Knockout Ch. 38-43

"Sushi?!" Jan said in surprise. "But I thought you said you'd never..."

Tim cut her off with, "That was before. But now we've promised each other to be more open to new things, even when we probably shouldn't." Jan laughed. "I figured this one would be pretty easy to give a shot."

A hostess stepped up with a couple of menus in her hand. She was indeed Japanese, but dressed in American clothing -- the restaurant had apparently decided not to go that far into the kitsch. "Hello," she said in English that was as American as their own. "Welcome to the Izakaya Kitchen. Have you ever dined with us before?"

Janice laughed. "I think this is the first time he's ever been inside any sushi restaurant."

The hostess smiled. "Well then, we will do our very best to ensure it is not his last." As she led them to their table, she asked Tim, "Please tell me, sir. Do you not like fish or do you just not like the idea of uncooked fish?"

"No, I like fish just fine," he said. "Pan fried trout is one of my favorites, actually. And I have eaten chilled shrimp -- does that count as sushi?"

"Actually, it does," she said. "And of course, not all sushi fish dishes are served raw; that is mainly only the sashimi elements." A man in his mid-50's stepped up to the table with a pitcher of ice water. "This is Satoru," the hostess said. "He'll be your server tonight and if I may, Satoru is very experienced at introducing newcomers to sushi and I would suggest you allow him to choose your menu if you are alright with that."

"Actually, that sounds great to me," said Tim. "It will save me from embarrassing myself even trying to figure out what everything is. But what about you, honey? Maybe you want to choose for yourself?"

"You know what?" said Jan. "I want to experience the same things as you so I can best understand your reactions." She addressed the waiter. "Satoru-san, we will trust in your good judgement." She ended with a bow of her head.

The waiter smiled broadly and bowed. "Meiyo aru josei, I am honored by your trust. I will do my best to ensure your husband will gladly join you again in our humble kitchen." His English was pretty heavily accented, but clear. He hurried off to place orders for them.

"What did he call you?" Tim asked after the older man was gone.

"I think it was something like, Honored Lady," she said. "I can't believe it's been eight years since I did that school exchange in Kyoto."

Soon Satoru was back with a small earthenware jug and bowl-shaped cups. "A saké to say welcome and as an aperitif," he said as he poured each of them a generous shot. "Of course, you will not want saké with your sushi. Too strong and too much rice flavor together," he added for Tim's benefit. "I suggest beer or green tea with your meal."

"Do you have a non-alcoholic beer?" Tim asked.

"Yes, the Kirin Perfect Free goes quite well with sushi," said Satoru. Tim nodded his assent.

"Green tea for me, please," said Janice. The waiter bowed again and walked away.

"Non-alcoholic?" said Jan.

"Well, I am driving tonight," he answered. Then he looked more strongly into her eyes. "And whatever happens tonight, I don't want alcohol to be the cause or the excuse."

"Whatever happens tonight?"

Tim held his saké bowl up to her and she brought hers up to meet it. They held the lips of the cups together as he spoke.

"We've been doing a lot of talking and role-playing about some very risqué and perhaps risky things lately and we've both been very excited by it. Last night we bumped right up against some of those things actually being possible. And I think we were both very excited by that as well." There was a question in his last statement and Janice nodded, although shyly.

"So, as part of our pledge to be open to trying new things, even when what we have is already great," he paused for a deep breath as if getting ready to jump from the high board, then he rushed ahead. "I think that if a real opportunity comes up and we really feel like acting on it, then we should." He paused, continuing to peer deep into her eyes. "Do you agree?" He waited calmly, keeping his saké bowl against hers.

"A toast to opportunities," she finally said. They both sipped the strong rice wine.

Tim returned his cup to the toasting position and she rejoined him. "Not going searching, but just being open to possibilities." Another touching of cups and another sip.

"And no guilt or regrets about trying something new."

"No guilt and no regrets," she replied, although her voice held the question mark this time.

"Hey," he smiled, "I'm going to try eating this sushi stuff, but it doesn't mean I'm going to like it and will want to have it again. But at least I'll know for sure and I won't have been too scared to try."

She smiled back at him and raised her cup a tad higher. "Here's to not being too scared to try." This time they tossed back the remaining saké in a shot.

Satoru returned with their drinks and their first dishes. He carefully explained each one to Tim as he served them. And it didn't take long before Tim became a fan of the seaweed-wrapped rice and even the larger pieces of raw tuna and salmon.

Throughout the meal they talked over details of Tim's opening toast and agreed on a few ground rules. And the biggest one was that there was no goal of actually doing anything at all, it was all about just being okay with saying 'yes' if the right opportunity came along.

"Okay," he said near the end of the meal. "I have to admit I'm impressed. I guess worrying about not liking something can keep you away from finding things you do like."

"True for sushi, maybe true for other things?" asked Janice.

"Let's go find out," he said and called for the check.

Ch. 43: Saturday Night Parking

Since AeroDance had been a small manufacturing site, it had the old employee parking lot to go along with the building. The cover charge for the club included the parking and Tim cruised through the still mostly empty lot until finding a spot he liked. It was an extension of the main lot, wrapped around the back of the building and Tim took a place near the end of the dead-end extension.

"This is almost as far away from the entrance as you can get," said Janice. "We're early enough to be closer, so, why back here?"

Tim nodded to the back of the building. "Is that the rear exit that D'Andre wanted to take you through last night?"

She agreed it was.

"And if you were to take him up on such an offer, wouldn't you like to be able to get to the car faster and have it in a place where there were less likely to be other people around?"

She agreed again. Then she said, "If I take him up on such an offer? When you mentioned wanting to have the car with us for a quickie, I thought you were talking about us?"

"I was," said Tim. "And I still am," he added with a wicked smile. "But what if that opportunity comes up with someone else? A quick tryst might be better than worrying about hotel rooms or whatever and there's no lingering goodbye."

"So, if I come out here to do it with some strange guy and I find out he has a small car I should bring him over to do it in ours?" she challenged.

"Or if Crystal only wants to loan me Chante for a little while and then have her talk about doing it in the parking lot while she gives her the strap-on back at home," Tim said innocently.

Jan looked at him thoughtfully. "You know, I almost forgot this is a two-way street," she said. "To be blunt, we know that in a place like this there will be no shortage of hound dogs trying to offer me 'opportunities'. But after what we saw last night, you are just as likely to get opportunities that are actually worth saying yes to.

"And you're also right that a quickie here could be the best way to take a little taste of the wild life without biting off more than we really want to chew." After a moment, she added, "You really want this to happen, don't you?"

He got out of the car, walked around to open her door and helped her out. As they began walking arm-in-arm around to the front of the building, he said, "No. I think, or at least I hope, that I'll enjoy it if it does. But I may be even happier if it doesn't. But if we say no to an opportunity, I want it to be because we really aren't into that opportunity, not because the logistics stop us from saying yes.

"And having these little bits of the plot available are going to be extra sparks of excitement to think about while we're in there, even if they don't get used."

"I don't know if you're just clever or downright devious," she said. "But I have to admit my pussy has been tingling since that first saké toast and you just turned it up."

### End of Installment 8 ###