I AM NOT ASHAMED 03

THE MEGUMI STORIES
BY MEGUMI KATO AND FRIENDS

VOLUME 03: I AM NOT ASHAMED
BY KIMIKO KOBAYASHI AND MEGUMI KATO

CHAPTER III

The Wedding Reception

The evening before the wedding I stopped at a 
stationer's shop on the way home and bought one of the 
special envelopes used for wedding gifts. On the 
outside was an elaborate fold of high-quality paper, 
hiding an envelope the size to hold banknotes. Round 
the middle was a twist of several strands of red and 
gold wire. When I got home I borrowed one of my 
mother's writing brushes and, after practising several 
times on a piece of newspaper, painted the characters 
for "Miss Megumi Kato" on the top half, and my own 
name below the wire decoration. Of course it would 
have been easy to write it with a pen, but that would 
not have seemed appropriate. Then I put two clean 
Y10,000 notes into the envelope, and folded the whole 
thing neatly together again. 

The reception was to start at 3 pm, so after an early 
lunch on Saturday I dressed myself carefully in new 
plain white office underwear and golden-brown tights, 
and over that a light green two-piece suit with a 
tight skirt which emphasised my small waist but 
modestly reached almost to my knees. I showed myself 
to my mother, who approved, stepped into a pair of 
white shoes as I left the house, and set off to take 
the subway to Shibuya Station. No man bothered me on 
the journey, and I was able to concentrate on 
recalling my friendship with Megumi and memorising the 
map enclosed with the invitation card. It was easy 
enough to find my way round the station to the street 
of shops and restaurants called Dogenzaka, where once 
upon a time I had often spent the early evening with 
Megumi and my other friends when school was over; and 
after only one false start I found the turning to the 
left which in due course led me to the street in which 
the Marucho Film Company had its offices. A sign 
informed me that the reception desk was on the second 
floor, so I walked up one flight of stairs. 

I presented my invitation card in its envelope, and 
was warmly welcomed by the girl in charge. She gave me 
a square of paper with the character for "rose" 
painted on it, and told me that was the name of my 
table. 

"In fact, I'm on that table too," she added. "I'll be 
joining you just as soon as all the guests have 
arrived. My name is Reiko." 

"Are you a friend of Megumi's?" I asked. 

"Oh, yes! All of us here are very fond of her." 

On Reiko's desk was a black lacquer tray on which 
several wedding contribution envelopes were already 
placed. I took mine carefully from my handbag, 
straightened the corners and added it to the pile. 

"It is nothing, but ..." 

"We are deeply grateful for your generosity ..." 

We bowed low to each other. Probably other guests were 
being much more generous than I, but Y20,000 was all I 
could afford on my OL's salary. Megumi would 
understand, I thought. Then Reiko told me to take the 
elevator up to the third floor, where there would be 
another member of the staff waiting to direct me. 
There was indeed a young man standing outside the 
elevator one floor up, and he politely opened for me 
the large, heavy door with the words "Studio Two" and 
a big red light above it. At last I was in a film 
studio for the first time! 

It was about the size of a banqueting room in a hotel, 
but it looked very different. It was mostly painted 
black, and there was a huge window in one of the long 
walls. It didn't look onto the outside, though. In the 
light from the studio I could dimly see banks of 
equipment through the glass. On the opposite side from 
the window was a low platform on which a long table 
stood, shining under the elaborate array of lights. 
Most of the rest of the floor area was occupied by 
smaller tables, all set for a seven-course Western 
meal. My guide suggested that, as they were not yet 
quite ready to start, I should sit for a while on one 
of the couches placed against the walls. 

As the big room began to fill up with other guests, I 
was surprised to see how many of them were foreigners. 
I remembered that, unlike me, Megumi had been good at 
English at school, and perhaps that explained it. And 
of course the film industry must be a very 
international business. There was a beautiful blonde 
girl, for example; and after her came a handsome 
foreign man who could easily have been an actor, a 
plump but very pretty young Japanese girl hanging onto 
his arm and looking up at him adoringly. What an 
exciting time Megumi must be having in her new life - 
even though I was not sure I would want such a life 
myself. 

While I was waiting quietly on my own the polite young 
man came up to me again, accompanying a tall 
foreigner. 

"Kobayashi-san, this is Mr Williams," he said. "Mr 
Williams will also be seated on the 'rose' table, so 
perhaps you won't mind if he joins you." 

I stood up and Mr Williams and I bowed politely to 
each other. Then we sat down together. Foreign 
businessmen sometimes came to see my boss in the 
Corporate Planning Department, so I had spoken to 
Westerners before, but I was naturally worried about 
spending several hours in the company of one of these 
unpredictable people. I glanced at him sideways: he 
seemed all right, even though he was rather casually 
dressed for a wedding - in jacket and trousers rather 
than a suit, and a coloured shirt with no tie. 
Fortunately Mr Williams could speak some Japanese, and 
seemed to know how to behave. 

"Have you known Megumi long?" he asked. 

"We were best friends at school." 

"Really? That's interesting. I've never met anyone who 
knew her that long ago. What was she like?" 

"Oh, very lively, adventurous ..." I didn't know what 
else to say. 

"Yes, I'm sure she was!" 

"And you? Have you known her long?" 

"I met her after she had started work here. I'm a 
writer, I publish articles in American magazines, and 
I came to visit the studio so I could write about it. 
She showed me round, and we became friends. What do 
you do, Kobayashi-san?" 

"Oh, I'm just an OL in a company." 

"You're not a film actress like Megumi? When I looked 
at you, I felt sure you must be." 

I was not accustomed to being flattered by foreign 
men, and was too flustered to know how to reply. I 
looked around the big room, which had filled up with 
other guests while we were talking. There was no one 
there I knew, but fortunately a middle-aged man, 
obviously the MC for the reception, appeared and made 
an announcement into a microphone asking us to take 
our places at our tables, so I did not need to say 
anything more. Mr Williams was very attentive and 
polite, so I soon forgot my earlier embarrassment and 
was able to speak naturally to him. Most of the tables 
were round, seating eight or ten people, as is usual 
at a wedding reception; but ours was set for only five 
people, with a bench covered in red velvet on one side 
and two little chairs on the other with their backs to 
the platform where the top table was. There was a big 
card on a stand with the "rose" character drawn on it, 
and there were place-cards with our names, also 
elegantly written in Chinese characters - except that 
Mr Williams's name was written in _katakana_ phonetic 
script as _Uiriamuzu_. I was glad to get a good look 
at the card, since it told me how to pronounce his 
name correctly. _Katakana_ script is a great help when 
dealing with strange foreign names, I think. Mr 
Williams was seated in the middle of the bench with me 
on his right side, and I saw from the card that Reiko 
the receptionist was to sit on his left. There was a 
fearful array of cutlery in front of each of us, and 
four glasses: one big one, two medium ones and a long, 
tall one. I hoped I wouldn't make a fool of myself. 
Perhaps it would be an advantage to be sitting next to 
Mr Williams: as a foreigner, he ought to know the 
rules and would help me. Waiters came round and filled 
the big glasses with iced water. 

Suddenly I realised that two girls had joined us and 
were about to take the chairs facing us. They wore 
very similar dresses: strapless so that their 
shoulders were bare, and tight round their slim 
waists, the short skirts reaching only a little way 
down their thighs and fluffed out by masses of stiff 
petticoats. One was in green, a little darker than my 
suit; the other in a sort of hot pink. They both wore 
matching high-heeled shoes and long gloves. They 
looked very pretty, but I could not help thinking that 
they were not dressed suitably for a wedding: they 
looked more like bar hostesses - not that I had any 
real idea of how bar hostesses dressed. I could see Mr 
Williams looking at the two of them with far more 
interest than he had shown on meeting me. I was a 
little piqued: if my figure was a bit fuller than 
theirs, my legs were almost as nice really, and I had 
taken the trouble to show off my little waist. How 
silly and obvious men were! - not that I had the 
slightest interest in Mr Williams, of course - but 
suddenly I felt that it would be fun to be dressed 
sexily like that myself, rather than in my correct, 
respectable suit. I was shocked to find myself 
thinking such a thing, and suppressed the feeling at 
once. 

"I'm Noriko," said the girl in pink. 

"I'm Midori," said the other. 

I introduced myself, and we all sat down. They and Mr 
Williams seemed to know each other already. 

"Noriko-san and Midori-san are colleagues of Megumi," 
Mr Williams explained. "They are actresses too." 

Perhaps that explained it. Actresses had to wear smart 
clothes, of course. Before I could ask what sort of 
parts they acted, the MC was asking us to stand again 
and welcome the bride and groom. The loudspeakers 
started to play the Wedding March, and spotlights 
shone on a door at the other end of the studio near 
the top table. 

Suddenly Megumi entered: of course, in her elaborate 
wedding kimono and hairstyle I could never have 
recognised her if I hadn't known that it must be her. 
After her came her new husband, in a handsome grey 
morning coat, and a woman in a formal black kimono 
whom I recognised as Megumi's mother. Then came two 
other couples who must have been her uncles and aunts. 
They processed across the top of the room, Megumi 
taking tiny steps with her toes turned in so as to 
manage the heavy kimono,[1] then stood in a line in 
front of a beautiful gold screen: until the spotlights 
shone on it I had not even noticed it. When Megumi's 
relations had stopped fussing over the arrangement of 
her kimono and had decided who should stand where, the 
MC invited us all to walk past the wedding party and 
offer our individual greetings. 

When it was my turn I bowed low before my old 
school-friend and congratulated her. 

"I'm so glad you could come, Kimiko-san," she said, 
taking care not to move her face muscles more than she 
had to in case she cracked her heavy white make-up. 
"This is my husband." She turned cautiously towards 
him. "Kobayashi-san was my best friend at school," she 
explained. 

Mr Otani and I bowed to each other and I offered my 
congratulations to him also. It was my first 
opportunity to see Megumi's new husband close to. He 
was older than I had expected but was tall and 
handsome: he had strong but quite normal Japanese 
features so perhaps it was only his height that he 
owed to his American mother. When he thanked and 
welcomed me his speech was normal too. I was quite 
relieved, not having known quite what to expect when I 
learnt that Megumi was marrying someone of mixed race. 

Then I congratulated Mrs Kato on her daughter's 
marriage and said how splendid she looked in her 
elaborate wedding kimono. She introduced me briefly to 
her brother and his wife and to her late husband's 
sister and her husband. Behind me in the line I could 
hear the excited chatter of Noriko and Midori, and the 
American accent of Mr Williams, as they had their turn 
with the happy couple. As I returned at last to my 
table and sat down again there was a sudden fusillade 
of champagne corks, which made me jump! There were 
squeals from some of the other girls, and soon the 
waiters were pouring the frothy wine into the tall 
glasses on all the tables. At last Megumi, her husband 
and her family took their places at the top table, and 
the MC asked us to rise again and drink the happy 
couple's health. 

The speeches began, and the meal was served. It is 
usual to have many speeches at a Japanese wedding 
reception - though no one ever listens to more than 
the first two or three - from a whole series of people 
who know the bride and groom: the go-between, if the 
marriage is an arranged one or if the family are 
pretending it is; the fathers; people who knew the 
young people as they grew up, or taught the bride 
flower-arranging, tea-ceremony, the piano and so on. 
Of course they all (except the fathers, that would be 
immodest) say what a splendid young man the bridegroom 
is and how good his career prospects are, and how 
accomplished and beautiful the bride is. While that is 
going on the bride and groom sit silent at the top 
table and try not to look embarrassed. 

But this time it had to be different. Mr Otani had no 
family in Japan, and Megumi's father had died long 
ago. Her mother had never been able to afford to pay 
for Megumi to learn feminine accomplishments like 
flowers and tea. Normally there would at least have 
been a speech from the Chairman of the Marucho Film 
Company, welcoming us to his studio and telling us 
what a hard-working employee Megumi had been: but one 
of my new friends explained to me that he was 
seriously ill, and I remembered that my brother Ken 
had told me about his heart-attack. 

"Of course there are lots of people in this room who 
could stand up and tell us all how talented and 
skilful Megumi is," said Noriko with a giggle, 
"including Mr Williams here. But those aren't the sort 
of talents a bride displays at her wedding reception. 
Only during the honeymoon." 

I gazed at her with my mouth open, wondering what on 
earth she meant. As she said nothing more, I looked 
towards Mr Williams for an explanation, but he was 
looking down at his plate, obviously embarrassed. 

There were however two speeches. The first was by an 
elderly gentleman whom I suddenly recognised as the 
Headmaster of the school Megumi - and I too, of course 
- had attended. Naturally he would hardly ever have 
paid any special attention to either of us during our 
schooldays, but it is part of a headmaster's job to 
give speeches at weddings saying how well he remembers 
his pupils and their extraordinary excellence. The 
second was by the beautiful blonde _gaijin_ girl I had 
noticed before, in halting Japanese: she was 
introduced as Mr Otani's daughter (so he had been 
married before!) and said she and Megumi had recently 
become close friends. 

During all this the meal was being served, and my 
other glasses were kept full of red and white wine. I 
did my best to show that I appreciated the food and 
drink, even though I didn't really want a seven-course 
dinner, however delicious and elegant, in the middle 
of the afternoon. I doubt if Megumi did either, as the 
wedding kimono must be constricting her tightly, and 
she had two elaborate changes of costume to make 
before she and her husband would be allowed to depart 
on their honeymoon. It was not long before we saw her 
leave the top table followed by her mother and aunts. 

While we waited for her to return, I leant forward to 
talk to Noriko and Midori. 

"I'm sorry, but I've never seen any of the films you 
have appeared in," I said, "or Megumi either for that 
matter. What sort of films are they?" 

They looked at one another, as if uncertain who should 
start. Finally Midori - the one in green - began. 

"Well, you could say they are very artistic," she said 
cautiously. 

I nodded. I knew about artistic films. My brother Ken 
kept trying to raise the money to make films like 
that. 

"With a lot of nudity and sex," added Noriko. 

"Oh!" I said, startled; and then went on quickly, so 
as not to seem unsophisticated, "but I suppose in an 
artistic film there's nothing wrong about nudity." 
They smiled at me and nodded. "If you are sincerely 
trying to create something ... I mean, something 
artistic and beautiful," I added uncertainly, trying 
to remember something Ken had once said, "then the 
human body can be, well, beautiful and ... I suppose 
... artistic." 

They looked at me encouragingly, but I could think of 
nothing more to say and there was another pause. 
Nervously I drank some champagne to cover it. The 
bubbles tickled my nose. I did my best to go on 
sounding sophisticated. 

"Did it take a long time," I asked at last, "to get 
used to having to be ... er ... naked before the 
camera?" 

"Oh, no!" said Noriko, who seemed to be the 
irrepressible one of the pair. "It's _so_ lovely! When 
you take your clothes off, or the man takes them off 
for you, and you feel the camera gliding over your 
nude body, and you simply _know_ that every man who 
sees the video is going to want you desperately - oh, 
it's wonderful! It's like being caressed and petted by 
the most expert lover there ever was!" 

I just gazed at her, my mouth hanging open in 
astonishment, unable to say anything. A confused 
memory of Tomoko's description of the party she and 
Shizue had attended floated across my mind. I took 
another mouthful of champagne so as to make myself 
stop staring. 

"Now, Noriko," said Midori, "don't chatter like that. 
Can't you see you're embarrassing Miss Kobayashi? 
She's probably never even seen a sex-film." 

I found my voice at last. 

"You mean, you actually _enjoy_ it?" 

"Yes, of course!" said Noriko. "We _adore_ doing it in 
front of a camera - don't we, Midori?" She put her arm 
girlishly round her friend's waist, then turned back 
to me, leaning forward across the table and looking 
straight at me. She smiled. "Now, you mustn't look 
away. Look into my eyes when you answer." I found I 
had to obey her. "Kimiko-san," she went on slowly, 
"don't you secretly want to do it too? Don't you long 
to be here in this studio, the lights shining on you 
and the cameras turning, then slowly, very sexily, 
take all your clothes off just like we do, and have a 
man make wonderful love to you with everyone 
watching?" 

I was paralysed. That was just what Shizue and Tomoko 
had done at their party, and just what I had been 
secretly dreaming about doing ever since they had 
described it to me. I felt myself being drawn ever 
more deeply into Noriko's gaze. 

"Secretly, you're longing it do it," she went on, her 
voice now a seductive whisper as she leant even closer 
towards me. "You are trying to find a way of asking me 
to make it possible for you, to clear the space for 
you, to find you a partner, to tell everyone that 
you're one of us now." 

Noriko's dark brown eyes were gazing deeply into mine, 
offering to bring happiness and harmony to my confused 
feelings, promising everything I secretly wanted. What 
bliss it would be to surrender, to abandon all 
responsibility for myself, to subject myself totally 
to her direction. 

"You don't have to say anything," she was continuing. 
"Just give me a sign that you want it. I'll 
understand. I'll arrange everything for you. It could 
all be yours to enjoy. Everything you ever wanted. 
Just say yes." 

I began to imagine myself naked, my body clean and 
perfect, bathed in warm light which somehow smoothed 
away all the troubles and unhappinesses of my life. I 
wanted so much to accept what she was offering. I was 
on the point of whispering eagerly "Yes, oh _yes_!" 
Then at the last moment something stopped me. Perhaps 
it was the memory of the predatory men who looked me 
over hungrily in the train during my journeys home 
from work. I would be displaying my nakedness for men 
like _that_. I took refuge from Noriko's unsettling 
influence among the wine-glasses. Without thinking 
what I was doing I gulped down most of a glass of red 
wine. 

"No, of course I don't," I said abruptly and 
indignantly - angry with myself rather than with her. 

But as I said it, all at once I knew - really _knew_ 
at last - that I _did_ want to do those wonderful 
shameless things, wanted to do them with an almost 
unbearable desire. My head was spinning rather with 
all the wine I had drunk, but that knowledge was clear 
and sharp. I could feel the treacherous place between 
my legs becoming wet and juicy at the thought. Soon my 
panties would be getting damp again, just as they did 
- I now remembered - when men stared at me in the 
subway. Yes, I _did_ want to show myself shamelessly 
to men like that - wanted them to take me. It was 
dreadful to be forced to know that about myself, and 
to recognise that all my balanced, sensible views on 
how a girl should behave were just a sham. I dug my 
fingernails hard into the palm of my hand, as a 
punishment for my wickedness, hoping the pain would 
steady me before I gave myself away. I looked up again 
and was again mesmerised by Noriko's gaze: she - and 
Midori too - were looking at me as if they could 
easily read the confused thoughts passing through my 
mind and thrilling my body. 

"I think she does, you know," said Midori quietly at 
last - to Noriko, but still looking at me. 

"No - _no_!" I said desperately. 

"Oh, you don't have to be ashamed of it," said Noriko, 
releasing my gaze and becoming more conversational. 
"It's a very natural thing to feel. Lots and lots of 
girls want to act in sex films. You should see the 
letters we get! They tell us all about how they dream 
of nothing else but of being fucked on camera. And the 
photos and home videos they send us! Stripping, 
masturbating, screwing ... having themselves tied up 
and whipped ... imploring us on the soundtrack to give 
them a chance. Nice girls from good families, too, 
quite often." 

"We were all very excited when we saw Megumi's 
application," Midori joined in, looking away from me 
now and letting the tension relax. "She was so keen. 
She insisted on auditioning for us on her eighteenth 
birthday, the very day she was legally entitled to 
start work with us. And the test video she sent in was 
so good. A natural talent." 

"Megumi?" I stammered. "Do you mean she ... she ..." 

"Of course!" they both said. "What else do you think 
she does here?" added Midori. 

I was astonished. It had never occurred to me. She had 
been my best friend at school, and my brother Ken's 
girlfriend, but I had never realised ... Suddenly the 
spotlights were shining again as Megumi re-entered, a 
dream of romantic purity in her lovely white 
wedding-dress, her light modern make-up now making the 
best of her pretty face, her beautiful hair pinned up 
and decorated with sweet-smelling white flowers. She 
walked slowly round the room so we could all admire 
her, taking care not to brush against the tables with 
her wide skirt. She gave us such a modest, demure 
little smile as she passed our table and acknowledged 
our applause, her hands in their lacy white gloves 
clasped at her breast, her only jewellery a simple 
pearl necklace. It was impossible to imagine her doing 
... well, doing the things my new friends had 
described. 

"I don't believe it," I said definitely. "Not 
Megumi." I turned to Mr Williams. He had been silent 
throughout our exchange. "Do _you_ believe it?" 

"Well," he said slowly, obviously embarrassed by my 
appeal, "I've seen all her videos. Many, many times." 

I gazed at him in silence. 

"Bob was Megumi's lover once, weren't you Bob?" said 
Midori. "Tell Kimiko about the things you did 
together." 

"Yes, we were together for a while," he said, less 
embarrassed now. "And again more recently." 

"Really, Bob?" interrupted Noriko. "I didn't know 
you'd been lovers again. That's brilliant." 

"She's wonderful in bed," he continued. "And out of 
it. Always full of new sexy ideas." 

"Oh, but that's nothing," I objected, trying to defend 
my friend and make the conversation more ordinary, 
even while wishing we could talk about something else. 
"What people do together in private. Nowadays. That's 
nothing to be ashamed of." 

"She loves doing it at parties," he said, ignoring me. 
"When I take her to a party she's always one of the 
first girls to take her clothes off - she enjoys being 
the one to start the party going, showing herself off 
nude even before the others do." 

Again, someone was describing to me my own secret 
dreams, the dreams that had been obsessing me ever 
since Shizue and Tomoko had described their adventures 
to me so graphically. How did these people know so 
much about me? Were my secrets written plainly on my 
face for all to read? Oh, Gods, perhaps they were? I 
tried to hide my confusion behind a wine-glass. I felt 
my head swimming. A waiter was trying to fill my glass 
and I waved him away, conscious that I had drunk too 
much already - realising too late that he had been 
offering me iced water. 

"Megumi never refuses anyone who wants to have her at 
a party," Mr Williams was saying, "and when the other 
girls see what fun she is having they all compete to 
see how quickly they can strip naked and find partners 
of their own. But she's a good sport: she makes the 
other guests wait and watch while she fucks her date 
first, as much as he likes, and only then lets them 
have a turn with her. She always says she never wants 
to leave a party till she's been fucked by every man 
there, and by any girls who fancy her too. After that 
she's ready to spend the rest of the night with her 
date." 

"You are making this up," I said indignantly. "I don't 
know why you are making it up, and attacking Megumi 
like this. But you are. I just won't listen to any 
more." 

I would have left the table except that it would have 
seemed rude and drawn attention to me. I looked 
towards the top table, hoping for a reassuring glance 
at the virginal girl in her lovely white dress. But 
she had gone to change again. 

At last Megumi appeared for the third time, now in her 
going-away outfit. We all applauded as she again 
showed herself through the big room, the spotlights 
following her. I was a bit disappointed at her 
appearance. I was hoping to be confirmed by the way 
she looked that I was right to dismiss Mr Williams's 
tales. In fact I thought her choice was a bit daring 
for such an occasion - though she could have worn it 
at a disco without anyone thinking it strange. She 
wore only a pair of very tight shorts or hot-pants in 
a shiny black material which glistened in the lights 
as she moved, and a matching sleeveless bolero jacket, 
so short that it came down to only just below her 
breasts where it was held together by a pretty gold 
chain. The little jacket showed off her slim, flat 
tummy and the smooth skin between her breasts. She 
also had on long, black high-heeled boots and long 
gloves in the same shiny material, both a skin-tight 
fit thanks to gold laces zigzagging along their 
length. The sweet smell of the gardenias she had worn 
earlier in her hair was now replaced by a musky 
perfume which titillated and frightened me as she 
showed herself at our table. I must say her outfit, 
however strange, did make her look very beautiful. She 
rejoined the bridegroom at the top table, and I saw 
him smile tenderly as he spoke to her - congratulating 
her on her appearance, I hoped. 

Soon it was announced that the bride and groom would 
leave on their honeymoon. They got up and came round 
the room together once more to say farewell to their 
guests. Megumi's new husband had now changed into a 
smart dark-blue business suit. He was charmingly 
attentive to her as she bowed to us each in turn, her 
beautiful long hair falling forward over her shoulders 
so that she had to toss it back each time. Mr Otani 
would look after his pretty young bride, I thought: 
treat her tenderly and take care not to hurt her. I 
found myself crying a little at the thought of her 
happiness, hoping I too might find a man who would 
treat me as he would treat her. 

Before I could give myself away and make a fool of 
myself, we all crowded downstairs into the building's 
lobby and out onto the street, waving the happy couple 
good-bye. Mr Otani took his bride in his arms and 
kissed her as the cameras flashed. Then he helped her 
into the back seat of the big hired car and walked 
round behind it to join her on the other side. Before 
the driver could slam the door I thought again how 
beautiful and - yes - desirable she looked in her 
daring outfit, her pretty body and legs displayed 
against the black leather of the seat. Then they were 
off, as we cheered and shouted good wishes. 

After that it was time to say good-bye to the guest of 
honour, my former headmaster. We all bowed low as he 
was helped into his hired limousine, tucking his 
envelope of "expenses" into his pocket. Then Megumi's 
mother and her aunts and uncles stood bowing on the 
steps of the building, before getting into their more 
modest cars with all their bundles and driving away. 


FOOTNOTE

[1] We call it walking in "figure-of-eight" because the 
Chinese character for "eight" is written with two 
strokes slanting together at the top.              - K K


[Next in Part 04: Chapter IV: After the Wedding] 

For complete series so far see 
/files/Authors/Bob_Williams