Ransom Read Online Free PDF Page B

sick and apologized for the scruffiness of the grounds. On the contrary, Ryder said, they were immaculate. Koyama took a gold cigarette case from the sleeve of his kimono and offered Ryder a smoke. He accepted. The lighter was also gold, the cigarettes English.
    They were still standing and there was some question as to who would sit down first. Koyama asked if Ryder-san would like a chair brought in. No chair necessary, he was assured. Koyama’s gestures—lifting the skirts of the kimono as he sat down, tapping the ash from his cigarette into a tiny earthenware ashtray—were almost feminine. Although he was probably a killer, his face bore no indication of his vocation. Ryder felt warm and lazy in the yellow afternoon light. He spoke of the beauties of Kyoto and the graciousness of its inhabitants. Koyama spoke warmly about the American people. He was a great admirer of the American cinema, especially Westerns. He had a screening room in the house, and prints of
Stagecoach, Red River, High Noon
and
Shane
, among others. Perhaps Ryder-san would be so kind as to view a movie with him someday. Ryder considered telling Koyama how much he liked Japanese gangster flicks, but thought better of it.
    After fifteen minutes of chat Ryder said that, sadly, he had to be leaving. Koyama asked him if he couldn’tpossibly stay longer. Ryder answered that he could not conceivably impose even further. As he stood up, Ryder mentioned that he planned to open a business establishment in the neighborhood and that he hoped to have the good will of his neighbors. He then looked down at the box in his hands, which he had held throughout the interview, as if noticing it for the first time and uncertain of its exact nature. He presented Koyama with the box, along with the ritual incantation that it was a trifle unworthy of his attention. A quick study, Ryder had learned that the smallest gift put an obligation on the receiver; a ploy so simple it was hard to believe it worked so well.
    Negotiations for the lease on the store, which had been dragging for weeks, were concluded the next day. The owner of the property fell all over himself when Ryder appeared at his office and enthusiastically conceded on each of the terms that had previously been in dispute.
    Ryder’s operation was in the black within a year, and he branched out into the drinking business—what the Japanese called the water trade. The demand for Western paraphernalia was greater than even he had anticipated, though he often wondered what happened to all of those Tony Lama boots, all of those Stetsons. Not once in two years had he seen any of the merchandise on the street, except for the odd piece of Navaho silver and turquoise jewelry which he imported from Afghanistan. Sometimes he imagined Koyama in his screening room, watching
Rio Bravo
, aiming his fingers and making shooting noises, his feet kicked up to reveal beneath the kimono his Dan Postlizard-and-antelope hand-tooled cowboy boots, compliments of Hormone Derange.
    Saturday morning, Miles woke up wondering if
he
had been hit from behind. After he closed up at Buffalo Rome, he and Marilyn went dancing and he got home sometime after four. Akiko was chilly as she served his coffee. He was dimly aware of having behaved badly, stepping out on a seven-months-pregnant wife, but in his present state much of his sympathy was reserved for himself. He wished she would fling out an accusation, just to clear the air. But
no
, she wasn’t going to dirty herself by naming the stink. Duck-walking around with her pregnancy.
    Finally she said, “Isn’t today your rally?”
    At first he couldn’t make sense of the word
rally
, which refused to connect with anything out there in the world. Then he remembered. Ryder was a member in good standing of the All-Japan Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Club, composed of some thousand bikers, most of them pillars of the community throughout the working week, who on