"What?"We stared at each other for a solid minute then she put her hand over the flame. I watched her lips counting the seconds. Twenty-five. Twenty-f...ve seconds before she couldn't hide the wince and pulled her hand back. I put my hand over the burner. And left it there. At twenty, I knew it was scaled. At twenty-five, I knew my face was giving me away. At thirty-five, I gave up and snatched my hand back. "Oww." I hissed, "Fuck!"Sheila pulled my hand across the table and studied it for a. The next night Dale picks me up in the bowling alley parking lot and we start driving around. He hands me a large plastic glass. I take a sip. Jack and Coke. He’s talking a lot about his truck. I’m half-listening. The Jack is starting to work. The boredom starts to retreat. We continue to drive in silence. As we are passing the school, Dale pulls in. The place is deserted. We park in the empty parking lot. The radio playing is the only thing to break the silence. A feeling of. Everything went into the wash. Her mother-in-law would wash it tomorrow. Iweko a quick shower, not that she could stay in there long anyway. Hot-water shower was only allowed for the men and children; grown women like her were only allowed cold showers. In a cold place like Port Tama, a long cold shower was impossible.After she finished, Iweko put on the spare kimono, hoodveil and walked out. The family altar was in the living room. Every family in Vippon has an altar at home worshipping their. Without kids we have been great friends to each other. We talk about all kinds of things. She shows interest in my job, we follow sports together and both love the outdoors. She not only works part time but she takes care of the house and cooks fantastic meals. Except for her one idiosyncrasy, I really couldn’t ask for a better wife… which is why I have tolerated it. Ashley is also very competitive. We often have harmless bets with each other about all kinds of things.