Three Days of Happiness

169
was telling me a lie.
“How do you plan to spend today?”
I swallowed the words which had been moments away from leaving
my throat.
I’ll keep pretending I don’t know anything, I decided. I didn’t want
to know the truth badly enough as to trouble Miyagi.
“The usual way,” I answered.
“Touring vending machines, then,” Miyagi happily said.
We drove everywhere - under blue skies, along paddy fields, down
twisty rural roads.
We ate salt-broiled char and soft-serve ice cream at a roadside
station, then took pictures along a strange street with no sign of
people and lots of shuttered buildings, but plenty of vending
machines.
Night came in the blink of an eye.
We got off the Cub at a small dam and went down the stairs to a
walking path.
“Where are you headed?”
I didn’t turn around. “What would you do if I deceived you and
went somewhere outrageous?”
“So you’re headed somewhere where one can see a beautiful
sight?”, Miyagi said with understanding.
“You misunderstand,” I said, but it was as she said.
Once we crossed a small bridge that led to a thicket along the river,
she seemed to understand my objective.