Another day, another day without a response. Is anyone out there?
We finally sailed clear of the rain. There was a bit of fog this morning, but that has burned off, and we’re sailing across an impossibly calm sea. One of those that gave the Pacific its name but is actually relatively rare.
I ran our usual dragline this morning and, after getting our samples, headed for the cafeteria to get something to eat. And coffee, mostly. After we grabbed our table, I turned to Reiko.
“So… you’re helping with Dr. Stepherson’s research too, I hear.”
She briefly narrowed her eyes in annoyance then shrugged. “Not really. Donnie has a couple of these older books–ancient ones–that are in archaic Japanese. He was just asking me to help him with some translations.
“Isn’t Donnie a linguist? Specializing in Asian languages?”
“Yes, and I’m a native speaker of Asian languages. Or is that a problem?” She raised an eyebrow.
“What? No! Of course not. I’m just wondering how good he is as a linguist if he needs help in his own specialty.”
“Like I said, old books. He can translate what they say, but is missing some of the contexts to really understand them.”
“So, you’re helping him with that.”
“Yeah. He’s been a bit too isolated in his field of study, which is probably why his advisor recommended him for this trip. Get some anthropological background to go with his linguistics knowledge.”
“Yeah, makes sense.” I thought. “So that’s how you two got together on this trip? Him asking you for help?”
She gave an annoyed look again. “Why do you care so much about my personal life? Just because you’re my advisor doesn’t mean you have anything to do with my social life.”
I held up a hand. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry. It’s just that…” I stopped as I saw her tense.
There was a moment of tense silence. I noticed Darrin was pretending to look at his phone but was obviously listening to us.
“Just what?” she finally asked, voice tight.
“As you said, none of my business,” I said, trying to back out of what I had stepped it. She was right, it was none of my business. But, like so many other things on this trip, something felt off.
She wasn’t letting go. “No. I want to know why my advisor is so concerned about my sex life since you seem obsessed with it.”
“No! I’m not! I…” I sighed. “OK, a few days into the trip, I saw Donnie hitting on Sara. It was… almost embarrassing to watch. Then, a day or two later, he’s with you. I’m just wondering if I need to update my own opening lines.” I tried a disarming smile.
She held the gaze for a few more moments, then shook her head. “You men put too much importance on opening lines, you know.”
She sighed, but I saw her relax. “As I said, Donnie is… isolated. And not just in his field. He doesn’t know how to talk to people and so tries to come up with anything.”
“He asked me about something he had read in his research because ‘I was the first actual Japanese woman he knew.'” She laughed. “And yes, that is a cringingly bad line. But, I decided to be nice and look at what he was doing. If nothing else because I knew you were trying to find out about Dr. Stepherson’s research yourself.” She glared at me a bit as she said that.
“Hey! I never asked you to…”
“No, you didn’t. But you weren’t exactly subtle about trying to find out either. Anyway, it turned out fairly interesting; I helped him with some things and… He’s not that bad of a guy once you actually get to know him.”
I nodded. “OK, yes. I’m sure he is.”
Her glare returned. “He is.”
“I didn’t mean it that way. Look… you’re right. I guess I wasn’t subtle in trying to find out what was going on there either. Next time I ask the wrong questions? Just tell me to shut up.”
“Don’t worry, I will.” She drank the last of her coffee and shoved the cup aside. “I’m going to go get a shower and try to get warm.” She stood and headed for the exit.
We watched her go, then I turned to Darrin. “Well, I guess I’ve got someone mad at me.”
He shook his head. “No, she isn’t. Annoyed, but not mad. If she was mad, she would have completely shut you down and made sure everyone in earshot knew it as well. She hasn’t cut you off, just drawn a line.” He paused. “She’s got a few of those.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I know her… very well. Much better than you and much better than Donnie thinks he does.” He glanced at the door before proceeding.
“She’s sensitive about a few things,” he said, leaning closer. “Mostly having to do with her past. She won’t say a thing about her time in Japan, for instance.”
“Well, I don’t know how young she was when she came to the US. I know she’s naturalized, it’s on her student records, but it doesn’t have a date. She may have been very young.”
“I don’t know either, and she made it very clear that she doesn’t want to talk about it. Also, don’t ask about her ink.”
“I did,” I said. “On one of our first dives, I commented on it. It isn’t exactly subtle. She said she was born with a skin condition that caused very patchy pigmentation, and the ink was actually less obvious.”
“Yeah, ‘vitiligo’ I think she said it was called. She keeps her hair the way it is because it’s also patchy for the same reason. But… I tried to find out what the tattoos meant. She didn’t like that at all.”
“They look fairly abstract to me.”
“You… haven’t gotten as close or as detailed a look at them as I have.” He smiled slightly at that. “There is a definite pattern there. But when I asked, she shut me down the way she just did you. I haven’t pushed it since.”
“OK. So… why are you telling me this?”
He shrugged. “Because, honestly, I’m not sure why she decided to hook up with Donnie either. And I get to take that a bit more personally than you.”
“Did she tell you anything?”
“Only what I said the other day; that she wanted a last meaningless thing before committing herself to someone.” He shrugged. “Well… two of us can play that game.”
“You and Anna getting along then?”
He smiled. “Well enough.”
“Good.” I looked at my empty coffee cup. “And I think I’m done reviewing everyone’s sex lives now. I’ll leave the rest as an exercise for the students.”
“Yeah, probably a good idea.” He stood up and stretched. “And a hot shower does sound good about now. I think that dragnet is designed to dump as much cold water on you as possible.” He nodded and headed for the door.
I sighed. He was right, and I was pretty sure the fish smell was increasing after every use too. I frowned. I probably should disinfect the thing before someone started questioning cross-contamination in our samples. I gave another sigh and headed aft for where the net was stored.