Impressions of Izu Ōshima: (Novella) Part 2

Inspired by Raymond Roussel

One of the quirks of being the producer, writer, and director is that you get to hire the actress.  I found one working at an inn on this island, and I thought at the time that she was a “wow.” Later, I couldn’t get her out of my mind.  She’s very young, as I’m old - so the next best thing for me to do was hire her for her skills as a dancer, along with her acting talent.  But I also made it clear to her that I have other interests in her as well.  When I first hired her, I called her into the principal’s office, and the first thing I asked her to do was undress for me.  She did so without showing any expression whatsoever.  She did it like it was night and day.  No difference to her if she has clothes on or off.  Another yen and another day.  I was in love with her.  Her name is Aiko.

Aiko-Chan never appeared on film but specialized in doing stage work. She looks down on film as a director’s art and not a suitable medium for acting.  In my first interview with her, I couldn’t stop looking at her long legs. Since it was summer, she wore short white pants with a see-through matching blouse, but one could see that she wore a white t-shirt underneath her top.  Since the island is so dirty, I was impressed that she came here wearing all white.  She told me that she only wears white when not acting.  Aiko-Chan commented that white represents purity and tries to keep that in mind when she is not working. When she’s working or on the job, that is the last thing she thinks about.  This made a significant impression on me at the time.  When I looked at her hands, I noticed that her fingernails were painted white.  I asked her if the nails on her feet were also painted white. She didn’t verbally answer me.   All she did was kick off her white tennis shoes, and she wasn’t wearing socks to show that she also had white nails.  I silently whistled and thought, “This is the girl.” When she removed her clothing, she stood in front of me.  I asked her to turn around.  She did so.  I asked her to face the wall and to bend over while looking over her shoulder at me.  She did so.  They say a producer should never fall in love with their actress - but then again, one only lives once.

Since Aiko-chan worked in an inn on the island, I think she knew when I was trying to give her a message.  She immediately approached me and sat on my lap behind the work desk.  She stroked my hair, touched my chin, ran her finger down my nose bridge, softly brought my lips up to her mouth, and kissed me gently.  Aiko-Chan told me that this was a natural way for her to communicate with me. I have seen nature work its magic on this island. Surrounded by trees and limbs that seem to have their logic, with an endless amount of insects and reptiles that embrace the humid weather like it was a coat. But, if it is even in nature, this was like plunging into the deepest pool of desire, and I had difficulties holding myself back. Yet, she was masterful with the tongue and fingers. The magic she worked for me was a great engineer fine-tuning the old but functional machine. I was ready to go vroom-vroom when she took me into her mouth, and with a combination of gentleness with a firm sense of timing, I became a puddle in her powers to behold me. She, of course, was perfect for the role of the female lead in my production of Impressions of Izu Ōshima.

On a daily level, around 7 or 8 in the evening, Aiko became a massive inspiration for my work. I wished I had known her when writing the original book, but it would be stupid to re-write the whole text again. I should focus on the book's live production, which is a fascinating prospect for me. The narration lives on the page, but to bring to the stage, makes the literature into a sculpture. One can walk around it and see the many dimensions at work. The fact that Aiko is pretty much naked throughout the production will make Impressions of Izu Ōshima a commercial and an artistic hit.

I then started to think, why focus on the stage?  Why can’t the production go to the audience or outside the theater?  The show can begin in the gymnasium and then go into another room in the elementary school.  Perhaps even write a scene where one of the characters becomes or is a teacher and makes the audience into students in a classroom. Aiko’s talent in helping me get ideas also gave me the thought of re-enacting what she did to me in my office.  Why not have that on the show?  We can also lead the audience to the other parts of the island and use Izu Ōshima as one large stage or a series of steps.  I was writing so fast that when I ran out of paper, I started to write on the classroom table.  When ideas come, it is like a runaway train.  You want to capture the moment before it crashes.

As dusk approached, I sat in my office with a piece of chocolate and a glass of red wine.  I had to hide both from everyone else because the food is hard to come by here on the island. Especially something like chocolate or desert-like.  One market is a 30-minute car ride from the school, but it sells outdated food packages.  If I come to the market hungry, I soon lose my appetite within seconds.  Volcano ashes are on top of all the food items and the cafe's countertop.  They seemed to make instant ramen here but are pretty expensive.  I made arrangements with the ship captain when he came to deliver the goods to the island that he brings at least three bottles of French red wine.  Never Rosé!  That is undrinkable.

There is one room in the school that has wi-fi. I didn’t want the entire crew to be here and drift from one website to another unless it’s work-related, which means it has to be strictly used for research or to communicate with The Impressions of Izu Ōshima staging crew. For instance, I can’t imagine Aiko needing to be on the Internet. She’s the actress, and I want all the actors to get instruction from me directly.  I don’t want them to do their research, especially Aiko.  I get the nagging feeling that if she had access to the computer, she would be writing to some boy or another.  I can tell when I make love to her that she is used to having a lot of lovers.  She claims I’m the only one, but my age brought a sense of wisdom, and a girl like Aiko, who knows her way around the male body, indeed had a lot of experience in that field.  I’m sure if I leave her alone with a computer, she would be doing live chats with a lower version of gentlemen like yours truly.

I find myself writing a more significant role for her because I want to keep her busy and not be drifting to another world outside my own.  So far, our affair is a secret from the others, but I at the one-time wondered if others here know about us.  I told her not to tell anyone, but I’m unsure if she is keeping that side of the bargain. I try not to give her special notice, except that I have to because she is now the leading actress in my play. There is a romantic interest, and in the scenes in my book, there is excellent imagery of eros between the male and this female.  Now, I should tone it down or perhaps hire myself as the lead male actor.  I wrote the damn play and novel, and I’m paying for it, so why can’t I do what I want to do?

The other fear I have is that my leading male actor Nakata is a very handsome and famous theater actor.  I can gather that any actress that makes love to him will get her feet in the show business.  A beauty like my Aiko must get the attention of such an actor as Nakata, and I can imagine his thoughts when doing the love scenes with her.  We have had one rehearsal with them so far, and it makes me uncomfortable to see them on the stage together.  I think for the general audience, no problem, but for me, it’s a real bee inside my hat feeling.  I need to get that insect out of the hat, and to do that is to either fire Nakata or give him a lesser role.

I called him to the principal’s office.  The way he walked in, I could tell he was tense, so I made small talk with him so that he could relax.  I told him a sex joke, but he didn’t laugh.  I thought it was now that I should say to him my plans.  I told Nakata that I would write him a new role that would expand his time on the stage and be memorable for the audience.  The fact that the new character is a homosexual who champions training youth in the fine art of homosexual sex, at first, I can tell, disturbed him.  I even empathized that the character will have a large size of the island that is separate from the women’s quarters and therefore add a certain amount of tension that will suit the play quite well.  Especially since I’m writing him a huge monolog that will get a standing ovation.  I also suggested that for the new role, he moves to the other side of the school and ensures it is all male.  I made the school become two sections—one for females and one for males.  As the producer, director, and writer, I’m the only one who can go from one area to the other.

The End of Part 2. Part 3 will start shortly.