Sake Slut

Hiroshi put both his knees on the broken thumbs and leaned forward until his nose was practically touching Larry’s and said in a quiet and controlled but menacing voice, “If you ever see me again…it will be the last thing you ever see”.

When Hiroshi stood up we both noticed that Larry had wet himself.

On the street Hiroshi said, “My father was Yakuza. He taught me a man with broken thumbs cannot fire a weapon, I am sorry you had to see that, but it was necessary”

“A man with two broken thumbs cannot do a lot of things, like shave or wipe himself clean when he has been on the toilet”, I said.

Hiroshi said nothing for a few minutes as we walked, and then he said, “Yes, without opposable thumbs, he is the baboon and he will have to live like a baboon for a few months and he will know that he lives only because I allowed him to live and everyday he will remember me and fear me more”.

I realized that Hiroshi had strengths and resolve that I may have underestimated.

“Do you have time to come to dinner at my mother’s before your flight?” I asked.

Hiroshi said he would love to meet my mother and that he had already arranged to fly back a day later.

When I introduced Hiroshi to my mother she said, “Who’s Larry?”

Before I could answer Hiroshi said, “Sake wanted to surprise you so she asked a girlfriend to have her boyfriend call”.

My mother looked puzzled and then asked, “Who is Sake?”

I answered, “I like sake and Hiroshi has trouble saying Ulla”.

We had a wonderful evening. I could tell my mother liked Hiroshi, but was disappointed when she found out he was returning to Japan the next day.

After Hiroshi left I found a cheaper apartment across town and enrolled in gamblers anonymous. Almost a month went by before I heard from him and then the phone woke me up in the middle of the night and it was Hiroshi.

He had been fired from his job and blackballed in corporate Japan. He had interviewed at very many different firms and one of his interviewers was a Mr. Urogataya, my father. My father had heard about what had happened in Edmonton and he thanked Hiroshi for protecting me from Nagiamoto, but he was very angry with Hiroshi for pimping me to the party. Hiroshi explained about the gambling debt and that we had little choice but to do what we did. When Hiroshi told me that my father had asked him if he love me I thought I would squeeze the phone in two while I waited for his answer. Finally he said, “And I told him yes, that I wanted to make you my wife”.

When he said that my heart leapt into my throat and I asked, “What did he say to that?”

Hiroshi paused for a longtime and then said, “He asked me if I thought I could be happy with a wife whose sex drive was so strong that she needed more than a few men to be satisfied”.

“And what was your answer?” I asked.

“I told him that you were the most remarkable woman I have ever met. That its true that you may be what most men call a slut, but that you were my slut, the woman I wanted, the woman that I was proud of for her ability to satisfy one man or many men at once. I told him that I wanted you to have as much pleasure from life, sexual or otherwise, as possible. That how could I feel otherwise if I truly, unselfishly, loved you.” He said.

With a trembling voice I asked, “What did he say to that?”

“He thought a longtime, then he said he still loved your mother and that he had been a fool,” answered Hiroshi.

“She still loves him too, but what good does that do with him in Japan and her in Canada?” I asked.

Hiroshi surprised me with his answer. He said, “If you will give me the honor of becoming my wife I will be on the next plane back to Canada, and as we speak, your father is asking your mother the same question.”

That was a little more than two years ago. My father is now back in Canada with my mother. He and Hiroshi have a small business setting up exhibits for various companies throughout Canada and The US. I have not gambled again, but Hiroshi and I did run into Larry on the street once and we thought he would wet himself a second time when he saw Hiroshi.

The last ten years were difficult ones for me, and, believe it or not, I have no regrets. I am glad that I “sowed my wild oats”, as my mother says, while I was young. I am glad that I have nothing to hide from the man who I now share my life with and I know that he admires and loves me more for it. In two months we will have our first child, a girl.

My mother and I often wonder if she will have as turbulent time as we both did in finding our place in this world. We both worry about her future and she is not even born yet. But, the world is changing and in the future perhaps men won’t judge women by different standards than those they apply to themselves.