by Don Gordon
I really have to tell somebody about this. I know what you're going to think, but as I'll try to explain, I tried so hard to do the right thing, but somehow, before I knew it, I was in over my head. It's all about this woman I met, one of my students actually, named Ai (pronounced "eye"). Well anyway, I guess I'd better start at the beginning.
This all started back in the States. I was about to graduate from university, and I was looking for a job. I planned on being a teacher, but I don't know. There was something too pat about just finding a job in Ann Arbor, getting married, settling down. My girlfriend Elise was plenty keen. She's a dark haired beauty, smart as a whip, a good match for me in so many ways. Everyone kept telling us we make a cute couple. But, me? I wanted to get out, and see the world a bit. Heck, I was only twenty-two.
Then, one day, one of my counselors mentioned a job opening in Japan. Just what I've been looking for, I thought: an exotic country, thousands of miles from home. Adventure was beckoning. Elise didn't seem pleased though. She started carrying on, making it out as if I was running out on her or something. That wasn't it though. I just wanted to spread my wings a bit. Maybe you know the feeling. After she got over the initial shock, she calmed down. It'd only be for a year and all, and we could chat back and forth on messenger. It wouldn't be that different.
The school year in Japan starts in April, so I finished up all my essays, and handed them in in March, and headed out. All my friends came to the airport to see me off, and of course Elise was there too. Everyone kept saying they'd miss me, but anyway, I'd already accepted the offer. I bid them farewell, and off I went.
When I got off the plane in Tokyo, there was one of the college staff there waiting for me, a Mrs. Hori I think her name was. She didn't seem to speak English, but anyway, she took me all the way to the apartment they had set up for me. It wasn't much--not much bigger than my dorm room, but once I settled in, I got used to it.
This college was just a small place on the coast, Miura, south of Tokyo. They offered courses in art, music, trades, tourism or international studies. I was to teach English. The students were mostly locals, surfers or milk maids, 19 or 20. Some were a bit at sea, unsure what to do next, but I found that made them more interesting. Everyone had a story to tell. Tatsu wanted to fix cars. Masa drew comic books. Some of them were guitarists or keyboard players. They all had dreams.
I was assigned a homeroom class, and set to work teaching them English, key phrases like "What's up, teach?" and "Why so glum, chum?" I started studying Japanese, and as time went by, things got easier. It turned out that some of the teachers did speak English, and eventually, I began to feel more at home.
Time passed by quickly. I traveled around on school breaks, and I even set up this English excursion club with some of my students. Mostly it was an excuse for them to take me around, and show me the local sights. One of the boys, Keitaro, turned out to be a great tour guide. We went hiking in the mountains, and saw caves, waterfalls and even the place where the English navigator Will Adams first landed in Japan in the sixteenth century.
The winter was mild, but Christmas reminded me of my life back in Ann Arbor. I started to plan out my trip back, what I would do when I got there. Then, suddenly in mid-February, the dean threw me a curve ball. They wanted me to stay on for another year. He fed me a line about how much my students were improving, but I got the feeling that they'd just gotten used to having me around.
I didn't want to say no straight off, so I told him to give me some time to think it over. Somehow the word got out to my students that I might be leaving. They started hanging around my class more. Keitaro and the others kept asking me about my plans. I was happy to see I had so many fans, but that didn't change things. Come March, I was still planning to head back to the States.
What really sparked things off was one day, one of the secretaries came down saying I had a phone call coming in. I told my students to work quietly on their assignments, and went to the office to see who it was. It turned out to be my travel agent. She'd found a cheap flight home for the date I wanted. I had her reserve me a seat, but when I got back to my class, I could tell from my students' faces that they knew I might be leaving. The guys were staring at me with this sad look in their eyes, and some of the girls looked like they were going to cry. I felt like saying "c'mon guys, it's not the end of the world," but I must admit I felt a faint twinge of guilt. There were some real characters in my class, Keitaro, Tatsu and them. I'd miss them too.
The next morning when I got to school, I found one of my students, a 19-year-old girl named Ai, sitting alone in the classroom. This was a bit unusual. Usually the students didn't come in till just before nine o'clock, but here she was at eight. She is a slender waif, wide eyes, white skin, long black hair. Now her cheeks were red, and she was looking down at a long fluorescent light lying on her desk. I looked at her for a moment, feeling a bit uneasy, but finally asked,
"Ai-chan, what's wrong?"
She looked up at me shyly and then up at the ceiling. The light above her desk had burned out.
"Oh," I said.
"I try change it yesterday, but desk is..." She slid her hand across the desktop.
"Slippery. Yes, yes, I see."
I looked at her a bit more closely. She was dressed in what appeared to be a cheerleader uniform--clean white sneakers, knee-high blue leg warmers, a pleated blue miniskirt with white trim and a sleeveless blue and white blouse with a sailor collar. I can't say she'd made much of an impression on me, although now that I think about it, she probably was one of the better students in the class. She was a member of my excursion club, always there, alert, inquisitive, attentive.
Probing my memory, I eventually realized that I'd helped her before. One afternoon, after class, she'd been sitting there all alone. It turned out that her clean-up partner, a woman named Midori, had skipped out on her, and left her to tidy up the classroom herself. I helped her out, and the next day, she'd even brought me a pastry, a chestnut cream bun, to say thank you.
She peered up at me with these puppy-dog eyes, blinking shyly under my gaze. She pressed her pink lips together almost in a pout as her eyes sparkled, darting back and forth. Her hair was shining in the morning light, and I could faintly make out a pleasant feminine scent. Must be her shampoo.
"Mr. Gordon. You help me?" she said rising to her feet. She slipped out of her shoes, and put one white stocking foot on the seat of her chair. I hesitated for a second, wondering what she had in mind, worried that someone might walk by, and see us.
She looked at me expectantly though, so eventually I held out my arm. She grabbed on, and used it to balance as she climbed up onto the seat. One hand still on my arm, she leaned forward to pick up the light. I blinked, and then averted my eyes as I realized that I was staring straight down the front of her blouse. I caught a glimpse of her cleavage, a bit more pronounced than I would have imagined. She didn't seem to be wearing a bra.
