"Shintaro Takahashi," he told her.
Caroline smiled, that usually worked. Ask anyone their name, how hard a question was that? And folks answer. So now she had a toehold of a conversation started.
"Whoa! Now that is a real mouthful. Hope you don't mind if I shorten that a little, hon?" she grinned, "I'll call you Shin...oh and you can just call me Cara if you want."
Now as to his future plans, he had an answer, barely audible, for that too, "I hope to find work."
"Sure, makes sense. We all need a job to make due, don't we," she nodded. She looked him over again.
"So yer dressed up like a cowboy. You know how to do cowboy work? Like do they have cows and ranches in your Japan?" oh she had questions alright.
All of a sudden she pulled back one of the chairs at the table and plopped herself down across from him like she was making herself comfortable.
"Nice to get off my feet for a bit, this job has me standing all the time. That is when I ain't up there," she now pointed to the small stage in one corner of the saloon, a piano next to it.
"I'm the saloon entertainer. I sing and do a bit of dancing too. Folks say I got me a real nice singin' voice. As for the dancin', well I'm no great shakes at it but I show 'em some leg and menfolk enjoy that alright. I love my job."
"Oh yeah, and gentlemen - they buy me drinks too," she smiled, that part was less than subtle.
He normally didn't allow strangers to call him by a nickname but he knew Westerners had a hard time with his name so he let it pass. In truth the only person who frequently called him Shin was his wife and his friends back home but ever since coming to America, people took to calling him Shin.
Shintaro hadn't worked on a cattle ranch but he knew his way around horses as he grew up around them. He couldn't honestly say he did 'cowboy work' but the clothing he wore was suitable for travelling and had the added benefit of letting him blend in at a distance.
"Horses," he responded in regards of what there was in Japan. "Cattle weren't used for food before the country opened up to Westerners."
Before he could say anything else, Cara took a seat without invitation and started telling him what she did around here. He hadn't realized she was an entertainer, he had assumed she was just a serving girl. He certainly didn't mistake her for a Geisha however, Shintaro hadn't see any of their like in America.
He grunted at her obvious hint to prompt him to order her a drink. As he hadn't invited her to his table he saw no reason to play host. Besides, she wasn't the first woman he had encountered in his travels who tried to play free drinks from customers before.
"It is nice these gentlemen offer to buy you drinks after you perform for them," he responds politely. "Depending on when you perform, I may still be around to watch your performance."
He turned his attention to his food, not wanting it to grow cold before he could eat it. The stew was pretty good, better than other places he had eaten at since travelling. It was a change from what he would normally eat while on the road, as he rarely hunted for himself as he wasn't a fan of red meat. He did enjoy fish whenever he was able to spare the time to toss a net or bargain for some from the natives.
"Horses," he responded in regards of what there was in Japan. "Cattle weren't used for food before the country opened up to Westerners."
"Oh sure! We got plenty of horses in this country too. West is so big you can't hardly get anywhere without owning a horse. Not me though, I mean I don't own one. I pretty much live in this place," Caroline gave a shrug.
She then explains to him what she did around here, entertaining the customers with song and dance. She also threw in a hint that menfolk buy her drinks.
"It is nice these gentlemen offer to buy you drinks after you perform for them," he responds politely. "Depending on when you perform, I may still be around to watch your performance."
"Oh, not just after I put on a show, hon. Nope, anytime the mood hits 'em like when I keep'em company and we talk. Or they talk and I am a real fine listener too," Caroline added, "Sometimes they're just lonely is all and I hopefully can 'em feel better or cheer 'em up. I like to see people happy you know?"
"But I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I do not do whoring, that's not me. That's for Hettie and her sort," she wanted that made perfectly clear, she wasn't that kind of woman.
Hey, at least he seemed to enjoy the stew.
He wasn't used to people being friendly with him in particular unless they wanted something. He had faced more than enough harassment because he was Japanese in a foreign country. Most considered him Chinese and expected him to behave like one. If he hadn't had the fortune of being on the same ship which was transporting the Iwakura mission, he would have had a much harder time during those first few months in San Francisco.
Cara seemed to genuinely want to just cheer him up and not in any way sexually. It still felt strange to him as strangers didn't typically spark up random conversations with others back in his homeland. Certainly not without a whole lot of apologizing for intruding and the like.
Shintaro sighed, reminding himself once again this wasn't Japan and these people didn't think like Japanese. They were far more free to do whatever they wished, regardless of what society may expect of them. Not that he felt American was without its own social norms, there were plenty and not all of them unfamiliar.
"I should apologize, I'm not used to having strangers speak so freely to me," Shintaro said, inclining his head slightly. "I've only been in your country for a few years and the only person I interacted with freely was my wife."
"I should apologize, I'm not used to having strangers speak so freely to me," Shintaro said, inclining his head slightly. "I've only been in your country for a few years and the only person I interacted with freely was my wife."
That comment made Quentin's eyebrow go up. The newcomer had used the past tense, but it didn't sound like she was dead. Quentin let the paper fold forward at the middle seam and continued to listen to the man talk. He had figured he was not a chinaman...as nice as many of them he had met in San Francisco had been, this was a different sort of person. Cantrell decided to keep listening to this man's story...
"I should apologize, I'm not used to having strangers speak so freely to me," Shintaro said, inclining his head slightly. "I've only been in your country for a few years and the only person I interacted with freely was my wife."
Caroline blinked.
"Huh? Why ever should you apologize to me? You didn't do nothin' worthy of an apology. If anything, maybe I'm talkin' a bit too much and askin' too many questions," the veteran but still young saloon girl remarked. Not that she actually offered an apology. She felt she'd done nothing wrong other than being a mite too friendly? And being friendly was part of the job.
Now his last part though....that sounded like that wife of his was no longer with him? Like dead maybe? She had obviously followed him over to the states. But he said 'was' not 'is'.
"Hope I'm not being too bold but yer wife....is she no longer with us?" she now inquired softly. She wasn't going to say 'dead'.
Shintaro knew it would take quite some time to explain why he felt the need to apologize. Westerners, in his experience, didn't understand what it truly meant to be Japanese much less what it meant to be Samurai. Not that he would be considered one by his own people but even as a Ronin at this time he still Japanese. By now the entire Samurai class likely was abolished, he knew that was likely how things would go as soon as his Lord stepped down as Shogun and the Emperor fully took over.
He exhaled slowly, doing his best to retain his inner harmony but it was never easy whenever he thought about his loss. As he had already brought the subject up he couldn't very well ignore her inquiry.
"She's no longer with us," he responded, the anger bubbling up despite his efforts to keep the emotion at bay. Shin knew he could never truly put the pain of his loss aside till he avenged her death one way or another. She was taken from me in a most violent way and now she'll never truly rest till her killer has been brought to justice."
He exhaled slowly.
"She's no longer with us," he responded.
It was as Caroline suspected and his body language, whether he knew it or not, was a tell to Caroline, who was used to gauging menfolk, that he had truly loved her.
"Oh....well, I am so sorry to hear that....Shin. Life ain't fair sometimes," she said in all sincerity. Life had to be hard enough being a foreigner in this country without also not having a partner to keep one company.
Instinctively she reached out one hand and just lightly touched one of his in a gesture of sympathy, she did that without even thinking.
"Oh hon....say...if you'd like another beer when you finish that one, it'll be on the house. That means it's free."
His body language was tense, the anger he felt every time he thought about his wife's death and more importantly his desire to get revenge on the one responsible. By now he should have learned to better hide his anger but it wasn't always easy. Inhaling deeply he exhaled slowly, forcing himself into a state of tranquility again. Unfortunately, even partially calmed, he still reacted when Caroline reached out to touch him. His hand moved off the table and onto his lap before he could stop himself. Physical contact with a stranger was something he wasn't used to especially in public.
"You are too kind," he responded, mostly to show he wasn't angry or upset at her for her attempt to touch him. A part of him had realized her gesture had only been meant to console, not to make him uncomfortable. Her words had been sufficient but once again he reminded himself she knew nothing about Japanese culture. Nobody in this country did to his knowledge, save others from his homeland, or perhaps the Chinese. "I thank you for your words of sympathy and the offer of a free drink but I'm not worthy of such an offer."
Caroline took note of how he pulled away from her, what she certainly meant as innocent enough contact, it was sympathetic not romantic. But she decided not to say anything. Maybe Japanese folks were different than American. Or, just maybe, he didn't like women? No, that probably wasn't it, he was mourning a wife after all.
Next she offered him a free beer. As a saloon girl, she could do gestures like that on occasion, long as she didn't make a habit of it. Which she certainly did not.
"You are too kind," he responded, "I thank you for your words of sympathy and the offer of a free drink but I'm not worthy of such an offer."
"Thanks....wait! What do ya mean you ain't worthy? How worthy does a man have to be to accept a free beer. It's a gift. Don't people give gifts to other people in Japan? You know in some parts, refusing a person's gift is taken as an insult to the gift giver."
Then she shrugged, "Your call, hon." Then she chuckled a bit.
"You know..........I think you are the FIRST person to ever have turned down a free drink in this place."