Somewhere in between an island known as the Koto Island and some place called the
7-39 east district mountain area (whatever that means) which was about 1,000 miles
distance if your including getting there and going back. From either one. There was a
company called Takai - Corporation, which was not only one of the largest and most
popular companies in the world but also my home, and where I lived for 18 years of
my life. Just thinking about that place sometimes will bring back memories of my
childhood, my pre-teen years, and the my horrible, horrible memories of being 15
years old and already knowing what you’ll be doing in 3 years not to mention what
you’ll be warring and having for breakfast. I grew up with my parents, my two
grandparents, and but one sibling... one extremely annoying sibling. My sister...
Josephine, but we all called her Josie for short all but my grandpa who had this thing
about nick-names, he thought they were childish and foolish and that everyone was
given a name for a reason, and they shouldn’t go changing it. And I did enjoy seeing
that little annoyed facial expression she had every time she heard the name, it was
defiantly a plus. I was just glad that I was given a short, normal name rather then a
long, stupid, girl’s name. But then again, I was just glad that I wasn’t given a girl’s
name, period. Mainly because I was boy, but then again being named after your
grandfather isn’t exactly all rainbows and sunshine. “Ryan James Gero” the 3rd, I
would have been the 4th but my grandma didn’t appreciate the whole
keeping-up-the-naming-your-son-Ryan-tradition thing, so she named my father
“Chad” instead. Unfortunately for me I wasn’t as lucky and was given the name Ryan,
again. That was just my dad’s crazy side of the family though, my mother’s relatives
didn’t have any stupid name traditions to keep up with. Those were my normal
grandparents, who acted the way that grandparents would normally act they would
hug you when you came over to see them or just because they were glad to be with
you, they would buy you things that your parents wouldn’t (because they were too
stupid or non-important) but to an adult what toy is important?
And that’s how you would think that grandparents should treat you, like royalty.
But not grandma & grandpa Gero, nope they would make you wipe off your shoes on
the door mat before you came inside the house, they wouldn’t let you touch anything
fragile or you would be punished. (But everything in their house was fragile to them)
and I didn’t think that grandparents were aloud to punish their grandchildren unless
they had the parents permission which they did most of the time so I suppose that’s
aside from my point then. Most of the time that we did get in trouble (me and Josie
that is) I’d always be the one to take the blame, my sister knew how to get whatever
she wanted when ever she wanted and most of the time she got what she wanted, not
needed, just wanted. And if there was a time where my parents put there foot down
and just said “No.” which only happened every once in a blue moon she had a back up
plan. Four grandparents and myself, because most of the time she had so much dirt on
me that it felt like I was blackmailed my whole life by my own family. But I’d hate to
think of her as “family”, she sure never treated me like it. I was her slave, her little pet,
it’s a wonder she ever wanted all those animals when she had me. Her first pet was a
rabbit but that didn’t work out so well on the count of they drown in the bathtub,
(my sister never tried to bathe an animal again). Her 2nd pet was puppy a puppy
named “Roger”, now I never took my sister for much of a genius but what kind of a
freak of nature would name their dog “Roger”?. And that didn’t work out so great
either because Josie was so lazy that she never walked the dog, she let’em run out the
front door, - well one day the dog got fed up with her (I don’t blame it either) and ran
away. That was the end of the dog, then we tried a kitten, and mean, gray, red eyed,
evil kitten that shed where-ever it went. Just my luck it turned out I was allergic to
cats, and that was for good reason all that cat ever did was hiss at everybody,
everybody but my sister that is. I guess since they both were evil they got along, I can
understand that. But we ended up getting rid of the cat, for my sake anyway.
Although I can’t remember what we called that evil cat, I know what we should of
called it though we should have named it Lucifer! Just like on Cinderella, but that’s
enough about her and her animals even though the list goes on, but I don’t want to
waste any more time talking about her. Now I could go on reciting memories of my
sister’s pets, and my grandfather’s hate for nick-names or I could get on with the story
that I was about to tell you before I got raveled up in all of that other junk. Now what
I was going to tell you about begins like this,


I was about 13 at the time it was the year 2001 and we were just getting into the fall
season, only 1 week away from Halloween and Eric and I could hardly wait. Eric was
(and still is) my best friend we did everything together we were in all the same classes
at school and sat next to each other in all of them as well. Even at lunch, we went
roller Bladeing together, and hung out at the mall together, we would occasionally
study together and fail tests together. And even try to pick up girls (although I think
that Eric enjoyed that pass-time a little more than I had). That Halloween we weren’t
planning on going door to door saying Trick-Or-Treat like we had last year, and the
year before that, and the year before that, and well you get the picture. We had been
planning on going down to the school that night and playing a trick or two on
Principle Cuttingwoods. Eric and me attended Cuttingwoods Jr. High, our principle
supposedly named the school after himself. We wanted to pull a prank that we would
be famous for, for years to come. We would be remembered either as the only two
students to ever get away with a prank at Cuttingwoods Jr. High and not get
expelled, or as the only two students dumb enough to pull a prank on Halloween
knowing that they’d be Caught and expelled. whichever one of the two I wasn’t
about to back down now and neither was Eric. But we were still trying to decide
whether we should go with the whole moving-the-principle’s-car-on-top-of-the-roof
with my uncle Myron’s giant tow trunk plan, or our
flood-the-principle’s-office-by-breaking-all-the-pipes-in-the-girls-bath-room scheme.
And you can imagine who came up with that one. That one was just an excuse for
Eric to go into the girl’s bathroom, I personally looked forward to the car idea.
Another one of my brilliant plans. We argued about it for about 2 hours and then
decided that we’d flip a coin when we got the school, but before we were able to go
off on our own we had to convince our parents into letting us go alone.
“Please mom, Eric’s mom thinks that it’s a good idea.” I began, I figured that I’d make
it all up as I went along with it and then either just stick to my lie when I got home (if
was able to convince her into letting me go) or I’d tell her that didn’t remember saying
of that and that she must have dreamed it all and I got permission from grandma. And
grandma would surely play along.
“Oh she does, does she?” snickered my mother, “Well we’ll just see about that, I
think I’ll give Mrs. Carroll a call.” said my mother, and it was almost as if she knew
that I was lying by the way she was trying to make me all nerves and blurt out
another fib to cover for the one before that. And like an idiot I did,
“But mom! You can’t call Eric’s house right now...” I began, trying to think of a
reason why she couldn’t call Eric’s house right now, which I could have come up with
in less than a second if I hadn’t been under so much pressure at the time. So I blurted
out the first thing that came to mind as I watched my mother tapping her foot
waiting for a reason as to why she couldn’t call Eric’s Mom’s house right now.
(boy that’s a tong twister)
“’Cause....Eric’s mom... is having the...kitc-- house remodeled.... and..they cut off their
phone line!” so it had came out slowly and in tiny pieces, at least I had come up with
some sort of story to go by, I only hoped Eric was doing better than I was with
convincing his parents.

“Because... Ryan’s parents are getting.....their house repainted... and they had to chop
down a phone poll and... that caused the.. phone...to become...un-usable?”....
So maybe Eric wasn’t the brightest boy in the world but at least he came up with
something even if his excuse was pathetic and un-believably ridiculous. There was still
an ity-bity-tiney-tiny chance that his mom and dad might buy it and let him go, I
mean if anyone should know how stupid Eric was it had to be his own parents. They
must have been the ones to drop him on his head all those times when he was a baby.
Now you might not believe this because I’m still puzzled as to how it happened but
Eric’s parents bought it and amazingly enough my parents didn’t and so I had to get
grandma to cover for me, and I’m still not quite sure as how to how exactly she
covered for me she only told me to not to worry and that she’d take care of
everything. And the next thing I knew I was on my way to meet Eric in front of the
school, (and might I add this wasn’t grandma Gero, this was Grandma Ross my
mom’s mother) who had just happened to stop by at the exact time I needed her. It
must be some kind of genetic thing with all the girls from my mom’s side of the
family that they knew everything, like they were psychic or something. And the
scariest part was I think my sister inherited that gene too. But the only catch was that
I had to drop off my sister at her friends house so that she could go trick-or-treating
with them. So I walked her to her friend’s house and then ran back home to call Eric’s
house and tell me that I would just come over to his house so that we could take the
short cut the Jr. high from his house. And so grandma (and when I say grandma I
mean grandma Ross) and I got in her car and drove over the the 7-39 east district
mountain area, which is where Eric lived. In other words “The middle of no where”
only with trees.
“Thanks for covering for me back there grandma.” I spoke up in the car, when ever I
drove with grandma I could always count on one thing, she’d always let me sit in
front. And it was cool having a relative that didn’t think the whole world revolved
around my sister Josie.
“No biggie....” she exclaimed, and paused for a moment and then turned to look at me.
“My word, it seems only yesterday you were a little baby sitting in your car seat
looking out the window in amazement, if there was one thing that would keep you
quiet it was a nice long car drive.” Now I wasn’t exactly crazy about baby stories,
aseptically when they were about me but grandma made any story sound interesting.
She went on,
“But your sister on the other hand, there wasn’t a thing in the world that would shut
that child up. Once you got her started crying, they was no way to make her stop.”
I think that you could tell when a person felt comfortable talking with you and telling
you things or if they didn’t. Well for as far back as I can remember grandma has
always trusted my anything and everything that she might have on her mind, she was
always so open with me, and the expression she would get on her face looked as if she
was talking so someone who she knew would keep everything she said between her
and the person (me). As if whatever she told me would remain confidential between
me and her only, and that she was 100% sure it would stay that way. And it was nice
listening and talking to a person that you could tell trusted you so much that they
would be comfortable telling you every know fact about them selves. That was the
way it was between me and grandma, and if she could show me that kind of feeling
and bond of trust then so could I. And I do, because I know that whatever I tell her
will be taken to the grave with her, I might as well have been talking to a dog, a dog
that just happened to help me with my problems, tell me what to do when I was
unsure, and would never tell another living soul about any of it because... well quite
frankly I don’t believe that dogs can talk! But that’s aside from my point,
“I guess that’s another fact that has been unknown to you, huh?” questioned grandma,
glaring over at me for a brief moment.

“yeah.” I responded, I wasn’t really what you’d call a talkative person.

“Yeah?” joked grandma.

“Well my parents don’t really ever talk about stuff like that, and then whenever some
one brings something that up... well you can imagine how that works out, dad claims
it happened one way. And then mom will say it happened another.”
I paused for a moment to look out the window, trying to think of the right words to
describe what I was trying to tell grandma. She never really was around the house
much (my house that it), so she never really heard or saw my mom and dad fight. But
she knew her daughter well enough, (and her son-in-law) that she would know that
they’ve had their share of disagreements.

“Most of the time I just feel it’s better if I don’t bring up a topic that I know will cause
more fighting between them. Not that I care or anything but Josie isn’t really all that
fond of their loud disagreements.” I continued talking, me and grandma must have
talked the entire time during the car drive. We were always able to find a topic to talk
about, and before it seemed as if 5 minutes had passed we were already at Eric’s house
and stepping out of the car.

“Why anyone would want to live out here is beyond me.” Grandma whispered to me,
as she leaned over and put her hand over her mouth so that she would talk directly
into my ear. I paused for a moment, did Grandma want me respond to that remark, or
was she just thinking out loud? Well whichever one I thought that it might be rude
not to answer her, so I did.
“Eric’s parents, they like to keep to themselves.” I answered.

“Yeah, No kidding...” Grandma smirked.
Grandma didn’t talk like she was an old woman, she always said what was on her
mind and never stopped to think that maybe she shouldn’t say anything. She
understood all of today’s youth’s language, when she picked up the phone when me
and Eric we talking, and started listening she understood every term of speech we
used. Whether it was in the dictionary or not, and come to think of it most of the
time that kids today talk about 60% of what they say probably isn’t in that big thick
book. It kinda makes go wonder though, I mean when grandma was living they were
using words like “Groovy.” or “Far out.” now a days we say either say “Cool.” or
“Awesome.”. But it makes you think what the next generation’s slang will be like, I’m
still trying to decide if I want to live long enough to find out or not.

“While we’re young Ryan!” Grandma exclaimed impatiently, snapping me out of my
daze.
“Oh! Yeah, sorry grandma!” I hollered out as I caught up with grandma.
Grandma stepped up to the door and rung the door bell,
“No offense kid, but your friend here has got some really weird parents.” Commented
grandma.
I laughed, and I have to admit she was right it probably would take to long explain my
reasons for saying so, so I better just leave my mouth shut and let you find out on
your own why everyone thinks that there so crazy.

We had waited about three minutes before anyone answered the door, then finally the
door swung open and there was Eric standing right in front of it.
“Konnichi wa!” Eric shouted out, and as came to realize that it was me and my
grandmother at the door I could see the expression of embarrassment come across his
face. He was blushing.
Grandma almost busted out laughing, but then stopped herself and then blurted out
“What’s the matter, don’t you guys believe in doors bells?”
I stared over at grandma and then to Eric, who now seemed very puzzled and very
embarrassed.
“Chooto maate....” said Eric, “I mean...! Wait for a moment!” he said as he slammed
the door, and about one minute later returned and said
“Sorry about that! Come in Ryan and Ryan’s Granny.”

“I have a name.” Grandma snapped.

“O----K. “ Eric breathed, “Me too.” he responded cockily.

“Come on Ryan, Mrs. Ross.” He escorted us into his living room, and at this point I
really isn’t have a clue as to what was going on.
“Hey Mama! Papa! Eric is here!” He shouted into the kitchen, or at least what looked
to be the kitchen that would have been my guess.

“Ehhem,” commented grandma.

“And he brought his pet dinosaur with him!” Mocked Eric.

“Excuse me, but in what way do I resemble a dinosaur?” Questioned grandma angrily.
“Well, for one your both wrinkly, scaly, and old! Oh yeah and your both ugly
look’in” Mocked Eric again, he was asking for it but I’m not sure if he knew how
much he was asking for. But before grandma could get up and kill Eric his mother
walked in the room, just in the nick of time because I believe if she hadn’t grandma
really would have killed him.

“Konnishi wa!” welcomed his mother.
Grandma raised one eye brow and looked at me in a puzzled and dazed way, she had
no idea what was going on with all this “Konnichi wa” stuff, and to be quite frank
neither did I.

“Oh, you must excuse us, you see we’re trying to teach our little Eric here how to
speak his father’s original language and he speaks as much of it as possible, or as much
of it as he knows so far, while at home.” Spoke out the woman warring the long,
tight, all different colored dress, who was supposedly Eric’s mom.

“Oh, what language does his father speak? The language of the Freaks?!” remarked
grandma, now I know that at times grandma can get a little mean with people she
doesn’t like, but now it seemed as if she was being a little too mean. I’m sure that
grandma had her reasons but, COME ON! You’d think that she could at least pretend
to be nice.

“No ma’am, Japanese...” Corrected Eric’s mother.

“I’m sorry, how rude of me! I havn’t introduced myself have I?” Spoke out Eric’s
mother trying to be polite.

“My name is Yoko..” - “Yoko Carroll.” she introduced.

“Hello, Yoko. My name is Shannon...Shannon Ross..” Introduced grandma, it was the
first time I ever heard grandma say her first name believe it or not. I mean I had
known it already but I never really heard her say “Shannon” out loud.

“Oh, that’s such a pretty name! That was my sister’s name.” She pointed out
cheerfully.

“hmmm... that’s interesting.” grandma remarked, puzzled she stared over at me in a
confused and dazed way once again. It was almost like I could read her mind and she
was thinking (now how can Eric’s aunt’s name be Shannon, and his mother’s name
Yoko?! YOKO? Out of all names, Yoko & Shannon, what kind of weirdo
grandparents does Eric have anyway?!) I’m not sure if we were just sharing brain
waves at that time or what, but we were both defiantly thinking the same thing.

“Let me show you around the house.” offered Yoko.

My Message to the World