Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko by Gordon Vanstone

Author:Gordon Vanstone [Vanstone, Gordon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912049837
Publisher: Monsoon Books Pte. Ltd.
Published: 2021-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Dallas From New York

When I returned to the common area, the lights were off. A chorus of deep breaths and snores filled the room. I managed to pick my way through the scattered bodies in the darkness to locate my patch of mat. I plonked down on the blanket with a thud and took out my wallet, cigarettes and serviceless phone; placed them on the tatami and moved the half-empty Awamori bottle by my hip, ready, like a sheathed katana.

In no time I’d joined the choir in sounds of sleep. Through the depths of this slumber, a ringtone penetrated. It persisted, so I groped beside me and by instinct answered my dead cell phone.

‘Hello,’ I said in a groggy voice.

‘My man, Freddie-B! What up, you with a fine lil’ chica? Got a bijin bent over? Hope I’m not interrupting you on the job, ol’ buddy.’

‘One second, I can’t talk here,’ I whispered.

I raised my body unsteadily and made a clumsy traverse out of the common area, kicking the feet of two passengers as I went. They groaned and stirred. ‘Sumimasen,’ I offered in apology, hoping I hadn’t woken them.

Out in an empty corridor, I found a seat by the window and looked at the clock on my phone. 4:29 am. ‘Dallas? How’d you reach me?’ I spoke tentatively, reluctant to believe anyone was on the other end. ‘My phone hasn’t had service for months. Plus, I’m in the middle of the fucking ocean.’

‘Shit man, you on a cruise or something? Fucking, grab some biatch and do tha Titanic thing off the front, yo. These chicks eat that shit up. Then haul that dress up and really give her what for.’ The laugh that followed was unmistakably Dallas’; full-throated, brash and carefree.

‘It’s a ferry. I’m on my way to Kobe. Why are … how are you calling?’

‘I missed you, man. Jus wanna be chillin wit’ my Canadian homie, “from old blocks, and old crews”. Scored us an eight-ball in Roppongi last night, gonna see if you were down to do some lines and hit the club, like back in tha day.’

‘It’s four o’clock dude, and like I said, I’m on a ship in the ocean.’ I had to reiterate this to myself more than Dallas; to refute, feebly, the surreal phone call.

‘Yeah aweright, I’ll jus go solo.’

‘Where are you, man?’ I wasn’t going to let him go without some answers. ‘In Tokyo still?’

‘Yeah, you know me, I’m still illin’ in tha TKO.’

‘This is really fucked up, how you’re calling out of the blue. A couple of days ago I got a call from Gertie. I was at an Internet café in Okinawa …’

‘Gertie, huh. How she doin?’

‘Don’t know, she sounded the same, good actually, like before the … you know. Anyway, she had some kinda message for me. I guess it’s maybe why I’m heading back to Tokyo … to find out what she meant … to figure shit out.’ I was still half asleep and dazed, mumbling gibberish off the tip of my tongue.

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