Chapter 17

Sunday

Being a Sunday I’d not set the alarm, but I come awake fast when the door opens and Sharon enters. I extract myself from my bedmates to have a quick shower at her insistence. I’m wearing only a robe over my shorts when she introduces me to three Japanese women, the leader is very old. One of the other women in her mid-twenties tells me her grandmother doesn’t understand English too well and she doesn’t speak it. I smile and respond in perfect Japanese, “That’s no problem, we’ll just speak Japanese.” The old woman smiles and bows while she greets me. I return a traditional greeting, making her smile more.

After begging and receiving her forgiveness for me to give some instructions to others I tell Sharon to wake Makha and Mayu for their showers because I wish them to get court dress too. She leaves to do so. Turning back to the old woman I give a bow of respect and I address her in Japanese, “Venerable Mother, as you can see I’m a young man. But I’m trained in the ways of the samurai and my sensei says I have the heart and soul of a samurai. I have but to travel to Japan for my final testing to receive my menkyo in Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū, I am also a well-known writer of stories as well as owning and running a very large business empire. In recent talks with the Protocol Officer at the Japanese Embassy he said I qualify to wear the dress of a samurai daimyo. Next weekend, or soon after, I will be attending the Japanese Embassy to present a gift of cultural heritage to the Japanese people. I wish to attend in traditional dress proper for my dual status, dress that also recognises my western heritage.”

She listens with care while I mention each item of importance and status that needs to be taken into account. She asks about accessories and servants. I reply, “I will wear my daisho, tanto, and tsurugi - unless you tell me I shouldn’t have my tsurugi with what you design for me. I have two young slave girls who will attend me as servants. They also require court dress to match. It may also help you to know Sensei Michio has called me Torao for the last few years.” She’s surprised when I mention my sensei. “I have a full set of weapons given to me last year by Sensei and my mother, made for me by a Komiya master swordsmith.” She asks to see my katana, so I get Claw for her with my tanto and point out the image of the tiger on both that shows they’re a set. She nods to show her understanding. “The gift is a Muramasa katana, so I will also need a suitable cushion for my servant to carry it on for me.” She smiles and nods acknowledgement of my requirements.

She thinks for a moment, and says, “Our community in this city is not huge; it’s big, but not very large. So I already know of the young tiger who destroyed the evil one. What you ask is a difficult task for the time involved, but not beyond our capabilities. It will cost much because it must be hand stitched by skilled people working long hours. While these girls measure you and your servants I will think on a design and give you a rough price. I will need some money in advance to buy proper cloth.” I nod and she orders the girls to measure us. While they work she pulls out a pad and pencil to make numerous sketches.

After shaking her head no over the first dozen or so drawings before flipping to the next page and starting again. Then she smiles and starts to work longer on the one on the current page. The girls finish measuring all three of us so we stand around chatting on minor matters while we wait for her to finish her drawing. With a big smile she shows me a drawing of a traditional style samurai court dress with a few changes. Instead of the baggy style pants often used these are more western looking pants with straighter sides. The top is full traditional, so is the obi. My daisho and tanto will be in the normal places while the tsurugi is to be carried in my left hand. The pants are the colours of a tiger while the top is white with appropriate symbols on it in black and tiger yellow, plus the under shirt will match the pants. The obi is of the traditional shape but is a multi-coloured striped tiger’s tail, not just one colour.

I look at it, and I express my concerns on how the changes will be accepted by the Japanese people. She promises to clear the design with her guild in Japan and with the Embassy Protocol Officer. The dress of the servants will be full traditional style in the same colours. The cost is five thousand dollars with a thousand before she starts. She smiles when I ask if she wishes a bank transfer or cash for the full amount. She gives me details for a bank transfer and a code number to identify the job. I smile when I invite her to my office while I process payment in full as an electronic transfer. I tell her if the cost goes up to let me know and I’ll pay more because I know this is a very rushed order. She smiles and insists it’s a fixed price. We both know I’m paying nearly double normal price, but I placed time restraints on the work. It’s normal for such outfits to take a few months to make, so I don’t mind paying extra for them.

They leave just before breakfast arrives. Sharon ordered it when they arrived. I give her bum a pat of appreciation when she goes by, and she grins at me over her shoulder. By now she’s woken everyone and all are ready to eat. The cheeky girl has all the ladies dressed in their schoolgirl sailor suits. This looks like being a fun day. More so when Sharon has me dress as a stern teacher, to fit the theme I even have a riding crop.

We sit around the circular table having breakfast. I start laughing and everyone gives me strange looks, so I say, “I must say I much prefer the support crew sitting around this round table to the crew King Arthur had with him.” After the general laughter ends we go through today’s itinerary and what’s expected of everyone in regards to security. I make a couple of changes to what Rob planned. Kira and Nadia are to stay with Debbie and Jon as extra security. We need guns with a bag for them to be hidden in. So we get a school bag for the weapons and radios, Kira carries it because she already has a concealed weapons licence that had been organised by Sergei last year. The good news from Rob is all of the security work being done in the penthouse will be finished today while the monitoring room will be finished during the week.

We’ve so many people and guards we need two buses and a car, one is half full of the gear we need for the lunch stop, picnic baskets of food, ice chests of drinks and ice, chairs, tables, blankets, and gear to have fun with. Everyone is loaded up, and we’re on the road at nine thirty.

Etzler Road Visit

We take our time driving to my appointment, but we still arrive early. Which is good because it takes longer than anticipated to drive down the dirt road to the house well back in the forest. There isn’t much of a clearing for the house, so I’m glad I left the rest on Etzler Road and only have AREA 51 go to the house. There’s an old man sitting on the porch in a rocking chair. When we stop Rob and a guard stay at the car as Sharon and I walk up to the house; it’s more than a shack, but not by much.

I smile as I nod at the man, “Morning, Mister Fredericks, I hope? I’m Al Adams. This is my assistant and chief controller, Sharon.” He smiles at my reference to Sharon. He stands and holds out his hand. I step up and shake his hand.

He nods at the porch beside him. Without any hesitation I sit on the dirty boards because there’s no other chair to sit on. I tell Sharon to get a chair from the car for her to sit on. She does so. Mr Fredericks smiles when she returns with one folding chair and sits on it. I think he likes me.

I say, “I’m new to the area and I wish to build a large home. There’s nothing I like on the market so I’m looking for a large property. Of the ones around that may be available yours is the best location for me. Are you interested in selling? I’m prepared to pay well, but not crazy.”

He smiles, “That depends, young feller, on what you intend to do with it. What’s your plans?”

“I’ve not drawn up plans because I won’t do that until we come to an agreement. I want a large residence compound for me and my staff with plenty of recreational space inside the fence. I know of the trouble with the county wanting to use this land for urban development, but I wish to retain the majority of the property as it is. From looking at the maps of your property this is the general idea of what I’m thinking. The land between the road and the creek on this side will be developed for a few miles or so. At the eastern boundary will be a mobile home park, west of that will be an area of some holiday cabins, followed by a camping ground with playgrounds between and amongst them. Everything on this side of the creek will be left much as it is with only some walking and horse trails through it that link to those in the state park. I’ll ask the Parks and Wildlife people to include all of it in their management plan and I’ll donate the odd section that’s all but trapped by them at the west end. Most of the land on the other side of the road will be left as is with a few trails too. But the section between Etzler Road and Little Tuscarora Creek, from the eight hundred foot mark to the eastern boundary, will be the main area I develop with the house on the knoll at the eastern end. I’ll also put a sort of overpass with an exit in where the road dips near there, that’s to ease road access to both areas of construction. This way there’s the minimum construction to allow good use of the area, that’s to shut up the county commissioners. Also, the involvement of Parks and Wildlife will see pressure to have it go that way put on the county by the state. I’m happy to have those basics in the sales contract.”

He nods slowly through my talk. “I’ve not put it up for sale and I’m fighting a forced sale to the county. Why do you think I’ll go for it?”

“There are seven properties in the area that would suit me. You’re the first in line because of your issue with county. I know you’re losing the fight due to a lack of funds. I’ve enough to keep them in court for years. However, I think once I can bring the extra political pressure to bear on them they’ll give up. The mobile home park and camping area is a sop to allow them to save face while they back down. The majority of the land will stay as it is because that’s what you want and I agree with you.”

“That knoll you speak of is where my original family home was. It was destroyed by a storm at the end of the War Between the States. You may find the foundations and ruins when your start building. I’ll have my lawyer contact yours, who is it?”

“Randolph Manning handles my legal affairs.”

He grins and says, “You tell Randy Crazy Ken remembers him.” He stands, so I do, and we shake hands on the deal. No price is mentioned, but the intent is there. Which is all we need, he’s honest and he won’t rip me off and he knows I’ll pay a fair price. We’re all soon back in the car.

While we drive back out I call Randy to leave a message on his phone about the meeting and to send him Ken Fredericks’ best wishes.

Afternoon

It doesn’t take long to reach the place Sharon picked out for lunch at High Knob, the view is great and there’s a little area for us to have our picnic lunch. After spending nearly two hours playing and eating we pack up to leave. Sharon has us head north to go back into the city. We stop at a few places of interest, parks, museums, etc. while we head back to the hotel. It’s a fun lunch and early afternoon.

We’re almost at the hotel when I get a call from Greg wanting to know if I’ll meet with him and some others of the team for some practice since I missed most of this week’s football practices. So we end up at Rose Hill Manor Park practising football. The main point of it is for me to practice catching the ball on the run in their set plays. The guys who Greg talked into helping him train me love our private cheer squad since all of the girls insist on watching us. So they’re on the side-lines in their sailor suits jumping up and down while yelling, until Lia gets them organised as a proper group of cheerleaders. After an hour and a half we head for a bite to eat, my shout as a thank you for their help.

After leaving the pizzeria we go back via the mall and the cosplay shop at Lia’s request. We stand around while she goes through their books and stocks to select a cheerleader’s outfit in a tiger’s colours which isn’t used by any current high school or college in our region; her choice doesn’t match any known high school or college. She has all of the girls outfitted in the same outfit and one for Akimi too. She has to wait a few days for some of the items to be ordered in, but about half the girls are outfitted today. They look good, but I worry about what Lia is up to.

Once back at the hotel Dad and I go to the gym. The girls follow, giving poor Chelsea a huge shock. When we start on the equipment the girls get on the walkers and bikes. I look over to see a huge grin glued to Chelsea’s face. She still hasn’t tried to collect on her promise. She looks at me and nods when she recognises Lia in her sailor suit. Off the gym is a room lined with mats for gymnastics work. Dad and I go in there for a proper workout. Everyone follows.

Rob almost has a heart attack when I say, “Full contact, free form, no breaks or worse, best of seven holds. OK?” Dad grins as he nods.

We haven’t done this since I was sixteen. I did a lot more training than usual in the last year because I dealt with a lot of my grief by burying myself in my training. Between the deaths of my family and us leaving Australia I finished learning all Sensei Michio could teach me, and I also moved up two levels in Taekwondo. Thus I’m much better now.

One of the advantages of free form is we can use anything and it allows us to really mix it up while also trying new things. It means we have to pay close attention at all times and we really work up a sweat. This is, by far, the best way to keep our skills up to scratch.

We face off and bow to each other. I keep at my past skill level until Dad gets ahead two holds to none. I give him an evil grin. He stops to look at my grin while saying, “Shit! You’ve been holding back again! Haven’t you, you bugger?” I nod, then I launch a fast set of attacks at my full speed. He speeds up and is hard pressed keeping them from landing. I keep him on the defensive for over a minute while I stay with the sort of attacks he’s used to seeing me use. Now is the time to add the new stuff to the mix. While launching a series of attacks at his upper body I add an unexpected leg sweep to drop him on his arse. His eyes are wide when he jumps back up. There wasn’t enough time to go for a hold. We keep it up for several more minutes. We finish after twenty-two minutes of close fighting with the fourth hold down I get on him, taking him for the first time with my four holds to his three.

When we get up Dad smiles, “You’ve got to teach me how you got that leg sweep in while raining so many upper body blows. You shouldn’t have had the balance to permit it. That’s the best workout I’ve had in many years.” Covered in sweat, mild bruises all over, sore arms and legs, and we’re both very, very happy with the fun of getting beaten up while beating up the other. Yep, we’re certifiably insane!

When we pass Rob his eyes are very wide as he says, “Shit! I should be paying you to guard me.” We all laugh. I glance at the girls, and they’re all very shocked at our fight. It’s something really new for them because none of them have seen that sort of combat at that level before.

A few laps of the pool to wash off then up to the penthouse. Sharon orders up dinner for us from Room Service while we get changed.

Evening

Dad and I wait in the spa with it full of muscle soak. Most of the girls join us while giggling at our sores and bruises. We don’t mind it because we did need the workout to burn away the cobwebs, both physically and mentally. We both feel much more alive now.

Forty-five minutes later we sit down to dinner in our robes. After a nice steak and vegetables dinner I lead the girls through the first forms of Tai Chi. A few already know Tai Chi and seeing them just get on with the forms encourages the rest to learn to do them too. By the time we’ve all the new students doing the basics right it’s time for another soak.

We spend most of the night sitting in the spa relaxing our muscles. Followed by a good rubdown with liniment. About nine thirty I check my emails and I deal with the few minor issues there. I’m about to leave the office when the phone rings, it’s John.