Page 18 of Mysterious Teacher : Arrival
“It feels like forever,” Boris said, hesitant to give an actual timeline of their activities.
“These are very confusing times,” Igor added. “The days, the weeks, the months are like a blur. Our lives have been turned upside down in every conceivable way. It’s even hard sometimes to know whether it’s day or night.”
“Indeed,” Sonya said. “There have been days when it feels like the world is being torn apart. And now we have to take the time to heal.”
The men nodded.
“This is very good,” Igor said as he chewed on his mouthful. “Very good.”
“Danke,” April said with a proud grin. “I’m new to cooking but I am quite happy with the outcome of this roast.You see, due to my condition, sometimes I could not quite taste the flavor of the foods I’m cooking.”
“The roast is delicious.And these creamy mashed potatoes...”Boris added, scooping up a large mouthful.
“I’m sorry we ran out of string beans,” April said, apologizing once again to Igor who simply shrugged.
“Is Germany in the process of rebuilding?”Sonya said. “I hear that the destruction in Europe is impossible to imagine.”
Again, the men looked at one another.
“The situation back home is very complicated,” Igor said. “We wanted to be part of the solution but found ourselves lost and not knowing where to turn. Everything became so...ugly, so bloody...so incredibly horrible.”
Boris hid a smile at Igor’s bold move to not only use the word solution, but to emphasize it. At least he hadn’t gone so far as to say thefinal solution. He knew that Igor was trying to gauge the women’s allegiance to Germany, Russia, China, or America.
Were these two women Japanese?If so, they may sympathize with the Germans.But since the end of the war, Japan had become more like America.
“This is delicious, but sometimes I like seafood,” Boris said.
“Oh, Asia, where I was originally from, has many seafood dishes,” Sonya said.“Have you tried sushi from Japan?”
Igor shook his head, “Sushi?What is that?”
“Raw but very fresh fish, placed on top of sweet but sour rice.Delicious,” April said.
“The food may be good, but what about what happened during the war?”Igor asked.
“The war is over,” Sonya said.“Now is the time to get along and rebuild.”
“I read,” said April, “Japan is now a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy.This means it has a hereditary monarch whose powers are primarily ceremonial, and a government led by a prime minister and a cabinet that is responsible to a popularly elected parliament.The Constitution, enacted in 1947, is based on the principles of popular sovereignty, respect for fundamental human rights, and pacifism.”
Sonya smiled.“I’m glad you are already aware of World Governments, April.It’s an area your father wanted me to touch upon as well.”
“Yes,” April said, “I try to keep up with the current state of the world.The more informed one is and well-read, the more one is able to make smarter and wiser decision.”
“To be able to discern between what is the truth and what are lies,” Sonya said.
“I like to be able to think for myself.Of course I am open to all ideas, but ultimately, the more information I have including history, statistics, philosophy, and common sense, the better I am at coming to a decision.”
“You sound very mature for such a young girl,” Igor said.“Do you have older siblings in which you’ve learned from?”
April shook her head.“Unfortunately, no.And what about your family?”She looked at Boris. “You say that you have family here in California?”
“Distant family,” Boris said with a vague shrug. He searched his mind for a possible connection to the Americas. “My father’s sister has a son who married an American some years ago.”
Sonya smiled. “That would be your cousin, right?”
Blushing, he nodded. “I guess you’re right. We’re not very close.”
“We lost so many loved ones,” Igor said with a sad shake of his head.
