Mr. Akinori wasn’t anything like I expected him to be. I guess I had always imagined that he would be this exceedingly disciplined and rigid man, but he behaved completely opposite of what you might expect a Sumo Champion to be. I guess that was because he was on semi-vacation; he and several other Sumo wrestlers were doing a worldwide tour to promote youth Sumo wrestling but on this particular day he was enjoying Aquaboggin Water Park with his family.
Now that I think back on it, it was actually kind of funny because the two of us were both acting star struck with the other. Come to find out, Mr. Akinori had been a fan of mine since he saw me win my first surfing title. That was also when I had become a fan of his, because he had wrestled and won in an exhibition match the night before.
Nothing more had been said about me wearing a swim diaper and frankly, after having met Mr. Akinori, I had forgotten that I was supposed to be embarrassed. It wasn’t until we were driving home and I was thinking back on that meeting that it dawned on me just what he had done for me. It isn’t true that real surfers wear swim diapers. He had lied to those two boys, who turned out to be his nephews. He knew who I was and how embarrassed I was feeling and came to my rescue. I ask you, how cool is it that someone so world famous and important, would do that for someone like me?
Mr. Akinori bowed to me and then shook my hand again while telling me that he was honored to have finally met me after all these years. He then asked if I was going to be competing again this year. I almost chose not to tell him the truth simply because I didn’t want to disappoint him.
I reluctantly shook my head as I said, “I can’t.” then I told him the reason why.
His countenance fell when I told him about how my dad died and how my mom got sick afterward. I didn’t actually tell him that Mom was in the mental ward at the hospital for trying to kill herself. He reached out with those two huge hands of his and placed them on my shoulders while saying something in a language I didn’t understand.
“You would honor your fathers’ memory by continuing the dream you shared.” He told me; of course I cleaned it up because his English had suffered with his emotional empathy for me and Mom.
I guess I have Mr. Akinori to thank for planting the seed of hope inside of me which would quickly begin to grow into a full-fledged idea. The idea was that, somehow, I was going to find a way to get to California and compete in the surfing competition.
Mr. Akinori thanked me repeatedly and told me that he was truly honored to have met me.
“It was an honor to have met you too.” I told him as we again shook hands.
As I slipped out of the changing room, I frantically tried to tie the string to my board shorts while running for Daddy Phil and the others to tell them about meeting Mr. Akinori. I found them all lying on a beach blanket on the sand.
“You guys are never going to believe who I just met in the bathroom!” I exclaimed as I ran up to them and nearly fell on top of Mommy Beth whom Jacquelyn and Joey had buried in the sand.
I told them all about Mr. Akinori and how he said he was a fan of mine. He said that he’s going to be in California for another exhibition match at the same time that the surfing competition will be taking place.
After telling them about meeting Mr. Akinori, I picked up my surfboard and headed out in search of Meek. I found him talking to some older girls over by the biggest water slide. When he saw me coming he quickly waved me over and introduced me to his lady friends.
“Alvin this is Lacey, Trish, and Monica. Girls, this is the guy I was telling you about.”
