Trifecta (60 page)

S
abrina watched with alarm as Eve bit into her eighteenth
piece of sushi.  She had been trying to keep up with her, so none of the men at
the luncheon table would notice how much Eve was consuming, but felt she would burst
with another bite.

Sabrina had agreed to come to the luncheon mostly because
she and Eve had been hemmed in on all sides by Hashimoto's bodyguards.  Better to
agree to go and try to convince Hashimoto that Eve didn't have a computer than to
be forced.  Then, every time she tried to bring up the subject she had been met
with astonished stares.

Hashimoto was eating from an immense bowl of noodles and
Sabrina watched transfixed, with a mixture of fascination and revulsion, as he speared
a glob of noodles onto his chopsticks and stuffed as much as he could into his month. 
With the noodles dripping from his mouth, he ate down, a bite at a time, until he
sucked up the last of the noodles with a wet slimy slurp.

He smiled greasily at the women and said that they would
eat this well every day when they came to Japan.  Sabrina knew she would starve
to death if she had to watch him eat every day.

The men seemed to have the facility to ingest food and
talk at the same time.  Sabrina felt she should be a little more lenient about the
mannerisms of another culture, but they were speaking Japanese while they chewed. 
And it was obvious the men were talking about them.  They all knew how to speak
English.  It was a kind of offhanded chauvinist behavior.  They probably thought
they could buy women with an expensive dining experience.

Sabrina moaned inwardly when Eve took another tuna roll
from the large platter.  She took one too and tried to pick up the slippery, seaweed
covered roll, but was embarrassed at her lack of expertise and finally put her chopsticks
down. 

Hashimoto looked up, noticed she was not eating, and placed
some more sushi on her plate with his own chopsticks, urging her to eat more.  That
did it for Sabrina.  She would not touch anything that had touched his chopsticks. 
The only good thing about the long uncomfortable luncheon was that Sabrina could
tell that Eve had been following the conversation carefully.

Sabrina was stuffed from Natto-Tofu, fermented soybeans
and soybean curd, Uni, fresh sea urchin, Sashimi, and Yakikamaguri, Cherrystone
clams boiled and presented on sea salt.  There were also bowls of rice, which the
men held close to their mouth.  They consumed tiny glasses of Sake and Ashahi, a
Japanese beer.

Hashimoto made a barked order, chopping his hands for emphasis
at his small corporate controller who got up, the food on his plate unfinished,
and quickly left the restaurant.  By the way Eve's eyes widened, Sabrina could see
she was alarmed by whatever Hashimoto ordered his controller to do.

Sabrina said that she needed to go to the Ladies Room and
asked Eve to accompany her.  She could tell Hashimoto was insulted by the necessity
to relieve their bladders in the middle of lunch, but Sabrina didn't give a damn. 

As they walked across the largely empty dining room Eve
whispered, "We have to find another way out of here."

"You want to leave?"

"We may be able to get the jump on them, if they think
we're taking a long time to powder our respective noses."

Sabrina smiled at one of the diminutive waiters who had
been serving their table.  He was a cute little Japanese man.  He bowed when she
asked if there was an exit to the restaurant, other than the front door.  He motioned
for them to follow him and led them toward the back of the restaurant and through
swinging doors into the kitchen. 

It sounded as though the many cooks were all shouting sing-song
at each other in high but guttural voices.  The heat was stunning and Sabrina felt
staggered by the fragrant vaporous air.  The man leading them saw her look and said,
"Banrit.  Rater."

He opened the door to the kitchen exit and Sabrina felt
the relief of cool air wafting in.

"I glad you leave,"  the small man said.  "Those
men...how you say?....bad karma? You not need,"  he ended contemptuously.

"We certainly don't,"  Eve answered with force.

"Thank you,"  Sabrina said to the young man.

"Very welcome,"  he said, bowing again.  It sounded
like 'rary rercome.'

Eve took hold of Sabrina's arm and pulled her around the
building.  She seemed to be in an urgent hurry.

When they were in the car, Eve unceremoniously took Sabrina's
purse off of her shoulder and pulled out the banking documents.  "We have to
go to the bank's main branch."

"Why? Do you think Stephan will try to close out the
account?"

"Maybe.  I'm going to withdraw a lot of cash.  I'll
put the rest into a cashiers check and deposit it in another bank, so Stephan won't
be able to touch it."

Eve was studying the papers.  "The bank is on the
corner of Wilshire and San Vicente.  We should hurry."

Sabrina drove as quickly as the traffic would allow. 

"Hashimoto's going to put you out of business.  He
has the bodyguards over there now, buying up the inventory.  You'll have to call
Bea and tell her not to sell everything."

Sabrina sat in stunned surprise.  She had wondered why
Hashimoto had left three of the bodyguards on the street in Century City.  It was
hard to believe those enormous men were now buying women's clothing and lingerie.

"I don't think Bea would sell everything." 

"That's not the important part.  Hashimoto sent his
controller to buy the building.  You're on a month to month lease, so he could buy
it right out from under you."

"Oh, no."

"I'm going to withdraw enough funds so I can pay a
year's lease.  Then they won't be able to buy the building."

"That's too much money, Eve,"  Sabrina protested.

"Don't worry about it.  I had planned to pay you back
for everything.  The apartment, and all the food.  And the clothes.  I could never
repay you for the legacy of this body that you've kept in such good shape.  And
the brain that is very intelligent.  And for being so kind to me.  If I were selfless,
I would kill myself and get you out of this mess.  But I thoroughly enjoy the living,
and want to go on doing so, for a while longer."

"Don't you ever think of suicide,"  Sabrina said
with alarm.  "You know I'd give you anything I have."

"Same goes for me." 

Sabrina couldn't say anything she felt such a rush of affection
for the woman sitting beside her. 

They entered the bank's underground garage and took an
elevator into the bank.  Eve quickly walked over to a desk that said, New Accounts,
and Sabrina took out her cell phone.

The phone rang ten times before Bea picked it up.

"I'm so busy, I can't talk."

"I know.  There's a run on the store.  But don't sell
the whole inventory.  Sell about half.  And none of the one-of-a-kind designer items. 
Then close the store and go home."

"You wouldn't believe what I'm seeing, Sabrina," 
Bea whispered.  "There are these three Japanese wrestlers or something.  They
pick up dresses and hold them up very seriously, like they're examining them, and
then they giggle and put them in a Buy pile.  I can't believe it."

"I do believe you, Bea."

"I can't just close the door in their faces."

"Tell them the owner OD'd on Japanese food and you
have to go and make sure she isn't dying."

"I don't understand." 

"I'll explain later."

"Shoot.  Here they come again."  Bea was giggling
as she hung up.

Sabrina called her leasing agent and left a message that
she would be coming over to pay a few months advance for the commercial space she
was leasing.  Then she stood in the doorway of the bank and saw that a man had taken
the place of the woman who had been at the New Accounts desk.  It was probably a
manager trying to persuade Eve to keep her account at his bank.  Even from this
distance she could see that Eve was trying to be polite and hurry him up and he
was pleasantly arguing with her.

Sabrina hurried over and, looking pointedly at her watch,
said, "We really have to hurry."

The man languidly looked up at Sabrina and said, "Why,
you two must be twins."

Great deduction, Geek, Sabrina thought, but she smiled
and nodded politely.

"Could you expedite this, please?"  Eve said.

"Now you are sure absolutely certain about your decision?" 
the man asked Eve, as though he was not at all sure that she knew her own intentions.

"Very sure."

He sauntered over to the long counter where the tellers
were busily working and went into a side gate.  He interrupted one of the tellers
with a long line of impatient people in front of her.  They went into the back,
probably into the vault, for the cash Eve had requested.  They were gone such a
long time that aeons passed and time seemed to cease.  He shuffled back and handed
Eve the cashier's check and counted the cash out very officiously, twice.

Eve stuffed the money into her purse with what looked like
extreme disregard.  Then they rushed to get the car.  As they drove to the leasing
office, Sabrina thought about all she had gone through to make her clothing line
a financial success.

"You know, the store used to be two stories.  I took
out the ceiling so it would have a high, elegant, airy feeling.  And I painted it
and put in the shelves myself.  I remember when I bought the cash register.  I was
so excited."

Sabrina knew she was rambling as she spoke of the early
desperate days, and knew Eve had her memories.

"I don't want you to lose the store either." 

"Sometimes Bea and I would stay up all night sewing
clothes."

"I know." 

"During the first year, I was so broke I ate only
noodles or potatoes at every meal.  And I kept the store open every single night,
seven days a week, until ten at least, in case someone would come in and buy something. 
I don't want to lose it."

"You don't have to.  Even if Hashimoto buys the building,
he will use the space as a negotiating chip.  If I go to Japan with him, he'll let
you keep your store.  If I don't go to Japan he plans to buy the merchandise and
set up one of his mistresses."

For a moment Sabrina was furiously angry and then she burst
into laughter.  "I don't believe it."

"He's not stupid.  He figures your store is the most
important thing you have."

Hashimoto was right, Sabrina thought, it really was all
she had.  She had the tenuous feeling that the store might be all she would ever
have.  She didn't have Mark.  She didn' have the babies she wanted so desperately. 

Eve was looking at her and said, very seriously, "I
will go to Japan for a while." 

All Sabrina wanted to do when they left the real estate
office was to go somewhere where she could be alone and cry.  Hashimoto had put
her out of business.

She and Eve had waited an hour in the office of her leasing
agent, but when he came into the office he had been jubilant, practically jumping
up and down and clicking his heels, and Sabrina knew right away that Hashimoto had
beat her.  The real estate agent's demeanor changed abruptly, and was all solicitous
smiles and Very Sorry's, when he saw Sabrina sitting in front of his desk.  He had
just sold the building.  She would have to move out in two weeks, at the end of
the month. 

When Sabrina pointed out that she had paid a first and
last month's rent in advance, and therefore should be able to keep the store for
at least two more months, the agent told her that he had done her the favor of letting
her have a month to month lease in return for improving the property.  She would
be reimbursed for the rent she had paid in advance.

Sabrina felt numb as they walked out into the parking area
and got into the car.  Her mind kept telling her that she had lost her store, but
her heart was not ready to accept it.  She had worked so hard there, for so long,
it was almost too much to bear.  She really wanted to cry but tears were not coming. 
The shock had settled into her body and frozen it to ice.  It was like being in
a surreal dream or a terrible nightmare as she got into the passenger's side of
the car.  She didn't feel like driving.  She felt diminished and shocked, like a
small hurt animal who wants to hide in a cave to heal all alone.  She felt like
her brain was going through a violent emotional disturbance, just below her level
of consciousness, and it had caused the cessation of vital bodily processes so that
she was immobilized, emotionally and physically.  It was as if she had been stricken
abruptly and unexpectedly with catatonia.  Like the living dead; a walking zombie. 
She wanted to cry.

Eve was driving back to the store.  "You can stay
there.  I will go to Japan."

"No.  I don't want you to have anything to do with
Hashimoto.  I'll find another place.  Eventually."  Even her voice sounded
dead.

Eve looked at Sabrina with concern and noted she was in
a state of shock.  Like Sabrina had been when she had bitten the Russian agent. 
Eve knew the signs.  Sabrina was shaking almost invisibly and her face looked stricken
and very pale.  Sabrina's heart rate was up way over one hundred beats a minute
and sounded uneven; there would be a normal beat and then a big thump before her
heart resumed its normal rhythm.  Eve was greatly disturbed by the physical changes
in Sabrina. 

Eve decided to shock Sabrina still further.  There were
stages of grief.  First the numbness that protects one from the full realization
of what has happened.  Then great anger that everything was so unfair.  Finally
there is depression.  Eve decided to shock Sabrina from numbness into anger.

"I'm glad you don't want me to go with Hashimoto. 
He was not going to wait for me to die to get the computer."

Sabrina looked at Eve.

"Hashimoto would first make sure I had the computer
by using the CAT scan, or computerized axial tomography, which takes pictures of
slices of the brain.  Then he would do blood tests and take tissue samples.  And
when that was done he would probably want to make incisions and collect body parts
to find out why I am stronger and heavier than the normal person, through chemical
analysis."