Read Online Don't Read in the Closet: Volume Four by Various Authors - Free Book Online
Authors: Various Authors
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other people on this islet were Riku, the maid Victoria and her
husband Kenny who took care of the garden and the house. Victoria
was the woman who’d been feeding Riku breakfast at the hotel. She
took care of him along with cleaning and cooking.
The house was gorgeous. The living space and two guest
bedrooms were at ground level with a shady lanai running along two
sides. The master bedroom was upstairs. Takumi peeked in. It was
minimally but beautifully furnished in charcoal and pale cream, the
Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 49
colors of the Pacific dolphin. There were two other bedrooms upstairs,
one of which had been prepared for Takumi. The color scheme here
was marine, with turquoise, jade and touches of coral. It was almost as
big as the master bedroom, with a view over the garden through
coconut trees to the sea.
There was a locked door on one side of his room. When he asked
Victoria why, she told him that originally there were two adjoining
walk-in closets, one for this room and one for the master bedroom.
Asai had combined the two and had the fittings stripped out to convert
the space into a gym.
“A gym on the second floor?” Takumi asked.
Victoria shrugged. “Because it’s near his bathroom, I guess. Easy
to shower afterward. I don’t have the key, but if you want to work out,
my husband has a bench press and stuff at our place.”
Victoria and Kenny had a separate house, fifty yards down the
path through palm trees. Riku lived with them. Takumi ate dinner at
their place when Asai was away, fixing his own breakfast and lunch in
the big kitchen of the main house.
He took Riku swimming in the sea in dolphin form most days.
The child loved it. All dolphins like to play, but young dolphins like
to play all of the time. It was hard for Takumi to obey Asai’s
instruction not to keep him out too long.
He also started teaching Riku to swim in human form in fresh
water where he couldn’t shape-shift. There was a mom-and-baby
swimming class at a pool in town, so he hired a boat to take them
there once a week and they practiced in their own pool on other days.
He had a hard time keeping Riku in the boat. The baby fretted and
wriggled all the way across the bay, trying to flop over the side into
the sea. But they couldn’t risk swimming across: too many questions.
Riku had a lot of trouble with human swimming. In some ways it
was harder for him than for the other babies. Kicking with his legs
came naturally – it was just like using his fluke – but any chance he
Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 50
got, he would drop down deep underwater and not be able to get back
to the surface in time to breathe. As a dolphin, he was used to going a
long time between breaths. In human form, that wasn’t physically
possible.
Several times Riku came close to drowning. He had to be pulled
out and held with his head down to cough up the water. The instructor
said she had never seen such a fearless baby and the moms called him
‘the kamikaze kid’. They practiced in the pool back at the house and
slowly Riku learned not to dive underwater. Still, Kenny built a three-
foot fence all around the pool to stop him ever getting in there on his
own.
It was clear by now that Takumi was Riku’s favorite person. The
baby would just beam any time Takumi walked into a room. He was a
little embarrassed for Victoria, but she didn’t seem to mind. She and
her husband figured that Takumi had really been hired to teach Riku
to speak Japanese – it was just too weird to think of a baby under one
year old having a full-time swim coach – and she had no problem with
Riku appreciating someone whose culture he shared.
They all got along fine, but Takumi felt Asai’s absence
everywhere, in the house, on the island, in the sea.
Then Asai would fly up for the weekend and everything moved up
a gear. On those weeks, as soon as Friday afternoon came around
Takumi and
husband Kenny who took care of the garden and the house. Victoria
was the woman who’d been feeding Riku breakfast at the hotel. She
took care of him along with cleaning and cooking.
The house was gorgeous. The living space and two guest
bedrooms were at ground level with a shady lanai running along two
sides. The master bedroom was upstairs. Takumi peeked in. It was
minimally but beautifully furnished in charcoal and pale cream, the
Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 49
colors of the Pacific dolphin. There were two other bedrooms upstairs,
one of which had been prepared for Takumi. The color scheme here
was marine, with turquoise, jade and touches of coral. It was almost as
big as the master bedroom, with a view over the garden through
coconut trees to the sea.
There was a locked door on one side of his room. When he asked
Victoria why, she told him that originally there were two adjoining
walk-in closets, one for this room and one for the master bedroom.
Asai had combined the two and had the fittings stripped out to convert
the space into a gym.
“A gym on the second floor?” Takumi asked.
Victoria shrugged. “Because it’s near his bathroom, I guess. Easy
to shower afterward. I don’t have the key, but if you want to work out,
my husband has a bench press and stuff at our place.”
Victoria and Kenny had a separate house, fifty yards down the
path through palm trees. Riku lived with them. Takumi ate dinner at
their place when Asai was away, fixing his own breakfast and lunch in
the big kitchen of the main house.
He took Riku swimming in the sea in dolphin form most days.
The child loved it. All dolphins like to play, but young dolphins like
to play all of the time. It was hard for Takumi to obey Asai’s
instruction not to keep him out too long.
He also started teaching Riku to swim in human form in fresh
water where he couldn’t shape-shift. There was a mom-and-baby
swimming class at a pool in town, so he hired a boat to take them
there once a week and they practiced in their own pool on other days.
He had a hard time keeping Riku in the boat. The baby fretted and
wriggled all the way across the bay, trying to flop over the side into
the sea. But they couldn’t risk swimming across: too many questions.
Riku had a lot of trouble with human swimming. In some ways it
was harder for him than for the other babies. Kicking with his legs
came naturally – it was just like using his fluke – but any chance he
Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 50
got, he would drop down deep underwater and not be able to get back
to the surface in time to breathe. As a dolphin, he was used to going a
long time between breaths. In human form, that wasn’t physically
possible.
Several times Riku came close to drowning. He had to be pulled
out and held with his head down to cough up the water. The instructor
said she had never seen such a fearless baby and the moms called him
‘the kamikaze kid’. They practiced in the pool back at the house and
slowly Riku learned not to dive underwater. Still, Kenny built a three-
foot fence all around the pool to stop him ever getting in there on his
own.
It was clear by now that Takumi was Riku’s favorite person. The
baby would just beam any time Takumi walked into a room. He was a
little embarrassed for Victoria, but she didn’t seem to mind. She and
her husband figured that Takumi had really been hired to teach Riku
to speak Japanese – it was just too weird to think of a baby under one
year old having a full-time swim coach – and she had no problem with
Riku appreciating someone whose culture he shared.
They all got along fine, but Takumi felt Asai’s absence
everywhere, in the house, on the island, in the sea.
Then Asai would fly up for the weekend and everything moved up
a gear. On those weeks, as soon as Friday afternoon came around
Takumi and
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