The Clout of Gen Read Online Free PDF Page A

show to John for his “twenty-fifth anniversary story.”
     
    At lunch the following day, Lisa and Steadman went on and on about the game in vivid detail. They also talked about Humphrey and how they wished he was still there. John Humphrey had taken a wrong turn sometime during his life, it seemed. He’d endured a terrible marriage and was arrested several times for domestic abuse. It was a sad ending for him a few years back, when he died from a drug overdose.
     
    As Steadman had promised, Lisa also showed John some photos that confirmed that they were, indeed, the twenty-somethings who appeared on the tape. John asked if he could have a copy of the photos for the paper, and they kindly scanned them for him. John took a photo with both of them and thanked them for their hospitality.
     
    His visit to Dorking turned out to be far more profitable than he could have wished for, and he was finally gaining some clarity about the dark mystery of Yaturo’s odd tape. Still, there were questions. Who is this Yaturo? Is he even still alive, and if he is, how can I find him? How did he know about those disasters that would occur decades in the future?
     
    Now, John could focus on the Japanese business card he’d found in the box, the symbol in the ring, and the odd writing engraved on the band. He decided he would search for those answers in London, a multi-national city where a Japanese translator wouldn’t be difficult to find.
     
    His first stop was the Japanese Heritage and Language Center, where he sat down with a historian. He discovered that the symbol on the ring had no meaning or significance to Japan. The letters engraved message said, “Control from knowledge,” which John found interesting. The business card mentioned only a city by the name of Kyoto and a company name dealing with electronics. The translator kindly explained that Kyoto was a huge market for electronics. It was at least a start, so John thanked the gentleman for his time and left.
     
    John knew that his travel would take him next to Kyoto. He was sure his search from there would lead him closer to Yaturo. He hoped the videographer was well and that he would be willing to talk. If he wasn’t, John would use force or any means possible. He had come too far, and there was no force on Earth that would stop him from getting the answers he sought. Of all the stories he had covered in the past, he knew this one was the one he was born to cover—even more so than his first big hit so many years ago.
     
    With a smile on his face, John inhaled a deep drag from his cigarette. “Kyoto and Yaturo, here I come!”
     
    The old innkeeper at his B&B was kind enough to offer him a printout of all the information he’d pulled up about Kyoto. John couldn’t believe time had passed so fast, and it was already Thursday. His flight was scheduled to leave at five p.m. He knew he had to sleep as much as possible during the flight. Time was running out, and the tension was rising. Just the thought of meeting Yaturo in person gave John the shivers.
     
    Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan beginning in the late eighth century and lasting for more than 1,000 years. It was by all means a site of heritage, and it was considered as a well-preserved city with over 2,000 religious places. Even though population had been on the decline, the city still played an important role in Japan in all aspects. 
     
    John had never been to that part of the world, so it was a whole new adventure for him. He found everything about the Japanese heritage fascinating. Honestly, though, if he’d never found that tape or heard some reports a few years back, he wouldn’t have even known where Kyoto was. He recalled one such report on global emissions, in which they frequently referred to something called “Kyoto protocol,” which was developed in 1997 to fight global warming and protect Earth from climate change. Ironically, the United States wasn’t one of the 191 nations that