Part V
Chapter 47
It is early autumn on the Izu peninsula, and summer's leaves are in a desperate, if futile, rush to soak up the last warming light of the year. Those usually first to let go and fall to the ground, the red-leafed maples, have turned a deep red, and some limbs have already been stripped bare by cold gales coming in off the nearby sea. Still, many trees along the forest trail still cling to the sun's light, and summer's greens and golds stand in stark contrast to the reds and deep orange notes of the changing seasons.
Callahan followed Fujiko along the path to the Inn of the Enchanted Spires - as Frank had taken to calling the place - though Frank had remained in Ajiro, the village where he'd experienced his first living epiphany from Clavell's Shōgun.
Callahan had his Nikon out now, and he had been shooting leaves and rocks as he walked along, though every now and then he had taken a shot or two of Fujiko. She stopped just ahead now and waited for him to catch up, and he found her standing on a tall granite outcropping with her arms outstretched to the sun - as if she too wanted to soak up the last warmth of summer.
Her long black hair was pulled up in a tight bun this morning, and now, instead of the more traditional clothing she had worn on their first trip here, she was wearing hiking shorts and low-cut boots, as well as a light fleece jacket over a gray turtleneck. She looked, in other words, like any other Californian - and Callahan had noticed the same divergence ever since he and Bullitt had arrived four days ago.
She had begun to set herself apart from Japan, he thought at first, as if she had decided she was leaving Japan for good, but on their second day she had taken Frank and Harry to meet her older brother at his house outside of Osaka - and she had presented herself as the epitome of traditional Japanese culture when there.
So, he assumed she was as yet undecided, still caught up in the vacuum of 'finding herself' - whatever the hell that meant. But she was different now, inescapably so. She had been taking language classes, and not English - but French. She had hinted in her letters about wanting to find work as a translator, and possibly in the diplomatic arena, and yet now that he was with her she didn't want to talk about any of that.
At one point he had become convinced that she was trying to let him down gently, but then she told him she had made reservations at the spires - and for several nights. One room, not two. He teetered on the edge of confusion until Frank said that by putting him a confused state she was only strengthening her negotiating position.
"Negotiating position?" Callahan barked.
"Yeah, Harry. Everything in life is a negotiation, from deciding where two go for dinner to what color socks to wear. My guess is she's reserved a room out there for several nights to feel you out, then present her terms. The problem right now is she has no idea what kind of life you're leading right now. You've gone from being a relatively easy to understand 'cop' to being the owner of two fairly successful corporations, and the problem as I see it is she probably thinks she's going to be negotiating with the easy to understand cop. In other words, she has no idea of the changes you've undergone over the last year and a half."
"Okay, I can buy that..."
"Yeah? Well, there are two parts to this equation, Callahan. You have changed. You deal with people from a position of real strength now, and that can come through as decidedly and uncompromisingly direct. So in other words, you don't suffer fools very well, not anymore. You had to when you were a cop because that's a part of the game. You know - 'to protect and serve.' Well, you serve customers now, and your approach has changed. You're much more concerned with the well-being of your companies now and you tend to act decisively as a result. Just try to remember she has no idea of how you've changed, let alone the why of things."
"So, how should I proceed?"
"Let her lay it out there. Don't try to react until you've had a chance to think about things, especially if what she has to say seems to force a lot of compromise on you - but not on her. Step back from yourself if you can, and try to think one or two moves ahead. And don't get boxed in by emotionally overreacting."
He looked at her now, standing on the rock with her arms outstretched as if she was expecting to fly, and he brought the Nikon up to his eyes. He studied her for a moment - as objectively as he could - and he tried to think of her as a stranger might...walking down this trail and running into this scene. She was - objectively - beautiful. She looked almost like a statue standing there, a monument to man's idea of irrational beauty - outstretched arms turned into the seaborne wind, muscles quivering as she teetered on the edge of the outcropping. It was, he thought, impossible not to overreact to her symmetry and beauty.
Then she turned and looked down at him, and her eyes were different now. No longer soft and inviting, they looked feral, almost predatory in this setting...then she jumped and landed at his feet.
"I love this place," she whispered. "The wind through the trees and the sea in the distance, each competing for dominance, each beautiful in their own way. But here, right here, you don't have to choose. Both can reside inside you - right here!"
She took a step closer to him and paused there, looked into his eyes again and he saw the soft, inviting warmth he was used to...
"Just outside your house on the cliffs there is a tree," she said, "and one morning I sat there listening to the sea and the tree and I could see my life unfolding there - with you. But now I can see that you have grown old in the last year. You are now consumed with the twin ideas of money and power, and I must admit, Harry, that I did not see this happening to you. Even Frank has changed, but not as much as you."
"I thought we, you and I, were over. I had nowhere else to turn."
"Yes, I see that. Now the question is an even simpler one: do you have room for me in the life you have chosen?"
"You know, I could say 'of course I do,' but that would be presumptuous. People work for me now. A lot of people, people who depend on me every day to make good decisions - decisions that impact their lives. And the really unexpected thing, Fujiko, is how much I enjoy this. It turns out I'm actually pretty good at this stuff, but more than that...I have been able to create something that lets a lot of very talented people do something that makes them happy. What could possibly be better than that?"
"You see?"
"I do. But there is still one thing missing, one very important element that would make my life complete."
"Yes? And that is?"
"You."
"I see."
"Do you? I'm not sure that's even possible, Fujiko. Once you said we should be patient, that we should take the time to get to know one another before we took our first steps together..."
"I remember."
"Well, that didn't work. It didn't because it couldn't. There was nothing to lose, nothing on the line. It was too easy for you to walk away, and too easy for me to let you."
"So, what do you propose?"
"That's a loaded word, Fujiko, isn't it. Standing out here in the wind by the sea."
"Yes, it is."
"Is that what you want now?"
"It is an interesting possibility."
"I see," he said, smiling even in defeat. "Are you sure you want to go to the inn?"
"Yes, of course," she answered, puzzled. "I just watched a very serious change come over you, and I do not recognize this person."
"I've grown used to negotiating with people..."
"Is that what this is? A negotiation? Am I a commodity now..."
"What I saw was a continuation. You left California telling me you needed time, and when you say something like marriage is an interesting possibility you are negotiating for more time. Isn't that true?"
"I would not call something so..."
"I would, and I would do so because it feels that way to me."
She reached out, took his hand and pulled him towards the inn - but he did not budge an inch. She looked at him again, even more puzzled now. "I do not recognize this man, Harry-san. There are great changes people face, true enough, but something deeper has changed within you."
"I want you, Fujiko. And I want you because I love you. But in my three days here you have not mentioned that word once. Why?"
"Because I am afraid."
"Are you afraid of me?"
"Yes. A little. These things in your eyes, they are so very different now."
"Some things change, Fujiko. Some things never do. Are you saying your love for me has changed?"
"No, I am not. I am saying that we have three days ahead of us to find the answer to these questions."
"Alright. Then please, lead the way."
And that, Callahan said to himself, is what you call negotiating from a position of strength.
________________________________
"So, how is doing?" Cathy asked.
"I don't know yet," Frank said over the long-distance connection. "He seems unsure of himself one minute, then overconfident the next."
"How did Fujiko look?"
"Look? She looks the same. I think she's really unsure of herself now that she's seen Harry."
