SUMMER RAIN

SUMMER RAINS

Summer rains came early this year and Howard was ecstatic. For the very first time in his life there simply was nothing lacking for his happiness, on the contrary, he found himself overflowing with positive emotions and kindness towards all fellow god’s creatures. The air seemed fresher, the water cleaner and all his senses finally seemed to wake up and realise their full potential. There were however some curious inconsistencies and he couldn’t put his finger on them just yet... These times of aboundant joy were followed by the gloomy interludes of the deepest discomfort and unexplainable despair. He considered seeing a doctor, but then, feeling that good could not possibly be caused by a major ilness and feeling that good must have had some side effects, so there you have it. Never a big fan of doctors he gladly dismissed the idea altogether.

After pondering the matter, a bit longer, Howard realised that his thoughts kept stubbornly drifting towards the cooking class he recently enrolled in, for the pure pleasure of it and -possibly-improvements in what had been a lifetime passion of his. He also realised that although he was quite skillfull as a cook, try as he may, nothing he would ever prepare at home compared to the divine creations he was coming up with in that class. Over there, all he would ever put his hands on was turning into a culinary masterpiece. Even a plain tangerine tasted better over there. Be it as it might, something about the place -or was it someone? - proved powerful enough to transcend the mundane into the celestial, leaving him feeling energised for days to come and desperately grasping for more.

Howard decided to give the whole subject more of his thought. He fancied himself a rational, mature individual and those pangs of emotional upheavals, as enjoyable as they could get, were a complete mystery to him. He felt as though the whole intricate construction of his existance was being systematicaly dismantled and with all the chaos going down on him with the vengance, the only thing he could think of was how boundlessly beautiful the sky was up there and how much he enjoyed being exposed to such generous amounts of light, pouring down on him from the great beyond. Howard left the Park in his dog’s competent care, jumped on his bike and proceeded towards a nearby Community Center, not noticing the rainfall. Upon the arrival he parked the bike in the usual spot and walked into the building, determined to get into the very heart of the matter. Soaked through, he climbed the flight of stairs only to find a pink note hanging on the locked classroom door, carrying a following massage:

DUE TO THE FAMILY COMPLICATIONS CHEF ZHUAN YU-WEI FELT OBLIGATED TO RETURN TO HIS HOMELAND PROVINCE OF SHAUXI. ALL THE PARTICIPANTS OF HIS COURSE ARE KINDLY ASKED TO TRANSFER THEIR CREDITS TO THE CLASS OF THEIR CHOICE OR/AND GET AN APPROPRIATE REFUND.

The panic set upon Howard like a pack of hyenas over an abondoned carcass. How was he to know his puppet-master now? He felt like a little child abondoned in the wilderness, defensless, scared and completely unprepared.

-We’ll get over it. In time. His Egg-Foo-Young was never that hot in a first place.

-Huh?

-Egg-Foo-Young. Kinda mushy.

Howard felt brought back to life. He was grateful for the human interferance and a mere presence of another in, if only illusively, similar predicament. Besides, he wholeheartedly agreed with a statement at hand.

-I’m thinking vegan sushi.

-Pardon me?

-They have a crash course. Some genius managed to compact twenty-some years of learning into six simple steps. One cannot help but marvell at that. Besides, my dog is a big fan of sushi. It’s about to start now. Would you care to join me?

Howard looked deeply into the black eyes of his saviour and felt himself at home.

-With pleasure, seemed the only appropriate response.

-Let’s go for it. We can still make it, if we won’t waste any more time.

They walked down the hallway in comfortable silence, signed up for the course and proceeded towards the classroom, finding most of the chop-suey crowd already there. After pleasantries were exchanged and everybody settled, a short, resolute, young woman, unmistakenly of Asian descent, entered the classroom. Tillie recognised her at once as the owner of the enormous Great Dane Elvis, that Satan was fond of rolling around with on the park’s lawn. She explained that the Islands of Japan are surrounded by the ocean and that from the beginning of times its bounty was the base of people's diet and there was no need to worry about the food-safety issues. That information seemed to be greatly apprecciated among some of the audience. Following the introductions, Mrs.Okashima pulled out basic sushi-kits for her students, rolling mats and tools were passed around, perfectly cooked rice followed, along with avocados, sheets of seaweed and plenty of unidentifable food products of Japanese origin. Very attractive appearance of the new teacher was creating quite a stir among some of the students and Howard decided to use the commotion to his advantage and switched the seats with one of fellow mates in order to move a bit closer towards Tillie’s station. Couple more switches like that and, Howard and Tillie were side by side.

-Hello again.

-Hello, stranger.

Tillie raised her eyes at Howard’s face, and he felt a current of electricity running through his entire body.

-I’m Howard Jones, he managed to articulate.

-Tillie Haberland.

With every word spoken by the lovely creature Howard was finding himself elevated to the planes of felicity he never knew existed.

-Nice to meet you. Officially.

-Ditto.

Tillie went back to cutting her vegetables. Howard felt his heart joyfully jumping inside of his chest every time he found himself looking into the sparkling, black eyes of Tillie Haberland. He was also feeling some sort of magnetic pull happening in her presence and felt inclined to wrap his arms around her and never let her go. Most of his energy from now on until the end of the class, was to be spend on keeping himself in check, in order not to give in to that urge and make a complete fool of himself in front of everybody present.

-This could be a start of something good, went through his ecstatic mind.

While Tillie was preparing her rice, Howard was going through the motions. He kept wondering what his next move ought to be, but none of the options suggested by his happily confused brain seemed worthy idea. In his madness, he was even considering cutting himself with the sushi knife in order to win lovely female’s compassion, but soon enough regarded the idea as childish and capable of proving him an amatour and unskilled newcomer in the domain of culinary arts. Teacher commanded the students to work in pairs to create the perfect California Maki rolls. While her effords at demonstrating the way of rolling the simplest of the Maki, assuring its much-desired uniform thickness and consistancy, were being appreciated by the crowd, Howard kept focusing on Tillie’s graceful manner of spreading cooked rice atop the nori sheets.

-Are you gonna help me or you just gonna stare, Howard? Tillie was not above busting chops of anyone she knew for more than four minutes.

-Here, has a rice paddle… The rest of the class was spent on rolling the Maki. Then it was time to give them a try.

-We won’t set the Thames on fire with this one… Don’t quit your day-job...

Tillie was realistic about their first California roll.

-Tastes good though…

Howard never tasted anything better in his life. Soon the class was over, bit of a friendly chit-chat followed, people were exchanging their comments and observations in a slow, steady movement towards the exit of the building.

-I’ll see you next week then, right?

Howard had to make sure.

-I’m planning on being here.

Tillie gave Howard a last smile of the day, opened her umbrella and kept watching him mounting his bike and riding away in the direction of the park. Something about his manner seemed strangely familiar to her, but she couldn’t exactly identify the driving force behind her impressions. From the moment they met, Tillie had an overpowering impression that they had known each other forever and was decided on invastigating the matter some more during the following week’s class.

Wednesday came soon enough and brought an enruptured Howard along, this time in a navy blue, water-resistant overcoat. Pickled plum and shiso leaf roll was on today’s agenda. There were some new faces in the crowd, so Mrs. Okashima decided to refresh everybody’s memory a bit.

-This is a bamboo sushi mat, and this is a nori seaweed…

Howard, rid of wet coat and sporting a short sleeve cowboy shirt in the shades of blue that, Tillie noticed, was complementing the colour of his eyes, parked himself in the very same spot as he did last time.

-Hello, Tillie.

At the pinnacle of his happiness, in the very place where all his dreams were coming true, he allowed his starving eyes to dwell on Tillie’s lovely frame and felt his heart flooding with the delectable melange of anxiety and delight.

-Hello, Howard.

It seemed to Howard that Tillie Haberland was lightning up the entire place, radiating warmth, charisma, humour and spirit. She seemed to be a highly creative woman, with plenty of energy to explore, create, learn, teach, travel and entertain. Howard was drawn to her like a moth to the flame and felt his energy going up in her presence. His mind wide awake, he felt the glorious opportunities quickly approaching, all his ideas on the verge of blossoming with the promise of a bountiful harvest to be collected in not too far-off future. Howard lifted the sword and wanted to test its edge, feeling the heat and yearning for more. His mind getting sharper and clearer, anxiously awaiting a glorious change about to happen, feeling the time has come to soar up on the life’s wheel of fortune. Howard filled up the cup and wanted to drink from it. For a long time, he felt stuck in some unexplainable heartache and confussion, feeling himself all alone in a mental prison of pain. With the appearance of Tillie, a new perspective found him, bringing along a need to release a deep inner turmoil of his confused, lost soul and to let go of all his sorrow. Howard has finally found, what his spirit was longing for and he would not let it slip away, however scarry, irrational or difficult things might get. In his mind he already began creating a vision of his perfect future and Tillie Haberland was at the focal point of all his fantasies. He was imagining a brand-new direction for his life, setting fresh goals, more in harmony with the new states of his mind. He longed for the underlying sense of fullfilment in all his enterprises. Gone was the acceptance of the useless, the joyless and the mundane. Howard felt himself on a verge of making some major changes in order to live in accordance with his life’s true purpose, high above the daily flactuations encountered along the road. He wanted to use all his mental and creative energies to serve something larger than himself, wanted to recognise the talents, inclinations and yearnings of his soul deep inside him and to get back on the right track.

As for Tillie, she was thinking that she had never met a kinder, gentler and more loving man. She would imagine him rocking babies to sleep, bandaging the hurts of his loved ones, telling bed-time stories, coaching sports and offering fatherly advice, when needed. Howard seemed in touch with his emotional life, passionate, warmly sensual and capable of understanding the emotions of others, sensitive and willing to fall in love profoundly and romantically. What Tillie noticed right from the start and what was drawing her towards Howard was his enormous capacity for experiencing joy and happiness oozing out of every pore of his body, giving him the aura of a little kid locked overnight in Charlie Wonka’s Factory. She imagined that there could hardly ever be a dull moment in his presence. Howard seemed friendly and capable of keeping others entertained, happily engaged in interesting conversations. She was finding herself gravitating towards his happy-go-lucky attitude, his optimism and his visible fascination with life. And sushi. His willingness to become enlightened to new ideas, people, his overflowing positive energy, combined with a bit of reclessness… She was finding it all to be simply irresistable.

-Now you take this pickled plum, we call it umeboshi, it’s great for nausea and stomachache… It tastes a bit sour, but it’s refreshing… And a shiso leaf… Add some radish sprout… It’s got a kick, so it’s a good combination, all of it…

Firmly believing in an unsurpressed abilities of the honest communication, building a solid foundation for a continued growth, Howard decided to put his feelings out in the open, to step out of his comfort zone and to express his intentions accurately.

-What are you so happy about, Howard? -It seems to be coming out right… The sushi roll… Do you fancy music, Tillie?

-Sure, I do… The old stuff, you know… Jazz, soul...

-My daughter’s a singer… And she’s even managed to make a living of it… I’m mighty proud of her, you know, she’s good. I’m not saying that just cause she’s my daughter… -And now… Rolling… You need to lift the mat with nori… With the three fingers… Let your partner hold it down for you… Put it in the center… -I believe you.

-She’s got her own little band, you know… They’re playing all over the place, some standards and some originals. They’re playing this weekend here in town… Would you like to go with me?

Tillie gave Howard a long, serious look.

-Are you asking me out on a date, Howard Jones?

-Yes. I believe I am. -It’s been a long time…

-It was probably longer for me. Well, are you gonna go with me or not? I’ll buy you dinner. -Well in that case… I’d be a fool to pass on a free meal... Once again, the emotion of ecstasy in its purest form manifested itself on Howard’s face.

-Well. That’s settled then. I’ll pick you up Saturday at eight. Providing you give me your address.

-You don’t have to press too hard. Lift the bamboo sheet and roll it all the way to the end... This part… You not gonna press too hard, now… It’s just shaping, so it becomes nice and round. And done.

Tillie pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and put down the address and a telephone number.

-Now you cut this with a wet knife, so it won’t stick and get ruined after all the trouble…