Ku Lon looked out over the crowd filling the Cat Café, and tried to be happy at the business her restaurant was enjoying. Sure, it had originally been a means to an end, a way for the Amazons to support themselves while occupying a niche in Neriman society, but over time it had taken its own place in her heart and she normally felt a sense of contentment — of fulfillment — in a full dining room.
But not tonight. Tonight, she found herself nervous and out-of-sorts, constantly looking out the restaurant windows into the gathering night. What is the matter with you? she berated herself yet again. However skilled you may be in ritual, you aren’t one of those blessed with foresight. And even if you were, you lack a focus like they need to bring the foresight into play. So stop jumping at shadows!
Shaking her head at her own foolishness, she turned away from the window yet again and turned her attention back to her responsibilities, and sighed at the floorshow — a boy in robes with long black hair and thick glasses perched on his forehead instead of his nose where they belonged, once again proclaiming his eternal love for Xian Pu to the tall, artificial plant by the check-out station, much to the amusement of the customers and the disgust of the skimpily dressed purple-haired girl on the other side of the room. Sighing, the old shrunken woman pogoed over and onto the check-out counter and firmly rapped Mu Tse on the head with her staff. “Foolish boy!” she reprimanded the love-besotted teenager. “When will you get over that idiotic male pride that makes you the laughingstock of the restaurant? You are supposed to be a warrior, not a court jester! Now, put on your glasses and start cleaning off tables, we can’t serve more people until you do!”
Grumbling to himself, Mu Tse settled down and started filling up a plastic tub with dirty dishes. Chuckling to herself and feeling somewhat better now that the universe had displayed its constancy through Mu Tse yet again, Ku Lon pogoed over to the door to welcome more customers. She had just guided them to the freshly cleaned table and was headed back to the kitchen to resume her cooking duties when suddenly her eyesight vanished in a blinding flash of light as a massive spike of pain slammed through her brain, painful enough to wring a startled shout from her. But the pain and the light were gone as fast as they arrived, and she found herself lying on the floor where her broken attention in the midst of her pogoing had deposited her, ears echoing to other shouts and screams of pain along with the sound of breaking dishes.
Slowly rising to her feet in the suddenly dark dining room, lit only by moonlight from the front windows, Ku Lon asked in the ringing voice that could still fill a room at need (so long as it wasn’t too big), “Is anyone injured?” On receiving several affirmatives from customers that had cut themselves on broken dinnerware, she turned to her helpers. “Mu Tse, fetch the first aid kit. As much as you walk around without your glasses, you should be able to find it in the dark. Xian Pu, get the flashlight under the cash register and get one of our guests to hold it while you and Mu Tse bandage the injured.” With the two teens quickly moving to obey, Ku Lon left the dining room to fetch the lantern and bag of candles she kept in storage for such occasions.
Upon her return, Ku Lon was surprised to find that her lantern was the only source of light in the dining room, and rounded on Xian Pu. “Child, why haven’t you seen to the injured?” she demanded harshly.
Xian Pu held up a flashlight of sufficient size and heft to do double duty as a club. “Great-grandmother, Shampoo have flashlight, but the flashlight no work!” she explained in her poor Japanese. “We do what can with no light, but ...” she shrugged.
Ku Lon grumbled and handed her heir the lantern, then handed the customer closest to them the candles and asked him to light one from the lantern and pass the rest out among the customers and light them for her. (Pogoing is a very ineffective way to get a lit candle from place to place.) While her helpers took care of the wounded and the guest spread out the candles, Ku Lon pogoed to the door and, joined by several customers, gazed up and down the street — not a single lighted window to be seen that wasn’t the flicker of emergency candles, and few of those. Odd, the matriarch thought to herself. I can see the batteries in my own flashlight going dead without us noticing, but everyone’s? Surely somebody has a working flashlight somewhere.
But apparently that wasn’t the case, and Ku Lon began to get a niggling suspicion that something was wrong — very wrong. Quickly, she turned back into the restaurant. After checking that the injured had been taken care of, she leaped up onto the check-out counter and called out in that room-filling voice that was always such a surprise from such a small person, “Is there anyone here with radios, that can see what the news reports have to say?”
Several affirmatives came back, though several people also reported that they had already tried their radios and not gotten anything at all, and the affirmatives quickly became expressions of disgust as they also found their radios completely unresponsive. Others started speaking up, reporting that their cell phones were also out. This caused a buzz of worried conversation throughout the dining room, and people started to leave hurriedly. Several returned just as quickly, reporting that their cars wouldn’t start.
The worry in the restaurant was beginning to turn into panic, when suddenly without warning an earthshaking roar hammered the ears of those still in the dining room, and the windows exploded inward in a rain of shattered glass. Fresh screams of pain rang out from those caught in the hail, and Ku Lon found herself gaping at a huge ball of flame visible between and over the buildings across the street, several blocks away to the north. Looking around, Ku Lon saw Xian Pu and Mu Tse (both of whom had fortunately been in the back) were moving to help the newly wounded, so she hopped out the door and up to the roof, gazing with one eye closed at the huge and growing fire with the tail end of a jet liner sticking out of it. Ignoring the shouts and screams from the direction of the fire, she looked around at the city surrounding her restaurant — not a light to be seen, except another huge fire far in the distance to the south. Then, just as suddenly, another huge explosion blossomed off in the east. And no sirens, anywhere.
For a short time Ku Lon simply sat and pondered what had happened, finally nodding to herself. This is too all-encompassing to be a simple power failure, and I've never heard of one that knocked planes out of the sky. And if it isn’t, there’s no telling how long it will last. At least there are no fires to the west — at least, not yet. Rising to her feet, she was just about to jump down to the sidewalk in front of the back door to the Cat Café when she felt a touch of a breeze and froze — the strengthening breeze was from the north! Whirling, she stared at the leaping flames a few blocks away, already beginning to move in her direction. Rushing to the side of the building with the front entrance and dropping to the sidewalk, the tiny elder rushed into the dining room and leaped onto check-out counter again, shouting for the attention of those customers still there. “Everyone out! She ordered loudly. “The fire is moving this way, and will soon be here. If any of you have homes to the south, you’d best get there as quickly as possible and get your families out of the fire’s path.” For all the good it will do you, she sadly added to herself.
As the café emptied, Ku Lon whirled to her two helpers. “Xian Pu, I want you to get over to Ucchan’s as quickly as you can and tell Ukyo and Konatsu to grab as much nonperishable food as they can pack in a few minutes and to get over to the Tendo dojo. Then, head over to Dr. Tofu’s clinic. With the fire he probably won’t be there, but if he isn’t head for the fire from the clinic — you should find him there. Tell him that I’ve asked him to meet us at the dojo as well.”
Xian Pu nodded and dashed out the door, and Ku Lon turned to Mu Tse. “Okay, duck boy, empty your weapon space of everything except your favorites, then join me in my room.” Mu Tse started to protest, stopped, looked around at the darkened room and the flickering red glow of the fire rapidly approaching, then nodded and started pulling out weapon after weapon. Ku Lon nodded in approval and headed for the door to the back. So, the boy can actually take orders without argument in a real emergency. He may grow up to be a true warrior, after all.
Mu Tse joined the elder a few minutes later, to find the normally neat room looking like a tornado had passed through, items and clothing scattered about and a small stack of scrolls, chests and boxes sitting in the middle of the floor. Ku Lon walked out of the closet with another box and nodded. “That was quick, good,” she said. “Now put these in your weapon space and join me in the pantry.”
A half-hour later, Ku Lon watched with tear-filled eyes as the first flames licked at the building she’d called home for two years. Blinking the tears away, she turned to Mu Tse beside her and sighed. “Come on, boy, let’s join the others at the dojo,” she quietly ordered, and the two roof-hopped away.
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(Posted Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:52)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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