***
Mark left Kenichi in the office and rode the elevator down to the first floor. As the elevator announced his arrival, a call came through from Australia.
"Hello Shannon, I got your message but I haven't had a chance to read it."
"Well, you shoulda. You are in the middle of a 'shit-storm' and it's getting worse."
"Well, I'm fine thank you, how are you?" he said playfully.
"Mark, it's all over the news."
"What?"
"Look, it's really none of my business, but how can eating whale at a restaurant be good for your new business, anyway?"
"Well…yeah, but how? How did you know?"
"The video at the restaurant."
"Oh shit. It's made it to Australia—already?"
"Yeah, according to Postie… remember that? ... Well, they're calling you the 'Godzilla Gourmet'. You can kiss your Internet business goodbye."
"Well, thanks for letting me know," said Mark sarcastically.
"To tell you the truth, Mark, the network is interested in an interview. You know… I get the finder's fee thing."
"Yeah, yeah, I understand."
"Well, do you want to defend your honour?"
"Look, I just did an interview with NHK over here and that went pretty well. But to tell you the truth, we've had a bit of a change of heart over here and the Internet business isn't really that important any more. I'm just wondering if it’s worth doing an interview."
"So, you don't want to defend your honour, then?" questioned Shannon.
"To tell you the truth, it's not just the business at stake here," she continued.
"Hey, what do you mean?" demanded Mark.
"Well, do you want to be able to travel to Australia freely?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Greenseas. They've posted your name. This model, she jumped on the bandwagon—Alison someone—got a ton of publicity for it. It's your name, Mark. You are Greenseas' environmental enemy number one. It's all over the news."
"Shit," well I just did an interview on Skype… Uumm.… I'll talk to some people here and get back to you."
He hung up, cutting Shannon off and stood on the pavement, trying to collect his thoughts. He was being pulled in so many directions and couldn't see a clear path. He thought a bit of downtime might be in order but wasn’t sure where he could go. Kaori was probably well and truly back on the way to her apartment in Kyoto and there was no possibility of down-time at Jon's, with Alison, Tsubasa, drugs, the guy in jail, the porn business—what the hell had he done to deserve all this? There was only Mike.
Mark remembered that he had received a few texts from him. He checked through and was happy that Mike had taken the time to warn him about things; although the game had changed somewhat in the short space of time since Mike had texted him. Nevertheless, it was good to have a true friend in the world, especially at a time like this. He called him but he was not picking up, so he left a message and promised to be in touch. Remembering that he had left his luggage at Jon's, he decided to get over there and pick it up while he had time. He was sure that Mike wouldn't mind him staying a couple of days, so he decided to just pick up the luggage and check with Mike later.
He walked along Midosuji Drive towards the Kintetsu building and climbed up the walkway towards the JR station. There was an entrance for the Midosuji Subway at the JR station. If he changed at Bentencho station he could ride the Chuo line and get off at Hachijo.
In thirty minutes, Mark was walking down the familiar stairway that led to the shotengai and Hachijo. He paused at the bottom of the steps. Looking around, he was surprised to see Kimberly walking past the koban a couple of metres in front of him. He called out but she didn’t hear. Mark ran towards her, calling out and attracting some attention. She turned around as she heard him run up from behind.
"Hello then," she said in a friendly voice.
"You never know who you are going to run into in downtown Hachijo these days," joked Mark.
The policeman in the koban noticed them through his little window, quickly looking down to avoid eye contact as they looked into the window.
"On your way home, are you?" asked Mark.
"Yeah...are you back, then?" she asked.
"Well, no actually. Just came to pick up the luggage I left here yesterday. Mike asked me to stay with him so I thought it might be a bit easier on you and Jon."
Mark thought it was just easier to lie than to say what Kimberly had probably worked out for herself. They both settled for this 'polite fiction' as they walked on together towards the house, awkwardly swapping small talk until they arrived at the open door.
"Strange," said Kimberly. "Door's not usually left open like that."
Mark could see his luggage still stacked up next to the stairway. "This is kind of creepy. Is Jon home?" he asked.
"Well, yeah, he should be… JON," she yelled as she entered the genkan.
"It's chilly in here."
She called out Jon's name again but he didn't reply so Kimberly scouted around, looking for him first in the living room and the kitchen. Not intending to stay, Mark started to stack his luggage in the genkan area.
"Jon, Jon," Kimberly yelled as she doubled back past the genkan and then on towards Jon's bedroom.
"Must be asleep," she mumbled as she walked past. She knocked on his door but he didn't answer. She looked at Mark cheekily as she slowly and quietly began to slide open the door for a peek.
Mark turned his attention to the luggage, hauling the heaviest one into the genkan. He lost eye contact with Kimberly and when he turned back she was gone and the bedroom door was open. He continued on with the luggage, stepping down into his shoes then lifted the suitcase out onto the street, stacking it all carefully so that he could wheel it all without having to carry anything on his shoulder.
"Ready to go," he thought. "But I better say goodbye."
He called out from the street, through the open door.
"I'll see you guys… I better get going then."
No one answered, so he called out again. Still no one answered. He paused for a while, contemplating leaving without saying goodbye, then reneged as he again entered the genkan and began taking off his shoes.
Memoirs of a Vending Machine Page 9
