Back in the very first year that we produced Annekenstein, I had written a little sketch that pretended that Anne of Green Gables was a Japanese superhero. The sketch was performed as if it was dubbed into English. We had a pre-recorded soundtrack complete with stilted-English dialogue, while we pretended to mouth the words as if we were silently speaking Japanese. It was a pretty strange sketch.
Anyway, a couple of years after that, and because I liked the idea of AoGG actually being a Japanese superhero, I decided to write that sketch out as a short story, pretending that this particular story is but one in a series of Mythical Super Hero Anne stories for Japanese girls.
I now present, in chapter form, that story to you, if you care to read it.
The Adventures of Mythical Super Hero Anne
Part 21
"The Destruction of The
Loved Ones!"
the girl-shaped human form disguise of Mythical Super Hero Anne, and her
dearest friend, Diannakiro, along with another factory worker named Josipi,
were riveting side panels of Tondo Motor Corporation's newest sport-coupe
utility vehicles. All three were honored to be chosen, four weeks earlier by
the plant manager, as riveters for the prestigious New-Vehicle Assembly
Line. Diannakiro and Toshomiko had been,
before the promotion, working at the Vehicle Corrections Checkpoint, their
responsibility being to assure that no mistakes had been made in assemblage of
the vehicles. That had been a dull job,
as Tondo Motor Corporation was reputed to be the best, and most error free
vehicle manufacturing plant in all of
It
was late in the day, and, so far, they had riveted side panels on four hundred
and fifty two cars. Diannakiro had
worked hard, and well. For the last part
of the late afternoon shift, she was the riveter, the most demanding position
of the riveting line, with Josipi heating the rivets, and Toshomiko tossing
them to Diannakiro, who put them on the cars.
She was tired and sore, but felt pleased with their output. No, it wasn't a record number of side panels
for one day, but it was a respectable number.
Besides, it was the Americans who were always worrying about breaking
records. Diannakiro was just as happy
obtaining respect.
Naturally,
Mythical Super Hero Anne could have easily riveted seven hundred side panels by
herself, a clear record number, if she so chose, but she knew that that kind of
productivity might make others suspicious.
She knew she had to be careful around the people at the plant,
especially Josipi, for she knew that Josipi did not like Toshomiko. In the past she had looked for ways to make
Toshomiko look bad in front of the plant manager. Of course Josipi could never find anything to
make Toshomiko look bad, but Toshomiko still wanted to be careful, and went out
of her way to be nice to Josipi.
"This
rivet is nice and hot," she would say to Josipi, as she tossed the glowing
red rivet to Diannakiro. Or, "You
are a hard worker, Josipi." Bad
feelings between coworkers in the workplace, besides being a detriment to
productivity, could possibly lead to a workplace investigation, and that,
Toshomiko/Mythical Super Hero Anne knew, could inadvertently cause her true
superhuman identity to be revealed to all of the world. It was of utmost
importance to Mythical Super Human Anne, and for the security of Tokyo that no
one know of her powers, that she not give away the secret that she was, in
reality, not Toshomiko, a mild mannered Japanese girl of fourteen, but Mythical
Super Hero Anne, the supposedly mythical Japanese super hero.
She had told Diannakiro the
secret when they had first met, or rather, Diannakiro had guessed right away.
At that moment, Mythical Super Hero Anne knew that someone who could discover
her secret as easily as Diannakiro had must be kept close at hand. From then on Toshomiko treated Diannakiro as
a Kindred Spirit, to such an extent that Diannakiro even partook in some of
Mythical Super Hero Anne’s adventures.
Mythical Super Hero Anne/Toshomiko knew that Diannakiro could be trusted
to keep the secret.
Toshomiko
had just handed Diannakiro the final rivet for the four hundred and fifty third
vehicle when an announcement came over the loudspeaker in a pleasant female
voice:
"Attention,
factory workers! As you all know, tomorrow is a holiday. Therefore, morning workout exercises here at
the plant will begin one half hour later than usual, enabling you to be happy
as you spend extra quality time with your grandparents. Despite the half hour delay in startup, it is
expected that your happiness will cause your holiday productivity levels to
remain at the high standards that you, the factory workers, set for yourselves.
“For
those of you staying today after work to do more work, saki will be served in
the factory workers' lounge. That is
all."
Toshomiko
removed her clean, white cotton gloves, and unzipped her clean, white cotton
coveralls. "Diannakiro," she
said, stepping out of her work clothes, " let us leave work, now."
Diannakiro
put down her riveter, and began to remove her outerwear. "Toshomiko, my dearest friend, and my
colleague, Josipi, another day of high productivity must reluctantly come to an
end."
'This
is true," agreed Toshomiko.
"And we must rest tonight so that we will be in top physical and
mental form for tomorrow's workday,"
she reminded the other workers.
Josipi
picked up another rivet and the riveter Diannakiro had just abandoned, and
said, "I shall work for another four hours, so that the plant manager will
be impressed with my day's body of work."
Toshomiko
smiled a polite smile and said, "Very well. I am not in a battle with you over
productivity levels, Josipi." Then
she turned to Diannakiro and said, "Come, Diannakiro, you will stay with
me and my adopted family while we eat our evening food meal."
"Thank
you for your generous offer," said Diannakiro. "I accept. Thank you to you. I look forward to again meeting your adopted
father, Matthewsan, and his sister Malirra."
"Thank
you for your acceptance, Diannakiro," said Toshomiko. "Let us go, and
leave Josipi to work in peace."
Toshomiko
and Diannakiro mounted their bicycles and rode together out of the factory.
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Next time - Chapter 2 - Meeting the family
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