* Private journal entry but feel free to comment *
Well Journal, we are home at last !
I think this is the first time I have written in this volume of my Journal since I have returned home to the Temple. I do know it is filled with wonderful memories of my times in Babbage. I wonder if I shall return there someday.
The steam pump works well using charcoal rather than coal as the fuel. The intermediate stage compressor does not hit the same high pressures using charcoal but I was able to compensate for it by restricting the orifice of the discharge. My, where did those words come from! It seems that the talks at the Academy classrooms might have rubbed off. One of the younger monks suggested that we run a tube collecting the exhaust of the steam pump and stack gasses through the tub holding the water for the intake. In that manner, we can preheat the water to a degree and save on the cost of the wood used to heat the water for the baths. I recall several people at the embassy of Herr Klaus talking about “sparky” people. I wonder if Japan has a few of them? This monk and I certainly seem to be able to build and adapt things very easily.
The yakuza have been removed from the shrine and the monks are busy restoring it. Hiro has certainly kept his end of the agreement! So has the Temple which conducted a most proper and honorable ceremony for him. He and I have talked since the funeral and he feels his family’s honor has been repaired to a degree.
Father and the senior monk both feel that we have tweaked the nose of the yakuza quite hard. They agree that I should return to training in the courtyard and that they would be my instructors. As a result of that I am covered in bruises and spend several hours in the baths soaking away my pain and stiffness. Belldandy brings me my meals and we spend the time away talking about the spirits in Babbage and how they are different from the yokai in Japan. She is deep into her studies and very serious about reaching my level of understand in matters of spirits. Belldandy would like to become just like me I think. I hope that never happens…
I wonder how everyone in Babbage is doing. I left in quite the haste that I did not get to say a proper goodbye to all I loved there. I hope that Miss Hienrichs is doing well. She was quite the helpmate for me during the last hours of my stay in Babbage. I miss the balls and the drama that never seems to wane in the sooty city.
The bell is tolling, time for prayers and then dinner. Tonight I am telling a story about Miss Maggie and friend as they prepared to travel to America. The story will not finish happily but here in Japan that is expected as a part of life. We seem to understand that happy endings do happen, just not as often as we would wish.
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