Part Eight
R and R

We changed clothes. I wore some civies, and I could tell that Ray wanted to tease me about the shirt, but he didn't. But he kept sneaking glances at it while we got dressed, and his lips kept kinda curving. Finally I sighed. "It was a going away gift from my Mom, okay? So, yeah, she dresses me funny. What can I say? She likes bright colors. It's okay, you can laugh."

"No, no, it's not that, Walter. It's just..." *snort* "It's just..." *snicker* "Well, you'll be easy to find in the dark." And he burst out laughing.

I had to smile, too, but I punched him on the arm to let him know I wasn't letting him get away with anything. Ray looked good. His hair was longer than I was used to, covering his ears. Not much chance to go to a barber out near the front, I guess. But he had great hair: heavy, dark, and shiny. He'd been gettin a tan, being outside so much, and his simple white shirt set it off. Of course, like my Mom says, someone you love would look good wrapped in a feed sack.

We wandered around the streets, looking for a good restaurant. Of course, it was hard to tell. You couldn't look for all the trucks parked outside, like you do in the states when you're looking for a good diner.

Ray kept his arm looped around my shoulders. I kinda wondered about that till I noticed there were a lot of other GIs doing exactly the same thing. Seems like they just wanted to stick close to their buddies here in a strange country, so we weren't out of place. But I began to wonder if maybe some of them were walking like that for the same reason me and Ray were.

We finally settled on a place that looked clean and smelled good. Ray tried to get me to eat sushi, but I held firm on that. "Yeah, Ray, the squid back in the states was all right, but it was cooked. No, I'm not eatin' anything raw except fruits and vegetables. I grew up on a farm, Ray. We're real careful about undercooked meats."

They had some nice fried stuff, though, called tympani or tempest or something like that, and I had it instead. We also had little, tiny cups of saki, warmed over a candle. It was pretty strong stuff. The Japanese customers were knocking it back like it was milk, but we only had one each.

"There's plenty of time to get drunk, Walter. We can get drunk before we go to sleep." Ray covered my hand with his on the tabletop, stroking his thumb over its back. "I want you awake, aware, and fully functional this evening, sport."

"Oh? And what happens this evening that I need to be so alert for?"

He gave me a 'funny, ha ha' look, then said archly, "I thought I'd take you to a poetry reading."

"I really don't think you should. It might corrupt me." He was taking a sip of water, and almost sprayed it laughing.

That afternoon we spent some time shopping from the street vendors. Man, they sold all kinds of stuff, and for pretty good prices. I bought a real pretty fan to send to Mom. It had ivory sticks, and all kinds of flowers painted on the silk fabric. Ray bought a beautiful silk scarf he said I should send to her, with his compliments.

Mom and Uncle Ed knew about Ray. Well, they knew that we were real good friends. They didn't know how good. Mom was just happy I'd found an older man to be friends with while I was away from home. She always worried about me, growing up without a dad, even though I figure that Uncle Ed was just as good.

We ate supper at a place that served American food, as well as Japanese. Ray sort of kidded me about eating a hamburger. He said that Americans could always get American food, and he didn't understand why they wouldn't eat the native foods when they traveled. I reminded him of the tempo stuff I'd had that afternoon, and told him that after months of liver and fish, a hamburger was exactly what I wanted, and if I could get it, I was going to.

He gave me an almost gentle look, and his voice was more serious when he said, "Yeah, Walter. I want you to have what you want. You should. You deserve it."

"What about what you want, Ray?" He touched my arm, and I shivered.

He could do that to me. Just a touch somewhere no one would think of as sexual, not even on the bare skin, and he'd make me shiver. "Kiddo, you know what I want. And that involves making you happy."

After supper, Ray suggested that we go to the bath house that was next door to our hotel. I'd never been to one before, so I said it sounded like a good idea to me.

It was getting dark by the time we finished eating. On the way back to the hotel, Ray said, "Let’s stop at the bath house. I know I could use a good soak." He gave me a squeeze. "And it’ll get you nice and relaxed."

"I thought you wanted me awake."

He gave me a look that gave me warm butterflies in my stomach. "I think I can keep you from falling asleep too soon."