Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Tuesday, April 19

When Cynthia brought Kiyoshi and Rarisa to her home, Russet Frazier’s estate, at the entrance they saw Mike McDonald sitting in his car and wiping his tears.
Cynthia shouted, “Hey Uncle Mike, Rishi is fine, nothing happened to him. I just talked to him.”
Smile appeared on Mike McDonald’s face.
“I though he might be lying strangled somewhere in this titanic, haunted home of yours. I saw your father’s ghost with my own eyes.”
“Come on Mike McDonald,” Kiyoshi said, “there are no ghosts, our fear projects them to out mind.”
“Mikey, follow us and check Rishi with your eyes,” Cynthia said punching codes in the keypad.
Mike followed their car. Cynthia’s eyes caught Rishi; he was wearing all his clothes, lying on the float with his legs dangling in the water, wetting his trouser. He was drinking something from some three liter plastic bottle that was resting on his chest. It was very funny. She saw it strange that float was moving. I couldn’t be the air. Now they were all wondering how the float was moving, it stuck to one edge of the pool and then moved back in the water in all directions and so on and on. They walked to the pool and looked in the water and laughed. Rishi had tied a rope to the scrubbing machine; it was pulling the float to wherever it went at random.
He shouted, “Hi.”
“You scared the hell out of me.” Mike McDonald said, wiping his tears, “I saw ghosts gnawing you, and vampires sucking your blood all night.”
They all laughed.
Rarisa asked, “Rishi what are you drinking?”
“Club soda.”
Cynthia asked, “All three liters of it?”
“Nah, it serves two purposes.”
Soda bottle was tied to a string. Rishi threw it on the pavement; it rolled and got stuck to the other edge of pavement. Rishi pulled the string and brought the float to the pavement. They laughed. They all followed Cynthia to the inside of her home.
Cynthia again begun crying and went straight to her father’s room but it was locked. They all were following her. It was perceptible to all that Rishi locked the door to prevent Cynthia to enter in the room. Cynthia also knew it.
Rishi pointed to a scratch mark on the sheetrock and a monkey wrench was lying on the floor below the mark. They all laughed including Cynthia.
Cynthia and Rarisa made tea and fixed the breakfast for all. Both ladies toasted bagels and spread them with cream cheese mixed with minced vegetables.
Cynthia asked Rishi to lay down on the sofa and checked his blood pressure, pulse, temperature. His liver was still inflamed and affected but kidneys were normal. She was relieved that he had made a remarkable recovery in short amount of time.
After his medical was done, Rishi went out and again resumed his pose at the float, Mike followed him eating his bagel and then all followed him and sat in the pleasing sunlight. Rishi was floating around in the water on the pool.
At sharp 11am helicopter roared and landed on the helipad. Trees shook ferociously, water of swimming pool shoot to eight feel high spilling at least one third of it on the area around. Rishi was dislodged from the float; a wave of water put him gently on the grass and returned back to the pool. He lay there and resumed sipping soda from the bottle. Everyone was laughing.
Mitsuki, wearing his monk’s clothes, jumped out of the helicopter first followed by three men. One person was architect and other was Chief Financial Officer and third was an attorney, they all were on the payroll of Russet Frazier Corporation.
“He is the same monk whom I gave ride with you,” Mike McDonald cried, “Is he Takahari? I heard on the news on TV.”
“Yes he is Takahari.” Kiyoshi said to him.
Mitsuki came to them, he first bowed to Rishi and then to all other including Mike McDonald. Cynthia had put some bagels with crème cheese, prepared in a tray. She gave one to each new visitor.
Rishi went in the home to change his wet clothes.
Mitsuki had no time; he made a quick circle around the home with the people he brought with and then took them inside, they reappeared after twenty minutes.
A stretch limousine came, they four sat in it. Cynthia and Rarisa sat in Kiyoshi’s car and they all followed Mike McDonald, Rishi was sitting with him on the front passenger seat.
All three cars entered in a Mike McDonald’s driveway, by the garage was a large unpaved parking area enough for ten cars.
Mitsuki fell in love with the place with tearful eyes.
He sighed and whispered in Rishi’s ears. “I will never have time to sit here to enjoy.”
Attorney opened his briefcase and pulled out some documents, Mitsuki, Cynthia and McDonald signed some papers. Rishi and Kiyoshi, signed as witnesses. A fair amount of escrow money deposit check was given to Mike McDonald, who promised that the title was clean as a whistle. Final closing was agreed in one week, provided title search and comes out clean. Mike McDonald knew that his property was sold to good hands. He shook hands with them.
Mitsuki rushed back with his accomplices to Russet Frazier’s estate, helicopter was still waiting for them. He was getting very late; a number of problems as well people were lined up, seeking him in his office.
Mike McDonald ordered pizza for all they all sat on the two picnic tables drank coffee. Rishi took the rake and resumed his work where he left it last evening. There were more rakes, Kiyoshi, Cynthia and Rarisa also picked one and the all cleaned the whole yard. They packed leafs in the paper bags that township had provided.
Mike McDonald was very excited; he was calling each of his son, daughter and grandchildren and giving them the news.
Pizza came and they ate it with ice tea.
Cynthia was getting late; she had to reach to Russet Frazier’s head quarters. They rose, first they were to go to her home, and she didn’t want Rishi to stay there anymore. Mike McDonald asked her to bring Rishi’s belongings at his place.
When they arrived at her home, she looked at her Mercedes. She was used to driving her Mercedes and loved it. She had no car, she had severe temptation to take Mercedes but her fiancé was driving a Toyota, it was inappropriate for her to drive an expansive car. She turned her face away from it. Kiyoshi was sensitive enough to look through her dilemma. He pulled her by hand to Mercedes.
“Cynthia please take your car, you have to have a car?”
“Kiyoshi San, I can’t. When you drive a Toyota, it is not fair for me to drive a Mercedes. I will gift it to Buddhist Center.”
“No Cynthia, please no. What yours is mine and what mine is yours. Please take the car, it is not yours but ours.”
“OK, as you say Kiyoshi San,” she replied in relief, her heart was lightening up.
She said, kissing him on the cheek, “Thanks.”
Rishi bunged in, “So whey you guys are getting married?”
“Well I proposed her and she said she will think about it.”
“I never said I will think about it, you imposed me to think about it.”
Kiyoshi clarified, “I never imposed but I wanted you to make sure you want to marry me with clear conscious.’
“No it is you who want to postpone things,” she said, “you always postpone things.”
“Yeah, I postponed some things in my life but I was not postponing this thing.”
“Yeah you were postponing this thing, like you postpone everything else in you life but this is now a matter of my life.”
They started fighting and Rishi and Rarita escaped from there. When Rishi and Rarita retuned, Cynthia and Kiyoshi were hands in hands.
Rishi order, “You should get married tomorrow because I am leaving tomorrow.”
They all simultaneously cried, “Where?”
“Well a friend of mine drives eighteen wheeler trucks, he got a trip to New York, I am going with him in two days. We may return after ten days.”
“Oh nooooo.”
“Oh yeeeeaaa.”
Kiyoshi said, “OK we will marry tomorrow at Buddhist Center.”
“Good,” Rishi said to Kiyoshi and Rarisa with authentic relief, “now she is your problem. I have things to do.”
Rarisa laughed.
Cynthia shouted in despair, “Like what things to do?”
“Many things - you know this and that.”
“Like - what - this and that?”
“One thing or other – you know?”
“You have nothing else to do except roaming in the streets and making fun of people.”
She began fighting with him; she was depressed knowing that he will be leaving soon. Kiyoshi understood this, he reminded her that they were getting late at Russet Frazier Corporation HQ.
“I must go inside to pick up my car keys, and other stuff.”
“Then go and bring keys,” Kiyoshi said, “we are getting very late.”
She was scared to go inside alone, fearing her father’s ghost. After all two people claimed seeing it. Rishi was something special, he was an exception. She said, “I can’t go in there alone, who knows what my father is up-to.”
Kiyoshi laughed. “OK, I will accompany you to fetch the keys. There are no ghosts; they are the projection of our fears.”
They both went in the house.
Rishi said to Rarisa, “You sure your brother is not scared of ghosts?”
“Yes Rishi, there is no sense in trying.”
He whispered, “Then get inside we will have some fun.”
Rarisa wanted to have some fun. She walked behind Rishi. He went to the bar and picked three china plates, handed one to her.”
He said to her, making a circle of a table cloth on the tiled floor, “OK, here is the deal, when you see them running here you crash your plate. Most ceramic will be contained within the cloth.”
“Yeah, if they come running? But that’s not going to happen.”
“Just stand here.”
Rishi took bar stairs those led him to a living room. He heard Kiyoshi and Cynthia coming. He tossed a glass plate in their direction.

Cynthia filled up one suitcase with her clothes and then picked up her car’s keys from kitchen drawer. They walked back to downstairs, Kiyoshi carrying her suitcase. They heard a hissing sound like something was flying, followed by a loud crash, they saw a plate was lying shattered in front of there. Kiyoshi’s spine was chilled, Cynthia almost fainted. He though he will be having a heart attack, but he was responsible for Cynthia too so he controlled himself.
She screamed, “Daddy, stop it. Please leave us alone.”
They heard a devilish laugh.
Suitcase fell down from Kiyoshi’s hand, he took her by hand and they ran downstairs, he was screaming, “I have seen him, I have seen him. He is here, he is here.”
She yelped, “Yes he is here, he is here.”
“Daddy go from here, please leave us alone. Go live among dead”
They came running down the stairs and then they heard another crash in downstairs bar area.
Kiyoshi shirked, “Now he has appeared here in downstairs. Now he has appeared here. Cynthia let’s get the hell out of here.”
“I saw him. He is here.”
“I too,” he said, “I saw him he is here.”
Holding each other’s hands, they ran out of door.
Rishi carried that suitcase and walked to Rarisa she was in a frenzy of laugh. They too came outside. Dr. Kiyoshi and Cynthia were standing far away, holding each other in arms.
Kiyoshi screamed, “Rarisa and Rishi, run, run. He is in there, in the home. House is haunted.”
Rarisa and Rishi walked to them, both were laughing, when they were near Kiyoshi and Cynthia Rishi tossed the third plate on the tarmac there it crashed with a clang.
Now Kiyoshi realized that he had been made fool. He didn’t know if to get angry or laugh. Cynthia was still confused but gradually realized that Kiyoshi was made a big time fool. She fell to laugh. They were all laughing except Kiyoshi.
“So, you saw him,” Cynthia said to make fun of him, “what color jacket he was wearing.”
“There are no ghosts, they are the projections of your fear,” Rarisa said, to add injury to insult, “You, silly Zucchini.”
Kiyoshi finally laughed, he left with Cynthia in the Mercedes, and they were already late. Rarisa and Rishi stayed to clean the broken plates. When they were leaving on Kiyoshi’s Toyota, Cynthia called her, ordered her to bring Rishi at Kiyoshi’s home, not let him at the estate home or with Mike McDonald. She told her not to let him roam in the streets. Cynthia was still laughing while talking.

2

Cynthia and Mitsuki signed more documents in Russet Frazer HQ. They were given brief about each document; their attorneys had already reviewed the paperwork. Luckily at 6.30 Cynthia was relieved for the day, but Mitsuki’s end of day was not even in the sight. He was gradually grasping the business and was meeting and talking with people, calling or taking calls to making day to day decisions. Russet Frazier Corporation’s offices and installations we located all over the world. Day had ended in one part of the world, it begun in other and so on and so on. Mitsuki was paying great attention to his mind, not to be sucked in the business emotionally but play with it as it was a board of chess. Cynthia felt pity on him.

Cynthia and Kiyoshi left the building to his home.
“I have a prank for Rishi in my mind,” he disclosed.
“It better be good,” she said, “He must be given a dose of his own medicine.”
“I have a scheme in my mind it never failed so far.”
“Oh yeah!”
“You better believe it.”
Kiyoshi began barking like a dog, Cynthia felt he was scary, he was barking like some ferocious dog.
“How I bark?”
“You bark so well,” She said laughing. “If thieves come to our home, you just bark, you will jolt the hell out of them. Your bark is ferocious than a real dog.”
“Then let’s see Rishi tonight, I need your cooperation too,” Kiyoshi said, he was full of emotions, “We can’t trust Rarisa she is his lobby.”
“Yep, it is I and you. Let’s give him a dose of his own medicine tonight.”
“Whom he thinks he is?”
“Yep, yep, yep; whom he thinks he is? Hah.”
They reached home at 7.15pm. To Dr. Kiyoshi’s relief, Rishi and Rarisa were gone to do shopping. He pulled out a real looking, full and big dog sized, stuffed pit bull dog.
“Doctor Kiyoshi San, it is scary.”
“I will make it scarier. You will see. You will see.”
Kiyoshi found a real opened looking dog teeth; He opened the dog’s mouth and inserted those teeth. Now dog’s mouth was open, its brutal teeth in the attack approach.
“Oh no!” She said, “Poor Rishi may have a heart attack.”
“He is thick skinned.” Kiyoshi said, dreaming, “I doubt if he will have a heart attack. He may pee in his trouser.”
She laughed. “Kiyoshi San you do have an attitude.”
“Yep, yep, yep, ype ype ap ape.”
“Kiyoshi San you have dyslexia too.”
“Noly when I ma xeited,” Kiyoshi said, “only hwen I ma exited.”
She laughed because she though he was making this up, pretending to be dyslexic, but such excitement always made him dyslexic.
Now he was singing a song, with all messed up or missing words.
Cynthia called Rarisa.
“Where are you?”
“We are just two minutes away from home.”
“See ya.”
“Hey Kiyoshi they are only two minutes away from home.”
She and Kiyoshi began looking from the window. Toyota arrived.
Kiyoshi called Rarisa, “Rarisa, oyu go to Mr. Miyagi’s useho, go tecfh our moverlawn.”
“You are again excited Kiyoshi, what is happening?”
“Dannmit, lwanvermo, rbing.”
“Calm down Kiyoshi, calm down. I will bring your lwanvermo or moverlawn or what ever from Mr. Miyagi’s home.”
She got down from the car and went to adjacent home. Rishi came to door and pushed it, it was open and then a ferocious dog jumped over him. Rishi ran, he ran for his life. He didn’t look behind because the dog was following him, barking like crazy, to the hell. He was gasping and panting. Finally he jumped to catch a branch of tree and hung over there, shrinking his legs. He was struggling to climb on the tree but was too tired.
Then he saw Dr. Kiyoshi was too panting. He understood that he was made fool. Cynthia and Rarisa too came there. They all laughed.
“I didn’t go to Mr. Miyagi’s home,” Rarisa said, “I knew something was cooking up here, I hid behind the fence.”
Rishi said laughing, “You almost gave me heart attack, man.”
Kiyoshi said, “Itt for att.”
“You mean,” Cynthia clarified, “tit for tat.”
Kiyoshi nodded, he was not yet married with Cynthia, and he thought he should better keep his mouth shut, or she may change her mind to marry a dyslexic however in excitement. He feared she may take it as his excitement dyslexia as a handicap, he loved her and was dying to marry her.
For ten minutes he was only replying in sign language till his excitement was over.
Rarisa said, “Wish, Mitsuki were here to see his King of Kings running scared from a stuffed doggie.”
“Don’t worry,” Rishi said laughing, “I will get you?”
They walked to the home, Rishi and Rarisa had bought Indian spices, flat breads and vegetables from one Indian Store. Rishi chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, coriander leafs and vegetables. He fried onion and garlic first, and then added ginger, stirred it and waited for a while, then added spices, stirred it and waited for a while and then tomatoes, stirred it and waited for a while and then added vegetables in the same mixture, stirred it for five minutes. At the end he added water to make curry.
Rarisa prepared rice in a special rice-cooker she bought from Tokyo.
Rishi asked for the empty bowls, kept some curry, rice and breads separate for Mitsuki.
Cynthia and Dr. Kiyoshi served the dinner.
They never ate such tasty meals in their life, they finished all they had and licked the plates.
Then they had a long walk in the streets and parks, ate frozen yoghurt from McDonald’s Restaurant and returned home to sleep.
When Mitsuki arrived there at 11pm his food was still almost warm. Rishi heated it up and served to him. He ate licking his fingers.
He was very tired, just two days made him look older. Rishi took him for a walk in the park.
“How was your day, Mitsuki San?”
“It was very long but I am surviving, learning to work without a cause.”
“Wish I could help but I will mess up everything. Once I bought a Camel to do whole India, but I ended up carrying his fodder and my stuff on my back.”
Misuki laughed. “You are laying Rishi San.”
“No I am not laying, Mitsuki San. We only did hundred miles and then restored the Camel free to its previous owner who sold him to me.”
“I know, you don’t have the character to run things.’
“But you have it.”
Mistuki nodded in approval but not in conceit. “I am learning to live without a cause.’
“Mitsuki, do not learn anything. You go and you go wrong.”
He was again shocked to hear this.
“What do I do then?”
“Live, just live without an effort. Do not make effort, let the things happen to you. You are the Creation, you are the Creator, and we all are nothing but the dance of Creation.”
“I see.”
“When you say I am learning, this means I,I,I,I,I am learning. There is no I, that is false.”
“I get it what you just said, I get it.”
Mitsuki’s mind was peaceful and clear; he looked at his watch and rose.
“Rishi San, I got to go, I must wake up at five in the morning. Tomorrow I have to find a new manager for the monastery, my assistant was doing good job so he will take the charge. At least money problem is fixed now. We have lots of money now.”
“Bye Mitsuki San.”
They bowed to each other and to the all four directions and to the sky and went away in opposite direction.