Kissing Daisy Parker: a coming of age YA novel by Michael Milton

Author:Michael Milton [Milton, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838047405
Publisher: Kensett Books
Published: 2020-07-20T16:00:00+00:00

GREGOR: A few of us have Big Macs because we’re not keen on Japanese food. Afterwards, we go to this bit a few blocks away. There’s still some neon lights, but the it’s also very dark. It reminds me of a scene out of Blade Runner. There’re dozens of these wee alleyways and lanes, all connected together. The doors look like house doors. Front doors. Inside each door is a minuscule bar with only three or four seats. Loads of them are empty, some have one or two guys inside. There’re no girls in these pubs, apart from the ones behind the bar, and “girl” is being generous, because they’re all old enough to be my granny. It’s all a bit mental for me, and I wish I was back in the hotel.

‘Okay, so you guys can hang out here for a bit if you want. You could go to one of the games centres we passed on the way down, do karaoke, or, if you're over twenty, you could go have a drink somewhere. Experience Tokyo on your own without me.’ I try hard not to roll my eyes, but Bill carries on: ‘Here’s the entrance to the subway, you take the Marunouchi line back to the hotel, the same one we used to get here. If you wander too far or you get lost, you can do one of two things. Number one, you can find a payphone and call me on my cell. Number two, you can jump into the nearest cab and show the driver this.’ Bill hands out Hotel Okura business cards with his cell phone number, takes out a roll of crisp 10,000 yen notes and puts one in each person’s hand. ‘That’s about a hundred bucks, so you have enough for a cab back to the hotel should you need it.’ He does a double finger point: ‘My boss is in one of these bars and wants to talk about baseball. Sometimes, I think the only reason he hired me is to talk about baseball, but he’s the boss. This is one of your last nights in Tokyo. Let loose a little.’

We once went on a school trip to York. Mr Sivright, the history teacher, brought us to an aquarium and then slipped off to the pub. This is exactly like that.

Everyone goes off in different directions. The Americans ask if we want to join them. J and I say ‘yes/no’ at the same time, so they shrug and head off without us. J’s raging at me.

‘Come on, Greg. This is the first time we’ve been let loose!’

‘I’d rather get a taxi back to the hotel. Fit some extra practice in before tomorrow.’

‘You’re joking? We’re in Tokyo, Greg. Tokyo, Japan!’

‘The finals start in less than twenty-four hours. I still have time to get better.’

‘Greg. You’re going to win this competition hands down. You’ve been playing that game for months while the others will be playing it for the first time tomorrow. We don’t have to stay out all night, but we can’t go yet.

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