The Cost To Play (Slivers of Love) (19 page)

The past three weeks had been a whirlwind. June was upon them and the final touches had been made to the comic book which was being printed. The end of the first week of June the books arrived and nearly took over Toshi’s home office.   Several boxes were taken to Jayne’s apartment and everything looked so much smaller. In the midst of all the happenings, Toshi continued looking at houses. When he had narrowed it down to three, he had Jayne join him.

The first house was entirely too large.  It was in Columbia County which would make her commute to work miserable.  The second house had a lot of potential with a beautiful artist studio with lots of light, but the artist who lived there was not much of a cook.  The kitchen was drab, small, and all of the appliances as well as the electrical wiring were outdated.  The third house was absolutely perfect, with two out buildings. One to serve as a studio, while the other as a shed for gardening.  The only problem, when the door to the studio was opened, what was not drowned out by rattling, they could hear other things slithering.  Toshi turned to ask Jayne a question, but she was already back in the car. House hunting had to start over from the beginning.

On Saturday, as Jayne headed to the mall, she became lost in her thoughts.  The business card Grandpa Joe had given her held Malik’s phone number and work address.  Something made her dial the number.  After three rings his voice came through the car audio system. “Malik Wright.”

“This is Jayne,” she said softly. “It would appear that I inherited my painting ability from you.”

His smile was almost audible. “You also inherited that wicked gap in my teeth.” They both chuckled while listening to the sound of each other breathing.  Jayne asked, “So, how does this work?  I mean, where do we start?”

“Let’s start here. We build from there, if that is okay with you, Jayne.”

“That will work,” she responded, pulling over onto a side street.

“Your painting of Mother and Son. I bought it at the gallery showing you had two years ago.  It hangs over my dining room table,” he told her with pride. “It is so well done and simply beautiful.”

The conversation continued on for a few minutes about paints, imagery, and his gallery in Atlanta.  It was common ground and safe dialogue, which suited them both fine. The call ended with her promise to come to Atlanta after the LA Expo. 

Jayne sat in her car feeling hopeful. Even with so much work to do, she still felt optimistic.
Now, on to the mall….where am I?

She was sitting on Richmond Avenue, not far from the GRU, Summerville campus in front of an adorable yellow cottage with a for sale sign.  She called Toshi. “I found it!”   Fifteen minutes later he pulled up in front of the house, which sat on a corner lot.  They peered through the window only to be surprised by an older couple, who opened the front door and invited them inside.

The home had beautiful archways, hard wood floors throughout, glazed kitchen cabinets, a double oven in the kitchen, and three bedrooms and three baths. The fireplaces were fantastic, but the selling point for Jayne was the unique custom backsplash in the kitchen. She loved the two fireplaces, but for Toshi, he fell in love with the master bathroom. That had a sunken garden Jacuzzi tub.

The front porch had a swing on it and the patio had a back deck that would be perfect for cookouts and having their friends over. The back yard had a privacy fence and a storage shed. Jayne loved it. “I have to ask. What is the listing price?” she posed to the older couple.

“We are asking $225,” they told her.  Jayne’s heart sank.  Even if she paid off her car, that would be a hefty mortgage. Toshi had mentioned buying a house because they needed new workspace, but he hadn’t declared her moving in, or making her his wife.  At least, thus far he hadn’t asked.

Later in the evening, as they sat on her couch, her mind wandered to the little cottage with the pretty yellow walls. In the second bedroom she envisioned a pink wall that she could paint a fairy tale scene upon where a little girl would make it a world of her own. A rocking chair would be in the room where she would sit and nurse their daughter. Her thumb idly rubbed Toshi’s hand as pictures flashed before her eyes of a little boy, with jet black hair bounding up and down those stairs, dragging in mud from the back yard. Tears ran down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the back of her hands.
Why am I so frickin’ emotional?

“Why are you crying, Jayne? What’s wrong?”  Toshi asked with concern.

Never in her life had she envisioned herself being a mother. She never truly wanted any children, but in that house she could see a life, a family, and a future with this man. Always afraid to ask for what she wanted.  Always afraid to rock the boat.  Never willing to pay the cost to truly get in the game.  All of her doubts, fears, and baggage went out the window.

She looked at Toshi, voice shaking with emotion. “I want that house and I want to give you a son and daughter to run back and forth up those stairs.  I want to make dinner in that kitchen and make love with you in front of the fireplace. I will empty every account I have, sell my car. Whatever we need to do, Toshi, I will do. I want us to start our life together in that house.”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. “I will talk to the agent tomorrow.”

The last week of June was filled with last minute details.  The hotel room had been booked months ago, the plane tickets were purchased months prior, and boxes of comics were loaded at the UPS store headed to LA.  The booth cost was nearly two grand. So far, after expenses they were nearly six thousand in the hole. The cost to play in the big arena was hefty, but much of the cost could be recouped in comic book sales. 

Jayne felt defeated yet energized as she reminded Toshi. “We will need to sell at least 12,000 copies to recoup the money we have invested. If we do it right, we will have enough for a sizeable down payment for the house.”
If that doesn’t work, then I will have to find a street corner and sell some booty.

“Relax Jayne,” he told her as he rubbed her back. “As far as I am concerned, what we have accomplished is more than I ever expected.  To have all of this and you at my side, is more than I ever dreamed.  The rest will work itself out.”

“You are always so calm.  I love that about you, Toshi.”

“You have a calming effect on me. When I am with you, I don’t worry about anything.  Besides, I have been led to believe that it was my amazing skills in bed that captured your love,” he said with a smile.

“Well, that does help a great deal,” she said as she rested her arms around his neck.  “In three days we are in the air and
The Vigilantes
makes its public debut.”

“So, are you ready to take the big stage with some heavy hitting Cosplayers?”

“Hell no! I am scared out of my mind,” she told him. “But I had this idea after seeing you on the dance floor.” She pulled away from him and grabbed her iPod from her bag, scrolled through a few songs, then hit play.

“What if we combined our stage appearance with this music, your martial arts and some well-placed danced moves,
with a video as a backdrop.  I’m sure we’ll make a big splash.”  She started the music and it was
Bodies
, by Drowning Pool.

Toshi stood transfixed listening.  Then he began to move. He made a round house kick, as the words reverberated in the room. He did not miss a beat, as he moved across the living room floor. Suddenly he stopped and went into his Zen room and returned with a set of nunchucks and a sword. “Start it over from the top,” he told her as he handed her the nunchucks.

“I am not about to knock myself out with those,” she said as she gave them back. “My flexibility comes from years of gymnastics training. I can come up with something cleverer than that.” She leaned back into a back bend and started walking backwards.

“Where are your gauntlets?”  He asked
her.  Jayne quickly ran into the room to retrieve them from the office and slipped them onto her forearms.  The gauntlets she was very proud of the craftsmanship.  They were made out of a lightweight steel, that was easily malleable with heat.  She had worked closely with a local fabricator to etch in the designs.  She returned with them clasped to her wrist.

“Great! When he starts the
count in the song, each time click the gauntlets together,” he told her. “Restart it from the top again, please.”

He began to move. As the count began she clapped the gauntlets together. “Great that’s it Jayne! Go in slow motion like the Matrix, but make the moves bigger!”

“The backdrop should be a visual of the inner city with shadows of
The Others
and the bad guys we are fighting,” she told him as she rolled across the floor and came up in a high side kick, with fist pumps, clicking the gauntlets together.

“Sounds good,” he said as he went through a series of flicking kicks. “What we really need to know is can we do these moves in those costumes?”

They both stopped in the middle of the floor, staring at each other.  Her boots were heavy and the bodice was tight. “Right!” As they took off into the room to try on the costumes.

The music was cued up and they pretended to enter the stage. Toshi began to move about in the leather jacket.  Jayne started stomping in the boots, moving slowly behind him in a mock Matrix slow motion backbend, coming up to clap the gauntlets together. “I’ll take the second set of counts with my sword.” Jayne moved up to center stage, mixing martial arts and gymnastic moves in slow motion.

“On the third set of counts, we need to do something together,” she told him.  He stopped with a huge smirk covering his face.

“What?”

“Last night in bed. That move you did. The reverse lift with your legs wrapped around my back.”

A gigantic grin covered her face. “Let’s do it Baby!”

The next day, they needed more space, so they headed to Toshi’s parent’s house. In the Yamaguchi’s backyard, they practiced first without costumes.  Eri sat and watched with interest. Twenty minutes later, she was up, giving Jayne pointers, showing her more effeminate martial arts moves.

“Wait, I know what’s missing,” Eri told them as she darted back into the house. She returned minutes later with small fans that slid perfectly inside of Jayne’s gauntlets. “Try using these in the middle portion of the routine.”

Hirishito arrived home to hear the loud rock music playing and went to the backyard.  Toshi and Jayne were in costume, while Kunio was pretending to be a bad guy sparring with them. And his wife, he wasn’t sure
what
she was doing exactly. Everyone stopped when he was spotted.

“Start again from the top,” he told them as he sat in the large recliner on the patio.  Jayne nodded and Kunio started the music again. At the end of the routine, he stood up with his hands at his sides. “I would like to make a suggestion, if I may.” Each listened intently as Hirishito made corrections to some the sword movements Toshi used.  He suggested a different approach for Kunio to enter the action and choreographed Jayne’s ending scene with a bit more panache.

“Okay, again from the top,” he said as he stood back and watched. At the end he said nothing but went back inside the house to retrieve his phone. 

“Husband?” Eri asked. “What are you doing?”

“I am buying some tickets to go to L.A. Kunio, are you coming too?”

“Yes,
Chichi
!”

On the first of July, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Pearl drove Jayne to the airport.  She introduced them to Toshi’s parents, who would be flying out in a few days to join them in Los Angeles.  It was sheer luck that Jayne had forgotten to cancel her room reservation, which would serve ideally for the Yamaguchi’s, who were now part of the team and set to work in
The Vigilantes
booth.  Jayne wasn’t worried about the success of the con, since Grandma Pearl had spent the better part of yesterday in the closet praying. 

She embraced Toshi in a bosom mushing, nearly suffocating hold. “Take care of our baby, Toshi.” After a shake of Grandpa Joe’s hand and Jayne’s hugging of Eri, they boarded the flight.  The costumes had been sent ahead in a separate box from the comics. It was all up to fate from this point forward.

Emotions were running rampant through Jayne as she took her seat by the window of the plane. The warmth of Toshi radiated next to her. Who would have thought ten months ago that this arrogant man would be the perfect guy for her? So much had changed for them both over the past year.  The personal growth of sharing a life and a vision for a future together was about to overwhelm her.  As she turned to face him, he was staring at her as well.

“I am so in love with you Toshi Yamaguchi.  I love you with all my heart.” She looked around the cabin to see if the plane had started to crack apart, but nothing was happening.

His fingers intertwined with hers as he reclined his seat. “Good, because I love you too.”  And with that said, he slept all the way to Los Angeles.