Free Shimura Trouble by Sujata Massey Page A

crouched down close to me. “I’m Calvin Morita, and I live in the house over there.” He waved his arm in the direction of the end of the cul-de-sac, where the Kikuchi mansion lay. “I was wondering if something happened in the pool.”
    “Yes. Jiro Kikuchi just came up and grabbed me when I was swimming.”
    “I’m so sorry. He’s got some psychological issues.”
    “Perhaps he does, but he still should be kept from touching women like that.”
    “It’s called schizoaffective disorder.” Calvin gave me a penetrating look. “He’s fine most of the time, but sometimes he expresses himself in a way that we would consider…boisterous. I know it’s hard for a layperson to understand. I take care of him, so please accept my apology for not doing a very good job.”
    I examined Calvin, who was neither good- nor bad-looking, just completely average, except for his physique. Such blown-up muscles on a man who was barely five foot six inches tall was ridiculous. And what kind of a doctor had so much time in his day that he could pump iron?
    “You might want to stay very close to him, or avoid public swimming areas.” I glanced over at Kikuchi, who seemed to be focused on rubbing himself against a noodle.
    “Oh, he’s fine, just a bit frustrated at times. And regarding supervision, it doesn’t work well when I’m in the water with him. He feels as if he’s being babied.”
    “Well, you’re doing splendidly at not hurting his feelings then.” I stood up, because I noticed that Jiro was getting out of the water. It was time for me to jump back in. I waved at Calvin and without another word dove smoothly under the surface. This time, when I came up, my father was beside me.
    “Are you feeling better now?” he asked.
    “Not really.” I was treading water, and my father joined me.
    “Well, let’s take your mind off the present and talk about the situation with Edwin,” my father said. “I want to explain why Hiroshi and I are so concerned about it.”
    “Hey, I’m concerned too, but that doesn’t mean I want you to throw a lot of money into paying a lawyer to chase a dubious proposition.”
    “I’m not happy to become involved in Edwin’s personal life either, but Hiroshi and I must do something to amend for what our great-grandparents did to Harue Shimura by sending her to become a laborer in Hawaii.”
    “But you can’t apologize to her. She’s dead.” As we talked, I kept my eye on Jiro Kikuchi, who was watching us, but seemed content to be poolside, for the moment, with Calvin.
    “I received a telephone call from Edwin this morning, while you were running,” my father continued. “He pressed me for an answer, and I have delayed until dinner tomorrow evening.”
    “Where? At their place again?”
    “No, ours. I would have asked you first, but you were gone. We can all cook together…”
    The last time my father cooked, he’d started a fire. Hastily, I said, “I’ll cook the meal like I’m doing all the others. The only catch is I don’t have a really good cookbook with me—I’ll have to think up some impromptu things, I suppose”
    “There will be nine of us, since Hiroshi invited Calvin Morita. I hope that isn’t a bad surprise?” he added, when he saw my face.
    “How could you? What’s he going to do, bring along Jiro?”
    “No, no, Calvin explained that he expects Jiro’s father to be in town, which means he can come alone.”
    “Just my luck,” I said grimly.
    “Thank you for understanding, Rei. Also, I wanted to ask if you had time to drive me to my first appointment at the Queen’s Medical Center today?”
    “Yes, of course. What time?” I was in the mood to get away from Kainani.
    “It’s at two, but I thought we could go in earlier, and I’d take you to lunch at Chinatown first. Then, during my appointment, you could start researching legal documents that pertain to the cottage situation.”
    “But we already know there was no real estate transaction. If