Dr. Coolidge, the Sutton Sluts, and Guest.
Chapter 1.
The airplane slowly rolled to a surprisingly smooth stop. I took off my headphones and stretched out my neck. The captain announced, in Japanese-accented English, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to O'Malley International Airport. We will soon be able to disembark. We hope you enjoyed this All-Nippon Airways flight."
The people around me stood up and started taking down their luggage. I would jump up and down in excitement but flying wore me out. I spent the one-day layover in Hawaii sleeping, losing my single chance to bronze my pale porcelain skin.
I stowed my headphones and my copy of Edgar Allen Poe's annotated poems and collected my bags as we began to mill out of the plane. My carry-on bags consisted of Dad's old JSDF satchel, a slim black purse, a laptop bag with a black and pink Hello Kitty keychain, and a plain black school bag. It dawned on me that my life consisted of only those three bags.
We filed out of the plane quickly. I turned my phone back on. There were two new text messages from my host family, the Suttons. Mrs. Vera Sutton and her oldest daughter, Denise, messaged that they had arrived and were waiting at Terminal Three's entrance. I put my phone down and caught myself in the airport's mirror. My jet-black hair was still straight, and my makeup had held up nicely. It was a slight relief from the stress of the day's travel. I traversed the airport looking for my host family and struggled to carry all my bags and not fall over. I was more nervous than nervously excited to meet them.
I joined an arc of fellow travelers from around the world looking for their people and saw my name poorly drawn in bad kanji and underneath written backward in beautiful English cursive penmanship. I smiled and chuckled at the attempt to write my name, Tohsaka Kaede, in Kanji. Despite my best efforts and husky voice, I timidly said, "Hello, I am Kaede Tohsaka."
"Hello dear, I'm so happy to meet you in person finally! I'm Vera Sutton, and this is my oldest, Denise." She waved at the slightly taller woman behind her. I felt tiny standing next to these taller women. Both were redheads but slightly different shades. Mrs. Sutton's hair was a darker red than her daughter's. I continued to stare at them. Both were impressively buxom, more so than me, even if I was more-than-modestly-endowed. Mrs. Sutton wore a white and yellow polka dot dress that hugged her tightly and a pair of short red heels. She looked like an actress from an American Noir movie. Denise was modestly taller than her mother but not overly tall for an American woman. She wore a white T-shirt that hugged her just as tightly as her mother's dress. Denise's shirt was embroidered with an American punk band's logo that appeared to be designed to accentuate the wearer's breasts. Seemingly, she wasn't wearing a bra. Her nipples showed through the shirt's thin material. She tucked the shirt into her blue jeans, which were so tight they appeared to be painted on, and she wore a pair of black tennis shoes. And around her neck was a black collar! I had my goth tendencies. But I wasn't brave enough to wear a collar in public!
She caught me looking and smirked. I quickly looked at Mrs. Sutton and said, "Thank you! I am so excited to be in America finally!" She smiled at me and offered to take my bags, which she promptly handed off to Denise and led me out of the airport.
Denise struggled just as much as I did with the bags. I offered to help, but Mrs. Sutton said her daughter could handle it and that I was a guest. With an Amazonian effort, Denise managed to stow my bags in the car's trunk. I was placed in the back seat. Mrs. Sutton occupied the passenger seat, and Denise drove.
Mrs. Sutton asked, "Sweetie, is this your first time in America?"
"Yes, ma'am, it is."
"I'm so impressed you don't have a hint of any accent!"
"I've been studying American English and literature for most of my life, in some way or another."
"How Impressive, so sweetie, what are you most looking forward to? Hmm?"
The way she asked, her body language as she half turned around in the car, as she spoke to me...was almost seductive.
"Oh, and what about home? Do you think you'll miss Japan?"
"I love Japan, but" I blushed. The way she was looking at me. No woman had ever looked at me like that before. "I am looking forward to seeing a diversity of bodies, to being immersed in American individualism, a contrast to my own culture's collectivist ethos, as I've said to study Great American works with American experts, and" I cocked my head a little bit and smirked. "I am looking forward to fighting your conservatives!"
"She playfully rolled her eyes. "Are you a Marxist?"
"Are you?!"
She coolly replied, "No, well, maybe my man is, and I guess that makes us also Marxists." She laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder.
Prior to my arrival, most of my communications with the Sutton family had been about my living arrangements and life. I had no idea the sweet, modestly older woman was this forward, this engaging. I honestly had no idea what her level of interest in me would be. I was much more excited to talk to her children and my peers, but so far, Denise had barely glanced back at me through the car's rearview mirror. And why would Mrs. Sutton's boyfriend be the arbiter of her family's political leanings?
"Well, I think you're going to love Ithaca, the town, and the university! Ithaca is a wonderfully quaint small town, but I'm sure it will have everything that you need. And if it doesn't, Vergennes City is a reasonable train ride away. During the last census, we clocked around twenty-eight hundred people. However, that population does go up by a couple of thousand when Ithaca University is in session. The town has low taxes and a generous mortgage subsidy program for homeowners and for the University's staff and faculty. We depend on the university so much in this town that we don't even have a formal police department. We rely on the University's police department. We're so lucky that Ithaca-U contributes so much to its host community's welfare."
"Mother, I'm sure Kaede has just about the same amount of interest I do in the town's police and taxes. Oh, and Kaede, by the way, weed is legal here."
I blushed. "I have never indulged..."
"Honey, you really shouldn't interrupt your mother. And keep your eyes on the road. We're almost there."
"I'm sorry, Kaede." She sighed. "I guess my oldest is right, but Denise, it is unseemly to interrupt your mother in front of guests. My youngest, Therese, is a senior at Ithaca High. She is much more obedient and respectful. And she's a co-captain of the cheer squad!"
Mrs. Sutton looked at me. "How about your studies? What are you looking forward to studying here?"
I barely understand what a cheerleader is.
My studies! "Oh, I am very excited to be! I learned English in primary and secondary school and expanded my vocabulary by voraciously reading novels and watching classic American movies! I really, really like Stanley Kramer and John Cassavetes's films! I love Western Philosophy and Southern American Gothic novels, Mrs. Sutton! I impressed my professors with my short stories at Nagoya University and convinced them to sponsor me as a sophomore! Barely nineteen years old for this study abroad! I am very eager to learn American poetics and writing from American experts firsthand. I want to learn more about the darkness within Hemingway, King, Jim Thompson, Faulkner, and Poe."
"Well, honey! I can tell that you are enthusiastic! Your room is on the second floor across from Denise's. Be sure to let me know if any of her video games are too loud."