut myself; they say I've broken a small bone in my foot and I have to wait until the swelling goes down." Someone tutted next to me, and I realised that though the bench had been empty when I sat down it now had two elderly japanese women sat on it too. Both of whom were looking at me talking to a young woman having trouble standing while I was sat down. I jumped up, lost my balanced and nearly knocked Melina over. She dodged back, and I caught the ground on the way down. "Would you like my seat?" I said, pulling myself back into a seated position. Melina stared at me, wide-eyed for a moment, and then decided to laugh again. "Maybe we could walk a little," she said. "At a safe distance, of course."
Greg - I think we've all learned a lesson here. And that lesson is: never believe Marc when he says he's going to write something within a particular time period.
Mine:
"So, uh, what did you do to your foot?" I asked as we walked slowly through a nearby park. Well, I walked slowly. Mel - she had said it was okay if I called her that - kinda stumped her way along, like a pirate with a peg leg.
I'd gone as a pirate with a peg leg for Halloween one year, when I was seven or eight. Only my balance wasn't very good and I'd ended having to call it an early night after I'd fallen for the fourth or fifth time.
Well, dad called it a night. Said something about me having embraced myself enough for one holiday.
And yes, he actually said 'embraced'. Now you know where I get it from, okay?
Anyway. Back to Mel. I'd asked the question because it seemed like the polite thing to do and because I hoped maybe it would be an interesting enough (and long enough) story that we wouldn't get around to exploring where my own injury came from.
"It's kind of an embarrassing story," she replied, her cheeks flushing slightly as she looked down.
"Oh, don't worry," I said with a quick laugh, holding up my injured arm. "It can't be any worse than mine!"
Oh for crying out loud, I thought. I didn't slap my forehead, but I gotta tell you - it was a close call.
"I doubt it," she said with a laugh, stumping her way around a water fountain with more rocks balanced in it than seemed strictly wise. "But we can compare after. Winner buys dinner?"
"Sounds good," I said, wondering if there was any chance at all that she'd even want to be in the same restaurant as me after I told my tale.
"Okay. So. I was exploring Shinjuku, trying to find something to bring back to my niece in Los Angeles. She's not easy to shop for - L.A. kids, you know?"
"Totally."
I totally didn't.
"Anyway. I was thinking something electronic or techy or whatever. But I don't know much about that stuff, so I was sorta keeping one eye out for something cool looking and one eye out for somebody that looked like they knew what they were doing. And then I bumped into this local woman who spoke perfect English. I think she said she was a nurse?"
"Oh?" I said, suddenly beginning to feel nauseous.
"Yeah! She showed me around to all these neat stores I would never have found on my own. And her laugh! It was... I don't know... it was just so..."
"Hypnotizing?" I asked. I was having trouble choosing between throwing up and fainting.
"Exactly!" Melina laughed her own laugh, which made me feel slightly better. "Anyway. She was showing me this gadget - she said it was a video camera but it looked more like a spaceship to me - and something came on the TV that distracted her. A news report, I think. But they were talking so fast I couldn't really follow what they were talking about. Something about a shrine maybe?"
"Uh huh." I sat down heavily on the edge of the fountain and Melina followed suit, just more gracefully. I guess that comes from doing it on purpose, instead of your legs giving way beneath you.
"Anyway. I guess it was upsetting news for her because she dropped the video camera right on my foot! I guess it got me in just the right spot to break something - not a particularly cool way to get injured in another country, right? And then she just ran off, without even apologizing! Can you believe that?"
"Actually," I said, my head sinking into my hands, "I think I can."
3 comments:
Happy birthday then :) I did actually think that if you didn't notice my nudging I'd have to just use one of this week's prompts as a Hindsight prompt for you, but you've beaten me to the punch! Well, let's get out hero out of the hospital then and give him a chance at a happy ending.
Hindsight
I'd had time to think by the time they let the angry policeman -- I'm just going to call him Roy like in the anime -- back into my room to talk me, and thinking back over the ambulance ride I thought I could see where I'd gone. Starting with Melina, though I thought that might have gone ok if we'd not bumped into Nina. And then Georgina came along and this whole mess had happened. So....
"Why did you let a strange woman, if that's what she was, try to cut you up at a Shrine?" Roy was quick to get to the point, though he wasn't shouting at least.
"I was ill," I said. "The doctors here have told me I had concussion at the time. I didn't know what she was doing. Wait, what do you mean, if that's what she was?"
"Ill." Roy didn't sound like he really believed me. "Ah so. No-one remembers seeing you with a woman."
"People remember seeing me?" That was safer than my first instinct, which was to ask what Georgina could have been if she wasn't a woman.
"Well, no. You are... immemorable."
I figured out later that he probably meant forgettable but right then it sounded like he was saying that no-one could remember me even if they tried. Which was a bit disturbing, really.
"Is that because of the shrine? Did the... ancestors make everyone forget me?"
That turned out to be really the wrong thing to say as I got a lecture then about respecting ancestors and Japanese religion and what the shrines mean and why I shouldn't go desecrating them by trying to kill myself there, with or without a strange woman who carries knives. The doctors came in twice while he was talking and quietly left again. Only the third time they came in did they actually tell him that visiting hours were quite a lot over and he needed to leave. He nodded sharply, pulled out a pad of paper, wrote something on it in kanji, and gave it to me.
"Don't get in any more trouble," he said, and left.
"What is this?" I asked the doctor, showing them the note. I recognised some of the characters but my head was feeling fuzzy, my mouth dry and my stomach really, really empty.
"A note saying that your case is closed," said the doctor, glancing at it. "Keep it safe, you may need it when you leave at the airport."
That made sense, and I lay back on the pillows wondering if they'd bring me anything to eat, and fell asleep before I found out.
When I left the hospital the next morning, with sticking plaster all over my wrist and then wrapped up in a soft bandage to look like I'd sprained it rather than attempted suicide, I walked a short way away from it and found a bench to sit on and just look around and appreciate the world about me. A lot had happened in the past few months, and with a bit of time to think, hindsight was catching up with me. There seemed to be a lot of things I could have done differently if I'd stopped and thought a bit more at the time.
"Hi?"
The voice sounded distantly familiar, as though I'd heard it recently but not often. I looked up, letting my thoughts and regrets fade away into mist, and found Melina looking down at me. She was stood in front of the bench leaning on a single crutch, with her foot wrapped up in a bandage like the one on my wrist.
"Hi," I said. "Did you cut yourself too?"
With all the hindsight I had floating around you'd think I've had realised that that probably wasn't the best way to start a conversation, but it seems like my mouth likes its independence from my brain. Luckily for me she decided to laugh.
"No, no such luck. I could fly if I'd just cut myself; they say I've broken a small bone in my foot and I have to wait until the swelling goes down."
Someone tutted next to me, and I realised that though the bench had been empty when I sat down it now had two elderly japanese women sat on it too. Both of whom were looking at me talking to a young woman having trouble standing while I was sat down. I jumped up, lost my balanced and nearly knocked Melina over. She dodged back, and I caught the ground on the way down.
"Would you like my seat?" I said, pulling myself back into a seated position. Melina stared at me, wide-eyed for a moment, and then decided to laugh again.
"Maybe we could walk a little," she said. "At a safe distance, of course."
Greg - I think we've all learned a lesson here. And that lesson is: never believe Marc when he says he's going to write something within a particular time period.
Mine:
"So, uh, what did you do to your foot?" I asked as we walked slowly through a nearby park. Well, I walked slowly. Mel - she had said it was okay if I called her that - kinda stumped her way along, like a pirate with a peg leg.
I'd gone as a pirate with a peg leg for Halloween one year, when I was seven or eight. Only my balance wasn't very good and I'd ended having to call it an early night after I'd fallen for the fourth or fifth time.
Well, dad called it a night. Said something about me having embraced myself enough for one holiday.
And yes, he actually said 'embraced'. Now you know where I get it from, okay?
Anyway. Back to Mel. I'd asked the question because it seemed like the polite thing to do and because I hoped maybe it would be an interesting enough (and long enough) story that we wouldn't get around to exploring where my own injury came from.
"It's kind of an embarrassing story," she replied, her cheeks flushing slightly as she looked down.
"Oh, don't worry," I said with a quick laugh, holding up my injured arm. "It can't be any worse than mine!"
Oh for crying out loud, I thought. I didn't slap my forehead, but I gotta tell you - it was a close call.
"I doubt it," she said with a laugh, stumping her way around a water fountain with more rocks balanced in it than seemed strictly wise. "But we can compare after. Winner buys dinner?"
"Sounds good," I said, wondering if there was any chance at all that she'd even want to be in the same restaurant as me after I told my tale.
"Okay. So. I was exploring Shinjuku, trying to find something to bring back to my niece in Los Angeles. She's not easy to shop for - L.A. kids, you know?"
"Totally."
I totally didn't.
"Anyway. I was thinking something electronic or techy or whatever. But I don't know much about that stuff, so I was sorta keeping one eye out for something cool looking and one eye out for somebody that looked like they knew what they were doing. And then I bumped into this local woman who spoke perfect English. I think she said she was a nurse?"
"Oh?" I said, suddenly beginning to feel nauseous.
"Yeah! She showed me around to all these neat stores I would never have found on my own. And her laugh! It was... I don't know... it was just so..."
"Hypnotizing?" I asked. I was having trouble choosing between throwing up and fainting.
"Exactly!" Melina laughed her own laugh, which made me feel slightly better. "Anyway. She was showing me this gadget - she said it was a video camera but it looked more like a spaceship to me - and something came on the TV that distracted her. A news report, I think. But they were talking so fast I couldn't really follow what they were talking about. Something about a shrine maybe?"
"Uh huh." I sat down heavily on the edge of the fountain and Melina followed suit, just more gracefully. I guess that comes from doing it on purpose, instead of your legs giving way beneath you.
"Anyway. I guess it was upsetting news for her because she dropped the video camera right on my foot! I guess it got me in just the right spot to break something - not a particularly cool way to get injured in another country, right? And then she just ran off, without even apologizing! Can you believe that?"
"Actually," I said, my head sinking into my hands, "I think I can."
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