Honey Flava

Inside, a girl named Tina and the beautiful girl who threw him his shoes began to make love…

The old woman knelt beside them and prayed for rain.

Geisha Girl

KISSA STARLING

1

“I TOLD YOU WHEN I was sixteen and I’m telling you again, Mother—I’m a lesbian. I’m attracted to girls, get it? Not boys.” It was exasperating to go over this again and again. It was 2008, not 1940.

Takumi was the daughter of a f

emale advertising agent. Such a position was unusual for a woman in a country as conventional as Japan. Traditional Japanese women were thought to be stale if they didn’t marry by the age of twenty-five—Takumi was twenty-four and had a birthday coming up quick. Her mother simply did not understand her.

“I blame myself for this. You didn’t have a father around, and now you don’t know how to relate to men.”

“That isn’t it, Mother. I just relate better to women. I like the way their bodies curve, the sweet smell of their hair, and the way they moan when—”

“Enough! You’re not normal, Takumi. You will go to a teahouse in Kyoto. It is decided.” Takumi’s mother was one Japanese woman who broke the standard mold. She’d gotten pregnant at thirty, never married, and still had a successful and thriving career. She’d flipped when she found the adult movie in the disc player that morning.

“I can’t believe you. Just because Takumi means ‘artisan’ in Japanese doesn’t mean that I can become a traditional geisha, Mother. I wasn’t meant to become a person of the arts. I prefer other things. You can’t send me to one of those places. It’s like prison.”

“You won’t be working with some slimy businessman in today’s society. If you learn the old ways, you’ll be able to entice a very wealthy man to marry you. That, my daughter, is your only hope. You’re going and that’s final!”

Takumi had thought her mother would understand. “I guess you’re more old-world than either of us realized!”

Neither of them spoke another word.

2

TAKUMI’S MOTHER SENT HER off to a teahouse in Kyoto despite the begging and pleading. Takumi found, after several months, that she enjoyed the teahouse very much. She’d become an excellent player of the shakuhachi, which her newfound friends referred to as her “singing bamboo flute.”

“Play it again, Takumi. I have such a hard time with this instrument.” Sometimes she helped the other girls practice. Sendai was a simple-minded girl named after the city in which she was born. Her rich aunt had sent her to the okiya hoping she could learn the tea ceremony, but years of practice had proved fruitless. She would never become a geisha or even assist one. Her aunt paid a monthly stipend for her to stay with the girls she’d come to love.

“You have so much more patience than Madam Oy.” Comments such as those made Takumi smile and enjoy her penance even more. She still didn’t want to be here, but the friends she’d acquired made life better than she could have hoped for.

All of the teachers admired her performances of the classical Japanese dance. They tried to enter her in competitions in town, but Madam Oy thought they were cheap and frivolous.

A few select patrons would ask for her. “Who is this lovely young girl, Madam Oy?” they would say. “I wish for her to assist in the tea ceremony this evening.”

These requests became so regular that the human encounter referred to as a tea ceremony became second nature for Takumi. She liked it best when the ceremonies were held in the garden.

“Don’t forget that you are merely a hanto, Takumi. I am the teishu.”

Madam Oy never wanted her girls to shimmer more than her. All the guests were aware that she was the house master, and they treated her as such. Takumi led the guests to the dewy ground so they could “rid themselves of the dust of the world.”

After purifying her hands and mouth with a ladle of fresh water, Madam Oy would walk wordlessly through the gate and bow to her guests. Takumi stepped in behind her to guide the guests from the coarse physical world to the spiritual tea world. All present entered the garden through a sliding door that forced them to bow their heads down.

Takumi’s eyes admired the Buddhist picture scroll hanging on the wall of the tearoom. The kettle and hearth took a few seconds of her attention next. She felt like it was her duty to guide the patrons who didn’t know their role in the ceremony. Madam Oy saw this as one of Takumi’s faults.

Madam Oy sat first and greeted each guest as he/she sat down. Sandalwood incense was dropped into the fire. Takumi had prepared all three courses for the meal and added fresh cedar chopsticks to the serving tray. White rice filled the small ceramic bowls.

Sake was served first to the guests and then to Madam Oy. Each guest took a turn serving her. This gave each person a chance to be the host, which is the most honored position. After the meal the guests departed so that the host could prepare the tea.

Takumi whispered to those gathered, once they’d departed from the tearoom, “Madam Oy will strike a gong five times to signal our return to the tearoom. I do hope you all are having fun.” The group smiled and nodded their heads, afraid to speak too loudly and spoil the moment.

Gooooooooong, goooooong…the sounds reverberated throughout the gardens and stunned the guests at first. Gooooooooong, goooooooooong, gooooooong. Five echoing vibrations brought the guests silently into the tearoom.