EXAMPLE PAGE - EBOOKS - THE PROMISE OF THE TEA GODS - Flipbook - Page 45
the promise of the tea-gods
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He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about . . . Sharp? So
many pieces? What in the world did that mean? Thoroughly confused
but not willing to give up quite so soon, he tried again. “I really am
sorry.”
K sat down on a low rock and motioned for him to sit beside her.
Soo-kang sat, unable to hold back a quietly emphatic, “I really am.”
She looked at him but said nothing—although he knew that silently
she was saying something.
He looked down at his hands. Leaving before we’ve arrived? asked
the big-little-voice in his head. He immediately looked up; determined
not to leave the conversation—on any level.
His eyes met hers again. “I know you’ve lived in the U.S. for a long
time,” he said, “and you’re probably not aware that this is the land of
apologies . . . The words ‘I’m sorry, please forgive me’ are pretty much
the foundation of this country and those words are part of who I am. It’s
a daily thing that started with my first breath. I was born apologizing to
my mother for causing her so much pain, and I have apologized for
something every day since. So it’s important to me that I apologize to
you.”
“And you have,” she said softly—not moving her eyes from his.
“Does that mean you accept it?”
“It means I was listening, and that I heard your words.”
“So, you don’t accept it?”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with accepting it or not accepting it.
I just don’t know what to do with it, and if I don’t know what to do with
something, I simply let it go. So please don’t worry about it—as I said,
no apology is necessary.”
Okay, thought Soo-kang, maybe it’s time to change the subject—I
can try apologizing again later. A good reason for me to stay right where
I am . . . “So, you’re a poet, a self-help author and a vision-writer,” he
said. “If you don’t mind my asking, what exactly is a vision-writer?”
“I have absolutely no idea,” she said, intrigued by his clever approach to letting things go—until later.
“Then why are you called that?”
