The Kanto Files: A Tale of a Woman a Book

By Daniel Powis

"Why they couldn't have said that they went back to Jenny's country still baffles me, why would she have a friend in Moscow, it is so far away from Japan, it is about three or four seas away!"
Set in England but derived from Japanese folklore, seven mythological stories set the tone for a boy's life, the life that is overshadowed by a book that his mother keeps. The book sits on their fireplace, its grand posture lingering over the household and the people in it. Will the boy ever know about the book and the secrets, including her family, that his mother keeps?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9780244131906

Book preview

The Kanto Files: A Tale of a Woman a Book

Kanto Myths – A Tale of a Woman and A book

For my family and friend

Dreams walk where they want

©Daniel Ray Powis.

All rights reserved.

ISBN

978-0-244-13190-6

Prologue

I remember Kim telling me about Jenny's grandparents the one afternoon in Spring, Kim is my Mother and so is Jenny, they have been dating since late college years and adopted me when Jenny moved from Japan to live with Kim back in her country, good ol' Britain! They were very private people, Jenny grandparents, and kept their lives secret from their village which was highly frowned upon! Jenny had adopted this new way of life that was different from her parents and grandparents and wanted to share stories with the people around her. She told Kim loads of stories on morning-afters when they had been out partying and one of them had stayed over the other's apartments, the stories were rarely about what Jenny did with her parents or her family in general but it always included some sort of Japanese myth that her parents had been told by their parents but Jenny had been learning how to use their stories to help people in their day-to-day lives.

She became that pro-active at giving these pieces of advice to Kim and some other people Kim knew from college that she actually became the agony Aunt that people loved but before she helped you, she had to finish the chapter of whatever book she was reading, that was crucial. She told of great fights and small parties, she related big mysteries about fire and big puffs of cloud with situations that people were going through and everyone found it so mesmerizing and eventually the stories stuck and they made sense but the great thing was that they also helped in the long run. Kim never asked for these stories and Jenny never introduced where the stories had come from straight away but they became the foundation of their relationship, they became a building brick in what was yet to come and Kim actually gave in and allowed Jenny to move to Britain with her; like she needed a load of persuasion to start with. Jenny wasn't that close with her parents and the second she was offered a place at a college in her village she moved out the second the place was finalized and her parents welcomed the change almost immediately, tough family to grow up in. Kim had always told stories to reiterate Jenny's stories, ones of mythical creatures and old wife’s tales that ran throughout Britain's day-to-day culture, this fascinated Jenny but also sort of disturbed her. The moment they adopted me was the moment that Kim and Jenny promised they would be an open family and they share the love that each family member deserved, which is sweet and disgusting all rolled into one, but I love them both a tonne!

In our house we have this fireplace and upon the fireplace is a book on a small pedestal, the centrepiece of the room. The number of times I asked about this book and was shot down is too many to count or keep track of, I found it an odd-looking book, the pages weren't dull looking from the side and I'm sure in the years that I had lived there that pages either danced in their place simply gave out a light, attracting attention. The book was to be never touched, never to be opened, never to be stared at if Jenny was in the room, never to be breathed on because it would ruin the bindings (Jenny's words not mine); never to talked about for it was a subject that was banned in the house and whenever I was Jenny or Jenny could hear. So naturally whenever I had a chance to ask Kim about the book then I would grab and get all excited and the aspect of knowing anything, anything at all, where the book had come from or why it couldn't be opened. Why no one could read its stories. Jenny would know almost all the time if the book was being talked about, even when she went to a festival in Japan the one year, I was eight at the time and went to go touch it, just to feel how smooth the book cover was or how furry it might have been because it sometimes looked as though it was shiny and other times not, I got three inches away from it and Kim had come in and told me about Jenny who was on the phone for me and I got a reminder about my homework and was told to go to the store for Kim for her favourite sweets. Such a clever woman, never did she address that I wanted to know so much about the book, never did she tell me I couldn't touch it or read it one day. Never did she tell Kim to tell me these things but it was always implied. I would always ask Kim why. I would always tell my friends about what happened with the book. My friends would always come to my house but were never allowed in for long unless Kim persuaded Jenny, but only if we were preoccupied elsewhere in the house, are they allowed to stop. I told my friends once that my Mothers are loving and crazy at the same time, Kim being the craziest for being with Jenny but I meant it in a humorous way. Something happened the one day when I was twelve years old, which is where this story is set, something that made Jenny become paranoid and she would do things that were out of her normal behavior. She is a creature of mystery.

Chapter 1

The curiosity got the best of me one morning, as a curiosity in kids goes, and I asked Kim (when Jenny wasn't in the house) about her parents and grandparents and why they never spoke about. Kim went to tell me a few times but then thought about Jenny and how she would react if she had said anything because it was almost like it was forbidden to talk about. I nagged a few times and she caved the morning that Jenny was at a convention where they discussed rare articles from around the globe.

Kim spoke in hushed tones, Jenny wasn't around so I have no idea why, she started with the moment that Jenny left for College her Father was tending to their family work she gave a puzzled look when she said the word 'work' "her Mother told her about the time she went to college, all she said was I was not afraid and then turned and went into the house."

Odd.

Then she stopped talking about them for a few days, even when Jenny wasn't in the house, she would claim that they were to be saved for another time, better told on occasions she even said that after she had been promoted at work but changed it to ... Saved for another time, better told on other occasions than this and so I never asked again. Jenny never ever mentioned them, almost like she was adopted and never knew them. Jenny never said why she didn't like them but Kim tried to tell me the one day but then claimed it might be false because Jenny said it rather quickly and never once said it again and so that leads me to say they're never to be talked about to Kim whenever I asked and she just gave me the look. One look that was always with her eyebrows raised and her lips pierced together with wire. The look that parents gave you whenever you did something wrong or the look that a clear sign that you should be communicating more to people, that last one was because I was shy at the age of seven and avoided conversations with anyone that wasn't my family.

Why all the secrecy?

Although that was the only secret that Kim and Jenny kept from me, they told me about their days, their worries and their hopes and pleaded me to do the same.  I hoped that one day we could've been completely honest.

I hope Jenny could confide in me, I hope that this secret was unleashed and it was never on my mind again.

I hoped that I never forgot about them like I did.

I also one day hoped to meet Jenny's parents and grandparents but why should I go against her to do so?

Me and Kim were sitting in the living room one morning, a Tuesday, the TV was off and in front of me and Kim was a board game on the stone coffee table, the one that Kim bought because it went well with the fireplace and TV stand, a dark grey, but the board game sat on a wooden panel that would fix on top whenever the user wanted it. I looked up at the book and saw the light shining off its shiny front cover, it wasn't shiny the day before and the sunlight beamed like it did that day. Kim gave me a look and then glanced at the book as well, she glanced over at me without turning her head. She sighed. You know that book was passed down from her ancestors Kim began so her grandparents had it before her? I asked, eager to know more and the great-grandparents and as most as ten generations before that Kim smiled and made a moved with her token to the next space on the square board-game.

The aim of the game wasn't to get to the end but to get more points than the other player(s) by picking up cards and landing on the spaces with the biggest numbers on them, the biggest is 200 and the smallest is 2, I was currently on 70 and Kim was in the lead with 94, the other player can steal points by picking up cards with 'steal' on them and ultimately the winner is the only one with points left or the one with the most until you get fed up of playing it.

See, Jenny told me after college that it is a sacred book in her family and now she is owner and protector of it until the day... until the day? What? Kim stopped speaking and nudged me to play my turn, I did and I got a three on the dice and got a card to steal three points from Kim it's only three, I'll let you have them she said with a laugh and a sly look while she transferred the points over to my card with a simple amount input on a device and my card swiping over hers what day? I then exclaimed as I put my card down and looked at her with wide eyes well that's it... She either didn't finish her sentence or she didn't know how Kim then got the dice in her hand and threw them down, four, she moved her token four spaces and just went past the card square and landed on a five and added five to her card using the device. Did she never tell you some other time about the day? Nope Kim replied quickly to my question this is when she started to less and less about it Kim said like she grew old of talking about it, but I respected her wish of course Kim then handed me the dice but before I threw them I queried Kim once more so you have never really spoken about the book since you moved into the house then, really? to which she shook her head and looked down at her lap for a brief moment but then I threw my dice and she looked up to see what I got, seven, I moved my token without really paying attention but Kim counted for me so I knew where to stop but now my head was full of thoughts about the book. Why had she never wanted to talk about it? Why has Kim decided to stop asking questions? Have they argued about the book in the past, even before I was brought into this family? But I would not ask these questions out loud, Kim would forbid me and forbid herself from the answer if she knew the truth.

Kim and I had a bond unlike Jenny and me, we got on more and generally agreed with other's arguments, something that Jenny hated because she was always outnumbered. The next door neighbours on our left had been living for as long as I can remember, they might have even been there before Kim and Jenny. Bill and Lucy, they were an odd bunch and I mean that in the best way possible. Lucy would take Jenny's side if there was ever a dispute or debate going on, she generally agreed and loved Jenny, they were sort of inseparable, maybe they were Sisters in a past life or something. Jenny had always told me that she believed in a past life. Bill would stay on the fence and act as a judge and come to terms with the whole situation or debate and then they would weigh up the options, Lucy, his Wife would get more of the share of the winning side, something to be expected because they are married after all. We once had a debate about the living room arrangements, the 'Feng shui' (pronounced Feng sch-way) in the room was all wrong according to Kim, she had been reading up about it while on a course with her work. I don't remember what she did as a job at the time but she became a news journalist for a TV channel called 'History vs the world' and she traveled quite a bit, she never did a lot of sitting down after the events of 2011 (but I'll get to that). The Feng shui clearly states that the sofa/sitting furniture in the room should be facing west Kim started the west of the room or west facing? Jenny snapped judgingly back at Jenny west facing and would you even know which way west is from here? Jenny was quick with her replies, something that put Kim at a disadvantage because it would take her a whole thirty seconds to reply, something she often didn't have because then Jenny would snap back with her answer for her and then Kim would snap back and argue that's not what I was going to say. The whole debate lasted a whole three weeks, I don't think it made a difference to the room at all, but then again, I was 6 years old at the time, who was to say I knew if it would or not? Kim, if we had the TV facing slightly south away in front of the sofa then the sun coming from the window would have caused a glare on the TV and ruin the whole viewing pleasures for everyone. Oh, she was good. Never have I said that the bookcase should be facing south-west Jenny said to Kim after Kim had spat at Jenny saying the bookcase is facing the wrong wall, it should never face south-west. I kept to my puzzle games, something that Kim had told me that I was good at. I would always enter the competitions in the papers and we even won some money from the one, a crossword that was the hardest one of that month and I cracked it within three minutes.

We should invite them over tomorrow then Kim tells me that is what she said to Jenny when she said shouldn't invite over Bill and Lucy because she had a convention today and was going to be busy, I just nodded and watched Kim move her token seven spaces and she went past two steal cards but landed on a space with 'forty points' on, I then frowned and watched her add the points to her card, I made my move and it was a double four which means I get another turn after this one, I move eight spaces and get a Steal card with 'half points of player' written on and I still have another turn here, half of my points! Who made that card? Kim exclaimed as she transferred the points across. What are we having for dinner tomorrow if they come over? I asked the room in hopes that someone would answer because Kim was reading the card that I had picked up, examining it as though I had changed it with some sort of magic or printed it off myself and planted it in the pile and then made sure I was the one who got it on their turn Oh, sorry what? she said when she looked up and gave me back the card to put back in the pile. She was always a bit of a skeptic one. When Bill and Lucy come over, what are we having for dinner? Jenny will decide probably, it's her turn Kim quickly replied as though she had received a telepathic thought from Jenny and she controlled her mouth and speech as it came through, oh good is all I replied, robotically as well as we were both getting tired break time?! Kim asked me in a loud voice as she arose from the sofa. I nodded and looked at the board and analyzed the moves I could possibly have two moves to the go and I could get the highest scoring space. Kim made two teas, green teas with blueberry flavoured laced in and two squirts of warm honey and she brought them through.

Kim brought big jars of honey back from her trip with our new neighbours Darcy and Liam who moved on the right side of us. Darcy and Kim got on rather well and Liam tried to get involved with their little friendship because he felt left out, they were two people who were pretty inseparable. Darcy moving in and thinking about buying a store and that was pretty much the first thing we heard from him and Liam apologised for his hasty thoughts splurging out. As soon as they moved in and they had introduced themselves to us they became a part of the group that we have going on, apparently, and it had a flexible schedule but stuff that has to happen each month we always invite people over for dinner once a month Jenny told Darcy and Liam so you're more than welcome to the next one if you like she continued and they did, they have been to the past three meals that we have held once a month. Darcy and Liam get on with the rest of the group although Kim has a funny feeling about Liam, well she did once he moved and she met him for the first time. Is he moving in with Darcy because he has nowhere else to live? Kim asked me in a hushed tone after they had left the house and we went into the kitchen, she had opened the fridge and then spoke to me from behind the door it seems weird... she then said and just I chuckled but then shrugged when she looked at me and gave me I'm serious look but since then she hasn’t repeated the statement so maybe she has changed her mind about him.

Set the table, the purple plates with the green cutlery Jenny said to me when she got home with