A FIRE ANT
Slips and slides on a mound of sand. The ANT’s eyes
burn as it scurries on the mound, legs spinning.
Suddenly, the ANT stops. A bleb of rain splats on the ANT’s back.
THE FACE OF A JAPANESE MAN
He is FUDO. His eyes close. The swish and swash of the sea. Clap of thunder. Crackle of lightning. He nods. Crack of lightning. He smiles. Downpour.
Ext. Kopepe Beach (Chichijima Island – Japan) – Day
Coach Stazza sits down on a bench next to Fudo. Both men stare out to sea.
Coach Stazza
That was some storm.
Fudo
I watched a fire ant die. There is much beauty in death.
Coach Stazza
Thank you for seeing me.
Fudo
I wonder if the ant lived a true life.
Coach Stazza
I wanted to talk to you about Stazza.
Fudo
Did you bring the stool?
Coach Stazza
Hai…
Coach Stazza hands a clear container to Fudo. Inside, a walnut sized blob of fecal matter.
Fudo
How fresh?
Coach Stazza
This morning. I left him at the hotel.
Carefully, Fudo unscrews the top. He sniffs the container. Nods. Screws the top on, and offers it to Coach Stazza.
Coach Stazza
It’s ok—I don’t need it.
Fudo
I will use for my cherry blossom.
Coach Stazza
Can he do it?
Fudo
He has a troubled heart.
Coach Stazza
You can tell that from sniffing his poop?
Fudo
No, last week, I spoke to him on FaceTime.
Coach Stazza
He eats to much junk.
Fudo
I have the perfect nutrition plan for him. But first, he must find the road to enlightenment.
Coach Stazza
Like, walking blindfolded along the rice paper and not leaving a trace? What’s the plan called? Fudo Food?
Fudo
His poop stinks.
Coach Stazza
Whose poop doesn’t stink?
Fudo
The answers to life’s big questions are found in poop.
Coach Stazza
Will we have him on rice and beans?
Fudo
What is the name of his lover?
Coach Stazza
His lover?
Fudo
Her name?
Coach Stazza
Did he tell you on FaceTime that he had a lover?
Fudo
No, I can tell from the smell of his poop.
Coach Stazza
Wow. That’s amazing.
Fudo
Running on love, is far superior than running with hate in your heart.
Coach Stazza
Will he run on love?
Fudo
No.
Coach Stazza
Hate?
Fudo
No
Coach Stazza
What then? Something in between? Is that what you mean by the road to enlightenment?
Fudo
No
Coach Stazza
What will he run on then?
Fudo
His legs.
Coach Stazza
Oh.
Fudo
We fix his heart. We fix his his food. Then we fix his running.
Coach Stazza
How do we fix these things?
Fudo
He is not ready to for the nutrition plan. We must fix his heart first.
Coach Stazza
I see. Is that why he eats so much?
Fudo
No
Coach Stazza
Why does he eat so much junk then?
Fudo
Because he is hungry and it tastes good.
Coach Stazza
So, we fix his heart, his nutrition, and his running—then he will win.
Fudo
You are a fast learner.
Coach Stazza
Hai…Thank you, Fudo.
Fudo
When is the race?
Coach Stazza
We have plenty of time—one year. He’s a great one for putting races on the long finger.
Fudo
We don’t have much time. Bring him to my minka and I will fix his heart. Then we start.
Coach Stazza
Will he win?
Fudo?
I never lose.
Fixing the heart. Wise council.
To me the heart is about passion. What drives you? What motivates you to push through hard things? What makes you cry out with pain and then with pleasure!? Running must be a part of each of these answers in order to be committed with HEART in my book.
Yes! Too many people go through this life numbed by the dull torpor of their meaningless existence. All the while, death lingers, whispering, come hither to my sweet and eternal nothingness, where you can tell me how you wasted the gift of life. It’s all about the silence in the caesura between the diastole and the systole. In there, in that fleeing moment, in the chasm of the heart, the echo of life reverberates. Fudo will mend Stazza’s tormented heart. Healed, Stazza will return the roads. (There’s a good chance Fudo will steal your sagacious words…)