Tokyo Noir by Jake Adelstein

Author:Jake Adelstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRU003000, BIO025000, POL064000, HIS021000
Publisher: Scribe Publications Pty Ltd
Published: 2024-05-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

How to make a percutaneous ethanol injection cocktail

March 28, 2011 was a Monday. On that day, I celebrated my forty-second birthday by undergoing an MRI and receiving a diagnosis of liver cancer; I wondered if I’d have a forty-third birthday. I had also had a CT scan that day—it was like icing on the cake.

Actually, the day started off with a cupcake. Camille, my remaining roommate, had put a little frosted red velvet cupcake on the table with a candle on it for me. It was a sweet gesture, even if she spelled my name Jack. She still called me Jack, now and then, after months of us living together. I didn’t mind. Maybe there weren’t many Jakes in France.

As I packed my bag and looked for my suit that morning before going to the clinic, I felt a strange sense that the year had gone astray. This wasn’t the year I had planned. Had I wound up in the wrong universe?

The year had started well. In 2011, I was still enjoying the fruits of Tokyo Vice being published. I spoke at universities. I spoke to investment bankers—for a fee. I traveled back and forth between the United States and Japan often. I even went to San Francisco to see Michiel. She was happily enrolled at the University of Monterey. She was in remission. It looked like leukemia had lost the battle with her, although I knew I shouldn’t use that metaphor; it always seemed like a stupid thing to say. Cancer isn’t intelligent, and it’s not an opponent.

Michiel and I had a great time while I was visiting; it was like the good old days. We had a wonderful evening at the San Francisco Night Museum. There was music, booze, and access to the aquarium. Michiel and I danced at a little mock disco. At the aquarium, she did a hilarious impersonation of Ariel from The Little Mermaid drowning to death, which was probably in poor taste, but amusing to me at the time. We all sang a few verses of “Under the Sea” together.

But, as my father had told me, nobody is lucky forever.

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