The Little Teashop in Tokyo by Julie Caplin Page 0,48
it: ‘Surprise on Shibuya’.
When he lifted his head, Fiona had gone and he peered through the crowd trying to spot her. Not again!
Then he spotted the golden hair towering above everyone, literally a good foot above and he realised as he wove his way closer through the busy street that she was standing on top of one of the street vendors’ carts, the owner gleefully admiring her legs while he held the cart steady for her. Quite a crowd had drawn to watch her, which was hardly surprising because it wasn’t something you saw every day on a Japanese street. Fiona was happily snapping away, throwing the odd word down to the vendor, without a care in the world. Gabe stopped dead with horrified admiration. You didn’t make a spectacle of yourself in Japan; you were quiet and respectful in public but … he grinned. By God, she looked amazing. A warrior princess on a mission. For someone who on the surface seemed quite shy and retiring, it appeared in reality she was a Valkyrie. Widening the angle to include the onlookers, he took a couple of landscape shots before swapping to portrait. It was certainly a one-off composition.
‘Hey up there,’ he called as he approached, weaving his way through the gathered crowd.
‘Hello, I wondered where you’d got to,’ she said, glancing down, barely registering his arrival as she raised her camera to her eye, her brow wrinkling with concentration. She fired off another volley of quick snaps, her mouth moving in tandem, as if emoting with her subjects. He shook his head at her absorption and waited, folding his arms and leaning against the nearby wall, although he did give the vendor a warning nod of the head. The man gave him an indefatigable grin and said something in quick Japanese to the effect of ‘she’s quite something’. Gabe rolled his eyes and agreed. She’d surprised him today.
Finally, she jumped down, offered the vendor some money which he declined, shaking his head furiously and bowing to her several times. A couple of people in the audience clapped and she grinned at them.
‘He says it was an honour,’ drawled Gabe, a little irritated.
‘Oh, that’s sweet of him.’
‘Should I even ask how you came to be standing up there?’
‘I was trying to get the shots of people tilting their heads backwards and I realised I wanted to be higher than them, so I found a box but as soon as I stood on it, it collapsed. Yuto, who used to live in London, asked me what I was doing and when I explained, he said I could stand on the cart. Wasn’t that nice of him?’
‘Yes, very nice. I don’t suppose it had anything to do with the fact he had a bird’s eye view of your legs.’
Fiona tutted. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. He’s interested in photography. We had a very nice chat about the museum. He’s a big fan of Araki’s so he was very excited when I told him that he was supposed to be mentoring me.’
‘I’ll just bet he was.’
‘Are you cross with me?’ asked Fiona.
‘No, what gives you that impression?’
‘Your voice goes all drawly and disinterested, as if you can’t be bothered with anything.’
How astute, he thought. ‘I’m fine. Just slightly appalled by you almost causing a riot in the street. Haruka would be horrified, although I think young Mayu would be thrilled by your behaviour.’
‘I didn’t think. I … got a bit carried away. I could see the picture in my head. I needed to get a bit of height and when he …’
‘Hey, don’t beat yourself up. I was teasing. You don’t remember lamppost-gate then?’
Her worry slid away as awareness dawned on her face. ‘You were arrested. I do remember; it made the front page of most of the newspapers.’
‘That’s because Dolly Fitzsimmons belted the policeman that helped me down from the lamppost. She was the one who was arrested.’ In fact, if the lanky model hadn’t been so handy with her right hook, he might have got away with a simple warning, instead of which the pair of them were marched off to the nearest police station.
‘Why were you up there?’
He grinned at her. ‘Like you, I wanted to get the perfect shot and it seemed the logical thing to do at the time.’
For a moment she stared owlishly at him before her face broke into a smile of understanding. ‘So it’s not just me then.’