Fortune Smiled

I never used to believe in luck. I always thought that a person created their own luck. You just had to be in the right place at the right time, and be prepared to take advantage of the opportunity when it presented itself. Then when that opportunity came around, you grabbed ahold of it and ran with it as fast and as far as you could. That's what I always thought.

Well, after working for more than thirty years and then putting my dear wife of twenty years into the ground, I've become resigned to spending the rest of my life more or less how I spent the prior thirty years. That is, paying bills, mowing the yard, having a beer with the guys every Friday night and getting in a round of golf about once a month or so. Although I tried to be prepared and ready to move forward, the so-called opportunities never did seem to come my way. The other guys seemed to have all the luck.

The only difference now is that I decided to retire. I had years of service and age, plus the insurance payout when my wife died. That left me the option to kick back and contemplate my future as my wife's premature death left me adrift. Treading water or slowly sinking was probably a good description of my current life.

"Hey Peter, your turn to buy a round." Stevie-boy complained. So I hailed a nearby waitress and indicated a round for the guys. Stevie-boy used to hate his nick name when we were young but we refused to call him anything else but that; even now that he's pushing 60. Somewhere along the line, he kind of figured out that there's no sense in trying to hold back the tide with a spoon.

"So where are you and the missus going on vacation this year?" I asked.

"We were figuring on visiting Rambo and his family up in Omaha later this year."

Rambo was Stevie-boy's first son, Richard. Went into the Army as an infantry grunt and 12 years later he's a captain. All sorts of medals and ribbons on his uniform. Richard made Stevie-boy and his wife really proud. For those of us who knew Richard, it didn't surprise us one bit. The boy was a military man through and through; hence the nick name.

"And what you gonna do for your vacation this year?" Stevie-boy asked.

"Don't really know. Haven't really thought about it."

"Well I don't recall you taking one in a long time. Don't you think it's about time that you dust off that ole suitcase of yours and take a trip somewhere? Maybe find a sexy broad to take with you?" Raymond laughed.

Raymond's another one of our bunch. We all went to high school together. Some of us left to go to college or the service. Some of us left to pursue a job somewhere else. A couple of us eventually found our way back to town for whatever reason. In Raymond's case, he never left. Instead he became a minor politician and then the mayor a couple of years ago. We just teased him that he was a busy body that couldn't help but stick his nose into everyone else's business. All ribbing aside, he was good for our town.

"Well Raymond, having to pay those high real property taxes to the city to pay your huge salary kind of leaves me broke each year." I complained. And everyone else laughed including Raymond.

"Broke, my ass." Raymond smiled. "You and that fucking mansion that you live in."

"Hey, can I help it if Charlie wanted a big house?" Charlie, or rather Charlotte, was my dear departed wife. I still remember her smile and hug that used to set my world on fire. Something inside of me died the day that she succumbed to the cancer that had eaten her from the inside out.

But Raymond was right. I hadn't taken a vacation ever since Charlie died. It just didn't feel the same. It didn't feel right.

"All kidding aside Peter, it's about time you got your life back. We all know that Charlie meant everything to you, but she's not here anymore. You're just kind of existing and not really living. We all worry about you." Stevie-boy said solemnly. And the rest of the guys all nodded their heads.

I paused, took a sip from my beer, and sighed. "Yeah, well you guys might be right. I'll give it some thought. Thanks for thinking of me." And we went back to drinking and bragging and lying about our golf game.

Woke up the next morning feeling pretty good. The weather looked like it would be sunny and I was scheduled to do 18 holes with Stevie-boy, Raymond and Burt. Burt was another classmate who went away and came back. But in his case, Burt came back to retire and relax. Burt literally made his millions and was a steady philanthropist with our town as the primary beneficiary. But he insisted that nothing be named after him or his wife.

Burt was always the really smart kid in school. Always aced the exams and graduated as our class valedictorian. He received a full ride scholarship to Cal-Berkley and the next thing we knew, he was the owner of some software company that had done an IPO that exceeded Wall Street's expectations. We figured that his net worth must be bigger than ten digits, but he never said anything about it. That's just the kind of guy that Burt was.

"So what we playing for today?" Raymond asked.

"Same as we always play for, first round at the 19^th hole and bragging rights." Stevie-boy smiled.

Ahead of us was a foursome of young ladies. Looked like they were college age and could play the game really well. We all watched them tee off in their tight shorts, wiggle their tight fanny's, then smack their golf balls way down the middle of the fairway.

"Good thing they're in front of us and not behind." Burt said.

Raymond laughed, "yeah, I think we would be holding them back. Sheesh. Look at that young thing hit that ball."

WHACK! She must have hit that ball at least 200 yards in the air and it must have bounced and rolled another 30 or 40 yards.

Yeah, good thing they were in front. We would have embarrassed the shit out of ourselves.

As we were putting on the first green Raymond asked, "So Peter, you decide where you're gonna go on your vacation?"

"Ya know, I really don't know. Charlie and I did a little traveling but that was mostly camping trips to national parks and the sort. Although we did make it over to Washington D. C. once just so we could say that we had been there."

"Yeah, know what you mean. We did the same sort of thing when our kids were young." Raymond said.

"Do something different. Go somewhere none of us has been to. Do something that you normally wouldn't do." Stevie-boy said.

'"Like what?" I asked.

And then they all started coming up with suggestions that just didn't work for me, like go to the Mardi Gras and hand out beads to topless women. Or go hang gliding or ballooning. Spend a week at the Bunny Ranch in Nevada. Or enter the World Championship Poker Competition in Vegas (I'm the world's worst poker player). We all had a good laugh trying to come up with weird ideas.

Then Burt said, "I know of an experience that you'll never, ever forget. You'll need to travel to Japan, but the experience will probably change your life forever."

The way Burt said it made us all shut up and listen as he explained. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

"A person that I respected a lot suggested that it would benefit me. I had been working for a couple of years and wasn't really excited about the prospects of the company that I was working for. So I went and I never regretted it one bit."

"So what was it all about?" I asked.

"I can't tell you right now. But if you're interested, come over to my house tonight after dinner and we'll talk about it more."

That was a pretty mysterious explanation. And that made me curious.

"You mentioned that you benefited from the experience?"

"Yes. Immensely. Changed my life." Burt smiled. Now that made all of us curious.

"Can we all come over?" Stevie-boy asked. "This is starting to sound interesting."

"No. Only Peter. He needs this. You don't."

----------

Golf that day ended up the way it usually did. Raymond was down two strokes going into the last hole so he "pushed" the last hole; double or nothing. Lucky guy made his birdie. We ended up buying his beer. And of course, we expected him to brag about it until the next time we went out.

I went over to Burt's house after dinner. He lives about 15 minutes away from me. Nice enough home for him and his wife. No kids. He said that they got married a little too late for kids.

His wife Kara greeted me at the door. Kara is a knock out. Of Japanese ancestry, she was born in Japan but raised in the US. I think she mentioned going to USC and getting her doctorate in physics from Stanford. I think she said that she used to work at some think tank in Southern California but just burned out.

"He's in his study. You want anything to drink?" Kara asked.

"No thanks. I had enough beer this afternoon." I replied and she laughed. She knew how we usually ended our golf games.

So I walked over to Burt's study and knocked on his open door. Burt waved me in and Kara joined us.

"Ok, I'm all ears. Tell me what this is all about." I asked.

Burt nodded to Kara and she closed the drapes and the door to the study. That kind of got my attention.

"Peter, what we have to share with you has to remain confidential. There are only a handful of people in this world who know about this. So we must have your word that you won't repeat what we say to anyone else."

Whoa, where did this 'secret agent' stuff come from? But they had my curiosity going so what else could I say, so I agreed.

Kara then went over to a cabinet behind Burt's desk and brought out a small wooden box and removed a roll of parchment. She unrolled it on Burt's desk and we all sort of gazed at it. At first glance, it was just a blank piece of parchment paper. But as we looked at it, words began appearing on the parchment just like in a Harry Potter movie, except this was the real thing. Holy Jesus! Made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up again. What the hell was this?

"Peter, please don't be alarmed. The scroll has a message for you. Please look." Kara said.

And I looked. And there it was.

"Peter, you are invited to spend a week with us. We will help you find a new path in this world."

And in lieu of a signature or a name, there was a picture of what appeared to be an Asian temple.

Burt rolled the scroll up, "This is better than how I thought it would go."

"Huh? What the heck is going on?" I was stunned, weirded out, and flabbergasted.

Kara smiled, "The scroll knew that you were coming over tonight."

"What?"

Burt smiled, "yes, and it invited you to spend a week at the temple. You must go."

"What?"

"Remember what I said about how my experience changed my life? How I benefited from it immensely?"

"Yeah?"

"You must go." Kara said. "Both of us benefited so much by going."

"You too?"

"Yes."

"So what is this all about?"

"The temple is located in northern Honshu, the main island. It has been in the Iwamasa family for more than 21 generations. It is very old." Burt said.

Kara went on to say, "The temple is the old training ground for the emperor's male progeny."

"Is this some sort of mystical martial arts program?" I asked.

"No Peter. It is definitely not a martial arts training program. What the Iwamasa's teach goes well beyond martial arts. They will help you to gain a better understanding of yourself that will make a huge difference in who you are."

"Huh?" None of this was making much sense to me.

Kara looked at Burt and he nodded in agreement. I didn't even hear what she said to him but he must have understood something.

"You will learn how to clear your mind of all things that are not important. You will learn what is important to you and what is not. You will grow and enhance your mental capabilities. You will learn how to focus your energies." She said.

"What Kara and I went through is largely the reason why both of us became so successful. We really can't say much more."

"Please go Peter," Kara said. Burt nodded his head.

Burt and Kara had some sort of connection to the temple via the scroll. While I was still there, they unrolled the scroll again and it wrote out another message.

It said, "Peter, the temple will be open to you on the 7^th day of the coming month. No sooner. No later. You will be there four days. After which you may leave whenever you wish."

How did the scroll know that I was thinking of going? The 7^th day of the coming month. That just about gave me a week to make my travel arrangements. Good thing I was retired and had a current passport. I guess I was going.

----------

The flight to Japan was a long one. I arrived at the Narita International Airport and made the connection to the JR Rail Station in the terminal. I had an hour wait for the Shinkansen bullet train that went up north to Yamagata. When the train arrived in Yamagata, I was met by a young Japanese man with a placard bearing my name; Sekimura, Peter.

Yeah, I'm part Japanese. Lots of people think I'm Caucasian as I'm fair skinned, tall, slim, black hair with steaks of white, and basically look Caucasian. That is, unless you take a closer look at my eyes and could see the double eye lids and slight almond shape. But to most people, they couldn't tell so it didn't matter much.

But it was strange to see my name on that card. I'm sure the young man must have been surprised to see me walk up to him and bow. But he smiled and greeted me as he bowed in return, "Sekimura-san, konbanwa, hello."

He took my bag and led me to an SUV. We loaded up and were on our way within minutes.

"Peter ... may I call you Peter?"

"Huh, why you speak pretty good English."

He chuckled. "Yeah, born and raised in LA, actually Gardena, so my eigo (english) is pretty good. My name is Kris."

I laughed. "What are you doing here, Kris?"

"I came for the same reason you came. I was curious and had nothing better to do. And I went through the program and decided that this is where I belong."

"And how did you know that I was coming?" I asked.

"The temple master told me to pick you up. He knew when you would arrive."

I was puzzled. I hadn't even told Burt or Kara of my travel plans. I had just told them that I had decided to take their advice and come. Well I guess the scroll telling me when to arrive perhaps played into Kris being at the station.

"So the temple master knew I was coming?"

"Yes. He told me several days ago of when you would be arriving. You will meet him tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning?"

"Yes. Tonight we will get you settled into one of the rooms so you can relax, get something to eat and rest."

"Thanks. That was a long flight and train ride."

----------

Kris waited for me to hang up whatever clothes I wanted, then he led me to a dining room where we had a simple dinner of steamed fish, braised vegetables and rice. Simple yet very tasty.

Kris reminded me, "The temple master will meet with you tomorrow morning after breakfast. You will find him at the temple."

"And where is the temple?"

"Can't miss it. Out the door and look uphill." Kris smiled.

So we cleaned up and I returned to my room. I figured a shower sounded like a good idea, but the bathroom just had a toilet and a sink. Oh boy. Then I remembered my grandmother telling us about how they had a communal bath in the town where she grew up in Japan. So perhaps that was the case here as well.

Well, when in Rome ...... So I grabbed a change of clothes and went looking for the shower.

Back to the dining hall, I ran into a young woman who was in the process of closing down the room. I bowed and asked her, as slowly as I could, "where .... Is .... Bath?"

She laughed and blushed, "You must be Sekimura-san. Temple master say you are coming today."

"Wow, you speak really good English." Didn't I just say that to Kris? "Are you from the US also?"

"Iie (no), I come from southern Japan, Fukuoka Prefecture. I speak English, French, Korean, and a little Ilocano (a Filipino dialect). Oh, and Japanese of course." She laughed.

"Wow. I am impressed."

"Oh yes. The bath. We call it the onsen. We have two in this compound. One for men and one for women. Please follow me." And she led me to the men's onsen.

The onsen was in a fairly large building. She pointed to the front door and said, "that is the entrance to the onsen for men. You should place your clothes in one of the baskets and then put the basket on the shelf. Go through the doorway and you will find a wash area. There should be stools, wash towels, and soap. Wash yourself, then you can relax in the hot water."

And I did just that. I went through the front door and found a stack of empty baskets. I took my clothes off and placed them with the change of clothes that I brought with me, in one of the baskets. There were several shelves along the far wall so I put my basket on one of the shelves. Steam poured out of a doorway so I figured that the bathing area must be through there. I went in and found the wash area as the young lady had mentioned. So I washed myself. The hot bath was right next to the wash area and it looked really inviting so I chanced it and slowly lowered myself into the steaming water. It was really hot and it took me a couple of minutes to adjust. But it was worth it. I have got to get me something like this when I get back home.

----------

My body clock was off because of the time zone differences. I woke up around 3am and couldn't go back to sleep. So I decided to just get up and get dressed, and walk around the temple grounds and play tourist.

The temple itself is a short walk uphill from the compound that I was staying in. The entrance to the temple grounds is guarded by a gateway called a Torii. It's a wooden gate that you might see in some Asian advertising. Torii gates are often painted red and are used to mark the entrance to sacred sites such as temples or shrines.

I was about to enter the temple grounds through the Torii, when I suddenly felt a warm feeling flood my entire body. That made me pause and look around. I couldn't see anything or anyone, but I felt surprisingly warm. So I took off the jacket I was wearing.

Then a voice said, "Welcome to our temple Sekimura-san."

That made me jump! I looked around and didn't see anyone. But I heard that voice clearly as if the speaker was standing right next to me.

"Your questions will be answered soon," it replied.

It could hear my thoughts.

"Yes."

This was getting rather scary.

"Do not be afraid."

I stood there trying to decide what to do. I took two steps back and immediately felt cooler. I took the same two steps forward and felt the warmth surround and infuse me again.

"Decide please."

Decide what, I asked myself.

"Decide whether to trust and accept or to leave."

I needed to decide. Burt and Kara both spoke highly of the temple's training. And so did the guy who picked me up, Kris. So I took another step forward, then another. And I felt surprisingly happy and at peace.

"Please follow the path." The voice in my head said. So I did.

It lead me deeper into the temple grounds, to a garden with a lot of steam surrounding it. How I knew that it was a hot spring, and that I was expected to bath in it, I do not know. But I did bath myself, then spent a few minutes soaking in the warmth of the hot spring waters.

After I was fully relaxed, I decided to get out and do a little exploring. I climbed out of the hot spring and found a white robe to wear. I put it on and left my clothes behind. Then I explored the garden a bit before finding a path that led me further into the temple grounds.

"Follow the path please."

There was the voice again. Where did the path go? Where was it leading me to?

"The path will take you to our temple master who awaits you."

So I continued to walk down the path. The hot spring had warmed me and relaxed me, and I continued to feel warm and comfortable. After a few minutes I came upon a group of simple roofed pavilions. One of the pavilions was bare of any furnishings. The floor appeared to be a polished wooden floor. On several other pavilions, I could see several large chests arranged along one end.