Chapter 36: In Good Condition

October 16, 1983, McKinley, Ohio

"I started dating someone," I said to Tasha as we relaxed in the whirlpool at Doctor Blahnik's house.

"You're not cheating on her, are you, Mikhail Petrovich?"

"No. It's not THAT serious, and it won't be anytime soon if it ever is. But I thought you should know because we promised complete truth and complete honesty. I don't want any misunderstandings."

"May I ask about her?"

"Her name is Kimiko Mei Takahasi. She's from a small town called Oguni in Yamagata Prefecture in Japan. It's north and west of Tokyo."

"An exchange student?"

"No. Her dad is a research scientist and professor. He's here working in Columbus on a six-year fellowship. It expires just about the time Kimiko will graduate."

"She's not a Christian, is she?"

"No. But that's a concern for later, and it's actually not impossible to solve."

"What do you mean?"

"It has to do with Japanese culture, but for now, we're just dating. It may or may not go anywhere. And if she decides she's going home, then it's absolutely not going anywhere because I simply can't see myself moving to Japan."

"No, I can't imagine that. How did you meet her?"

"At orientation, and then later, when I gave a concert, it was obvious she was interested. We started talking, and she became part of our group. I asked her on a one-on-one date last Friday. We had dinner and went to a movie."

"And does she know about me?"

"She knows that on Sundays, I see a female friend from home who is not my girlfriend and who I have no plans to marry, though, obviously, anything is possible."

"She's not jealous?"

"No. I spend more time with Clarissa than anyone, and that isn't a problem."

"But she's a lesbian."

I chuckled, "Which Kimiko said meant that, for all intents and purposes, Clarissa was a boy."

Tasha laughed softly, "That's just too funny!"

"You, on the other hand," I said as I slipped one hand between Tasha's legs and cupped her breast with the other one, "are most definitely a girl!"

"Perhaps you need further proof?"

"Perhaps I do!"

We proved it in the whirlpool, the bed, and the shower before cleaning up, changing the sheets on the bed, and putting the dirty sheets and wet towels in the washing machine. We then left the house and headed to Frisch's for dinner.

"Where do you plan to live when you come to work in McKinley?" I asked.

"My dad arranged with Mr. Sokolov that I could rent the apartment over the Quick Mart. He usually rents to students, but the guy living there now is a Senior, so he won't be renewing. I can easily afford the rent on the salary that I'll make from Emmerson's."

"I'm surprised he's allowing you to move out!"

"He thinks it will be short term, and once we marry, you'll move in with me!"

"Maybe I'll move in WITHOUT marrying you!"

"I'd love it!" Tasha exclaimed. "He'd have a heart attack!"

"You'd live with a guy without being married?"

"I'd live with YOU before we were married. I think it's very unlikely I'll make love with anyone before my wedding night except for you."

"I thought we weren't making love," I grinned.

"You know what I meant, Mishka! And we aren't, but we are. It's very strange."

"So those feelings I had weren't just my own feelings, were they?"

"No. Even though you aren't my boyfriend, somehow, now I feel closer to you than I did before when you were. It's very odd!"

"It's not the sex, believe it or not. It's that we agreed to be completely open and honest with each other. In fact, that's the basis for a PROPER adult relationship."

"One which could actually lead to a good marriage!"

"Yes. Whatever your dad might say, and whatever anyone else at church might think, I think you and I are at a place where we can truly explore a future together and make a good decision about it."

"And that is what you want?" Tasha asked.

"What I want is to make a good decision," I replied. "Neither of us knows what might happen, but honestly, it's more possible now than it was before."

"I think that's the reason I said it was odd. We both agree there is a good chance we won't marry, but there is actually MORE of a chance now than there was even six months ago."

"Exactly. I think there are two more steps before we can know — you need to live on your own for a time, away from your dad, and I need to get into medical school. If you think about it, that only puts a REAL decision about a year later than we had discussed. Then, as adults, we decide if we want more."

"More than just fucking each other senseless in every way we can think of?" Tasha asked impishly.

"Yes, more than that!"

"Sex is even better than I ever imagined it might be," she said, running a finger along my arm.

"It is," I replied, slowing so I could turn into the restaurant parking lot.

I parked, and we went into Frisch's, were seated quickly, and placed our orders. We had a nice meal, then headed back to Doctor Blahnik's house, where Tasha and I exchanged a soft kiss before she got into her Volvo to drive back to West Monroe. Once she had driven away, I walked back to campus to join our Sunday night study group.

The semester was going well for all of us, and we were coming up on midterm exams, which would be given in a week's time. Our study habits later in the week would change a bit to reflect the need to review. None of us were worried, but that didn't mean we could slack off on studying. When we finished around 10:00pm, only Kimiko came with me to my room to relax a bit before bed. We listened to music for about thirty minutes, then exchanged four soft kisses. Kimiko left, and I did my evening prayers before going to bed.

October 17, 1983, McKinley, Ohio

When I ran on Monday morning, I saw two uniformed officers talking to people and recognized several people I usually saw. That made me feel good because if even one of them could say they saw me running with Angie on Friday, that would confirm that part of my story. I had stopped at the desk in the lobby and confirmed with the student there that she had told the police I'd left and come back at my usual times. Overall, I felt good about THAT, but I was growing increasingly worried about not hearing anything about Angie.

When I finished my run, I went back into the dorm, took the elevator up to the eighth floor, showered, dressed, said my morning prayers, then joined Clarissa, Kimiko, Sandy, and our Freshman friends for breakfast.

"No news?" José asked as we sat down to eat.

I shook my head, "No. Nobody has called me, and the fact that the police were canvassing the people who might have seen Angie and me running and maybe saw her leave tells me they haven't found any real clues. At this point, I'm pretty worried."

"Do you think someone did something to her?" Rebekah asked.

I shrugged, "I have no clue. The police are checking every possibility, obviously, which I'd do in their position."

"You aren't a suspect, are you?"

"I don't think so," I replied. "Dean Parker tried to make me one, but with what the student who works the lobby desk told the police, if they find even a single person who saw us running, which I'm sure they did, then it's basically impossible for me to have done anything. The student at the desk told me they checked the surveillance cameras for the parking lot, and it showed my car hadn't moved and that neither of us was in the lot."

"They don't have those for the whole campus?" Jacob, one of the Freshmen, asked.

"No," I replied. "Just for the parking lots. They installed those after they had a rash of vandalism and break-ins in the late 70s."

"You would think they would have installed more cameras after the rapes," Sandy observed.

"You would think," I replied. "That's something to ask Melody because if they HAD cameras on campus, they'd have seen Angie and me running and maybe at least seen which way she went."

"She didn't go back to her room?" José asked.

"No. She had on light blue sweats, and they weren't in her room, and her purse was there. She had her keys and her ID, which makes sense, but the rest of her stuff is all in her room."

"Wait! What rapes?" Rebekah asked.

"My Freshman year, so about two years ago," I replied. "Three girls were attacked before they caught the guy. That's why we have the escort service we run from our dorm. We started it when that happened to protect our friends, and we've kept it up. The guy was a student, too."

"Whoa!" she exclaimed. "Like the thefts?"

"That's what the police seem to think, but they have nothing to go on as far as I'm aware."

"You'd think this place was safer than someplace like Cleveland or Toledo," José said.

"There really isn't much crime here," I replied. "Other than those incidents, the campus has been pretty much crime-free."

"Saturday night was a crime," he said, shaking his head. "One too many shots of rum!"

"More like four too many!" Rebekah teased.

"Maybe," he replied. "Mike, will you have time to practice for Saturday?"

"I'm free on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for about four hours and two hours the other days. I figured we'd practice some on Saturday afternoon as well. Milena is free on Saturday."

"Cool. How many people do you think will be there?"

"Well, word is leaking out, so Milena is going to move it to the large auditorium instead of the small one."

"Oh, man," he sighed. "So, like the one you two did for orientation?"

"Yes."

"I think somebody is going to need some SERIOUS relaxation therapy and stress relief," Sandy said, causing everyone to laugh.

We finished breakfast and headed back to the dorm to get our books for our first class. There was a note pinned to my corkboard which said that Dean Anderson had called a meeting for all the RAs at 12:30pm, and it would last about fifteen minutes. That would cut into my lunch, but at least she hadn't scheduled it during a class period.

There was nothing out of the ordinary about our morning classes, and we went to lunch a bit early, which meant Clarissa joined us partly through because of her shift in the lab. I left a few minutes before she arrived, and joined Teri to walk to the small auditorium where Doctor Anderson was having her meeting. I was very happy to see it start on time.

As I expected, she announced she was taking over for Dean Parker, who had resigned for personal reasons. When she said that, Teri leaned into me, pushing her shoulder into mine as a sign of approval. Dean Anderson made a point of reiterating the rules but also indicated she was reviewing them to see if some modifications could be made.

"There is one other item I wanted to cover, and that is the disappearance of Angela Stephens last Friday. I believe all of you are aware that she was last seen outside the Rickenbacker Dorm between 6:45am and 7:00am. Flyers with her picture are being put up all over campus as we speak and will also be distributed to local businesses. If any of you have ANY information, no matter how minimal it might seem, please talk to Campus Security or the McKinley Police Department. If you feel uncomfortable doing that, come see me, and we'll take it from there."

She dismissed us with a request that we all attend the next Student Government meeting, which would be held on Thursday evening. Teri and I headed back to the dorm, and I went to find Clarissa.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

"About what we expected. She let us know she was taking over and that she was trying to have some of the rules relaxed. She also let us know they were putting up flyers with Angie's picture on them on campus and around town. I saw a few on the way back from the meeting."

"I saw some after we finished lunch."

"I just wish there was something more I could do," I sighed. "It's been more than three days, and nobody has heard from her."

"Did you hear back from the detective?"

I shook my head, "No, but I saw uniformed police officers questioning people this morning. I'm sure they found someone who could corroborate my version of events."

"Well, at this point, unless you think driving around in your car looking for her will help, you pretty much need to let the authorities handle it."

"I know," I sighed.

Clarissa hugged me, and we hung out until it was time to leave for our statistics class. We went to class, and when we returned, there was a message on my corkboard instructing me to call Detective Tremaine. Clarissa and Sandy came into my room with me, and I dialed the number. I was on hold for several minutes before he picked up.

"We found two people who saw you running together and one who saw you talking to her right before you went into the building."

"But nothing else?" I asked.

"No. We've checked all the hospitals in a fifty-mile radius, as well as the one in Athens, and a couple near where Miss Stephens' family lives. No police agencies have any reports referencing her either."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"At this point, we've put out what you would probably call an 'APB' on her, and any law enforcement agency in Ohio who finds her will call us. I did call Kentucky in case she went south across the river, but they have no reports of her, and no reports of unidentified females fitting her description. We also spoke to her friends and professors, as well as her parents. We also checked the bus station, but given that anyone can buy a ticket for cash from the driver, it wouldn't be surprising if nobody saw her. And tracking down every driver, especially cross-country ones, takes time. I guess what I'm trying to say is that unless you have some ideas we haven't thought of, there isn't really anything you can do."

"That's what I was afraid of."

"Mike, I won't lie to you and promise this will turn out OK, but it IS the case that the vast majority of situations like this, after what amounts to a 'bad breakup', end up with the person returning after a short time away. We checked the local motels and hotels, but she wouldn't have had to go far to find one we haven't checked yet, and if she paid cash and checked in under a different name, we'd have to get very lucky to locate her. Don't lose hope. There's a good chance we'll find her safe and sound."

Which, of course, meant there was a chance they wouldn't.

"Thanks, Detective. Will you let me know if you hear anything?"

"I will. If you think of anything, anything at all, no matter how minor, call. If I'm not here, ask for the Investigations Division, and someone will help you."

I thanked him again, and we hung up. I told Clarissa and Sandy everything he said, then got out my guitar and music. José showed up a few minutes later with his guitar so we could practice for Saturday night. We had a good 'jam session,' as he called it for the next two hours, and agreed to meet at Milena's house on Tuesday afternoon to practice with her. It was a good way to forget, at least for a time, the terrible thoughts about what might have happened to Angie.

October 21, 1983, McKinley, Ohio

"I know you spent a lot of money last weekend, so tonight, we should eat in the cafeteria, and then we can walk to the theatre," Kimiko suggested as we sat together in my room after lunch on Friday. "And if you don't mind, some of our friends will join us for the movie. We can spend some time together, just you and me, after the movie."

I smiled, "That's fine. And thank you."

"Clarissa explained it to me. You didn't need to spend so much money last week!"

"I wanted to take you someplace nice on our very first date," I protested. "I felt it should be special."

"It was special because I was with you," she said softly. "You could have told me the situation."

"I could have, but I chose not to because I wanted to do it."

"And I appreciate it! We can work together to manage your money if you feel the need to pay. It's not necessary, though I understand it's normal in the US. Please let me buy my own ticket tonight."

"OK," I replied. "But I'd like to pay at least some of the time."

"How about when you say «愛してる» (ai shiteru)?" she smiled.

"When?" I asked.

"When," she replied with a smile.

Which told me not only that she was expecting me to say it but that she would say it back to me. She'd already as much as implied I could have her in my bed anytime I wanted, and without saying «ai shiteru». It really was only a matter of time before that happened, though I didn't want to make a decision like that when my emotions were in turmoil because of Angie's disappearance.

Kimiko left for her class when Clarissa and Sandy came by so we could walk to our stats class together. After class, José and I practiced together for the penultimate time, and then the gang went to dinner in the cafeteria. After dinner, Kimiko, Clarissa, Sandy, Sophia, Robby, Lee, Jason, Fran, Pete, José, Rebekah, and I all went to the theatre to see All the Right Moves, which was about High School football in Pennsylvania and starred Tom Cruise, Craig T. Nelson, and Lea Thompson.

It turned out that while football was the major source of conflict in the movie, it wasn't actually the focus of the film, which was much more of a drama with a serious teen love story. We all enjoyed the movie, and when it finished, we decided to head to Yellen's for ice cream. After ice cream, we headed back to campus, and everyone went their own way, though Kimiko joined me in my room to listen to music as we had planned.