Keiko
At dinner with Keiko’s family, Marvin couldn’t help but feel nervous. He had been going steady with Keiko for some months now and he wanted to make a good impression on her family, especially her father, Bishamon.
Marvin had never known a girl like Keiko before. Marvin had never known love before. The story of how these two fell in love was truly one for the ages. Marvin met Keiko when he went to get his teeth whitened. Keiko was the dental assistant. From the dental chair, Marvin heard her name mentioned several times. Cookie, he thought to himself as his teeth were being bleached. Her name is Cookie. The next day, Marvin brought her a chocolate chip cookie and a chrysanthemum. Keiko loved the flower but was perplexed by the cookie. “Well, your name is Cookie,” Marvin explained. Keiko giggled. She rejected the cookie but agreed to go out on a date with Marvin.
I had met Keiko several times, and I expressed to Marvin my approval of her. I suggested that while he had never been a Casanova, perhaps it was time for him to settle down. Marvin agreed and thanked me for my blessing. Marvin was ready for commitment. He was ready for marriage.
At the dinner table, Marvin was staring intensely into Keiko’s eyes, those deep pools of beauty. This is my destiny, thought Marvin. He was just about to mouth the words I love you when Uncle Chiko spoke up.
“Bishamon, wakai māvu~in ni tsuite dōomoimasuka?” he asked Bishamon. “Kare wa anata no musume to kekkon shite yoi otto ni naru to omoimasu ka?”
Marvin knew not what Uncle Chiko said, for his Japanese was poor. Turning to Bishamon, he gave a fake laugh, thinking Uncle Chiko had made some joke, and eagerly awaited his reply.
Bishamon’s head was bowed, his eyes lowered towards his plate of ika tempura. There was a darkness across his face. He seemed uneasy. Marvin waited, holding his breath. Bishamon looked as though he was about to speak, but he hesitated, as if he had the words to say but they had been snatched away from him by a thief in the night. Finally, Bishamon raised his head. He looked across the table, past Marvin, and he said to his younger brother, “Kanojo ga kono kaisen no inu to kekkon suru mae ni, watashi wa shindeshimaudarou.”
Marvin’s heart sank, although he did not show it. This was a phrase he understood all too well. He looked at Keiko, but she did not look back at him.
Years later, Marvin would sometimes lay awake at night, thinking of Keiko and what might have been. Things were never the same between him and Keiko after that dinner. Their once fiery passion dimmed, smoldered, and eventually went out. Keiko moved on and Marvin was alone. He wished he could see her again. Then he would hear Bishamon’s haunting words in his ear, I will be dead before she marries this mangy dog. On those nights, Marvin would roll over in his bed and cry himself to sleep.
