Yet one more snippet from the non-existent story Eriko & Jan

Epilogue

Jan took a sip of coffee. Tried as he might, was still unable to assimilate the words he just heard minutes ago. Walking around like a lion in a cage proved to be as desperating as staying on the couch recycling the words he heard over the telephone.

Snorting as if he was a horse, left for the street. Once he was on the sidewalk, he returned, by sheer uneasiness, and went down the parked car. Still feeling the uneasiness boil on his blood, decided it would be better to sit down behind the wheel. No driving, just stay behind the wheel and imagine he's on one of those long dry roads going in and out of Vegas... amidst the tumbleweeds and the occasional sand storm. That Interstate 15 was pretty fitting for what he was needing at this time. All of a sudden, the car felt like it was moving on the narrow, four-lane road. The reddish golden sands watching from afar, while he was practically flying on his beaten-up RX-7.

Involuntarily, Jan's hand reached for the pocket and produced a key chain. Starting up the engine, the car headed out and merged with the street traffic. Out there in the streets, it felt too crowded for Jan, so he decided to head for an open road, finally. Upon following randomly the directions on several sign posts indicating destinations, he took one, based only on the only fact that it seemed a fair drive, and he needed desperately soak his head on fresh air to see if it would help him to settle the uneasiness and the rest of those feelings circling around his head.

While the houses alongside the road were descending in quantity and frequency, Jan's head was increasingly becoming clearer. After all, he only needed to acknowledge all what he just listened. All of a sudden, while turning the radio dial, he started revisiting all those words Eriko had told him:

- "So, what have you been up to?" - Heard himself after much fidgeting with the keyboard and listen the telephone signal it was ringing on the receiving end.
- "Not much really, I'm just about to take on clay modeling as a form of occupational therapy" - Eriko's voice was relaxed.
- "Is that to say you're not really doing much on the job?" - inquired a puzzled Jan, who always thought her job schedule was way too demanding even at "slow times", as Mr. Dizon would say about the times where Eriko and her team weren't producing another video, recording, or having a string of presentations. 
- "Well, then. It sounds like it's coming from that 'Ghost' movie with that Swayze guy. Good thing you're not into girls." - he pointed.
- "What makes you think my teacher is a girl? I never said anything like that!" - Eriko's voice raised in a mix of puzzled questioning and amazement.
For a brief, awkward pause, Jan could not articulate a word. At the same time, while listening Eriko's words, felt how his feelings were boiling violently, like magnesium on water.
- "Actually, the teacher is a guy... and it's nice to me, too." - She paused for a second, and then proceeded to lay the whole game on the table: "To be honest, I'm going out with him." - She completed, as bluntly as the Ice Pick that killed Trotsky. Jan's legs were failing on him. His chest felt like it had a furnace inside.
Jan just barely could articulate words, but managed to show he wasn't fazed by what Eriko was telling him. Other thing would have been to see his face, which was lacking all of the colors of the world and turned into a bluish kind of pale. The creepy type, that was.

Still without realizing the effect of her words, Eriko continued elaborating on her new relationship.

- "I was too busy meeting his family and such, but since I had time away from the job, and we're on a slow time... Mr. Dizon has told me not to rush, really. So there I was talking to him, then we started going over to lunch and stuff, then... you should meet him, he's a cute guy." -

Jan felt he needed an air blower shoved into his throat, but even so, he wasn't about letting her know he was in a near-critical psychotic reaction. - "Is that so?" - muttered to the mouthpiece.

- "Well it all has been too fast! He even has proposed me! Can you believe it?" - While Eriko was giggling about her own comment, Jan's thinking was obscured from the dizzyness produced by the word "propose". His answer was barely listeneable: "You amaze me. I thought you weren't into marrying now".
- "As a matter of fact, I wasn't considering it, but just because I've never been proposed before!, you know?" - She retorted in a gamely manner, hinting Jan could have take that chance before. Jan took the hint immediately, but as other lost chances, it came on the wrong time. Not answering was the only sane thing he could think of at the time. He needed to know if it wasn't a seriously bad joke, therefore he applied himself on the conversation, although feeling worse by knowing the truth was the most likely scenario.
- "So now you tell me you're interested on marrying this guy?. Don't you think it's too soon?" - Jan wanted to last the conversation a little longer, so he could gather as much information bits as he could, but his condition was worsening by the minute he was listening Eriko say everything related to seriously become unreachable.
- "I think so, but Who knows, anyway? I still need to adapt, because it all has happened too fast. All his family is so lovely, and I'm pretty sure everyone will like him. He's got this kindness to him... I know once you meet him, you both will be great pals", she elaborated on the possibility of both men becoming good friends, but Jan wasn't as excited as Eriko was.
- "You must know, once you get married, you won't be able to be in touch with your friends as before the wedding. As soon as you say yes, you're no longer a free woman, but a married lady, and your first obligation will be stay inside the marriage circle, close to your husband. So the others, are staying outside, not too close. Maybe to visit from time to time, but won't be able to go out with you as it used to. I think every society and every culture has established it about the same."

Jan's words sounded stern.

- "And I wouldn't want to scare you, but what if you find something you actually don't like about him and then you have to stick with it because, you know, it happens?. And what if he wants kids immediately and you don't?, or else? Just think it over pretty well"
A brooding silence invaded the telephone line for a few seconds. Jan's words would have been said in such a sotto voce, but the effect was as if they were yelled out with a megaphone at full, stuck to his mouth. If he wasn't jealous, Eriko could not grasp what was his problem.

- "My, Jan. You sound incredibly mad about this. Are you okay with it? Seriously, man." Eriko's voice sounded midway between concerned by Jan's matter-of-fact jealously and shocked by the strange reaction. - "Are you jealous, Jan?" - She inquired. If Jan could have seen Eriko's slanting eyes, he would have felt intimidated by her penetrating sight. But this was the telephone. He could thank Graham Bell for sparing him by not including video on the device.
- "I mean, Seriously already" - Eriko's voice sounded demanding, now. - "Tell me the truth!" Jan realized his anger covering was feeble at the least. He could not possibly let her know he was so hurt, because he didn't want to acknowledge it from the start. Rephrasing could save him from too much explaining, but it seemed cumbersome, after the last sentences. He felt like he was more than neck-high on water. But there was a light on the end of the tunnel, anyways.

- "If I say this things to you is because I still feel responsible for your wellbeing, after all this time. Telling me I'm jealous is such a nonsense." - He felt he gained a little ground now, and felt confident to be a little more bold to elaborate:
- "I still think it's my duty to raise all these issues to you, so you can evaluate your probable hit and misses. Don't get me wrong. Remember it was the thing I used to do all of the time". - Jan felt he was about to hear a "you have a point" right there. He decided to charge full-throttle and take his words a notch higher.
- "Now, for the record. I'm truly glad you found someone to have a relationship with. Seriously. You are a good person and deserve a good relationship. Not like you haven't had one, but I guess we all want one, too." - All of a sudden, Jan's Adam's apple felt like a huge knot which made him hard to swallow. - "Just don't assume all of the guys are good, you're such an innocent person, anyone may want to take advantage of you. Just don't let them do. That new guy must behave, otherwise I'm not forgiving him ever". All of a sudden, Eriko's anger vanished, turning into amazement. She never expected him to tell her those words one more time.
- "And don't tell me I'm not serious, because I am. If he hurts you, I won't forgive him. Ever." - Eriko was clutching the curled cable between her fingers. A long pause made the air so thick, she had a hard time breathing. Jan's words became progressively soft.
- "And if he ever leaves you alone, I'll be here waiting for you. Okay?"

After the last few words, Eriko heard a sudden smack noise on her telephone and it went immediately dead. She repeatedly flicked the line switch to make sure it wasn't an accident, but it all was in vain.

Jan hung up.

Eriko dialed frantically once again, but the telephone sounded busy. Probably Jan left the unit unhooked, so it won't receive any calls. After a while trying, but to no avail, Eriko abandoned her efforts and limped across the floor in her Fair Oaks apartment, falling over her big, puffy yellow couch. She lifted her head, and proceeded to the window in the west side of the Hillside Manor. She looked at the distance, intently. Then paused for a cue coming from nowhere. All she could hear was the wind, and all she saw was an azalea leaf crossing the window, and falling onto her hands.

Meantime, back in Abiko, Jan was sitting on a chair, looking blankly at the ceiling. After a while, he rolled his eyes onto the telephone mouthpiece, laying on the table, out of her cradle. He found himself fidgeting with his tie. Stood up, and went for some fresh air at his window.
When he finally opened the windows, a rain of Azalea flowers came into his appartment, smothering him in leaves. For a moment, all those flower petals flooating onto him made him feel like all his pains were in the past, aloof his sufferings are in the past.

Heading for the door, he took his keychain. It seemed a good time to take a walk outside.

THE END.

©2009 Joey Kaye