Don't Read in the Closet: Volume Four (8 page)

time to time, he came up to nuzzle Takumi’s neck. The other bull

wouldn’t allow this behavior, which was what the calf would do with

his mother: it was beneath his male dignity. But Takumi figured, why

not let the calf have some affection? He was a cute little thing and

maybe his mom couldn’t shift or, like Takumi’s, didn’t want to.

When ‘ocean soarer’ saw how well they were getting along he

took advantage of it by leaving Takumi with the baby. Pretty soon he

was zipping through the water at a speed that the calf could not have

matched, showing his strength, taking the chance to go far and fast.

Takumi didn’t mind. Little ‘land’ was a cute calf who played with

everything he saw. Pretty soon he had found a cluster of seaweed that

he biffed clumsily up toward the surface like a human baby playing

with a ball. Takumi flipped around and batted it back whenever it

escaped him, and he made gleeful little noises that made Takumi

laugh inside.

Then Takumi blew some bubble rings for him. Like smoke rings

in the air, he could puff them out and then play with them, poking his

snout through them, creating currents to make them wobble, biting

them into hundreds of regular air bubbles or splitting them to make

new bubble rings. The calf loved chasing after them and even for an

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 41

adult it was a lot of fun. In fact, Takumi hadn’t had so much fun in the

sea since he was a kid himself.

When the bull returned, Takumi knew by the way the sun shone

on the water at the surface that it was time for him to return to the

shore. He pushed the calf back toward the bull, giving a whistle that

meant something like ‘goodbye’. His eyes met the bull’s for the first

time, and in the calm intensity of that gaze Takumi felt that he was

seen, known and understood. Drawing together all his courage, he let

his head touch the other’s neck for a moment. The bull turned and

nipped him playfully. They were friends. Then, with a flip of his tail,

the bull circled around the little one and led him on up the coast.

Takumi swam back to the channel beside the rocks. He broke the

surface once to check there was nobody in sight, then flipped up onto

a low bare rock. He lay for a moment finishing the change. His body

was tired but his spirit felt luminous. Fully human again, he retrieved

his shorts and walked back to the hotel to shower and dress for

serving dinner.

It was at breakfast the next morning that he noticed the child. At

that meal, since the guests didn’t all show up at the same time, only

half of the restaurant was open and it operated with half of the staff.

The guests picked up their food from the buffet. Takumi just had to

supply refills, clear tables when people left and fetch something from

time to time if somebody asked.

He was passing from table to table with fresh coffee. Over in the

corner was a baby in a high chair being spoon-fed from a jar by his

mom. At least, Takumi assumed she was his mom at first, although

when he came closer he saw that they didn’t look anything alike. The

baby looked Japanese-American, like Takumi, and the young woman

didn’t. But hey, mixed family, adoption, who knows. Not his business.

He stopped to ask her if she wanted more coffee. The high chair

and the table were splattered with baby food, but he figured there was

no point trying to do anything about that until they finished. He was

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 42

just beginning to fill her cup when the kid suddenly noticed him and

shrieked.

It wasn’t a scream, exactly, it wasn’t like the child was scared or

unhappy, but it was noise and it was loud. Takumi, startled, splashed

scalding coffee onto his wrist and almost dropped the cup. The baby

looked him straight in the eyes and gave a contented gurgle. Then he

banged on the high chair’s plastic tray and shrieked again.

It was the calf from yesterday, right here in the hotel, trying to

whistle like a dolphin. Takumi was sure of it. But where was his dad?

Takumi’s stomach gave a strange kind of lurch when he thought of

meeting that powerful bull dolphin in human form.

The woman succeeded in shushing the baby with another spoonful

of orange goo. Takumi finished pouring her coffee, then winked at the

kid and figured he would look out for them at lunch.

But as soon as he moved on, he met the eyes of the guy at the next

table. He knew those eyes, the eyes that he had looked into the

previous day when he said goodbye in the water. Takumi bowed the

same way he would to any Japanese guest. But it was him, the

merman, staring levelly at Takumi.

He was maybe ten years older than Takumi, compact but

powerful, elegantly built, as if born to wear a business suit. He had a

computer on the table: he’d been working over breakfast. So that’s

why he was sitting apart from them, Takumi thought. He wouldn’t

want his computer covered in baby food.

“Coffee, sir?”

“Thank you, Takumi-kun.”

Oh, wow. It did something to Takumi to hear his name spoken this

way. To hear it at all: he didn’t wear a name badge (this was not that

kind of hotel) so it meant that the guy had remembered ‘sea pioneer’

and was translating it into Japanese. Then the use of the –kun suffix

with the first name lent it a startling intimacy, especially as they were

speaking English. A man might address a young male family member

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 43

or small boy this way, but not an adult stranger. And yet there was no

lack of respect in the polite, low voice.

Of course, Takumi could do the same with ‘ocean soarer’. He

would never normally call a guest by his first name. Nevertheless, just

to show that he remembered, when he finished pouring he said,

“You’re welcome, Kaito-sama,” using a most respectful suffix.

The man laughed. “My last name is Asai. What is yours?”

“Sato.”

“A good Japanese name. However, I prefer to call you Takumi.

May I?”

That feeling in his stomach again. “Sure you can, Mr. Asai.”

A couple at another nearby table were signaling for the coffee.

Takumi tried to ignore them. He wanted to stay right here pouring

coffee for Asai and nobody else. He glanced back at the child, who

seemed to have forgotten both Takumi and his food and was gazing

out at the glimmering sea. Takumi wanted to ask so many questions.

But Asai said, “You don’t have time to talk now. We’ll meet later.

Will you be free at eleven-thirty? On the lanai, perhaps?”

The lanai was part of the bar, a forbidden area for staff unless their

work took them there. In fact, chatting with a guest was not

encouraged anywhere in the hotel. Takumi suggested a place on the

rocks at the side of the beach, along his path to the sea.

He had a half hour break after finishing breakfast service and he

spent the whole of it preparing. He took a second shower and

moisturized his skin with a rose scented body butter that he preferred

to the smell of cologne. He would show Asai the place where the deep

channel made it so easy to slip into the sea out of sight of bathers on

the beach, he thought, and perhaps they could dive from there together

this afternoon.

Asai was waiting for him on the rocks. He was still dressed as if

for a business meeting, although everybody on the sand was in bikinis

or board shorts.

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 44

He said, “Forgive me for taking up your time. I wanted to know

something about you. I was not aware that there were others of our

kind around here. What is your family?”

Takumi told him about his father, who had been a land- and

seascape painter. He was popular with merfolk because his scenes,

even the landscapes, showed the world as dolphins see it.

“My sympathies,” Asai said. “I was sorry to hear of his illness and

his passing. I knew his work. In fact, I have one or two of his

paintings. And your mother? Does she swim?”

“She could,” Takumi said. “She stopped when I was born. She’d

hoped for fully human children; I don’t know how she thought that

was going to happen, but she hated that I was born this way and

refused to swim with us.” He spoke with some bitterness. He loved his

mother, but found it hard to show it when she seemed to have so much

trouble accepting what he was. “My father tried to compromise by

moving us here where at least we wouldn’t be hunted as food, but she

never settled in to life in Hawaii. She has moved back to Japan now,

and lives a long way from the coast.”

Asai nodded. “Some merfolk feel that way,” he said. “I’m sure she

was afraid of seeing you hurt or killed in the water. It’s a reasonable

fear. Riku’s mother died in dolphin form; not hunted, but caught in a

fishing net. She was with friends, other merfolk, but she drowned

before they could free her.”

Takumi didn’t know what to say, how to express his sympathy.

Embarrassed, he said simply, “I’m sorry.”

Asai looked at him sharply. “Oh, please don’t misunderstand. I am

not Riku’s father, just a distant relative. His mother appointed me

guardian in her will. Of course, since there was no human body, she

will not be declared dead for some years, but I have already taken on

his care.”

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 45

So Riku wasn’t his son. Maybe that was why Asai had been a little

distant with the calf in the ocean. And the woman who was feeding

Riku at breakfast, who was she?

Before he could think how to find out, Asai said, “Why do you

work here, where you are alone?” Then, frowning, he added, “But

forgive me, perhaps you are not alone. Relationships with full-blood

men can be rewarding too. Do you belong to someone?”

It was an unusual way to ask if he had a boyfriend, and it affected

Takumi strangely. He said no, but he felt hot and feared he would

appear to be lying. He didn’t belong to anyone and never had, in any

of his brief relationships; and yet he felt that he knew what it would

mean, and how it would feel.

He had never had a merman lover. He’d never known one who

wasn’t straight. This was the first time he had met a merman who

spoke of relationships with full-blood men – not women. Maybe the

woman caring for Riku wasn’t important at all.

He told Asai why he was there. His father had died just as he left

high school and there had been no money for college. He worked in

hotels because they gave him such good access to the sea; he got

along with full dolphins and didn’t miss swimming with other

merfolk. His father had felt the same way and they had often lived far

from others of their kind. But as he said this, he remembered the joy

he had felt swimming with Asai and Riku and felt confused. The

connection went so much deeper.

He offered to show Asai his swimming place, but Asai already

knew and had used it. The fact that Asai had entered the water at his

spot seemed to create another bond.

Asai said, “I am glad we have had this talk, but probably I am

keeping you from your work.”

Takumi looked at his watch: it was past twelve, he should be

upstairs preparing the tables for lunch. “I’ll be swimming again this

afternoon, if…?”

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 46

But Asai shook his head. “We are leaving now. I have a meeting

in Honolulu this afternoon.”

Takumi’s shoulders sank. The sea suddenly lost some of its

sparkle. Asai must have seen what he was feeling because he said

softly, “I wish we had met at the beginning of my stay. But Riku and I

will come back to this hotel to swim from this beach another time. I

hope you will still be here.”

Takumi nodded. He didn’t plan on going anywhere.

He sat on the rock for a moment longer, holding the business card

that Asai had given him as he left. Then he made his way up to the