Chapter 4

Sean and Megumi’s relationship blossomed quickly. They called each other two or three times a week, Sean started a weekly ritual and began to write a letter once a week like His dad had done when courting his mom. They were becoming very comfortable with each other quickly and amazed themselves at some of the things they just blurted out and shared about themselves. Private things, things about body image, confidence and ... secrets of the past.

Sean revealed that when Julie, his high school girlfriend, dumped him, it devastated him, and he suffered from moderate clinical depression. It almost kept him out of the service. Megumi said that this would stay between the two of them, never to be mentioned again. Her mom was too finicky and oversensitive about such things. Asians tend to think that depression is a form of weakness. Megumi admitted to also struggling with it, although she never received treatment for it. Here again, it was all about body image and not being attractive to boys making her feel worthless and unwanted.

Thanksgiving was approaching in a week and a half, so, they invariable shared holiday memories and anecdotes. Megumi asked Sean, “Which do you like better: ham or turkey?”

“I like ham better, but Mom found this Chinese recipe for turkey and it is out of this world! It takes almost a week to prepare the bird though.”

“Oh yeah? It tastes that good?”

“Uh huh. It’s moist, tender, and juicy. My biggest complaint about turkey or chicken is dry meat. I’m a dark meat guy. The meat is more flavorful and juicier.”

“Oh my god! Me too! That’s another commonality between us! Can you get me that recipe? Dad and I usually make Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners since they are western holiday meals.”

“I know you’ve heard me say it before, but your mom and mine could be twins by the way that both think almost identically. I think she soaks it in a brine for three days, then seasons it and lets it set for one or two days, then she makes the final prep and then into the oven. We usually make a twenty pounder and it’s gone the next day. I’ll get you the recipe.”

“Me and Dad make an eight-or ten-pound bird and it lasts us the rest of the week. Do you like stuffing? What else do you guys make for dinner?”

“Mom’s candied Asian sweet potatoes are something to fight over. If Josh had his way, he’d eat all of them by himself.”

“What’s that? How do you make them?”

“You know, Asian sweet potatoes. The ones with the white meat instead of the orange you get at the Asian market. They are naturally sweeter, and she steams them, peels them, then makes a glaze of brown sugar and butter and pours over them and simmers them in the oven for thirty minutes. Then covers them with marshmallows until they are brown. They’re so good, it’s almost sinful to eat! Dad makes the world’s best mash potatoes in the world: creamy, no lumps and buttery! Top the stuffing and taters with gravy, boy-oh-boy, what a feast! Add dinner rolls, apple and pumpkin pie and the feast is complete!

“Mom is the only one who likes the cranberry sauce, and we get it just for her. Mom and Dad spend the day cooking the meal together. Mom is a Chinese vegetarian who likes mostly sour, bitter, and spicy food. She’s a freak for belt fish and loves fish of almost any kind. She is not into meat very much at all except to put ‘Chic-Fil-A’ sauce on it. That stuff is really good on any meat!

“Mom had Dad learned how to cut up a yellow tail fish for sushi and sashimi. He’s very good at it. The knife is about a foot long and just looking at it wrong will seriously cut you.

Megumi chuckled and said, “We need to buy sushi or sashimi because we can eat so much of it. It would take us a day or two to make enough for a meal for all of us. I love it with hot wasabi sauce on it.”

“Wasabi? Boy, that green stuff is way too hot for me! Anyway,” Sean added, “Christmas dinner is the same, except with a ham. Mom and Dad make a special kind of boneless spiral sliced ham that has a honey-brown sugar glaze. A ten-pound ham is gone Christmas night! Whatever mashed potatoes there are, Mom makes potato pancakes. Good stuff! My mom is a fabulous cook! You would love her Chinese Bouza and homemade dumplings of pork and chives. She makes a six-course meal every day. She takes pictures of every meal she makes and posts them on Facebook.

“She grew up in Mao’s China in the sixties. Her dad is a real jerk and ate the food that was rationed. They received one piece of meat and a number of eggs per week per family. He ate them all and the rest of the family had to eat cabbage and rice. She never wanted us to know hunger. She always eats the leftovers and gives us the best. She’s Old-World Chinese who thinks and puts family first. Let me tell you, if you think Jews are cheap, my mom will put the world’s cheapest Jew to shame!”

Sean and Megumi seemed to rapidly progress, and the beginnings of love took root. Although Sean was homesick and wished he could be with Megumi and his family, he wasn’t so down about being alone. Now, he had that someone special also missing him and wanting to be with him for the holidays.

The first week in December, Megumi became quiet during one of their evening phone conversations. Sean learned that when she got this way, she wanted to talk about something she was shy about, so he waited to hear her speak. It only took a few long ten seconds or so...

“Sean? Can I ask you a question?”

Sean chuckled. She asked, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. It’s just that when you ask in that tone of voice, you always want to talk about a sensitive topic and are sort of shy to talk about. So, Sweetie, what do you want to talk about?”

“I know you said you have had two relationships where you were pretty invested in them. Right?”

“Right? And?”

“Maybe it’s none of my business, but I’d sort of like to know if you have any sexual experience.”

“Well, you’ve known from the very beginning that I am a virgin, so you know I have not had sex. With Sophie, there was some petting that got kinda hot and heavy a few times, but that’s it. You don’t hold it against me, do you?”

“No, I just wanted to know. I think it would be wonderful to marry a man that we could explore and learn about intimacy together. Don’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m staying a virgin. When I give myself to a woman, she will have what no other woman has ever had: me.”

“I feel the same way. Do you like girls with big boobs?”

“No. Like my dad, I prefer a woman who is smaller breasted, or her breast size is proportional to her body. Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering. Why do guys like big breasts?”

“Well, I’ll give you my theory on the topic, although it’s not clinically or scientifically proven. I think guys get imprinted about girls whose breasts are larger than most during puberty. You know how self-conscious we are when we go through puberty, right?”

“Uh huh.”

“We’re self-conscious about everything. For guys, it’s ‘When will I get pubic hair? When will my Johnson grow to enormous proportions?’ Mind you now, no guy wants a little pecker. When will I get chest hair and start to shave? And when it comes to girls, they are now more interesting, attractive, and not some alien being that has cooties, and you hate. They are actually starting to look pretty good. And guess what? Boys that age — like girls — judge a girl’s attractiveness by her level of physical maturity. Girls like to see a guy transition from a boy’s physique to a man’s: a barrel chest, etc. They see if he’s growing a beard, or his voice is changing...

“Guys do the same thing. Is she growing boobs” If so, how big are they? Is she developing hips, or does she have a little girl’s straight shape? What about her legs? Are they spindly straight or are her thighs getting that attractive sloped taper?

“And guess who do guys find the most beautiful? Duh! The most obvious and visible attribute is breasts. The girl with the biggest boobs is the prettiest. She could look like she fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down, but if she has big hooters, she’s got a young guy’s vote. This single most visible indicator of female attractiveness is imprinted on a boy’s psyche and never changes. That’s why I think guys like girls with big breasts. It’s a flaw we develop at puberty that is imprinted on our minds.”

“Wow, that’s a very interesting hypothesis, that I might tend to agree with. So why didn’t you stay imprinted with that detail?”