My Prize

Beauty comes in many different packages

Not too long ago, I landed this great job as a software vendor in the southern end of Indiana right after I graduated college. My future seemed pretty bright. To put the icing on the cake, I found out one of my close college friends lived in the subdivision next to mine. Once I got myself settled, I went over to visit him.

Now in college, Joe, my friend was quite a ladies man. He was almost to the point where he could snap his fingers at a bar or nightclub, and a pretty woman would saunter over. So I expected a blond bombshell to be hanging on his arm when I met him. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

Joe stood in front of his house. He stood 6'0" with short dark brown hair and the so-called movie star good looks. He had a trim figure from running and swimming. The woman standing beside him was a huge woman, despite her height of 5'3". The first word that came to mind to describe her was round. At first glance, she appeared to be fat, but her figure was stout and well proportioned. She was also very muscular. She was of Japanese ancestry with an attractive face and short hair, done up in a short perm. She also had a sweet smile, but I had to admit this was not the woman I expected him to be seeing. My shock was extended when I found out they were married.

Despite that, we had a good time. Joe was still his happy self and Rie (his wife's name), was very friendly and accommodating. One thing that bothered me was Rie kept on complementing me on my looks, my personality, and comments like how I would make a good catch for some lucky woman. I appreciated the comments, but she already had a man, so what should she care?

The next weekend, Joe and I had a guy's night out at a sports bar, watching a ball game and eating pizza. My curiosity finally got the best of me.

"Joe, I have to ask; I'm glad you're happily married and all, but I expected you to be with some supermodel or something like that. Your wife, no offense dude, she looks like a sumo wrestler!" I said, then immediately apologized.

Joe just laughed. "That's because Pete (that's me), she is a sumo wrestler," he replied.

I was a little speechless at that. Finally I found my voice. "I thought she was a social studies teacher at the local high school."

"She is, but she's also a professional sumo wrestler; one of the best in this region as a matter of fact. She's pretty humble about it, so you wouldn't know unless you saw her in action."

"Okay, I'm impressed, but still, how did you two meet?"

Joe started to hem and haw a little bit before answering. "Well Pete, she uh, won me," he said quietly, with some red rushing into his cheeks.

"Won you, like a prize or something?"

"Yeah. I was at a sports banquet for one of the local athletes here. He was using the banquet as a fundraiser for a local charity, and all athletes from every sport in the area was invited. Since I already graduated, I was already established, and dating one of the professional basketball players for the WNBA."

"Cool!"

"Not too cool, she had an ego and a big attitude. Rie saw me, and started talking to me. No problem, I didn't see it as her hitting on me. I found out later she was, but she was rather subtle about it. Lee however, saw it for what it was, and told her in no uncertain terms that I was her man, and if she didn't leave our presence in the next ten seconds, she was going to kick her fat butt out of the place."

"That's rather intense," I said.

"Lee was also a total drama queen. Rie just smiled and asked, "Are you willing to fight for him, really?' Lee said, "Anytime, fatty.' Rie smiled again and said, "Let's go out back behind the fountain.'"

"Lee was ready to throw down just like that?"

"Lee I think would throw down with the pope. She leads her team in fouls and penalties. She's fierce."

"So Rie was willing to fight this woman ' how tall is she?"

"5'11.""

"There's more. Rie said the winner of the fight gets yours truly. Lee said it's a deal."

"Wait a minute; didn't you get a say in any of this?"

"That's what I asked them, but they both ignored me. They both politely excused themselves and walked out the back door."

I leaned back and smiled. "Well this isn't the first time women fought over you," I said.

"Yeah, but that was in high school and at frat parties. I'm a working professional now; I can't have catfights break out every time I go to a social function."

"And Rie barely even knew you."

"On the contrary, she's had her eyes on me for some time. Getting back to the story, I almost tripped over three people going after them. They both kicked off their shoes and were taking off their evening gowns. Lee wore a black bra, black thong, and black fishnet hose that went up to the thighs," Joe continued.

"Sounded like she had something planned after the dinner," I replied, seeing the image in my mind. "So what was Rie wearing?"

"Almost the same thing, except it was in white. And let me tell you, she didn't look half bad. She had big muscles, but they were well toned. It catches your attention. Even Lee paused for a moment before she said, "You ready, shrimp?' Rie just smiled and said, "Let's do it.'"

"Muscles or not, that had to look pretty ugly, having this tall basketball player fighting this short sumo wrestler."

"Well fortunately the fight was pretty short."

"So after it was over, when did you meet up with Rie again?"

Joe shook his head. "No Pete, you don't understand, Rie won the fight."

"No way! How did she do that?"

"Quickly, that's how she did it. Oh, I forgot to tell you, Rie also holds a black belt in judo."

"Judo?"

"Yeah, she won a few tournaments too, before she switched to sumo. So now the both of them faced each other, and then they charged. Lee was prepared to tear Rie's head off with two punches. Rie ducked both of them, then picked up Lee and slammed her to the ground, using one of those judo throws."

"Ouch," I replied.

"Rie wasn't through yet. When Lee tried to get up, she clamped one of those judo holds that knocked her out, sort of like what Mr. Spock would do to people on Star Trek? Put her right to sleep. She then laid her down, took her clothes and covered her up, and then she got dressed and walked over to me," Joe continued.

"Man, I would've told her she had no right to beat up my date, and she had no claims on me," I protested.

"I told her the same thing. She just smiled and told me the same thing she did to her she could easily do to me, so shut up and let's go back inside."

"And you did?"

"Rie has this look when she wants you to do something, and I swear it could bore holes in steel. Besides, Lee is almost as tall as me, and weighs almost as much, so I wasn't going to mess with her."

"Huh. So how did the rest of the evening go?"

"Great! She has a wonderful sense of humor, and she's really great to be with. So much so, I married her. She's kind to everyone, unless you're on the sumo mat with her, and a great cook. And between the sheets, she's a tiger! Man, let me tell you-"

"No man, don't tell me," I interrupted, raising my hands, "I don't need to know. You're happy, that's the big thing. I need you to do one favor for me though."

"Sure, just name it."

"Could you tell Rie to ease up on the complements? I appreciate them, I do, but it's getting kind of embarrassing. Especially when you're in the same room."

"Oh, about that. I needed to tell you anyway. Rie has a twin sister. They do the same thing, except she teaches physical education at the high school."

"She teaches gym, and she has the same build?"

"Yup, 250 pounds of muscle. Those two are known as the Venus and Serena Williams of sumo in these parts."

"So Rie and-"

"Tamami."

"Tamami are the big ' no pun intended ' sumo wrestlers around here; okay, so what does that have to do with me? Wait a minute-"

"Take it easy, I'm not trying to fix you up. With Rie, it's a different story. They're identical twins, except Tamami wears her hair longer so people can tell them apart. She's also a little more assertive and aggressive," Joe explained.

"More "assertive and aggressive?' Your "mild mannered' wife body slammed your date at some fancy dinner, and she has a twin sister who has more initiative?"

"Yeah, and she's on the lookout for a man, and it looks like the sights might be centered on you. You didn't hear that from me, though, by the way."

I took another bite of pizza before I answered. "Joe, I appreciate what your wife's intentions and all, but I'm not ready to give up the bachelor life yet," I said.

"I told Rie the same thing you told me."

"What did she say?"

"She smiled and said, "You told me that same line too, once.'"

"Well it may be nice having a sweet wife who can press 300-"

"400."

"Four hundred?" I shook my head to get rid of the thought and went on. "In any case, your sister-in-law is probably not my type."

"Hey, I'm giving you the heads up. I enjoy having you come by and visit, but you'll need to watch your step. Tamami drops by often, and it's only dumb luck so far that you two have missed each other. What I can do is send you a quick text to let you know if she's there. Then you can play sick or something."

"Sounds like a plan."

And from that point, the plan worked. My cell phone would buzz, and I would receive a text message that said "she's here," or "she's coming." Even at the times I was already at Joe's and Tamami was on her way over, Joe would go to the bathroom, and later, I would receive a buzz from by phone. I would then excuse myself to take care of some "emergency' at work or whatever I could think of. Rie once remarked I was a very busy man and I should get a promotion for my efforts. I did get more work done, I had to admit.

One day, there was a big 'again, no pun intended ' sumo tournament over the weekend, and Joe invited me. Rie would not take no for an answer. That was fine, because I was curious. I was looking forward to seeing my first women's tournament. Boy, I was not disappointed.

Unlike the sumo tournaments in Japan that have no weight class, in women's sumo you have four: lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight, and open weight. From this, you had a variety of women competing, from the petite women who looked like gymnasts or the girl next door to women who could pass as the Hulk's sister. The longest match of the tournament lasted about a minute; most were over in about ten seconds. The crowd sat on the edge of their seats. You had to; if you blinked, you could literally miss something.

There were several teams or stables as they called them of wrestlers from the four state area. There was one stable from Kentucky who called themselves the "Super Hicks." From the size of them, even the lightweights, I figured they could call themselves anything they wanted.

I got to see Rie in action, and I have to admit I never expected her to be so fast. I don't think her opponents did either. One woman she threw so fast, I have no idea how she did it, and I bought the DVD of the whole thing, and saw it several times. It made me think of that spat between her and Lee at that party. Lee probably didn't see it coming.

And then I saw Tamami. If it wasn't for the long hair, I would've mistook her for her sister. Another thing that was not alike was their styles. Rie was fast and efficient, but Tamami was more ' savage is the word I'm looking for, I guess. First off, she had this stare that would make the wolfman run and hide, and keep Dracula in his coffin. I've seen some of her opponents avoid her stare as much as they could. As soon as the referee said go, she would fly across the playing circle and deliver a big push, or a leg sweep, or a one-leg takedown. No two attacks would be the same. If the opponent wasn't ready for it, the poor woman could find herself flying out of the circle or slammed flat on her back. It was like getting sacked by a defensive end. But you had to admit she got the job done.

An interesting thing I noticed when Rie, Tamami, or any relatively popular wrestler left the ring, there would be a group of people cheering them loudly and waving posters. The posters would say anything from "Go get them, Bridget!" to "Marry me, Rie!" The wrestlers had their own fans and some even had groupies. I need to ask Joe how he feels when he sees fans of his wife wear her likeness on a T-shirt. Overall, I had a great time. I even saw some wrestlers whom I would love to get their phone number if I asked nicely.

After every sumo tournament, they have an interesting custom that the players and fans follow. They go to dinner. All the major restaurants in town prepared for this event, and they all but dragged the sumo wrestlers and their entourage into their establishments. Before we went to a steakhouse that was having an all-you-can-eat buffet at a reduced price, I met Tamami for the first time.

"Ah, so you're Pete," she said, flashing me a million-dollar smile. "I've heard so much about you."

"Nice to meet you," I replied. "You don't waste time on the mat."

"Sumo is a sport where every second counts. You can't waste time debating. You have to find a strategy and go with it."

Joe once told me that an experienced sumo wrestler can gauge the worth of another wrestler ' her strength, will, and power and even her strategy ' by one glance. I ranked it as being a "sumo legend" until Tamami looked at me. It wasn't long, just through enough to tell her that she liked what she saw. No problem, I had an exit strategy ready.

I am not implying PE teachers are normally dumb, or generally ignorant, but Tamami appeared to be very well read. She had as big a grasp of history as her sister. She chose PE because it had less paperwork. Her main goal was to teach history at the local college.

"This tournament was very popular, wasn't it?" Rie said as she took a bite of her steak.

"Yes, so big, none of the local companies will be working late tonight," Tamami replied.

I'm not sure how, but I think somehow Joe and I were found out. In fact, I noticed Rie either held Joe's hand or rested her hand on his knee, next to his cell phone. If he did so much as check the time, she would know about it. However, I had a different strategy planned.

"So Peter, is this your first sumo tournament?" Tamami asked. "Was it what you thought it would be?"

"It was very exciting, and more than I thought it would be," I replied truthfully.

"Then perhaps you would like to attend the next tournament. It's two weeks from today."

"Maybe I will."

That made her smile, and that made me uncomfortable. Then my phone rang.

Some friends from work were planning on renting a movie, and I asked them to let me know. Besides, it also got Joe off the hook. I said my goodbyes to Joe and Rie, who smiled back. I said to Tamami, "See you later."

She smiled, but her eyes flashed flame as she said, "Yes, I will."

She seemed to be mildly ticked by my abrupt departure, but hey, I'm a busy man. By the way, it was a great movie, a sci-fi epic with plenty of lasers, explosions, and high-tech special effects. The story was pretty good too. I was still thinking about the fight scenes when I arrived home. I had an exciting day with the sumo tournament during the day and watching a movie in the evening; it left me a little tired. So tired, I didn't see the dark form that was lying on the wood railing of my deck.

"Did you enjoy the movie?" A familiar voice said.

Familiar or not, it still made me jump and come close to dropping my keys. That'll teach me to turn the porch light on when I leave. "Who?" I asked. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the dark form that slowly climbed off the railing started to look familiar. It was Tamami. She was dressed in a loose black T-shirt, black shorts, and barefoot. Come to think of it, neither she nor Rie wore shoes all day. Anyway, she started strolling towards me in a way that reminded me of my mom's pet cat when she wanted your attention.

"Forgot me so soon after we just met?" She joked. "Enjoy your movie?"

"Yes, yes I did. Uh, let me open the door and turn on the porch light-"

"No, leave it off; I like it dark. It provides . . . atmosphere."

"So uh, why are you here?"

"To see you. Since our initial meeting was cut short, and something always seemed to come up every time I came over to visit my sister, I thought I would see you at home."

At this point, she was close, staring up at me. Another thing about Tamami; when she wasn't doing sumo, the way she moved was so ' sensual. That and a husky alto voice made me glad it was dark. That way she couldn't see how awkward I looked.

"By the way, the next time you're trying to avoid someone, you may want to make sure my sister doesn't know anybody where you work. Everyone there works a straight nine-to-five shift. Nobody works over, at least not yet. Perhaps you're the first? After that, it didn't take long to figure out the mysterious phone calls. My sister is far from stupid, Peter. If there's a mystery, she'll figure it out."

So I was busted. There was no choice but for me to come clean.

"Look Tamami, I'm sure you're a nice woman and all, but I'm not looking for a relationship right now. I mean, I don't even know you. Besides, we might be better off looking for someone who's more to our liking," I stammered out.

"If you know my sister, you know me," she replied as she walked around the deck, running a finger along the railing. "You know what they say about twins. We know each other on a pretty intimate level. We have almost the same likes and dislikes; and we know what the other likes. Let's put our cards on the table, Peter. You're afraid to meet me because I'm big."

"No, I-" I started, but she put a finger to my lips to silence me. Not an unusual thing by itself, but she was on the other side of the deck a second ago. She's fast.

"Shh, let me finish. Rie and I are big. We've been big since childhood. I'm not vain, but I know I'm not a troll. We're not fat. You've been at the tournament today, so you've seen fat women. If you've noticed, they don't last long either. For example, there's that 333 pound woman who competed in the open weight category. She was not fit. That was made obvious when that middleweight woman ' Bridget I believe her name is, a big threat in her weight class, threw her. I may appear fat if you compare me to Paris Hilton. But I'm in much better shape than she is. I have stronger muscles in my left arm than she does in her whole body."

I quickly thought of a sumo match between her and Paris. Tamami seemed to read my mind.

"Yes, that match up would be pretty ugly, wouldn't it?" She said. "I've found that most men haven't been with a big, strong woman. They rather play patty cake with those anorexic beanpoles who starve themselves to death and think they're sexy."

"Well, what can you do?" I replied. "A lot of men are that way. What do you want?"

"Why, I want you, Peter; I thought I made that obvious."

My first thought was to tell her to go home and to unlock the door to my house. Unfortunately, Tamami was standing in front of it, smiling.

"A good sumo wrestler can read the thoughts and intentions of their opponents with just a glance," she said.

I huffed, "Look, I like my freedom-"

"I'll wrestle you for it."

"What?"

"Not sumo wrestling of course, because I'm a professional. I mean the other type of wrestling. Look, we weigh about the same, but you're much taller. You participated in a few sports at school, so I know you're in pretty good shape. You should be good and fresh. I on the other hand, have had these matches, so I'm a little tired. But I think I can still put up a fight."

"But you're a-"

"Woman? Yes, I am, but don't let that stop you."

"I don't get it. Why are we wrestling?" I asked. I figured she was up to something, but I could not figure out what.

"It's this simple, Peter. If you win, you keep your freedom, and I'll never bother you again."

"And if you win?"

"Then it's taken away. Look, Peter, I'm giving you a way out here. We wrestle, you pin me, make me say uncle, and that's it. If you don't do either, I'll keep dropping by your house until you do. Now come on."

She led me out to my backyard (you never know who's looking at your front yard, she said), and let me turn on the porch light so we could see. I wasn't crazy about doing this, but the offer of no more matchmaking attempts made on me sounded good. I figured this to be a gracious way for her to bow out. I did participate in several sports in college, so I was in pretty good shape, and Tamami did have three grueling matches at that tournament, so the advantages were in my favor. I'll just push her down and pin her arms long enough for her to say uncle, and that will be it.

We faced each other in the backyard. I fell into a standard wrestler's crouch while Tamami stood like she was waiting for a bus.

"Okay," she said, sounding a little sad, "We will both count to three and say go. Ready?" She said.

"Yes," I replied. "Let's do it."

We counted to three and said go. I lunged, ready to just take her down so I could pin her and end this nonsense.

But she wasn't there.

I knew she was in front of me a split-second ago. A second later, it became very obvious where she went as I felt two arms wrap around me and lift me off the ground. Joe told me both sisters were very strong, but I was thinking "strong for women," not this. I was the same height as Joe, and I actually weighed closer to 200, but that didn't matter to Tamami as she jerked me up. A second later, the world tilted sideways as she took me down to the ground. Once I landed on my back, Tamami wrapped her legs around each of mine. I found out later this was called a double grapevine. With ease, she parted her and my legs enough to make escape more difficult. She then leaned on my chest and propped herself with an elbow, looking pensive.

"I'll give you a chance to break out of the hold. I have time, it's the weekend," she said.

I grunted and strained, unable to gain any leverage or power my way out of the hold. In fact, I couldn't find any way out except hitting her, and as strong as she was, I didn't want to be on the receiving end of any blows she may have. Tamami waited patiently while I struggled, looking at her fingernails. When I stopped to take a breath, she spoke again.

"I took judo with Rie until I received my black belt, and then I switched to wrestling. Know why?" She asked.

I wasn't in the mood to answer her question, but she didn't wait for my response.

"It's because Rie and I got tired of having to face off against each other, because we were the best in our class. So I switched to wrestling, and won my awards there, all through college. When we were approached to try sumo, we both jumped at the chance to win some more awards. Rie and I work very hard to attain and win our goals."

"You ' tricked me," I said, still struggling.

"Of course I did, sweetie, it was the only way to catch you. Well you're not caught yet; I have to wait for you to give up."

There probably was a way to break that hold, but I didn't know what it was, and she wasn't going to tell me. Her extra body weight didn't help either.

"In college, my wrestling team used to call me "The Panther.' Something about the way I move. Some me even considered it sexy. Whatever, I guess. You ready to give up yet?"

I was trapped. My only way out was to give myself up and place myself at her tender mercies. Like a fish on a hook, I was exhausted.

"I, I give up," I said softly.

Tamami reached out with her left hand and caressed one cheek, and stretched up and kissed the other. "You men," she started, "You act so big and bold, yet you are afraid to face the unknown. You would prefer to deal with someone "safe,' like some swimsuit model who claims to be your heart's desire. But that's not true. Beauty, among other things, comes in many different packages, and you will find this out, Peter, my man, my prize."

She moved our legs closer together, relaxing the hold, but not releasing us yet.

"So what happens now?" I asked.

"Let's see. After sumo practice tomorrow, there's this action movie I want to see. And I understand you love movies, so after practice, we can go. And there's this French restaurant I've been wanting to try out. . ."

And that's how it ended. No, not how it ended, how it began. Beauty comes in many different packages, she said, and she was right. Get used to it, Joe said, that will happen a lot. All this is swirling through my mind as I straighten my bowtie for at least the fourth time as I check the rest of my tuxedo in the mirror. Tamami was not only a passionate woman, she was also a great friend. And now that I took a close look at her, she was every bit as attractive as Paris Hilton, and could easily beat her to a pulp with one hand tied behind her back. I saw Rie ask Tamami if she was wearing her wedding shoes. She said yes and giggled. Joe let me in on the joke; they weren't wearing shoes, they were barefoot. The dresses were so long, it wasn't like anyone was going to raise up their dress and look. Well I might, but then, I'm entitled.

Unlike Rie, Tamami wanted to have a public wedding, so I invited my family and my friends from school. Recognizing that another one of their own was going down in flames, all my bachelor friends came to "pay homage" to my "passing." I discovered Tamami and Rie were household words not only in the state of Indiana, but also in the larger sumo circles as well; which explained why I saw a number of sumo wrestlers from everywhere. I was marrying a celebrity and didn't realize it.

How the proposal came about wasn't as dramatic as our wrestling match, and by that time, I knew better. It was after we saw each other about a year, and we took a walk along the Ohio River. Tamami was barefoot as usual as we threw bread crumbs to some Mallard ducks who happened to drop by for a snack. I remember the sun was shining bright, warming a normally cool afternoon. Hand in hand, we stood for a moment, watching the birds.

"The ducks sure are pretty," I said as I was examining the plumage on the brightly marked male ducks.

"I understand that when ducks mate, they mate for life," Tamami replied, then turned and looked intently at me. The woman is a master of nonverbal communication, and there was no doubt what she meant by that. Next thing I know, we were looking for a suitable date, having tuxedo and dress fittings, and mailing out invitations, etc.

After we gave our vows and the minister said I may kiss the bride, I did so, of course. Tamami then drew me close and whispered in my ear, "My prize."

At the reception, one of my bachelor friends came over, congratulated me, and asked me in a much more subtle way the same questions I asked Joe.

"She won me," I told him.

"She "won' you, like a prize or something?" He replied. Joe came by and joined in the conversation.

"Yes, she won him, just like her sister won me, fair and square," Joe said, confusing the guy further.

"How did that happen?" He asked.

"Long story," Joe and I both said.

For comments, suggestions, or story ideas, email the author at shrewsberry@juno.com.

#2008 Barefoot Heroines, Inc.