At this Time, In this Place

The first time that I saw Takuho, a young, good-looking Japanese exchange student was in the summer of 1985 when he had come to Topeka, Kansas to attend college. My parents owned an old two and a half story house in College Hill just a few blocks from Washburn University. I went bounding up the stairs to the third floor and startled this Japanese man who sat up in bed, clinging to a sheet to cover his bare chest. Unbeknownst to me, our foreign exchange student had arrived very late the night before at the Kansas City airport and was attempting to get some much needed shut-eye after his international flight. You see, I didn’t live at home with my parents. I am the older of two siblings and had gotten married a few months earlier. My brother was a student at Washburn where I, too, had attended until I became pregnant. I may as well come straight out with it. My brother, Josh, was on a football scholarship. Some of the jocks were quite attractive, macho men, whom I had gotten to know pretty well because of my brother. Chad and I hadn’t dated long when I found myself in a compromising position in a parked car. No, didn’t mean “no” to Chad, but I found his physical prowess exciting and succumbed to the pressure. It only happened once, but once is all it takes. I’ve always been close to my parents. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do telling them that I had missed my period and was scared that I had gotten pregnant. I guess you’d say my folks are “old-fashioned” because they were of the mind that there was no alternative but to marry the baby’s father. Chad wasn’t eager to step up and my brother may have had something to do with Chad buying a ring. Even though I had not told Josh what had happened, he may have put two and two together because Chad’s reputation with girls was widely known among the football players. It would be just like Josh to pressure Chad to do the right thing or he’d expose Chad’s dirty laundry beyond his circle of buddies; Coach Elliott being the first he’d tell. Chad and I were married before I started showing. I was working on my last semester of college but I missed more classes than I attended because of morning sickness. I had no idea that some women could get so sick carrying a baby. I decided to withdraw from classes rather than have failing grades. I promised my folks I would pick up the semester and receive my diploma after the baby came. Understandably, they were worried that may never happen. At first Chad seemed to adjust to being a married man. We looked for a small apartment with enough room to have a nursery. He took an interest in picking out some furniture and even bought a baby bed, although I told him it would be a while before the baby would be big enough to sleep in it. His folks were cool to me and I wondered if they had thought I had gotten pregnant in order to latch onto Chad. The Wentworth’s were well off; Chad’s Dad owned a lot of real estate. They didn’t want Chad to have to get a job and agreed to support us financially until Chad graduated a year and a half later. Besides, there were times during the school year that working a part-time job, attending classes, and going through the rigors of football practice would be impossible. Even in the summer they had strength and conditioning training. My brother was in the same boat. Takuho’s coming to spend the semester with us was already in the works before my crisis upset the family calm. My folks thought it would be good for Josh and me to learn about other cultures. They had always taken us on vacations to places we had never been. It was important to them that we be exposed to all kinds of people. There was plenty of room in our house since the third floor could easily have been a studio apartment. Our family home had been a work in progress for several years. Mother envisioned restoring it, but like so many plans, life happens. She and Dad both worked during the day and Josh and my activities often took precedence in the evenings. Once the morning sickness subsided, I had some extra time so volunteered to do some projects. I am very guilt driven and felt this was the least I could do for letting my parents down. Understand – I let myself down, too, because this was not what I had envisioned for me either. However, I genuinely enjoyed working on restoring the house, so it was a labor of love, and I was pretty good at it, too. Mother followed me around with instructions on what I could and could not do as a pregnant woman, but aside from staying away from fumes, I thought she was overly cautious. I had let myself into the house to begin my day’s projects when I encountered Takuho. The switch to the attic fan was on the third floor. The attic fan helped to pull any dust and fumes from the house. “Oh, my gosh, I’m sorry!” I declared. Takuho bowed his head to me. I started to walk over and shake his hand, but realized by his reaction that was the wrong thing to do. I backed away and again apologized. As I was going down the stairs I could hear him scramble out of bed – probably to get his clothes on. I went downstairs to get a cup of coffee and then thought putting the teapot on would be a better choice. I filled the stainless kettle with water and turned on the front gas burner on the stove. I perused the pantry for a box of assorted teas. My mother, always the perfect hostess, would have some options available for serving. Takuho softly walked into the kitchen; this time causing me to be startled. We both giggled at the rocky start we were having at becoming acquainted. Takuho bowed and then extended his hand. “How do you do,” he said cautiously. He put his hand to his chest and said, “I am Takuho Osaki.”