"What did you mean by that, Miss Keekee? About your grandmother not biting?"
"Oh. Because she's dead."
"...I am sorry for your loss."
Martial Kim bowed, but Keekee wave it off with a light smile. She would wander around the cabin, picking up stray pieces of clothing and...other articles of cloth – cough – before the young master, a health young man, would notice them.
“It’s all good,” Keekee laughed while shoving her things into a random drawer, “She passed on like, a looong time ago. I mean...the moment when mom and dad put her in a long term care home – we kinda knew her time would come.”
“Again. I am sorry to hear that.”
“...Thanks Kim! Th-that’s really nice of you!”
Why did she punch my arm? Did I say something to offend her? Rather, it was a light hit. Perhaps, she was joking? Such an odd gesture.
Martial Kim’s gaze would look at the walls, the foreign furniture, and everything that gave this small cabin in the woods a sense of life, “Were you close to her?”
“Oh yes, very much!” Keekee chirped like a bird in a cage, “Most of my childhood consists of me sneaking out of home while my parents bicker and crashing at my grandma’s place...You know, having fun with her and stuff. Thinking back, almost every day was a carefree adventure with her – straight out of a fantasy book! She had a horse, owned an acre of land, trailed the mountains and...Well you get the gist! Hahahaha!”
She took in a deep breath, hands on her hips to add, “My parents haven’t yet found a buyer for this place like for eons, so I usually like to come over here to stay for the night. I mean, it’s better than camping outdoors whenever my studio do exterior filming. You know?”
Martial Kim nodded as he listened carefully. Meanwhile, his eyes were caught on several peculiar furniture. “These are?”
“These are what?” Keekee wondered while in the middle of something, “Oh! The stove and dishwasher? Hah. Yeah, I know, they totally don’t match this Wild West vibe the house gives off. Grandma liked to do everything by hand, even chopped up the firewood herself and use it to cook with those antique iron top furnace you see in old movies. Buuuut, age and my dad nagging her to upgrade made her jam some modern appliances to make life easier. At least you don’t have to worry about starting a fire by clapping rocks and sticks like a caveman! Hahaha!”
...Should I be offended, or amazed? I have no clue.
The young master touched his hands across the ‘appliances’ as Keekee referred to them, his finger rubbing over these strange knobs and dials that look out of place in his eyes. He thought about trying them out, maybe testing how they turn, but something hanging on the wall across from him drew him away.
“Incredible! Your grandmother is a talented artist!”
“A-artist? Uh...She doesn’t paint, she can’t even draw to save her life.”
“You say that, Miss Keekee. Yet do you not see this wonderful collection of her paintings!?” Martial Kim examined the walls with eyes sparkling with delight, “Why, all of these are of you! You must hold a special place in your grandmother’s heart, to be her ideal model in every one of them!”
“Huh?...Oh! You mean her photographs! Wh-why didn’t you say so!?”
“...Ph...photo what?”
Keekee skipped by the young master and picked up a framed photograph hanging off the wall. It was the classic black and white, yellowed with age. Many of them had a beautiful woman in a leather jacket, rugged travelling jeans, and an exotic cowboy hat sitting on her long flowing hair.
She could be found standing next to ancient planes, giant monuments, strange statues, even hanging off trees so gnarled they could never be found in a cityscape. One by one, Keekee shared them with her new friend.
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“She looooves photography, always did it wherever she roamed! She brought along this old fashion camera along her trips, the type where you need this pitch black room to develop them! Old school!”
“...Old...school?... Wait. Are you saying, this young woman is your—”
“Yep. Grandma! In her hayday!”
Martial Kim couldn’t resist a gasp, “Sh-she is beautiful!”
Keekee snickered at she rub her hands over he frame as if touching a familiar face, “Wait till you see her wedding photos. Belle of the ball!”
“Why, she looks like you. Practically a mirror image. The resemblance is just...incredible!”
“...Uh-huhhahn.” Keekee made a weird noise as she blushed, because she combined ‘beautiful’ grandma and resembled ‘her’ together in her head somehow, “I uh...er...uahwah...Huahhdnahn”
While Keekee had an emotional overload, Martial Kim pondered to himself.
This photography art style, drawn in a dark room without the aid of a candle? Incredible! Not even the top painters serving the Emperor could make such convincing human visage. I cannot fathom them ever perfecting the human face with their best of skills. The precision is beyond this world – my world for that matter! It is like...I am looking directly at this real person, showing me an excited smile, not some facsimile on a canvas. How is this art style possible?
The young master was snapped back into reality when Keekee cleared her throat to compose herself, “Grandma travelled like a LOT. Why, she practically quit college and ran away from home, just so she could see all the splendors in the world while she was young. Took nothing but some clothes in her school bag and her lucky cowboy hat. Spent her whole life, wandering from one place to another; eating, sleeping, doing oddjobs on the road. Didn’t stop, not until she ran into grandpa...literally with a pick up truck. That’s why he always had that limp, and he was so proud of it – much to grandma’s cringe. Hahahah!”
The film assistant had this dreamy smile as she gazed upon the many photos, “Every time I visited, she would tell me her stories. How she lived in her travels; where she went and what she ate; and what friends she made...and lost along the way.”
“...”
“See this, Kim! There she is, top of the Pyramids of Egypt, with a view of the Great Nile!; Her climbing up the back of Mount Everest!; Her friends she made while venturing through ruins of an ancient Aztec Empire!; Oh oh, there she is see!... N-no, not the Statue of Liberty, she’s right up on that torch the statue is holding! Yeah, up there! Squint reaaaal good!”
This grandmother of hers, reminds me of a youth stepping into the great martial arts world. The excitement, life and death struggles, and the allies and enemies you make along the path one would cultivate. All for the sake of making a name for themselves, to become legends... and to find themselves within the carefree world. It seems no matter what world it is, wanderlust never truly dies. Hahaha.
Martial Kim’s astonishment filled the room with peaceful silence. Although he couldn’t grasp the concept of these ‘photos’, or how they could be made, somehow each picture told him a thousand stories. The emotions the grandmother must have felt, achieving the highest of high and the lowest of low. Crawling, climbing, flying, swimming, all of it.
Free, like an unfettered immortal, Martial Kim thought to himself.
“Um...Kim.”
“Oh? Yes Miss Keekee?”
“L-look. I know you had a hard day, maybe a rough week. I know you are in a need of a shower but..M...mind if I?”
“...You?”
“M-mind if I shower first? W-we only got one bathroom a-and well, I fell in mud when those muggers back in the mountain tried to...you know.”
“Ah. Of course. Ladies fir—”
“Oh thanks a billion, Kim! So chivalrous of you! I’ll be real quick!”
It is not a matter of chivalry. This cabin is essentially your residence.
Martial Kim stifled a chuckle as he watched Keekee eagerly grab some clothing and skipped into the next room. He considered passing the time by browsing more of the grandmother’s photos, but a thought suddenly struck him. “Miss Keekee, shall I boil some water for your bath? May I use your—"
Slam. Click. Clack. The door locked.
“...Bucket and kettle...” He finished his sentence to no one, raising an eyebrow. “Hmm.”
Scratching his cheek thoughtfully, he mused, I wonder if Miss Keekee is still in shock from the bandit incident. Perhaps I should prepare the hot water in advance. When she comes to her senses, the water would be warm enough for her. I honestly cannot imagine a cold wash to clean oneself, even in this strange new world.
Little did Martial Kim know, a rival he could never hope to defeat awaited him in this very cabin.
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