Un-Holy Matrimony
Access to current version restricted.
Chapter Synopsis:
Soldiers drag Klaus onto the ship’s sunlit deck to observe the Wedding through the ship’s telescope. Klaus sees many schoolgirls in the streets. Sees the Wedding party emerge from the castle, march down the street surrounding Yumiko and her trunk of belongings toward fiancee’s house.An air raid sounds and the group scatters. Yumiko runs away to the rock garden, hides behind a boulder. A soldier’s hand comes around to grab her.
INSIDE THE SHIP JAIL IN THE DAYTIME:
A flashlight sweeps light, blinding Klaus.
Rats and bugs SCURRY away from light.
Klaus THROWS his hands, bound with rope, over his burning eyes.
The soldier UNLOCKS the clanking metal doors.
Two soldiers DRAG Klaus, clothes tattered and festering with mold, in chains down wet dark hallways, up tight stairways.
OUTSIDE AT THE SHIP DECK - DAY
Soldiers DRAG Klaus through the blinding light of the open door, onto the deck of a military search boat slowly pulling out of Hiroshima harbor.
Cool fresh BREEZE blows in Klaus' hair.
Goosebumps rise on Klaus’ moldy skin.
Klaus' stinging red eyes look out across the bright blue ocean.
Glare turns his vision white.
His irises DILATE, adjusting.
Across the water, Klaus sees the midsummer morning sun CLIMB, lighting green-treed rocky hills.
Rays GLISTEN on the minnow-like leaves of the bamboo trees.
Far away the three cascading waterfalls on Mount Mitaki,
-- In MEMORY, Klaus sees himself and Yumiko skinny-dipping beneath the waterfall, her RISING up out of the water to KISS his head.
His head BLEEDS.
His vision distorts with the rhythmic PULSE of blood. { Pound pound pound. }
Soldiers LEAD Klaus to to an observation TELESCOPE on the deck.
TALL SOLDIER
The Mayor has spared your life out of love for his daughter. Watch so you know she has been legally married. You can never return here.
The red Sun RISES higher.
Sweat RUNS down the faces of Klaus and the soldiers.
Soldiers UNTIE Klaus’ hands, SHOVE him smashing into the telescope.
Klaus SQUINTS his eye to the scope.
-- THROUGH THE SCOPE,
Klaus sees hundreds of school-age girls wielding pick-axes, TEARING down the fronts of houses close to the roads, clearing fire lanes.
Klaus looks up to sees the rock garden.
Cool breeze BLOWS under ginkgo trees,
Sound of cicadas singing joyfully.
Scanning down the road, Klaus sees a wedding party EMERGING from the Yumiko’s castle-like house.
At the front, Yumiko staggers in her bridal gown, held by the blinded Ikeyama, in formal military dress.
The wedding party MARCHES down the street, carrying a big wagon with Yumiko’s belongings.
Yumiko, a tear streaming down her face, RUBS her red-sore wrists.
Aki carries Bunni the snow monkey.
The General and his wife and the family friends.
Klaus hears the echoes of a yellow alert.
Klaus sees the crowds, including the wedding party, RUSH to retreat into air-raid shelters.
The townspeople RUN to DUCK underneath beds and into closets.
Yumiko sees herself finally untied and unguarded.
Her face lights up.
She RUNS down the street to the rock garden.
She DARTS behind a boulder.
Klaus loses sight of her.
The General’s soldiers RUN into the garden, chasing Yumiko, searching among the boulders.
Townspeople see American an weather plane FLY overhead.
The ALERT STOPS SOUNDING.
Townspeople LEAVE their shelters; they SCURRY about their usual business.
KLAUS sees Yumiko CREEP around to his side of the boulder.
She STRETCHES her body and arms tight against the boulder, trying to make herself invisible, MOUTHING a silent prayer.
A big man’s hand FLASHES around the boulder and GRABS her Kimono.
