Created •
This government land had been sectioned off forever,
as far as Katie knew,
even during the Edo Period,,
when the Emperor lived in Kyoto,
the old capital of Japan.
when a handful or so of Daimyo - land barons - ruled the world.
"Perhaps one of the Tokugawa Shoguns made this a park,"
Katie and Susan would speculate from time to time.
In this solitary seven acres of bamboo forest,
in the thick of suburban Tokyo
there existed a habitat unique
to the greater part of Tokyo, the Kanto Plain.
There were birds and snakes and insects in here
that you would never see for a good 70 kilometers.
"Keep on playing that pipe," Katie whispered to herself.
"He's gotta be down there about twenty yards,
if I could only see."
She tried to imagine
the depth and distance inside her mind.
The piano stops.
And in a single measure
stops the flute.
"What are you doing, Susan!" Katie said with her eyes.
"Katie-Susan!"
"Susan-Katie!" Oba-chan was yelling.
"Oh my god, Oba-chan is calling us."
Again she called.
And yet again.
"Say something Susan!" Katie whispered harshly.
"Yes Oba-chan? Did you want something?" Susan responded.
"Would you girls come here a moment...
the men from the Japan Foreign Ministry would like to ask you a few more questions."
Katie's jaw drops and
she suddenly exhales.
Just a minute Oba-chan! I'm helping Katie with her math! We almost got it.
"Do finish .... but hurry girls! We are keeping these men waiting!"
Katie's moves her neck in a "no" and looks around,
trying to remember exactly where she heard the flute.
Not there. Not there. Not there.
Oh great.
Must be right down there,
"Not one finger of pale moonbeam
in those five square meters
just down there."
Katie crawled in that direction.
And she felt someone grab her hand.
"Don't scream." spoke a soft voice.
Katie made a quick motion with her body to get away.
"Don't move. Don't worry. Your sister is on her way."
Minutes pass inside while Oba-chan waited
with the two men from the Japan Foreign Ministry.
"I'll go check on them." Oba-chan said.
She returned to the living room, her hands covering her face.
"They're both gone." she shook her head.
(End of Chapter 7. Chapter 8 coming Wednesday, July 19, 2006, 11:00 pm Mexico City Time.)
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