More Stories from the Woods

I showed Akemi some of the "overlapping" photographs I'd taken in Japan, shots I'd taken a bunch of with slight variations to increase the chances of getting a good one. The group we scrolled through together was of a hillside up close. None of the photos quite lived up to my expectations, but a few were interesting, near misses that might pass muster with an audience. Dark veins running through the rock formation looked like a deliberate composition element, as in a painting, which of course was Akemi's thing.  

I went on and showed her some shots I'd taken here with my friend Peter in a state park. A woman guide was with us in a red and black nylon outfit that looked a little like a flight suit.

"She had a cinched waist," I said. "If I'd noticed how minute it was I might have looked more." Seen she had a nice body, I meant. Akemi laughed with me. She's not opposed to my appreciating other women's beauty. She does too.

The guide wasn't actually guiding my friend and me, by the way. We just happened to run into her on our hike. Her puffy nylon suit all but hid her shape, except at the elasticized waist- but it comes through in the photos, amid those bold colors, which were a surprise in the natural setting, I guess intended to make her conspicuous, give hunters a heads-up.

"She was crazy about the cat with us," I told Akemi. "One of the group." I showed them to her. Fluffy orange, calico, kittens, the big cat the guide liked, lavished attention on, sported a white bib. At the cozy airbnb we stayed. Akemi took in the picture.

"In that box. The cardboard box." It was where the owners of the homestay kept them. I guess some guests objected to cats wandering around. People with allergies. I wish they could have at least provided a bigger box, even offered to go look for one myself. The cats looked fine when they were out of it but inside mostly slept, I guess because they had nothing else to do." 

Yeah, the guide in black and red, outdoorswoman with wild black hair, mid to late twenties, came back to the airbnb with Peter and me for a cup of tea. Akemi didn't ask about that. I almost wished she had. Doesn't she get jealous? It was chilly, a fall day, and we invited her in- the place was on her way; she had her ranger vehicle parked in the dusty lot out front; leaves had fallen over it, true to the season, maybe leaves or oak (no idea) splayed on the hood- I would have explained. Nothing happened. Still, Akemi might have shown some curiosity! I guess she knows there's nothing to worry about when it comes to the opposite sex and me. I wish I could share that confidence on her behalf. Guys come onto her every which way. You're sitting in a coffee shop and glance over and there's some idiot gaping at her, ignoring the friends at the table with him. Some people have no manners. That's all I'll say. You can't count on them to respect the fact that she's married, for instance.

A colleague at work asked me to substitute for an evening class. She said she was having trouble with the material she was teaching, stuff that got a little stickily into politics, which was on everyone's mind then, election coming up and all.  

The colleague left the article in my mailbox but I forgot to take it home to prepare before the class- which was a real necessity, given the tricky topic. There's a prohibition against bringing your own opinions into class. This dealt with human rights pretty much everyone could agree on, but caution was needed.

I wasn't going back to the college for two days and didn't feel like making a special trip to pick up the article, so I called the publisher, a democratic activist organization, and asked if they could rush a copy to me. The thing seemed not to be available online. Maybe they'd removed it from their website.

My call went nowhere. I couldn't get past the menu tree but was able to leave a message and later a guy returned it. And his answer disappointed. He said he couldn't fulfill my request, they were too busy to go to the trouble- now, at election time, surely I understood. The man sounded defensive at first but the tone softened some when he saw I wasn't going to try changing his mind. He apologized but didn't budge. I said, "Well, I appreciate your calling all the way from Nebraska." That's where the organization was located.   "And thanks for volunteering. We have to do well in the election!" This one was important. In the course of the conversation it became apparent that he worked as a volunteer, which was more than I could say for myself!  

Speaking of rejections, Akemi delivered one when I asked to use her voice for my writing. She read aloud to improve her English, was now going through a novel, a good one, atmospheric. I thought her pronouncing some of those lines would lend verisimilitude to the story in progress, and it would have, but she cited privacy concerns (though all of this would have been strictly anonymous). I understood and respected her wishes, of course, Still I found the idea compelling.