An intoxicating punch
...written on 11.04.02, @ 7:44 p.m.
Mon November 4, 2002
The misty rain kept my head pointed toward the ground. I was returning home after a quick trip to the Gifu train station where I thought I had seen some stuff I wanted, but it turns out I had confused it with the Nagoya station.
I took a quick glance up to see how far I had come in the one minute journey from the train station to my apartment, when I saw a figure ahead wave at me and turn into my apt entrance.
It was Obata-san! I gave it the gas so I could talk to him and thank him for the fun outing the other day, but he had hustled up the stairs and merely flung a "yes" behind to my question if he was finished working. At our respective apartment doors he didn't look my way as he entered his place.
I thought that was rather odd after all the snuggling happiness of the other day, but I just shrugged to myself, slipped inside and began to read one of the books I had bought at a bookstore inside the Gifu Station.
Akari had called me while I was waiting on platform #6 for a train back to Ogaki. She said she wanted to bring me a small birthday present. I told her that I was only accepting big presents that day, but she could come by anyway and even join me for my birthday dinner. She laughed heartily at my joke.
She came over around 6pm and gave me a beaded ring that she had made herself. The colors matched my sweater perfectly and we headed down the stairs for dinner at the pub in my apartment building.
As we passed the mailboxes, I saw a plastic bag peeking out of mine. I took it out and looked at it. It was a card and present from Obata-san! In the restaurant, Akari helped me translate the Japanese and I believed I had the answer to my question in my last entry.
Obata-san not only understood, he had beaten me to the punch!
To be continued . . .