Jewel (On the way to Kochi)

Last night we never finished the conversation, or it kinda diverged from that. I don't know. Women are hard to read sometimes, although I don't think this case has anything to do with that, rambling. It seems like there's more tables than I thought there were last night. I got a crepe & it was or well, is on the house but I hate not paying for something just because she likes my work, maybe a little. If you want to let it be free, go ahead. Nah, that's bad karma. I would at least give a large tip then.

"Not right here." She looked around two times to the left, then the right, like "Haha, what is it some sort of secret?"

"Not really. It's just really I don't know much about it. Nothing I guess. After this we can go w-I was going to say we can head towards Kochi but there's a food market around the corner from here. Wanna go? It's fo-"

"for research, I know..." She really is strange.

"I wasn't going to say that, actually."

"Oh, what were you going to say?"

"Not that. It's not far from here, let's go."

And off we are. We said our goodbyes to her grandmother, who was nice enough to let, virtually a stranger in her house for the night. I signed her copy and I joke but it really is nice to have people appreciate your work. I must've wrote that book in like 2017, I was 17! And people still support my work from all the way back then. I've gotten pretty far in my research, or it's taken me, quite far that is. Her grandmother's house is connected to the store above and I kid you not, I actually had a shrine. Well, my book was placed on its own shelf. I'm pretty grateful for that. Apparently, the market wasn't too far away, it was a few blocks away from the Kuromon district. The side street it was on, had vendors sprawled all across on each side. It's the late morning, early afternoon now so there's a lot of people walking around, laughing, talking, the smell of meat buns, it's good to back home, or whatever you call i-

"What were some of your favorite adventures?" she asked me as we reach the end of the street, pulling the door to the market. Wow, ok, ok. This is totally worth the trip. It's cold in here, erghh. There's coolers to the right when you walk in, man you gotta visit here yourself, anyways, oh she asked me something. Breaking my own thoughts now, "OH, umm, I don't have a favorite." That was a lie. Guatemala was my favorite place. Besides, I'm here for research, not idle chat. I wonder if Ridge is already in Kochi, and I don't even know what part we're going to. 

"Actually, that's not true. In Guatemala, I found, or well, we found some granadilla. We went to Mexico first, but we couldn't find any ripe ones, I guess it wasn't the season. Anyways, we're in the highland areas of Guatemala, you know, there's a lot of ancient Mayan history there, the Quiche live there, and they actually showed us around and gave us some handpicked granadilla."

"Wow, that's pretty cool. They don't even speak Spanish out there; how did you communicate?"

"How'd you know that?"

"Internet."

"Okay, haha, fair point. But you're right, some of the people there don't, but a lot of them are bilingual and do. We had an interpreter, for the Quiche at least. He was pretty cool, I think," I'm rummaging through my bag that I'm carrying now, yeah, nope I left it at home. "...no, I left it, but it was this cool wool jacket they gave me. Like a gift and they told me to come back when I reached my goal one day."

She was looking through some of the baskets on the other side of the store now. It was small enough to where you could talk quietly and still hear each other on the other side of the room. I don't know if she heard me, but this is why I don't like talking about myself. People don't listen or they d-"

BZZ

Well, at least I know I have my phone:

Rich: I'm here. I've already compiled a lot of research. After this escapade in Kochi, we can just take a flight from Osaka and back to Canada.

Well, that's good. I sure haven't, yet. At least on paper. It's in my he-"And what goal is that?"

You can tell this person or the people who own this shop really care for the produce. It's all rotated, culled, no rotten fruit or vegetables, the floor is clean and I'm pretty sure..."Excuse me?"

"Yes?"

"Do you grow all this stuff yourself?"

"Yes. Our family does some stuff in a couple towns over and we bring in new product for the weekends. We're only open Saturday and Sundays. How'd you know?'

"All the apples are, I forgot how to say in Japanese, but-"

"Oh, are you not from Japan? I suppose I assumed because-"

"Yeah, I mean no. Well, yes I am Japanese but I don't live here, no. Only doing some research. Thank you." I bowed before she could say anything else. See, talking about yourself is so weird.

She's just standing by the door now, waiting for me, I guess. She already bought her stuff and she looks a little different outside her work uniform. Everyone does I guess, I don't know. I've been on many adventures and escapades with random people all across the world, but it feels a bit more different. Historical even. If what she says is true, about the first tree and it curing blindness and all that, who knows what that means for humanity. I have a feeling this isn't a simple trip anymore. I find myself wondering, just who this woman is. 

We walked around the area a bit more, and it still always trips me up when I see large skyscrapers, then out of nowhere there's this ancient Japanese temple. It's hard not to feel the years and years that have passed by, looking at all this history. Oh, didn't realize I got so serious for a second. "Where are we?"

"Kuromon Market. You have to at least come to one touristy spot before you leave and..." she stepped on the other side of me, away from the road, "...you never told me your goal."

Oh, I must've forgot, "Ah, it's nothing really, maybe if we get to know each other better, I'll tell you one day."

"Hm-hm, okay. Sounds good to me. I'll wait for that. Look!" She pointed towards something like a meat stand? "A meat stand? I like all foods bu-"

"No! Not that. Look again."

Ah, it was another market, wait they have..."Ok, let's go. By the way, why are we going to the Kochi District?" There's wooden stands outside the shop with a small table for a register. I guess all of what they have is out here. Ah-

"It's the largest region in Japan that exports yuzus. I thought you might be interested in that."

Wow, they have so many here. "Excuse me?"

The person at the register just opens his newspaper, very bluntly and stares at me. Uh, haha, it's been like 8 seconds of him staring at me and uh..."Yes."

"Do you happen to have any yuko here or know where I can find it?" Might as well ask. 

He sat up a little more straight, putting his newspaper down to actually look at me, "Forgive me for my rudeness, I just haven't heard that name in over 20 years." So, you don't care about being rude unless you hear something that interests you? Got it.

"Are they that rare?"

"Huhhhh, yes, or well, they've been made that way. Ever since the government moved production up North-" Up North? Why is everything up North and I wonder how much she knows about this "we've had a shortage of them down here. Haha, I remember back in those days, there were some crazy dudes who would bite it whole and eat it like an apple! But please, take as many as you like, it's on me. I can tell you really care about fruit."

"Aha, well, no, not really. Uh, are you sure? Here-" I dug in my pocket a bit, I think I have a few yen left in ca-"Here. I'd hate to not pay for your hard work. Thank you so much."

Ugh, I left with bags. I don't think I can even use as many yuzus as I got. They'll probably just sit on the shelf. None of them were really to my liking but the dude offered so I couldn't refuse. We're taking the train to the airport, I guess it's quicker maybe like an hour-long flight as opposed to 4-hour train ride. She even paid for my ticket last night when I was sleep. I haven't told her much about me, but I feel I don't know much about her. What does she do? Her hobbies? Where she grew up? I guess as I told her, I'll have to know her better.

***

The whole time, since we left the yuzu shop, she's had this slight smile bubbling up around the corners of her lips. It's faint, but it's there. I don't know, does she enjoy the adventure that much?

"It looks like you have a jewel in your eye."

"What does that mean? Is that some Canadian expression?"

"I never told you I was from Canada."

"Internet, it's a useful tool."

I KEEP FORGETTING! "Oh, yeah, duh, of course. But I mean, it looks like you've been enjoying yourself. How often do you do this?"

"What? Meet strangers and give them a tour around Japan?"

That's exactly what I mean. We've been driving for a couple hours and you can only get to Kitagawa by car, well, we chose to go by car, and no matter where you go in the world, the ocean looks the same. If I were back home, I'd have a better view since the passenger door is on the right side, but it's just so vast. Surprisingly, the sun hasn't fallen yet, and there's always that one time of day where it looks like the sun and the ocean are sitting on top of each other. I like how we don't always have to respond to everything we say. There's a peacefulness in silence with someone who makes it feel alive. Is that how she makes me feel? "Yeah, I mean that. You don't have a job or responsibilities-or well, I don't want to pry. Just curious." I told her, still looking out the window.

"Uh, hold on. I'm getting a call. Hello? Oh hey! Yeah, we're on the way. We should be there in 20 minutes. Yup!, yup! He's right here. He did exactly as you said he would, hahahaha, mhm,mhm, okay bye!

I'm so curious as to who that is but I can only have one guess. So sneaky, always checking up on me. "Okay, what were you saying?"

"Oh, yeah. My responsibilities... right now, I work for my father as a traveling saleswoman you could say. I promote our farm and products going from prefecture to prefecture to sell fruit."

"And do you love it?" Do you have to love everything you do? I don't know why I asked that.

"No, but yes. I love my father until the end of the world but he's difficult to work with. I'm an only child whose grown up on a farm..."

Okay...I'll leave that alone for now.

"...but my true dream is to travel the world and find every fruit species possible."

"And you think it's achievable?"

"Don't ask questions you know the answer to." she smiled, "We're here."

What a strange woman.

***