Elsewhere
darling you'll be glancing And
the night's a river-torrent tearing us apart.
Merely
melody entwined us,
Easily
the ties that bind us
Break
in fibrillations of the heart.
Don't
cry out or cling in terror
Darling
that's a fatal error
Clinging
to somebody you thought you knew was yours.
Dispossession
by attrition is a permanent condition
That
the wretched modern world endures,
You
drift away, you're carried by a stream.
Refugee
a wanderer you roam;
You
loose you way, so it will come to seem:
No
Place in Particular is home.
You
glance away, you house has disappeared,
The
sweater you've been knitting has unpurled.
You
live adrift, and everything you feared
Comes
to you in this undoing world.
Copper-plated,
nailed together, buffeted by ocean weather
Stands
the Queen of Exiles and our mother she may be.
Hollow-breasted
broken-hearted watching for her dear departed
For
her children cast upon the sea.
At
her back the great idyllic land of Justice
For exilic
peoples ponders making justice private property.
Darling
never dream another woman might
Have
been your mother Someday
you may be a refugee.
A
Refugee, who's running from the wars,
Hiding
from the fire-bombs they've hurled;
Eternally
a stranger out-of–doors,
Desperate
in this undoing world.
Mother
for your derelicted
Children
from your womb evicted
Grant
us shelter harbor solace safety
Let
us in!
Let
us tell you where we traveled
How
our hopes our lives unraveled
How
unwelcome everywhere we've been"
An
Undoing World
By
Tony Kushner
A
Refugee's Tale By Bill Morse
Chapter
1: Refugee's Return
"And here's some good
news to start your day" chirped the announcer, on the radio, "it
looks like the United Nations troops have regained control of Seoul. Gives you
hope, doesn't it? Well here's a little music to keep you happy." With
that, the lyrics to "Shoeshine Boy" drifted through the kitchen, of
the Tendou household. Kasumi Tendou hummed happily,
along with the music, as she chopped vegetables. It was going to be another beautiful day. It had not
surprised her that the rain had only lasted a little while. Nor had it
surprised her when it started. Her leg never lied. "Kasumi!" She heard
her father shout, before he entered the kitchen. Soun Tendou rushed in, looking
extremely excited, clutching a water stained post card. "Kasumi! come to
the living room! I have an announcement to make." He said gleefully. He
paused, looking at her with concern. "Kasumi? Do you want me to help you
before I get the others? I can carry you." Kasumi smiled, slightly
exasperated by her Father's concern. "Don't be silly, Father." She
said sweetly. "You know, I can manage perfectly well on my own." She
picked up the cane, leaning against the kitchen counter, and limped out to the
living room. *
* * * * * An American soldier, stumbled
down the street of the Nerima business district. He had had a fantastic night
with a girl who spoke passable English who answered to Betty. He still had a splitting
headache. He watched in amazement as he saw a redheaded girl dashed down the
street, chased by a giant panda bear. She was dressed in a red silk shirt and
black silk pants. The panda had nearly caught up with her and tried to grab
her, but she leaped out of the way. Then, yelling something in Japanese, she
landed on top of it placing a painful looking kick to it's face. The Panda went
flying, and nearly landed on the soldier, who got out of the way at the last
minute. With a grunt, the panda got up and attacked the girl. The girl avoided
its attack with ease, and continued to yell at it. Finally she managed to grab
its paw, as it tried to hit her, and flipped it. She made what could have been
a snide remark, and walked away. "Look out!" The soldier
shouted. It was too late. The Panda had gotten up, and hit her over the head
with a stop sign it had ripped out of the street. It picked up the girl, slung her over it's shoulder, and
waddled away. "Hey stop right there!" The soldier
shouted, pointing his gun at the Panda. He was just about to fire, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. In
surprise, the soldier forgot all of his training and spun around still pointing
his gun. The person, was a Japanese woman, somewhere in her
mid thirties. She was dressed in faded khakis, and carried a battered backpack
and something wrapped carefully with burlap. A teenage girl stood behind her,
trying to hide. Her hair was long and brown, tied with a white ribbon. She was
dressed identically to the other girl, except her shirt was blue. The woman
smiled sweetly completely unfazed by the gun pointed at her face. She pointed
at the Panda "It okay, Joe," she spoke in broken English, "they
play." The soldier looked to see if the Panda was still
there. It wasn't. He nodded to the her and went on his way, scratching his
head. The girl looked at the woman
in shock. "Mother! Your English is better then that!" she whispered. The woman said nothing as she watched the soldier
walk away. When she was sure he was gone, she turned to her daughter and
smiled. "That's very sweet of you to say, Ucchan but he doesn't need to
know that. Now, we had better hurry. If I know your father, it's best that we
be at the Tendous first." *
* * * * * Soun Tendou watched his three daughters gather in
the living room, before him. Kasumi had gotten there first, of course. Despite her bad leg, she always managed
to arrive before anybody else. Slowly, but daintily, she sat down in front of
him, laying her cane down beside her. It always amazed Soun that even though
Kasumi had suffered the most hardships in the household, she was also the one
who also brought it the most joy. Nabiki his middle daughter came next. She was still dressed in her work
clothes, and looked fairly impatient. Soun frowned, although she was doing well in school, and had a part time
job as a clerk in a nearby company she did seem to enjoy giving him problems.
Did she really think he didn't know about the cigarettes? Finally, there was his youngest, Akane, she was
still dressed in her yellow workout gi. Of the three girls she was the only one
who had any interest in the Tendou legacy. She had studied the art since her
mother had died, and it would be only a matter of time before she could beat
even him. He had heard that she was having trouble in school, something about
fighting. He had to admit his
darling youngest daughter had a bit of a temper. Seeing them together made him realize just how lucky he was.
In the firebombing, that destroyed most of Tokyo, the Tendou dojo had been only
slightly damaged, and the Tendou family had suffered only one casualty. Soun
nearly burst into tears, when he thought of his dear departed wife, but managed
to retain control. This was supposed to be a happy time after all. "A Fiancée?" Kasumi asked,
snapping Soun out of his reverie. "Yes, Ranma is the son of an old friend of
mine. If one of you were to marry him, the future of the Anything Goes School
would be assured." He said, now on comfortable ground. "Daddy, how could you?" Akane demanded. "Engaging
us to a complete stranger." "I'm afraid I have to agree with Akane,
Father." Kasumi said. "Well that problem will be solved quickly
enough. I just got a postcard from his father, Genma Saotome; they will be
arriving soon. " Soun said unconcerned by his daughters concern. "Is he cute?" Nabiki asked. "I hope he's older." Kasumi said. Soun laughed. "To be honest, I have no idea.
I've never seen him before. You see they've spent the last ten years training,
in China." "Ten years?" Nabiki asked. Soun nodded. "Good
timing," she said facetiously. Before Soun could say anything, there was a knock
on the door. "That must be them now," he said, getting up. "Saotome!
Old friend! At last you're here!" He shouted running to the door with
Nabiki right behind him. Kasumi, with the help of her cane, got up to follow.
Akane rushed over to help her sister. Thank you, Akane, but I am not made of glass,"
she said. There was a slight edge to her usual sweetness. When Soun reached the door he found a woman,
dressed in khakis, carrying a large backpack and what looked like a stick
wrapped in burlap, waiting for him. "Good morning Tendou-San," she
said, bowing. "My name is Nodoka Saotome, and this," she reached to
the side of the door, and gently pulled a teenage girl, dressed in a blue silk
shirt and black silk pants, who seemed to have an extreme interest in the
pavement, into view, "is my daughter Ukyo." Soun bowed to the woman. "Uh, good morning,
Saotome-San, I'm delighted to meet you. But I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, I was expecting Genma." "I know," Nodoka said with a smile, "my
husband, and my son, should be here soon. Could someone heat some water for me?
I have something important to explain, when they arrive." Akane watched Nodoka and Ukyo enter the living
room. She could tell that Ukyo,
who kept looking all over the room as if she were looking for a good hiding
place, was very uncomfortable in this new environment. Taking pity on her,
Akane walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. Ukyo jumped, as she turned, almost as if she was
expecting to be shot. Akane smiled assuredly. "I'm Akane, do you want to
be friends?" Ukyo stared at her for what felt like a minute. Finally, she
smiled and nodded. "Come on" Akane returned the smile. "Let's go
somewhere while the grownups wait." *
* * * * * "Wow, you were really good." Akane rubbed
the bruise on her cheek as she and Ukyo, walked out of the Dojo. Ukyo smiled and blushed. "You gave as good as you got," she
whispered, "I'm really nothing special." "Don't be modest, that was the best sparring
session I've had in ages!" Akane was slightly dismayed by her new friend's
self deprecating behavior. Ukyo was about to make another denial when they
heard a loud shouting out in front. "What was that?" Akane asked. "It sounded like Ranchan, and Pop," Ukyo
shrugged. Akane looked puzzled,
and headed to the living room to see. Ukyo followed. A handsome boy, wearing his long black hair in a
pigtail, dressed in a red silk shirt and black pants, and a large fat man
dressed in a faded white gi with a white handkerchief on his head, stood in the
middle of the living room. Both of
them were wet from the hot water Nodoka poured over them. "Who are you?"
Akane asked. "I'm Ranma Saotome," said the boy. "Sorry
about this." *
* * * * * The family sat in the living room again facing
their strange new guests. Soun sat next to the man in the white gi. "I
think this is a good time for formal introductions. This is my good friend." "Genma Saotome" the man said, finishing
Soun's sentence "I am his wife Nodoka," Nodoka continued,
" this is our daughter," she paused waiting for Ukyo to finish, Ukyo
said nothing, as she was seemingly more interested in the floorboards. Nodoka
sighed, "our daughter Ukyo and our son," "Ranma," Ranma finished. "I don't understand, how was that possible?"
asked Nabiki "How did you change like that?" Kasumi looked equally
puzzled, and nodded in agreement. "Wait a minute. What are you talking about?"
asked Akane. "Did I miss something?" Genma rubbed his temples, thinking. "Let me
see, what is the best way to explain this. Ah of course." He grabbed Ranma
by the shirt lifting him up. "Anata." Genma looked at his wife, who
was standing in front of him, and put his son down. Nodoka picked up a glass of
water. "This will do nicely," she said, pouring the contents over her
husband's head. Genma turned into a Panda. The Tendous watched in
amazement. Nodoka turned and poured the rest of the water on Ranma. Ranma
shrunk turning into a redheaded girl. Nodoka turned to the Tendous to gauge their reactions.
"Hot water reverses it." She produced a kettle and proceeded to turn
her son, and husband, back to their original forms. She shook her head. "It
is very tragic." She said, "but we will survive. It is what the
Saotomes do best." "How did this happen?" Akane asked,
utterly shocked, by what she just saw. Nodoka paused as she recalled the memories. " It was the
summer of 1949 ,we had been traveling in the wilderness for almost 6 months, to
avoid the civil war. I had almost forgotten what people were like. Finally we
returned to civilization, and arrived at the last stop in our tour, the Valley
of Jusenkyo." Nodoka remembered the valley clearly. It was quite
beautiful in the morning mist, Hundreds of springs as far as the eye could see
bamboo sticks poking out of each pool could be seen every where. Despite the
valley's natural beauty, however, the first thing that she had noticed, was
their guide's uniform. He was clearly a civil servant, but she could not
recognize his uniform. It was clearly not one that she had ever seen any of the
Nationalists wear. It was then when she knew that the Communists, under Mao Tse
Tung, had won China. She had a
perfectly good reason to fear either side, Communist or Nationalist, but still
she had to remain civil. "You have to excuse me." She had told the
guide. "I can't read Chinese very well, but I am positive," she
pointed at her brochure, "that this says cursed springs. Could you please
explain?" The guide had laughed. "Ah Mrs. Customer is
so funny. There no curse. Is just dated bourgeois superstition used to draw
tourists. You be surprised. No one come when we talk 'bout scenic views." "You see, Dear? I told you there was nothing
to worry about." Her husband told her putting a comforting hand on her
shoulder. "So do you think you're up to it Ranma?" "Heh. It doesn't look like much." Ranma
said with his usual arrogance. "Try to keep up. I won't go easy on you,"
Genma said, as he leaped up onto one of the bamboo poles, with Ranma close
behind. Nodoka grabbed Ukyo before she had a chance to
follow. "Wait until they are done" she said. "You will have your
turn." She watched at the skill her son had developed over the nine years
of their trip. She hated to admit it but the trip had changed them all, her
most of all. When she had first left, her family sword had been little more
then an affectation. Now she was deadly with it. Nodoka sighed; she was no
longer sure if she would even recognize the young woman who fancied herself a
samurai's wife. Her darling little Ucchan, who had always been so
brash and impulsive had seen too much and retreated further and further into
her protective shell. Ranma in contrast had become increasingly more outspoken and
more arrogant. The only one who had not seemed to change was Genma. He was
still the same lazy, greedy, cowardly idiot that she had married, always
talking of honor and never practicing it. She imagined that the day she died,
she would ask the gods why she loved him. Ranma and Genma jumped from pole to pole. Neither
able to get the upper hand. Finally Genma leaped at Ranma with a flying kick. Ranma evaded him with
ease and sent him flying into one of the tools. Genma disappeared with a loud
splash. Nodoka beamed with pride. At last her son was a man. Admittedly, he
looked like he was gloating a bit too much. She glanced at the bubbling pool with some
concern. Genma had not come up yet. She hoped that he hadn't hit his head on
anything. She could hear Ranma voicing similar concern from above. Suddenly a Panda wearing the remains of
a gi, with glasses hanging from one of it's ears, burst out of the spring and
perched on one of the poles. "Oh no. Mr. Customer fall in spring of
drowned panda. There very tragic tale of panda that drown there eight hundred
year ago. Now they say whomever fall in take form of panda." The guide spoke
as if he were commenting on the weather. "What?" Ranma demanded staring at the
Panda in shock, "nobody said anything about. . . . ." Before he could say anything more the
Panda struck and knocked him off his pole. Ranma went flying into a nearby
pool. Nodoka rushed to see if her son was all right only to hear the horrified
scream of a redheaded girl clutching her gi staring at her breasts, terrified. "Dear me, dear me. Spring of drowned girl."
The guide continued, in his dry monotone. "There very tragic tale of young
girl who drown here one thousand year ago. Now whoever fall there take body of
young girl." Nodoka turned to the guide, just now realizing
what he was saying. "You knew," she hissed. The guide, who had been enjoying his small bit of revenge
for the bombing of his village, was very much surprised to see the business end
of a katana pointing at his throat. "So that is how it happened." Soun said.
"I have heard stories of Jusenkyo but only now does the true horror become
apparent." "What do you mean 'true horror'," Ranma
muttered, "you don't know the meaning of horror." He turned to his
father grabbing him by his shirt. "This all your fault, you old fool. If
you had listened to Mother, for once, this would have never of happened." "That's enough, Ranma, put him down"
Nodoka said, in a tone that brooked no contradiction. Ranma obeyed, and sat
down. Nodoka turned and bowed to
Soun. "Forgive our bad manners, Tendou-San. As I was saying, that when I
began to question the guide, he was more then willing to provide everything, he
knew, about the cursed springs. He
didn't seem to know of any possible cures though he was able to suggest several
possible leads that with any luck we will be able to follow up on in the
future." "Yes I see." Soun said stroking his
mustache deep in thought. "Well, what you told me your problem isn't quite
as bad as we thought." He patted Ranma on the back, "Well, now, I
will formerly introduce you to my daughters. This is Kasumi. She is 19. Nabiki
is 17. And finally, Akane is 16. Pick any one of them that you like, and she
will be your bride." "Oh he wants Akane!" Kasumi said with a
smile. Holding her younger sister by the shoulders, gently pushing her forward.
"Oh yes definitely." Nabiki said slapping Akane on the back,
with a predatory grin on her face. "What why are you forcing him on me?"
Akane demanded outraged. "Well." Nabiki said looking at Kasumi to
help. "You're the same age," Kasumi said
quickly, "and." "You're both martial artists," Nabiki
finished. "You'll be perfect together!" "You're just dumping him on me because you
don't want to be stuck with him!" Akane sputtered. Somehow, the other two
sisters managed to look innocent. "I don't believe you too. Can you
imagine how he must feel? Neither of us are a bundle of goods to be passed back
and fourth for anybody's benefit. I won't be pushed into this, and neither will
he." "That's
right." Ranma broke in, a little surprised by the support that he was
getting from a complete stranger. "Look at that," Soun said to Genma. "They
agree completely! They're perfect for each other!" "Ah young love. It's truly a wonderful thing."
Genma said in agreement. "That's enough! I told you before I don't
want anything to do with this." Ranma said getting up. "Ranma! The Saotomes will hold onto all of
the honor they have left. You will stay here." Nodoka said sternly. Ranma stopped and turned to his parents. "Honor?"
he demanded. "What does this have to do with honor? This is like the time
Pop tried to sell me to that warlord. I know his game, we are finally home and
safe and there is no way that I will let him manipulate me any more!" "That was a matter of stalling for time while
we could make our escape. This is a solemn agreement made between two families
during happier times." Nodoka said calmly. "We will honor it, now sit
down." Ranma stared at his mother wanting to rebel just this once."
Slowly he sat down again saying nothing. Nodoka smiled, sympathetically. "Don't
worry, Dear. You will have time for courtship." "But Nodoka-chan!" Genma jumped in
quickly. "We can't just." Nodoka turned to her husband, looked him in the
eye and smiled. "They will have time for courtship," she repeated.
Genma sat back down, sweating. Nodoka continued, "now, Kasumi said she
would show us our room. I'm sure we all need our rest. Ukyo watched her brother and her new friend glare
at each other, as if the entire problem was the other's fault. In truth she was
slightly disappointed. She had believed that when they returned to Japan, they
would no longer be living in interesting times. Now she felt that it was just beginning.
It will probably be a while before I do another chapter of
this. The amount of research required to do this thing justice is a recurring
source of headaches. I hope to get to it soon though. Hope you all liked it.