Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 130275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
It was destroying me.
As I looked at Savannah, I just knew I was going to destroy her too if I couldn’t get a handle on this. I hadn’t told her about the extra help back home. The truth was, I didn’t want her to worry.
“I’m here,” I rasped. I looked around us. Our friends had gone.
Savannah must have seen my confusion. “They’ve gone to the café.” She took my hand in hers. “Come on; we’ll go somewhere else.”
I stopped her from pulling me away. “No,” I said, forcing a tight smile. “We’ll catch up with them.” I took a breath that I prayed would give me strength. Savannah didn’t look convinced. “We don’t have long left. We want to spend more time with our friends.”
“Only if you’re sure,” Savannah said after searching my face.
I put my arm around her shoulders and led her across the street. “I’m sure, Peaches. I can’t think of anything more exciting than being attacked by kittens while I try to eat.”
Savannah’s short peal of laughter was like a ray of light piercing through my overcast sky. “I note your sarcasm, Mr. Woods, but I’m gonna let it slide this time. I want nothing more than to know how you handle twenty kittens all vying for your attention.”
So we went to the kitten café, and I buried my sadness for another day. It was par for the course, these days.
* * *
“I am Aika and I’ll be working with you today.” Aika was a five-foot slim Japanese woman with black-and-gray hair tied back in a bun. She smiled a lot and exuded a sense of peace with every breath she took. She looked to be in her sixties and had a studio in the center of Tokyo.
We were in a large, vacant space with bright white walls. There was a table before us, stacked with plates. We all lined up in front of it, and Aika stood before us.
“Before you, you will see a stack of plates. I would ask you all to take one.”
We all did as she asked, then stepped back to await further instruction. Savannah looked at me and shrugged. She had no idea what this was either. Aika looked like an artist, and her studio could be for art too. Though nothing but white bare walls greeted us.
“Take a look at your plates. What do you see?” Aika asked.
“It’s a plate,” Travis said, clearly as confused as the rest of us.
“Yes,” Aika said. “And?”
“It’s smooth?” Jade said nervously.
“And?” Aika asked.
“It’s a perfect circle,” Lili said.
Aika nodded one quick, sharp nod. “Cracks?”
“No cracks,” Dylan said, searching his plate. I did the same. There were no cracks.
“It’s as perfect as a plate can be,” Savannah said shyly.
“It is,” Aika said. Then, “I want you all to spread out and get some space.” We did as she said. Aika nodded in approval, then said, “Now, lift your plates.” I did as she said, taken aback when she added, “And drop them to the floor.”
We all froze, unsure whether she was joking or not. We looked to one another to see if anyone was really going to do it. Was it a test? If it was, I had no idea what it would be for.
“Drop them,” she said again, gesturing with the flick of the hand to do it.
“Break them?” Lili asked, voice unsure.
“Yes,” Aika said bluntly. “Drop, smash, break—into pieces.”
Dylan was the first to drop his plate to the ground, the dish smashing into five pieces on the ground at his feet.
“Good,” Aika said, then turned to the rest of us. “Now you.”
One by one, the sound of smashing plates swarmed the room. I dropped mine, my six-foot-four height giving it some speed. Mine shattered into nine pieces on the ground. I counted.
Savannah was staring at hers. It was broken into six larger parts. Aika walked up and down the line, past the broken plates. “Now, fit them back together.”
I had no idea what was happening.
“How?” Dylan asked.
“Pick them up,” Aika said. “Put the plates back together.”
Doing what she asked, I bent down and picked up the pieces. Kneeling on the ground, I put them in the circle shape they had once been in. Chips of ceramic or whatever it was made of had disappeared from view, leaving small chunks of the plate that couldn’t be restored. I put the broken pieces in the correct place, but the plate was broken. It was that simple.
“Pick the plate up as a whole,” Aika said, and only silence greeted her.
“We can’t,” Travis said. “It’ll fall apart.”
“Ah,” Aika said, hands behind her back and a knowing expression on her face. “Then we shall have to fix that,” she said and walked to a closed door across the room. She opened it. “Collect your broken pieces and follow me.”
“What is this?” Savannah whispered to me, and I shook my head. I had no idea.