"Sir?" she asked her boss, "What should I tell the
supplier?"
She didn't get an answer.
She looked over at her boss for the last five years. They
had met when they were both in college; she was a year
behind him. She'd been in awe of him then, too. Samuel
Ikeda always had the charisma of a powerhouse, even before
he was one. In the eight years she had known him, she had
never seen him lose focus like he had several times today.
But then, to be fair, he hadn't had so many family problems
either.
And those family problems were pretty intense. She was
there when the message about Hasukawa came in August. She
was there when he got the phone call about Andrew in October.
She'd been playing interference and errand girl for him since
that accident as Samuel had spent a lot of time at the hospital,
often throwing around his weight to make sure that Andrew
received the best of everything.
Yet, with no explanation, a little over a week after his
youngest brother woke up, Samuel was back at work. He didn't
talk about his sudden full-time return to the office, but
it was obvious that whatever caused it hurt him rather deeply.
He never said anything; his haunted eyes told their own story.
So, all in all, Samuel's executive assistant and friend was
a little worried. "Sir?" she asked again, in a louder voice.
Samuel blinked a few times and seemed to come back to reality.
"Yes, Barbara? What was the question?"
"What should I tell the suppliers? About the problem with
the shipment?"
"Ah, the shipment," Samuel said as he exhaled. He was
quiet for a few minutes. About the time she was preparing
to ask again, he continued, "Tell the supplier that
the half order that we currently have is being shipped to
him today. And that we'll have the rest of the order to
him by the end of the month."
"By the end of the month?" Barbara asked, in shock. "But
there is a shortage all over the country! It was a miracle
we have the half order we do! How in the world-"
"I'll take of it," Samuel assured her in that shady way
that always managed to make her even more nervous. "If
that's all, get me Mr. Weston on the phone."
"Of course, sir," Barbara began. "But-" she attempted
to continue before she stopped. She had worked with
Samuel long enough to know that she could not directly
ask him what was wrong. To find out what was wrong she
would have to ask the right questions.
"Yes, Barbara?"
"I mean, how is Andrew doing?" Barbara asked.
Samuel got really quiet. Barbara had just about given up
on getting an answer when Samuel quietly shared, "He's
getting stronger; physically at least. Those physical
therapists that Mother hired have accomplished wonders.
He also eating solid food on his own and he isn't nearly
as weak as he was."
"But?" Barbara prompted. It was clear from Samuel's
specific answer that something else was wrong.
He sighed. "But he's still...not doing as well as mentally.
The entire family is concerned about it. Mother was the
most concerned about it until Andrew began to talk to her
again. They've decided-" Samuel paused for a moment before
continuing. "They've decided to release him from the
hospital."
"But that's great news!" Barbara enthused. "Isn't it?"
she asked as Samuel's face just got darker.
Samuel ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated.
"No. At least I don't think so." He turned to face
his assistant. "I mean, Andrew still isn't well...mentally
at least. And, while he seems to have found some way in
his damage head to accommodate most of the family, he
should stay somewhere where he can be monitored by
medical professionals! Mother and Aunt Jana may be
called doctor, but PhDs in poly sci and sociology are
not even remotely helpful!"
Barbara watched as her boss turned to look out his
window. "I just want my brother back."
Realizing that this whole situation was a lot more
complex than even Samuel's recent sharing revealed,
Barbara began to work on helping him...without letting
him know she was helping. All good executive assistants
meddle for the benefit of their employers. It was part
of the job description. "When are they releasing him?"
she asked softly.
"Tomorrow morning."
She nodded. Already in her head she was rescheduling
meetings and making things ready for the company head
to be at the hospital in the morning. He wouldn't thank
her for her efforts; he wouldn't even know about her
efforts if she was good at her job, which, of course,
she was. But Barbara knew, beyond a shadow of a
doubt, that Samuel needed to be there when they sent
his little brother home. "I'll get Mr. Westin on the
phone," was all she said as she quietly left Samuel's
office.
This Side of Living
Living in Transit - chapter nine
His room hadn't been this nosy since he first woke up,
but Yusuke didn't really mind. They were finally breaking
him out of this place. Sure, his room was nice and all,
but he really wanted out to this hospital.
"It will be great to have you home," Botan said as she looked
over at him.
"Yeah," Kuwabara added, "Then maybe Betty will go back to
school and stay there for the rest of the semester."
"Hey!" Botan objected as she proceeded to smack Kuwabara
on the arm. "I resent that! Besides, I'll be home in
a week and a half for Thanksgiving anyway."
"Children, children," Alexandria chastised, "can we get
home before we try to win the 'dysfunctional family of
the year award,' hm?"
Alexandria's correction made Yusuke smile. It also helped
to quell some of his inner nervousness. While he was very
glad to leave the hospital, with the exception of Alexandria,
everyone else thought he was a very sick Andrew. He wasn't
sure if he could be this Andrew. He wasn't sure what other
surprises that waited for him at Andrew's home. (He still
hadn't gotten over the shock that Andrew's aunt Ayame was
so much like his mother.) And, he wasn't sure how the family
would treat him after he left. Alexandria, at least, wasn't
pushing.
Yusuke looked at the people around the bed, trying to
crystallize in his mind what Andrew would call these people.
At the head of his bed was Alexandria, Andrew's mother. Her
other children called her a wide range of things, including
Mother, Mom, Momma, and once he heard Betty call her Mommy.
He had no idea what Andrew routinely called her. But, with
Alexandria at least, he wasn't worried. She seemed perfectly
happy with him calling her Alexandria.
Next to Alexandria stood her husband Mitsuru, Andrew's father.
Yusuke laughed to himself inside. He'd have to show Mitsuru
a lot more respect than he showed Koemna. He definitely couldn't
call him 'toddler'. His youngest son called him Dad. His
daughter called him Daddy. Again, he wasn't sure what Andrew
called him. Dad may be a safe bet...when he was ready to make
that leap anyway.
At the foot of his bed were Andrew's older sister and younger
brother, Betty and Hasukawa. They were so like Botan and
Kuwabara that it would be hard to remember to address them as
anything but that. Some days he felt like he was just waiting
for Botan to pull out her oar and hop on.
As Andrew's immediate family clustered around the bed laughing
with each other, Yusuke heard a movement at the door. He would
have sat up more in the bed to see who was at the door, but
Botan was already giving a clue of who was there.
"Well, as I live and breathe," the blue haired girl said as
she looked at the door. "It's the prodigal son."
By this point, everyone else in the room had turned to the
door, allowing Yusuke to catch a glimpse of who was at the
door. 'Sakyo...no, wait, that's Andrew's brother, Samuel,'
Yusuke thought to himself. That thought was not very
reassuring, however. He still felt that the man in the
doorway was a dangerous businessman.
"I thought you weren't coming," Alexandria said. "Have
you changed your mind?"
"No, Mother, I haven't. People may call you doctor, but
you really can't handle Andrew at home. He needs more
help than you can provide."
"If you felt that way, why did you come?" Kuwabara asked.
"Because Drew is my brother, too. Regardless of what is going
on in that head of his," Sakyo said as he drew closer to
the bed.
Mitsuru opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a
cheering "Good morning!"
The family turned to see a nurse in the doorway. As the nurse
walked into the room, he said, "It's a good day to let our
favorite patient out, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is," Mitsuru agreed.
"Well, then, let's get right to it. There are a few things that
we have to get done before we can let miracle boy go. First,
one of you will have to get the final report from the doctors
and the care information from the nurses-"
"I'll do that," Alexandria volunteered. "I have a lot of
apologies I need to give out, too."
"Xandria," Mitsuru began.
"No, it's okay," Alexandria said as she ruffled Yusuke's
hair. "Besides, I'm the one who is going to be hiring
the in home nurse, right? I should go."
With that, Alexandria left the room to go track down the doctors.
"Well, next, we'll need someone to get your car and pull it around so that it will be there when we wheel this young man out."
"Oh, that is so me," Botan shouted as she grabbed the van
keys from her startled father and took off out of the room.
"Hey, wait!" Kuwabara shouted as he ran after her, "I want to
drive."
"I hope my van survives those two," Mitsuru muttered under his
breath.
"Finally, I need some to talk to the psychiatrist once more
before we can release him."
"I'll do that," Mitsuru said.
"Did you want to wait for your wife, Mr. Ikeda?" the nurse asked.
Mitsuru laughed, "No way. Xandria took a lot of things that
he told us rather hard. She is just beginning to recover from
everything; I'm not about to let her have a relapse. I'll talk
to the head doctor alone."
After the nurse gave him directions to where the head doctor
was waiting, Mitsuru left the room. This left Yusuke in
the room with an overly happy male nurse named Jerry and
Andrew's shady older brother.
"You can stay with him until we can get a wheelchair up here.
You can take him downstairs after the wheelchair gets here.
Your mother and father will meet you at your van. Have
a great day!" the nurse said as he began to move out of the
room.
"Make sure you bring back a quality wheelchair! Not one of
those standard issues!" Andrew's older brother insisted as
the nurse left the room.
After the nurse had left, the room was completely silent. After
a few seconds, the Sakyo look-alike gestured toward the chair near
the bed, "May I sit?"
Yusuke nodded.
"I wonder," his visitor began as he sat down, "how you make
sense of me."
"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked rather warily.
"Well, in your dream world, I'm dead, correct?" he asked.
"Well, yeah. You died when you blew up the stadium around
you. A rather showy way to go. You almost took out everyone
else in the same stadium," Yusuke shrugged. "I guess if
you are going go, might as well make some noise."
"And my persona in your dream, I was a shady business.
I was a player on the black market and a rather violent
person, wasn't I?"
Yusuke nodded, "Well, Sakyo was at least. I'm not sure
about you."
"But that is how you see me, isn't it? The same way you
see this Sakyo. As unredeemable."
That statement stopped Yusuke for a moment. "I'm not
sure that Sakyo was unredeemable."
"What do you mean?"
"It was just something that Kuwabara said about his
sister, Shizuru. She was acting strangely and she
didn't seem to agree with everyone when we would
talk about how bad Sakyo was. She also seemed a little
sad after the tournament. She never said why."
"Shizuru, that's a new name," Andrew's brother said.
"What did she look like?"
Yusuke shrugged. "She had long brown hair and an
attitude. She was a tough cookie; guess she had to
be to take care of Kuwabara. She also smoked a lot.
But-"
"I don't believe it," Samuel Ikeda said. "Tell me,"
he began as he pulled out his wallet, "did she look
anything like this?" he asked as he handed Yusuke
a picture.
Looking at his visitor in surprise, he took the
picture and looked down at it. At first he didn't
recognize the woman, as he had never seen her look
that happy before. But the woman was Shizuru, minus
the cigarette. "Yes, that's Shizuru."
At this, Andrew's brother snorted. "Well, I don't
believe it. Even in your head, you take Samantha's
side. I really don't completely understand how she
won over my entire family so completely."
"Samantha?" Yusuke asked.
"My ex-fiancée," Samuel confirmed. "She still great
friends with Mother, and she does the family's taxes
now." He just shook his head.
"Maybe," Yusuke paused, as he knew he was about to enter
a dangerous arena, "maybe you should give this Samantha
another chance."
"What?" Samuel asked in surprise.
"I mean, in my screwed up head, she's your only character
reference, right? Look," Yusuke said, "Maybe I saw something,
maybe Andrew saw something in Samantha that would be good
for you."
"Maybe," was all the other man would say.
"Samuel," Yusuke began, "I know you think I'm not quite
well,"
Andrew's older brother only raised an eyebrow at that.
"But, maybe, you can come by occasionally. I mean,
I remember Sakyo; I don't remember Samuel. And I think...
I think I'd like to."
Samuel didn't answer...but he did take Yusuke's hand and
give it a squeeze.
- to be concluded -
supplier?"
She didn't get an answer.
She looked over at her boss for the last five years. They
had met when they were both in college; she was a year
behind him. She'd been in awe of him then, too. Samuel
Ikeda always had the charisma of a powerhouse, even before
he was one. In the eight years she had known him, she had
never seen him lose focus like he had several times today.
But then, to be fair, he hadn't had so many family problems
either.
And those family problems were pretty intense. She was
there when the message about Hasukawa came in August. She
was there when he got the phone call about Andrew in October.
She'd been playing interference and errand girl for him since
that accident as Samuel had spent a lot of time at the hospital,
often throwing around his weight to make sure that Andrew
received the best of everything.
Yet, with no explanation, a little over a week after his
youngest brother woke up, Samuel was back at work. He didn't
talk about his sudden full-time return to the office, but
it was obvious that whatever caused it hurt him rather deeply.
He never said anything; his haunted eyes told their own story.
So, all in all, Samuel's executive assistant and friend was
a little worried. "Sir?" she asked again, in a louder voice.
Samuel blinked a few times and seemed to come back to reality.
"Yes, Barbara? What was the question?"
"What should I tell the suppliers? About the problem with
the shipment?"
"Ah, the shipment," Samuel said as he exhaled. He was
quiet for a few minutes. About the time she was preparing
to ask again, he continued, "Tell the supplier that
the half order that we currently have is being shipped to
him today. And that we'll have the rest of the order to
him by the end of the month."
"By the end of the month?" Barbara asked, in shock. "But
there is a shortage all over the country! It was a miracle
we have the half order we do! How in the world-"
"I'll take of it," Samuel assured her in that shady way
that always managed to make her even more nervous. "If
that's all, get me Mr. Weston on the phone."
"Of course, sir," Barbara began. "But-" she attempted
to continue before she stopped. She had worked with
Samuel long enough to know that she could not directly
ask him what was wrong. To find out what was wrong she
would have to ask the right questions.
"Yes, Barbara?"
"I mean, how is Andrew doing?" Barbara asked.
Samuel got really quiet. Barbara had just about given up
on getting an answer when Samuel quietly shared, "He's
getting stronger; physically at least. Those physical
therapists that Mother hired have accomplished wonders.
He also eating solid food on his own and he isn't nearly
as weak as he was."
"But?" Barbara prompted. It was clear from Samuel's
specific answer that something else was wrong.
He sighed. "But he's still...not doing as well as mentally.
The entire family is concerned about it. Mother was the
most concerned about it until Andrew began to talk to her
again. They've decided-" Samuel paused for a moment before
continuing. "They've decided to release him from the
hospital."
"But that's great news!" Barbara enthused. "Isn't it?"
she asked as Samuel's face just got darker.
Samuel ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated.
"No. At least I don't think so." He turned to face
his assistant. "I mean, Andrew still isn't well...mentally
at least. And, while he seems to have found some way in
his damage head to accommodate most of the family, he
should stay somewhere where he can be monitored by
medical professionals! Mother and Aunt Jana may be
called doctor, but PhDs in poly sci and sociology are
not even remotely helpful!"
Barbara watched as her boss turned to look out his
window. "I just want my brother back."
Realizing that this whole situation was a lot more
complex than even Samuel's recent sharing revealed,
Barbara began to work on helping him...without letting
him know she was helping. All good executive assistants
meddle for the benefit of their employers. It was part
of the job description. "When are they releasing him?"
she asked softly.
"Tomorrow morning."
She nodded. Already in her head she was rescheduling
meetings and making things ready for the company head
to be at the hospital in the morning. He wouldn't thank
her for her efforts; he wouldn't even know about her
efforts if she was good at her job, which, of course,
she was. But Barbara knew, beyond a shadow of a
doubt, that Samuel needed to be there when they sent
his little brother home. "I'll get Mr. Westin on the
phone," was all she said as she quietly left Samuel's
office.
This Side of Living
Living in Transit - chapter nine
His room hadn't been this nosy since he first woke up,
but Yusuke didn't really mind. They were finally breaking
him out of this place. Sure, his room was nice and all,
but he really wanted out to this hospital.
"It will be great to have you home," Botan said as she looked
over at him.
"Yeah," Kuwabara added, "Then maybe Betty will go back to
school and stay there for the rest of the semester."
"Hey!" Botan objected as she proceeded to smack Kuwabara
on the arm. "I resent that! Besides, I'll be home in
a week and a half for Thanksgiving anyway."
"Children, children," Alexandria chastised, "can we get
home before we try to win the 'dysfunctional family of
the year award,' hm?"
Alexandria's correction made Yusuke smile. It also helped
to quell some of his inner nervousness. While he was very
glad to leave the hospital, with the exception of Alexandria,
everyone else thought he was a very sick Andrew. He wasn't
sure if he could be this Andrew. He wasn't sure what other
surprises that waited for him at Andrew's home. (He still
hadn't gotten over the shock that Andrew's aunt Ayame was
so much like his mother.) And, he wasn't sure how the family
would treat him after he left. Alexandria, at least, wasn't
pushing.
Yusuke looked at the people around the bed, trying to
crystallize in his mind what Andrew would call these people.
At the head of his bed was Alexandria, Andrew's mother. Her
other children called her a wide range of things, including
Mother, Mom, Momma, and once he heard Betty call her Mommy.
He had no idea what Andrew routinely called her. But, with
Alexandria at least, he wasn't worried. She seemed perfectly
happy with him calling her Alexandria.
Next to Alexandria stood her husband Mitsuru, Andrew's father.
Yusuke laughed to himself inside. He'd have to show Mitsuru
a lot more respect than he showed Koemna. He definitely couldn't
call him 'toddler'. His youngest son called him Dad. His
daughter called him Daddy. Again, he wasn't sure what Andrew
called him. Dad may be a safe bet...when he was ready to make
that leap anyway.
At the foot of his bed were Andrew's older sister and younger
brother, Betty and Hasukawa. They were so like Botan and
Kuwabara that it would be hard to remember to address them as
anything but that. Some days he felt like he was just waiting
for Botan to pull out her oar and hop on.
As Andrew's immediate family clustered around the bed laughing
with each other, Yusuke heard a movement at the door. He would
have sat up more in the bed to see who was at the door, but
Botan was already giving a clue of who was there.
"Well, as I live and breathe," the blue haired girl said as
she looked at the door. "It's the prodigal son."
By this point, everyone else in the room had turned to the
door, allowing Yusuke to catch a glimpse of who was at the
door. 'Sakyo...no, wait, that's Andrew's brother, Samuel,'
Yusuke thought to himself. That thought was not very
reassuring, however. He still felt that the man in the
doorway was a dangerous businessman.
"I thought you weren't coming," Alexandria said. "Have
you changed your mind?"
"No, Mother, I haven't. People may call you doctor, but
you really can't handle Andrew at home. He needs more
help than you can provide."
"If you felt that way, why did you come?" Kuwabara asked.
"Because Drew is my brother, too. Regardless of what is going
on in that head of his," Sakyo said as he drew closer to
the bed.
Mitsuru opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a
cheering "Good morning!"
The family turned to see a nurse in the doorway. As the nurse
walked into the room, he said, "It's a good day to let our
favorite patient out, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is," Mitsuru agreed.
"Well, then, let's get right to it. There are a few things that
we have to get done before we can let miracle boy go. First,
one of you will have to get the final report from the doctors
and the care information from the nurses-"
"I'll do that," Alexandria volunteered. "I have a lot of
apologies I need to give out, too."
"Xandria," Mitsuru began.
"No, it's okay," Alexandria said as she ruffled Yusuke's
hair. "Besides, I'm the one who is going to be hiring
the in home nurse, right? I should go."
With that, Alexandria left the room to go track down the doctors.
"Well, next, we'll need someone to get your car and pull it around so that it will be there when we wheel this young man out."
"Oh, that is so me," Botan shouted as she grabbed the van
keys from her startled father and took off out of the room.
"Hey, wait!" Kuwabara shouted as he ran after her, "I want to
drive."
"I hope my van survives those two," Mitsuru muttered under his
breath.
"Finally, I need some to talk to the psychiatrist once more
before we can release him."
"I'll do that," Mitsuru said.
"Did you want to wait for your wife, Mr. Ikeda?" the nurse asked.
Mitsuru laughed, "No way. Xandria took a lot of things that
he told us rather hard. She is just beginning to recover from
everything; I'm not about to let her have a relapse. I'll talk
to the head doctor alone."
After the nurse gave him directions to where the head doctor
was waiting, Mitsuru left the room. This left Yusuke in
the room with an overly happy male nurse named Jerry and
Andrew's shady older brother.
"You can stay with him until we can get a wheelchair up here.
You can take him downstairs after the wheelchair gets here.
Your mother and father will meet you at your van. Have
a great day!" the nurse said as he began to move out of the
room.
"Make sure you bring back a quality wheelchair! Not one of
those standard issues!" Andrew's older brother insisted as
the nurse left the room.
After the nurse had left, the room was completely silent. After
a few seconds, the Sakyo look-alike gestured toward the chair near
the bed, "May I sit?"
Yusuke nodded.
"I wonder," his visitor began as he sat down, "how you make
sense of me."
"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked rather warily.
"Well, in your dream world, I'm dead, correct?" he asked.
"Well, yeah. You died when you blew up the stadium around
you. A rather showy way to go. You almost took out everyone
else in the same stadium," Yusuke shrugged. "I guess if
you are going go, might as well make some noise."
"And my persona in your dream, I was a shady business.
I was a player on the black market and a rather violent
person, wasn't I?"
Yusuke nodded, "Well, Sakyo was at least. I'm not sure
about you."
"But that is how you see me, isn't it? The same way you
see this Sakyo. As unredeemable."
That statement stopped Yusuke for a moment. "I'm not
sure that Sakyo was unredeemable."
"What do you mean?"
"It was just something that Kuwabara said about his
sister, Shizuru. She was acting strangely and she
didn't seem to agree with everyone when we would
talk about how bad Sakyo was. She also seemed a little
sad after the tournament. She never said why."
"Shizuru, that's a new name," Andrew's brother said.
"What did she look like?"
Yusuke shrugged. "She had long brown hair and an
attitude. She was a tough cookie; guess she had to
be to take care of Kuwabara. She also smoked a lot.
But-"
"I don't believe it," Samuel Ikeda said. "Tell me,"
he began as he pulled out his wallet, "did she look
anything like this?" he asked as he handed Yusuke
a picture.
Looking at his visitor in surprise, he took the
picture and looked down at it. At first he didn't
recognize the woman, as he had never seen her look
that happy before. But the woman was Shizuru, minus
the cigarette. "Yes, that's Shizuru."
At this, Andrew's brother snorted. "Well, I don't
believe it. Even in your head, you take Samantha's
side. I really don't completely understand how she
won over my entire family so completely."
"Samantha?" Yusuke asked.
"My ex-fiancée," Samuel confirmed. "She still great
friends with Mother, and she does the family's taxes
now." He just shook his head.
"Maybe," Yusuke paused, as he knew he was about to enter
a dangerous arena, "maybe you should give this Samantha
another chance."
"What?" Samuel asked in surprise.
"I mean, in my screwed up head, she's your only character
reference, right? Look," Yusuke said, "Maybe I saw something,
maybe Andrew saw something in Samantha that would be good
for you."
"Maybe," was all the other man would say.
"Samuel," Yusuke began, "I know you think I'm not quite
well,"
Andrew's older brother only raised an eyebrow at that.
"But, maybe, you can come by occasionally. I mean,
I remember Sakyo; I don't remember Samuel. And I think...
I think I'd like to."
Samuel didn't answer...but he did take Yusuke's hand and
give it a squeeze.
- to be concluded -