The human being can only take so much pain and distress. When we saw that Dad's entire body was turning into a monster—that we were losing our own father, husband, and friend, something clicked, and we became numb to the increasing horrors. We left him there, transforming in his own bed, and went about our duties, knowing that there was nothing to do for him but reach land and hope and pray.
Every time the thought of what was happening to Dad crept into the hallways of my mind, I did everything I could to think about Japan, and the hope that some person, or some thing, or some miracle waited there that would heal my dad.
It would turn out there was such a beacon of hope awaiting us on the island for which we were headed. But if someone had frozen time, given me a pen full of endless ink, and provided a million sheets of paper, I could have never guessed what it would be.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. The day in which we discovered the budding wings on my dad was far from over.
“To think that one year ago,” Joseph said as we stood at the railing, looking out at the wavy ocean, “I was working, living in the mountains of Utah, just beginning to enjoy life again and think that our troubles with the Union of Knights had finally come to an end.” He sighed. “Now I'm on a big boat in the middle of the ocean with my best friend turning into a monster right below me.”
“Our lives are definitely a little strange,” I said.
A big wave splashed against the yacht below us, throwing a fine spray up to where we stood.
“Just imagine,” Joseph said, “if we could go back to normal life, and snap our fingers so that none of this would have ever happened. We would never take anything about our ordinary, boring lives for granted, would we?”
I shook my head. Rayna walked up from behind and joined us.
“I hope that Geezer,” she said with a slight tap on my shoulder, “as Jimmy here has so eloquently named him, has fulfilled his duty and gathered the Alliance—or at least as many as possible. We could use their help.”
“How many are there?” I asked. “How many members of the Alliance?”
“There are many and there are few.”
I let out a fake laugh. “That sounds just about right—like most of the answers I get to my questions. Yet another riddle.”
“Jimmy, the day comes that you will know everything. Even after everything you know now, you are not ready for the entire truth. But when that day arrives, you will understand what I mean that there are many and there are few.” She paused for a minute, and I couldn't think of anything to say to urge more out of her, and wondered if she was finished.
“But suffice it to say,” she continued, finally, “that on this world, at this time, there are few, I am afraid.”
“How many?”
“Ten and a half.”
“Um, a half?”
“Yes, you will understand when you meet him. He is a Half.”
I had some absurd vision in my head of a one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged man hopping in circles, and a giggle slipped out of my mouth.
“Don't laugh, Jimmy,” Joseph said.
“What, do you know about this half-person?”
“Yes, I learned almost everything there is to know about the Alliance while in the Blackness. I have never met the Half, but I can't wait until I do.”
“Well, whatever it is, nothing could top Tanaka on the weirdness scale.”
Rayna surprised me when she laughed.
“Yes,” she said through her chuckle, “Tanaka is the strangest of our lot—that I cannot argue.” She sobered up and continued: “But he is the bravest, most compassionate man you will ever meet, Jimmy. I promise you that.”
A noise from behind startled us. It was Tanaka, and the noise had been something bodily, which I didn't want to figure out.
“My lips are burning,” he said. “Someone talk about me, neh?”
I looked into Tanaka's bushy hair-lined eyes, gazed at his greasy mane and scraggly beard, and felt the same admiration for him as Rayna. He was definitely a good man, despite, and sometimes because of, his quirkiness.
“Uh, Tanaka, old man,” I said, “that's your ears that were burning, and yes, Rayna here was telling us about the time you lost to her in arm wrestling.”
“What!” he roared. “Never!”
“Calm down, tiger, I'm just kidding. Where's Miyoko?”
“I'm right here.” She was coming down the steps from the front part of the ship.
“So let's see,” I said. “So far I know about Hood, Tanaka, Miyoko, Rayna, and Geezer. Oh, and the Half, whatever that is. That's six—I mean, five and a half. Who and where are the others?”
“You will meet them soon enough,” Rayna said. “Geezer will have them gathered. By the way, his real name is George.”
“Geezer's name is George? I think I did him a favor, then.”
For some reason, at that moment I thought of chasing Geezer in the train with my dad, and the pain of what was happening downstairs returned. In order to ward it off, I quickly thought of something else.
“Tanaka,” I asked, “when are you going to fess up and tell us what the deal is with the big monkey?”
“Big monkey?” he asked. “You talking about Jimmy-san, or do you mean the okisaru?”
“Funny. Seriously, what was that thing, and why did it touch you on the head?”
Tanaka did not answer, and our brief moment of levity evaporated like mist in the desert.
His eyes closed, and he sat down on the deck. Then he slumped over and collapsed onto his side.
“Father!” Miyoko yelled, running up to him.
A groan escaped from him as she shook him gently. Then his eyes popped open, full of alarm.
He jumped back to his feet, and looked around like a wild animal seeking its prey. His head darted back and forth, his eyes searching for something unknown to any of us.
“Tanaka, what's wrong with you?” Joseph asked.
“I must, I must, I must,” Tanaka said over and over, looking about. He acted like we were not there, and that he had gone batty.
“Father, please,” Miyoko said, trying to grab him and make him look at her. “Talk to me!”
Tanaka froze. He shook the cobwebs out of his mind, and then everything changed. The wildness, the lunacy, left him in an instant, and the old Tanaka—the normal crazy Tanaka—stood before us once again. He looked around, taking in each of us.
“I very sorry that it take me so long to realize what I must do.”
He turned to Miyoko, and put his hand on her cheek.
“I love you, sweet daughter. You trust your father, neh?”
“What are you talking about? Of course I do—what is going on?”
“I cannot tell you now. Trust your father is all I say, neh?”
He turned and walked to me. “Jimmy-san, you are funny looking boy, and you throw up on me all the time. But I love you, and put my daughter in your care.”
He stepped back, and once again took us all in his bushy-browed gaze.
“I go now, and prepare okisaru for the great battle.”
We had no time to ask him what in the heck he meant.
I felt in my heart that a day would come when nothing could ever surprise me again. But what Tanaka did after uttering those strange words made my jaw drop and threw our thoughts into chaos.
He turned his back to us, walked up to the railing, and swung himself over the side into the ocean below.
By the time we ran after him and looked down into the watery depths, he was gone, swallowed by the sea. A crystalline swath of splash marked his point of entrance.
Tanaka had jumped into the ocean for no reason.
With a sick heart I watched and waited, but he did not resurface.
