Hello everyone.  Its been quite some time, almost a year probably 
since I have posted any of my story to the list.  However, I went 
back through the early parts and found that It realy wasnt much good. 
So, to fix that I have decided to rewrite it all and get it right 
this time.  Well I hope you like it.  

Warped Reality part 1.05
Kelly Conrad Davies Schultz
aka Skywise/Skychan
skywise@mail2.theonramp.net
<Denotes Japanese speech>
[Denotes thoughts]


 It was another sunny day in residential St. Paul.  The sky was a
 light blue, the grass brilliant green, and the sweet smell of
 blooming flowers was in the air.  Conrad, however, missed all of
 natures splendor,  walking along oblivious to the outside world.  His
 nose was buried in a book, yet his steps unerringly found their way
 to his destination, downtown, without need for conscious thought. 
 Despite his lack of attention or caution Conrad continued on his way
 undisturbed by others.  At six foot three, not many people decided 
to bother the introverted young man.  Dressed in one of  his many
pairs of light kahki pants and a dark green windbreacker, he presented
a slightly daunting but unaware air to the outside world.  

 Something's wrong thought Conrad, suddenly shaken out of his book by
 a sudden prickly feeling running down his spine.  As the dark blond
 haird college junior looked up he unconsciously replaced this latest
 book, In Enemy Hands,  into the ever-present USA cup bag that hung by
 his side.  Glancing around he again observed to himself that
 something is most definitely wrong.  He was surrounded not by the
 slowly decaying brick and mortar buildings of downtown St. Paul but
 rather new buildings constructed of concrete and glass.  That and the
 fact that all of the signs that he saw were in written in Kanji were
 enough evidence to make him blink hard and look a second time.    

 As he continued to walk along in a state of stunned disbelief his
 mind began to assimilate other facets of his surrounding.  The few
 signs that were not written in Kanji were definitely not in English,
 Katakana and Hiragana a dark corner of his mind supplied.  Where
 before the people on the street had been made up of  blacks,
 Hispanics, and Caucasians, now he saw that it was dominated almost
 uniformly by Asians with only one other person  not obviously from
 the far east walking along the storefronts.    

 After building up his courage and convincing himself that this wasn't
 a dream he went up to a nearby Asian male dressed in a business suit.
  "Um, can you tell me where I am?" Conrad asked.  "I don't know how I
 got here.   Can you help me?"

 The only reply that he received was a broken "I no speak  English."
 and quick bow before the man quickly went on his way

 Now wandering aimlessly and thoroughly confused, Conrad walked
 towards what looked like a highschool campus.  While he was
 approaching  it, he began to overhear a few of the conversations that
 were going on in the courtyard over lunch.  What he heard was enough
 to recognize the language as Japanese.  Well at least I can remember
 this much from my classes, he thought to himself.  I can understand
 one word in ten, but if I should thank my teacher or my anime
 collection more I don't know.  Maybe if I can find the English
 department I can get some help.

 <Can I help you sir?>, said a voice causing Con to break out of his
 thoughts and reenter the real world.  He turned around to see who had
 spoken to him.  Before him stood a cute Asian girl dressed in a blue
 school uniform, typical sailor style.  She had short black hair so
 dark that the sunlight caused blue highlights to form whenever she
 moved and her eyes were dark pools that only failed to entrap him due
 to the twinkle that shined merrily when she smiled.  

 "What?, I um, watashi wa, um no, um that is I'm sorry, I don't speak
 Japanese very well" was his halting reply to the smoothly flowing
 question that had proven to be just beyond the meager language skills
 he had picked up and lost since long days of studying with Sean and
 Jeremy back at Cornell.

 "Maybe I can help you sir?  I am sorry that my English is so poor but
 I will help you if possible."  she replied in near perfect English
 without mispronouncing a single word.    

 Breathing a sigh of relief that she spoke the language so well he
 asked.  "Well somehow I have gotten lost, do you think that you could
 help me get to the American embassy?".  Man this is embarrassing he
 thought, I must sound like a complete idiot to her.

 "That's quite alright" she gave him another smile "Let me go find out
 if it is alright with the Principal for me to take you there."  she
 said running off. "Don't go anywhere I will be right back."

 Left alone with his thoughts Conrad sat down on a nearby bench to try
 and piece together what had happened to him.  He mentally made a list
 of what he knew.   1. I am in Japan right now,  2.  I was in the USA
 in the morning, 3.  I don't remember how I got from one place to the
 other.  The only conclusion that he could come up with was that he
 had lost part of his memory.  The onset of depression and lapse into
 self pity was averted by the return of the energetic Japanese
 student.  

 "The Principle told me that because I am so far ahead in all of my
 classes that it would be okay for me to take the time to help you get
 back to the embassy."  As she lead him to a bus stop at the end of
 the 
block she asked him, "Why did you come to Japan, are you an exchange
student or just visiting here for a little while?"

 "Well, um, I was planing to come here next summer but I guess I
 decided to come earlier."  he thought a little bit before continuing 
 "I don't have any plans about what I want to do or see though."

 "In that case I think that it would be fun to get together and learn
 about our different cultures, and you could help me with my English. 
 Would you like to meet sometime later this week?" was her cheerful
 reply as she completely misunderstood his tone of voice.  "Here is my
 address and telephone number, you can call me when you get back to
 your hotel and we can plan something."

 "Thanks allot,  my name is Conrad Borsting but you can just call me
 Con." he said reaching out to take the offered piece of paper.

 "Oh how silly, My name is Mizuno Ami." she said with a bow,
 continuing on as Con stood there silently with slightly glazed eyes. 
 "To get to the embassy just take this bus and get off in front of the
 large American flag, you cant miss it.  Well I will talk to you
 later."  With that she was off running back to school so she would
 miss the least amount of study time possible.

 No way,  there is just no way that this is all happening to me.
 Conrad thought as he stepped onto the bus.  This cant be real. 
 Alright get a hold of yourself,  this is all just a big coincidence
 and there is nothing to worry about.  By the time that he reached the
 American embassy Con had calmed down and was thinking lucidity again.
  Upon searching his person he found that besides the few yen that had
 paid for the bus ride he had a small collection of bills a passport
 and some directions in English to a hotel.

 He walked into the Embassy and not sure what else to do asked to see
 the ambassador.  After going though countless departments and filling
 out lots of forms it was finally decided that he should be taken to
 the embassy doctor.  He was scooted into the doctors office and told
 not to worry, that everything would be okay.  This of course made him
 worry even more.  It took the doctor a good twenty minutes to get the
 whole story of how he had found himself here and calm him down again.
  

 "From what you have told me I think that its likely you are suffering
 from temporary amnesia.  It appears that you have lost your memories
 of approximately the last two weeks of your life.  Because the amount
 of time lost is so small I am very confident that you will remember
 it all in short order.  Your loss of memory was probably caused by
 the stress and anxiety of being immersed in a totally different
 culture without a safety net of some kind.  I believe that the best
 thing that you can do to both regain your memories and make your
 transition to living here easier would be to stay at the embassy and
 learn Japanese.  In this way you will become more able to cope with
 the world around you while being sheltered here whenever you begin to
 get  overwhelmed.  For now I am ordering you to get a good nights
 rest,  I will have all of your possessions transferred here from your
 hotel and see to it that you are installed as a semipermanant
 resident here.  I don't want you to worry about anything I will take
 care of all the details." Finishing his speech the doctor stood up
 and ushered Conrad to the door.  "Mr. Colman here will take you to
 your room"

 "Thank you very much Doctor" Con said as he was introduced to Roy. 
 "I am glad that I don't have to worry about it any more".  As soon as
 he was lead to what would be his new room he collapsed on the bed,
 mentally worn out from the days strange events.  



"Shade and sweet water" Skychan

skywise@mail2.theonramp.net, skychan@hotmail.com, skywise@juno.com
http://wwwacn.cornell-iowa.edu/~KSCHULTZ/my.htm

Stories worth reading
Elfquest,  Honor Harington,  All of Mark Latus's stories 
The Circe Project }http://http.tamu.edu/~nwl9354/fanfic.html
Sailor Moon V  }http://www.ctd.nwu.edu/~aerdnahu/pt.htm
All of Richard Lawson's storys }http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/sterman/fanfic.htm