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Kyoto
Connection
Excerpts
from the book by Deborah Kemp
Continued
from previous page
I
changed quickly into the pretty
floral dress I had worn to work that
morning. I stared into the mirror as I brushed my chin length blonde hair
into place. The ends were damp from the tub, but would dry soon in the
warm spring air. I applied some mascara to my green eyes and took extra
care with my lipstick. I didn’t generally wear much makeup. For years as
a teenager I had longed for the tanned look of a California girl with
straight blonde hair, but eventually I grew comfortable with my fair Irish
skin, green eyes, and wavy hair. I grabbed my bag and went out to meet
Kenji.
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It
was about an hour before the parade would start when I woke up.
I let Kenji sleep while I showered and dressed, and then I woke him
up. “Why didn’t you wake
me up sooner? We could have
taken a shower together.” “Yes,
and we would have missed the parade.”
We
had a light breakfast in the hotel coffee shop, and then checked out of
the hotel. Kenji went to the garage to put our bags in the car, and I
went out to find a place to view the parade.
The huge floats would come down Kawaramachi and then turn at the
intersection of Kawaramachi and Oike, so this area was a prime viewing
spot. This was the third time
I had seen the Gion parade, and each time I enjoyed it more.
I had learned more about the history of it, and I loved to see the
ancient silk tapestries that hung from the floats.
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 It
was early afternoon when the parade ended, and all of the restaurants in
the area were crowded, so we decided to drive home for lunch.
I made some scrambled eggs and vegetables for us, and we ate in the
garden room. “What will you
do tomorrow?” Kenji asked
me. “I have a few things to finish at the University, so I’ll
go in there.” Kenji cleared
up the dishes and told me to relax. When
he came back, he leaned over me and kissed my
neck.
“Page, do you realize we have never made love in the garden?”
It
was a few minutes before I realized my hands were still gripping the
bench. I relaxed, and Kenji
sat back on his heels. He
pulled me to the grass with him where I collapsed on top of him.
“Kenji, do you think there’s something wrong with us?”
Kenji tickled my nose with a blade of grass. “What do you
mean?” I brushed the grass
away. “We make love almost
every day. I don’t think most people do that.”
He laughed and said, “Then I feel sorry for most people.”
I persisted. “Do you
think it’s because we’re newlyweds?”
He shook his head. “I
hope not, because I plan to be this way for a long time.”
He kissed my nose and stood up.
We
made no effort to get dressed, but walked naked back to the house carrying
our clothes. Kenji looked perfectly natural walking around naked.
He looked down at the grass stains on his knees, and said,
“I need a shower, but I will take one alone.
I need time to recover.” I
wagged my finger at him in mock seriousness.
“You see? It’s
beginning already. First you
need time to recover. Next
you’ll be too tired to make love at all.”
I shrieked as he grabbed me and pulled me hard against him.
He consumed my mouth with a kiss, and then took my hand in his. He slid my hand down his body, stopping to demonstrate how
quickly he could recover. Then
he walked away and said he was going to take a shower. I called out after him.
“You’d better make it a cold shower!” (Related
article: Making
love outdoors)
I
loved the way we joked with each other.
It was a side of Kenji that people rarely saw.
I took a shower in the guest bathroom, and we both emerged at the
same time. “This was a nice
way to spend a day off.”
The
phone rang, but when Kenji answered it, there was no one there.
We went into the living room to watch television together,
something we rarely did, and I could only imagine what it would be like to
watch Japanese television without understanding the language.
I didn’t think I could be any happier with my life than I was
now. I could not have
predicted the events that would soon shake my happy world.
Continued on
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