Tokio Whip (48 page)

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Authors: Arturo Silva

BOOK: Tokio Whip
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No, Tokio only.

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We met in August, remember?

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And you left in August.

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You didn't have a plane ticket, remember?

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Negligent of me.

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Right.

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I know – “August, Tokyo” – like a date, a time and place.

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It opens with cicadas …

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No, that's the happy sound.

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Cicadas are happy?

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I'm not sure. But all that energy –

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Beating their wings to death?

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Ok, ok, but they are August. And yes, energy.

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Ok. So what then, at the beginning?

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Crows. “Caw-caw!” It starts out somber –

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– and ends with the cicadas, wistful –

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– filled with promise. The heat burns into you, everything comes out, you just spill, drip –

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– this song's getting a bit too graphic.

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No, you know what I mean.

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I know – I'm joking – I think.

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You know: the Sun! Even in the city, there's only the Sun! You have to confront something elemental. It seems to attack, but then you realize it's actually life-giving, invigorating. You're down to essentials – and you love it. Memory, the body – the heat is on you.

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It's getting on me. Come here a minute.

[They kiss.]

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Ok, so we have a sad beginning with crows, and at the end a sort of happy ending with cicadas – but are crows seasonal? And once the cicadas fade do we head into cold and darkness?

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No, no, we head into you and me: the heat, both of them, then the cool of Autumn; followed by Winter in Tokio – another great song we ought to write – you were the first to tell me how beautiful Winter is here

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Our “Winter's Tale” – reborn.

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Yes. We'll write that song too. “A Winter's Tokio Tale.” But first, “August.”

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Well, we have the sound effects for the beginning and end. What about the middle?

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Didn't Buster say that the middle always took care of itself?

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So, we're the middle?

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We're the lyrics. You're my middle.

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And you're my –

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Let me get some paper – where's the next temple?

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?

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Let's go. We can write the lyrics as we go along.

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Tempura too?

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All of it. Looks like we've got work to do.

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This sounds like fun!

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Rhymes with –

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