FicWad

Dear Person who is Not Exactly the Delight of my Life,


Sorry this is a little late. It took a couple more days than we expected to get to Cairo. Sometimes this traveling gets tiring, you know? It would be nice just to stay put for a few weeks. I'm feeling the need to photograph the fathers and sons on the beaches of the Côte d'Azur, if you know what I mean.

You never go on vacation, do you? Don't you ever just want to get away? I get the feeling you're like those rats in that psychology experiment though. You know, the ones who got so used to the adrenaline of a fast paced life they couldn't live without it? That reminds me of you. And not just because of the rat part.

So anyway we're in Egypt. Have you ever been here, Asami? It's so beautiful! Just like out of the movies. We saw the pyramids today, and we'll be going down to Abu Simbel and Luxor starting tomorrow. This is so amazing. We have some old stuff in Japan, but nothing like this. It's strange, you know, to see things that men made thousands of years before Japan was really any kind of country at all. Did you ever find yourself standing somewhere and feel a connection with the past? Like you could feel all the people who had stood there before? It's weird when you realize that they were a lot like you and me.

Dad told me a poem while we were looking at some of the monuments. It was written by an English guy, but he translated it for me. It was about a king who was really powerful in his day and age, and how all that was left of him was one broken statue in the desert. He spent his life chasing power, and he left nothing behind that anyone remembers him for now.

I don't know if I should say this, but it reminded me of you. All that fighting to be at the top... Is it really worth it when the day after you die it all starts to crumble, and one hundred years from now no one remembers anything about it? Maybe you should just take some time to relax and enjoy things before it's too late. I mean, it's something you have to decide for yourself, and you've probably thought about it before, but I figured a friend would say something.

Anyway... I've enclosed photos of the pyramids. The guy in the third one is my Dad. I'll tell you about him sometime. He's a good guy, but not great at being a father. That's OK. I'm kind of old for that. It's nice just to get to know him.

I also included some pictures of the locals. You may find some people you know among them because some of them look like criminals.

I'm getting kind of tired, and we have to get up before dawn tomorrow to catch our flight. I'll write as soon as I can.

Think about what I said, OK?


Akihito



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Dear Akihito,


Ozymandius, by Shelley, is the poem you're referring to. It's very famous. I learned it in high school. It's supposed to teach us to disparage temporal power. It didn't work with me. Of course power is worthless after death. But power is everything before that.

I've found that those who vilify power are those without it who really want more of it. This Shelley, a Romantic poet, had very little of it. Will his poem last any longer than Ozymandius' monument? Maybe, maybe not. Someday though, it too will be forgotten.

Do you think that mattered to him, while he was writing it? I doubt it. It was probably something he needed to do, regardless of the consequences, as my actions are for me. I really couldn't care what people say about what I do, one, one hundred, or one million years in the future. People can speak of me or not. I'll do what I'm driven to.

Just because something is fleeting, Akihito, is no reason not to enjoy it while you can. Quite the opposite, I'd say. I'm very much a believer of seizing the moment. Surely you've realized that. I enjoy pleasure, and see no reason not to take it when the opportunity offers itself, because the chance probably won't come again.

What I want, on my deathbed, is to never once have thought "Oh I should have...". A minute after death, it won't matter. But before, I'll keep reaching for everything I want. And I'll get it. Because I have power.

I'm not sure you'll understand this. I know that power is something you look down upon, probably because you don't realize how much power of your own you have. And yet you do nothing with it except run away. Maybe that's powerful in and of itself.

And maybe that, Akihito, is something you should think about.

Yours, etc,

Asami


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Dear Asami,


I'm leaving in a few minutes but checked my email and saw your reply.

I just wanted to tell you, I'll think about it.


Akihito


PS – You didn't answer the rest of my questions. This letter writing stuff works when people answer each other's questions. Didn't that business degree teach you anything?

PPS – You really surprised me with this... I'll write you when I get back.


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Akihito printed the email out to take with him, then read it time and again between the photo shoots at the ancient monuments. It was creased and dirty from having been carried so far in his pockets.

Sitting on a cliff in the Valley of the Kings in the warm morning sun, he again pulled the paper out. He thought it an appropriate place to be considering his ex-lover's words. After all, Asami carried himself like royalty. He read through it again, his brow creasing.

Was he throwing away chances? He'd jumped at the one to work with his father. But really, had that just been a convenient reason to run away, as Asami said? He thought of what he did more as walking away. He'd not been frightened, just fed up and ready to move on. This trip made the perfect excuse though.

He wasn't sure what would have happened if his father hadn't called him with the offer.

But as for power... What kind of power did Asami think he had? He had none. He commanded no one, had little money. He had control over his own life. But that couldn't have been what Asami was implying. Damn the man, for once they were almost communicating and he had to be cryptic.

"Akihito!" A small figure was waving at him from the floor of the valley. "They're ready to take us into the tomb!"

He folded the paper back up and stuck it into his jeans, then shrugged his shoulders. He'd think about it more tonight, when he had time. He was spending too much time considering Asami these days when his mind should be on other things. Knapsack in hand, he headed down to join his father as they descended into the tombs of kings.



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Dear Akihito,


I'm glad to hear you're considering my words. I'll mark the event on my calendar.

Thank you for bringing to my attention the fact that I failed to answer several of your questions in my last response. You really should teach a course in correspondence etiquette. Your understanding of it is unlike any I've ever encountered.

I do hope you won't deduct points if I don't answer these in the order asked.

Have I been to Egypt?

Yes, I have, several times. I drove out to the Pyramids one morning while I was in Cairo, just to see what the fuss was about. I'll admit I had thoughts not unlike yours. Old things tend to do that to people. But the tombs were impressive. I contemplated arranging to have Sion bronzed and made into my tomb after my death, but upon reflection decided that was far too tacky, which is really the most unforgivable sin of all.


Have I felt a connection with the past?

Oh of course. Without doubt I'm the reincarnation of that fellow Job from the Bible. God didn't punish me enough in that life, so he brought me back and gave me you.

Seriously Akihito, I'm Japanese, just like you. I was brought up to revere tradition and family, just like you. It didn't really stick for the most part, but that's another story. But I'm a firm believer in learning from the mistakes of those who have gone before. Men haven't changed all that much since the dawn of our species, except to lose some hair and gain some height.


Do I get tired of traveling?

Who doesn't? At least my accommodations will always be first class, and not the kind of hovels you're probably staying in.


Don't I ever want to take a vacation?

Why would I want to sit around and do nothing? Oh, should I be reading between the lines? Would you like me to sweep you away to a week of bliss along the French seacoast? I could be persuaded...what's that pesky phrase? Ah, "for a price". Figure out what it is, and you'll have your weeks in paradise.


Am I a rat in a maze?

You're referring to the Calhoun experiment? The results of that are hardly surprising to anyone who has lived in a city. We are, when it comes down to it, just animals. And I've found, recently, that there are pieces of cheese that even I will press the lever for. What do you think those might be, Akihito?


Do I know any of the criminals in your pictures?

What I find interesting is that you gravitate towards such people. You seem to feel at home with them. Not unlike certain rats. What does that say about you?


I believe those are all your questions. Now you have several of your own to answer.


Your father is very attractive. How old is he? Ask him if he'd like to have dinner with me sometime. We could share stories about you. And other things.


Sincerely, and I really do mean that,

Asami


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Asami hit send, then relaxed back against the soft leather of his couch and stared at the computer screen.

How long will it take, Akihito, for you to open your eyes?