An American Nightmare


Chapter 2

Rei sat on a bench in the lobby, occasionally checking her watch as she waited for her neighbor Grace and towheaded, blue eyed sons Tyler and Brandon to meet up with her. It was five minutes before eleven when she finally spotted them getting off the elevator.

"Hey!" Grace said as she walked toward her, and the boys practically ran over to her.

"Hi, Miss Rei." Seven-year-old Tyler said casually.

"Hello, Miss Rei. How are you?" Brandon, the four-year-old greeted, his voice much more energetic than his brother's.

"I'm fine. What about you two?"

"Good." Brandon chirped.

"I'm fine." Tyler replied.

"I like you. You're pretty and nice too, just like my mommy." Brandon added while reaching up to play with Rei's long, shiny locks.

Grace chided him about touching someone else's hair without permission, but Rei didn't mind. She had grown accustomed to Usagi's one-year-old daughter Chibi-Usa doing the same thing, except that Brandon was gentle compared to Chibi-Usa and didn't try to yank her hair out.

She was impressed at how well behaved the children were, so much so that she forgot that she was in another country and spoke in her native language. "Arigatou gozaimasu." They looked at her, confused.

"What does that mean?" Tyler asked.

"It means 'thank you.'" She informed him.

"Wow! Can you teach me? I wanna speak your language too!" He exclaimed.

"Me too!" Brandon chimed in.

"If it's alright with your mom, it's alright with me."

"It's fine with me." Grace agreed enthusiastically, and the boys skipped up and down excitedly as the group went out the main doors into the cool November air and headed toward Central Park, which was only one block away. They reached the zoo and Rei had insisted that she pay her own admission, but Grace wouldn't budge and not wanting to argue over something so trivial, the younger woman relented.


The zoo was small, a little more than five acres, but Grace and her children loved it and Rei was happy to be there as well. They had only been there for fifteen minutes, and as they were in the Children's Zoo, petting and feeding the goats, pigs, cows, sheep, and other animals, they heard crashes of thunder and drops of rain began to fall...hard. The zoo managers had no choice but to temporarily close down the outdoor exhibits. Rei and Grace took the boys to the indoor Polar Circle exhibit to see the polar bears, penguins, and other polar seabirds, hoping that the bad weather would stop soon.

"Mom, look at the penguins!" Brandon shouted, pointing a finger at a small colony of Emperor penguins that were belly flopping into their pool.

"I see them. They're funny, aren't they?"

"Yeah. I wish I could be a penguin too."

"Not me." Tyler said. "I wish I were a polar bear, so I could swim and play with Gus over there."

Gus was considered a celebrity at the Central Park Zoo, described by reporters as neurotic, flaky, and bipolar because he had a peculiar habit of swimming in figure eight patterns for up to twelve hours a day, but this behavior had since lessened, and he was adored by millions of people around the world. Tyler and Brandon ran over to Gus' habitat, with Rei and Grace following closely behind them.

Rei giggled as she watched Gus chase his blue ball into the water. He swam around like a maniac, wrestling with the toy and shortly after, his companion, a female polar bear named Ida joined in.

After spending another twenty minutes checking out the polar bears, they exited the Polar building. Luckily the storm had died down and they walked over to the Temperate Territory to visit the red pandas, snow monkeys, ducks, and California sea lions.

As the children were occupied by the animals' antics, the adults talked and took the time to get to know one another. Grace was interested to learn that Rei was a miko in her home country and lived in a Shinto shrine with her grandfather and his apprentice who happened to be one of Rei's closest friends. Though Rei mentioned her fellow senshi, she conveniently left out everything about their powers and fighting against enemies like the Dark Kingdom and Galaxia.

Rei took great interest in Grace's life story, too. Grace had been a flight attendant until she married and had her first son, and she went back to college to earn her bachelor's degrees in business and finance and raised her family while her then husband was a CPA for the US Postal Service. The marriage didn't last, but he continued to support Grace and his sons financially and had visitation with them every other weekend. Grace now worked as a bank teller to earn extra income to support Tyler and Brandon and stave off boredom while they were at school.


They left the zoo at closing time, which was four thirty, hands filled with bags of souvenirs, and stopped at their apartments to drop the bags off, then they went back outside.

"That was fun." Rei said, not being able to contain her excitement.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." Grace replied.

"Me too. Back home, I'd been so busy with work that I didn't get out much, and now with the promotion, it means longer hours and even less free time. Not that I'm complaining."

"You know, it isn't healthy to overwork yourself. You should take some time to relax once in a while or do something you like, even if you just want to go for a walk outside the office during lunch hour. I'm sure your new boss won't mind."

"I'll have to do that."

"What should we do now?" Tyler wondered, not knowing what else his mother had planned for the rest of the day.

"We're gonna have dinner and check out the stores along this street to show Rei around, and then we'll go to Rockefeller Center and ice skate."

"Yeah!" Both boys shouted in unison and high-fived each other.


Dinner was quick, with the group ordering from the various food trucks parked on the streets along their route. Brandon chose hot dogs, chips, and a coke and Tyler had hamburgers, French fries, and Mountain Dew. The adults opted for Philly cheese steaks with American cheese, fried onions, mushrooms, and spicy Italian peppers after Grace declared that they were to die for. Rei ordered a coke with her sandwich, while Grace asked for a bottle of water.

Rei's eyes went wide when the vendor handed her her sandwich. It was gigantic and unfamiliar to her as she'd never seen this type of food in Japan, but it looked tasty enough, so she was willing to try it.

She took a big bite and Grace's opinion was dead on. It tasted amazing! The peppers gave it kind of a kick, but they weren't over the top spicy. She'd eaten hotter things, especially the first time she went cherry blossom viewing with Usagi, Ami, Makoto, and some people from their school, plus Minako, and Usagi had put a spicy condiment on her sandwich. The stuff set her mouth on fire and she wanted to kill the odango haired girl for it.

She wasn't sure if she could finish the whole cheese steak, but to her surprise, she did and washed it down with her cup of soda. She took four towelettes from her purse and handed them out to everyone. They wiped the grease from their hands and threw the towelettes away.

They stopped in several stores, including Gap, Sephora, and FAO Schwarz. Rei bought new clothes for work, but aside from that, nobody bought anything until they entered FAO Schwarz, one of the most famous toy stores in the world.

"Mom, we gotta show Rei the Big Piano!" Rei heard Tyler tell his mother, who told him to lead the way. He led them to the robot shaped elevator, appropriately named Go-2-Floor-2, and took it up to the second floor, then they walked over to the piano, which had been made famous by the 1988 movie 'Big', starring Tom Hanks. The boys took turns creating their own beats and invited their mom and Rei to play with them. The raven haired woman was fascinated. She couldn't get enough of it.

'Usagi and Minako-chan would go nuts if they saw this thing.' She mused with a small grin on her lips and started to play a slow version of 'Eien no Melody', humming the tune as she went along. Grace and the kids listened as the song's melody flowed through their ears. It was like a lullaby and they believed it was the most beautiful song they've ever heard.

"She's good!" Brandon whispered in Tyler's ear.

"I know!" Tyler agreed.


A crowd formed around them, dozens of pairs of eyes focused on Rei as she hit the notes flawlessly.

"Wow!" One spectator exclaimed.

"She's got mad skill!" Another person commented.

"She's hot too!" A third chimed in.

"Oh, Ned!" A woman next to him, presumably a friend of his, moaned and smacked him in the back of the head.

Cheers erupted from the crowd and it gave her more energy to continue playing. She finished the final notes of the song and stepped off the keyboard, taking a bow at her audience, who bombarded her with autograph requests. They didn't believe her when she told them flat out that she wasn't famous, but she decided to humor them and gave autographs to them anyway.

She turned her attention to Grace and the boys, who raved to her about how great she was and gave her a group hug.

"When did you learn to play like that?" Grace asked, releasing her grip and her sons' from their neighbor and Rei took a moment to catch her breath.

"I started when I was ten. I've always liked singing and writing music, so I took lessons after school." She answered Grace's question proudly.

"You're very talented."

"Thank you."

"Miss Rei, what was that song you were playing? Who wrote it?" Tyler asked.

"It's called 'Eien no Melody', which means 'eternal melody' in Japanese. I wrote it myself when I was fourteen."

"Incredible!"

"How old are you now?" Brandon wondered.

"Brandon!"

"What, Mommy?"

"It's not polite to ask grown ups about their age."

"Sorry."

"It's okay, but please be careful. Some grown ups might get upset if we ask them that."


They wandered around the rest of the store and Rei purchased some dolls and books she planned to send to Usagi and Mamoru as Christmas gifts for Chibi-Usa and a map of New York City in case she ever got lost while out on her own. Grace didn't buy anything, wanting to wait until after Thanksgiving before she did her Christmas shopping, but Tyler and Brandon pooled their allowances together to buy the Xbox video game 'Burnout 2: Point of Impact' that they'd been waiting to get their hands on since this past May. Satisfied with their purchases, they left FAO Schwarz and walked to the skating rink.

It was eight fifteen when they finally made it to Rockefeller Center. The boys were eager to get on the rink and Grace had to remind them to be more patient, much to the youngsters' dismay. Rei was looking forward to the activity too since she hadn't skated since she was in her teens. Surprisingly, it wasn't crowded, so the line was fairly short. Once the admission and skate rental fees were paid and their shoes and other belongings were checked in at the booth, they waited until the clock struck eight thirty and they were allowed onto the ice for a ninety minute session.

An employee who was patrolling the ice snapped a photo of them with Rei's camera phone before they began and they merrily went on their way. Grace was adept at skating and Tyler played on a local hockey team, so he was good at it too, but Brandon and Rei preferred to glide rather than skate and they were content to do so. They had so much fun that they lost track of the time and before they knew it, it was time for them to leave.


They returned to their apartment building and Rei felt giddy as she got back to her place and curled up on the sofa with her phone, excitedly chatting with her grandfather.

"Hello?" Grandpa Hino's voice answered on the other end of the line, glad to hear from his granddaughter.

"Hi Grandpa. I hope you are taking good care of yourself there." She said to him.

"I'm doing well. I miss you like crazy though. How are you, my dear? I hope you're eating well and getting plenty of sleep."

Rei chuckled. Her grandpa could be so obsessive about her health sometimes. She knew he meant well, but hearing the same thing all the time got old. "Grandpa, I've only been here since yesterday. I'm fine."

"Good. I'm glad. Have you had a chance to check out your neighborhood yet?"

"A little. One of my neighbors and her two sons took me to the Central Park Zoo, and then we went shopping and ice skating. I'll have to explore the rest of the city another time." She cleared her throat and switched the phone to her other hand before changing the subject. "So, how has Yƫichirou been since I left? He seemed depressed when he saw me off at the airport."

"The poor guy is driving me insane. He helps out around the shrine as usual, but he can't go for more than ten minutes without thinking or talking about you."

"Tell him I said 'hi' and to hang in there, alright?"

"I will."

They talked for over three hours, until her phone beeped, letting her know that her battery was low. "I have to go. My battery is dying."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. I love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye." She hung up and put the phone on the coffee table, plugging it into its charger before she got up and went into the kitchen to make a cup of chamomile tea.


There you go! Two chapters in a two day period. I don't usually update that fast, but I'm on a roll, so why not? XD

By the way, Gus and Ida were real polar bears. They were still very much alive at the time this chapter takes place (November 2003), so I thought it would be cool to add them in. Sadly, they both passed away since then, so rest in peace, Gus and Ida!