Different Truths
I walked out into the rain one afternoon,
steaming mad because my boyfriend had just called me up and dumped me. Angsty and fuming, anyone who bumped into my
path today was gonna be doomed.
As I stormed towards the mountain trail
nearby, a young man in his early twenties or late teens and with short black
hair tinted brown came around the path.
Well, guess he's just plain unlucky today. I decided as I walked
up to him. He's gonna get my first
ranting and raving.
I walked up to the person, ready to cover
him in spittle. But I stopped
suddenly. This person was smiling at
me.
"Hi there." He said. "Can I help you?"
"Yes you can by listening to my
complaints." I said, at first I was just gonna yank him and force him to
listen. But when I saw this guy's smile
nearly all the anger melted.
"Life's just full of complaints, ain't
it?" the person smiled again and sat down at a bench, putting down his pack.
I suddenly noticed the sword at his
waist. "Why do you still carry a sword
around? Hasn't the law to trash all
swords except those of the military been passed?"
"Well yeah," the person blushed as he
smiled, "but I'm a rurouni, so I carry a sword around for protection."
"Oh." I replied dumbly.
"So, your complaints?" the person asked
gently.
Suddenly I felt a whole lot better. "I don't have any anymore."
"That's good. Then I guess I'll be gone then, see ya." The person stood up to
go but I grabbed his sleeve.
"No, please stay. I want you to stay. You look so…" I searched for the right word
as I looked deep into his eyes, "forlorn." I finally decided.
"Forlorn?" the person smiled kindly,
"little girl, what's your name?"
"Little girl?" a vein popped in my head;
I held it down. "It's Reiko."
"I'm Soujiro Seta." The person sat back
down.
I sat back, "So, Soujiro, would you mind
telling me what's gotten that forlorn look into your eyes? I mean," I paused, "that kind of look
doesn't get into people easily."
Soujiro's eyes softened. "It's a long story. You sure you want to hear?"
I nodded, "As long as the rain's pouring,
I'm listening."
"Well, it all started when I was adopted
by a family when I was young…"
~*~
"Wow…" I said incredulously once Soujiro
was finished. "That was one heck of a
story…" I snuck a glance at him cautiously.
He had a smile on his face again…only this wasn't a happy smile, it was
a sad smile. And he was looking down at
his lap.
"Compare to your life, my life's been
easy as pie!" I mumbled softly.
Soujiro looked at me, ruffled my hair,
and said, "Don't worry, you'll face all your pros and cons later in life…but
for now, just enjoy life." With that he
stood up and said so soft I had to strain to hear it: "Once there were two men who
walked the exact same path for ten years.
Each of them found different truths in those ten years, so I figure that
if I travel for ten years, I'll find my own truth."
"You will." I replied quietly.
Soujiro turned back at me, smiling, "I
think I've just found a little bit of my truth. Come see."
Curious, I walked up to him and he
pointed at the now cloudless sky.
"Look." He said softly.
There was a beautiful rainbow arching
gracefully across the mountain.
On that day, I think I found a small
piece of my own truth too.
