for months and months after this i sent and got letters from lia, but none form anybody else. she said that samuel had gone and gotten a job wrestling some where, but she wasn't quite ready to follow him. i chuckled a bit over the name he had chosen for himself, but that wasn't really a big surprise to me either. we'd always joked and called him a wanderer cause he liked to go for long walks when we were younger, most of the time by himself. the letters just kept coming and going between east and west, me and her. until one day they stopped and i kept getting my letters returned. i didn't know where she'd gone, neither of us had ever sent phone numbers or anything to each other so, i had to try to find something new to do. i was working harder at the dojo, almost to my black belt when one night all the guys and me were together watching wrestling and i nearly choked on my pizza. that was my best friend in the whole world right there in front of me! with her brother. i watched that match so intently the guys thought i had lost my mind or something, they kept teasing me that nomad was married and stuff but i eventually told them to shut up enough times that they got the hint. a couple of them made rude comments about the wrestler named "DreamWeaver" but when I threw two guys on the floor becuase of it, thty got the hint. finally the sensai asked what was up and i told him simply "That's my best friend!" well, lemme tell you they couldn't be nicer to me. i found the address for the organization and lia and i got back in touch, but everything had to be addressed to "DreamWeaver" now and that was a little wierd. i told her that i was coming out to see her some day and i swore that i'd be in that ring with her, cause i now had some direction. imagin that, i'm twenty-two years old and only then did i find direction. i worked hard and got accepted to the wrestling school in new jersey. i finally got a letter from lia giving me her phone number so i sent her mine. i guess she was somebody really important out there, she had a cell phone. i was on my way out the door one day to get my tickets to the west when i got a frantic telephone call.
"I need your help! My sister-in-law's a traitor! Please come!"
she didnt' need to tell me anything more. i grabbed my stuff and my old ragged coat, i was never without it, it reminded me of where i had come from and where i could easily be again. i was on the next plane out west.
