We got off to such a bad start, Haruka and I. “The Debt” and all that. It really set the mood for our first year. The second year was better, though: we were able to travel quite a bit. Mostly to Southeast Asia, Malaysia a few times, Bali, and so on. Money was pretty good, but, boy, did it fluctuate from month to month, which made it hard to save. I would put aside a nice chuck o’ change one month only to spend all of it in order to get through the next month when money was thin.

Haruka often called you profligate.

Looking back, I suppose, I was. Not that I was a big-spender. It was little things that I frittered money away on.

Penny-wise, a pound foolish.

More like, a pound wise, a penny foolish. Pennies add up.

Many a mickle makes a muckle, eh, Peadar?

Whatever . . . Anyways, I was writing and translating quite a bit, too, at the time, something that kept me busy but never paid nearly as much as the effort required to complete the work. [1] Thanks to it, I was able to build up my résumé, which led to my landing a full-time teaching job at a reputable university before I turned thirty-five. It was a pretty good time, all things considered, and I still have quite a few good memories from those days.

But not all was happy in the O’Leary home, was it?

[1] The needs of the translator/writer and the client are often diametrically opposed: the client wants quality work, but is usually unwilling to pay much for it; the translator/writer wants to earn a quick buck. The longer the translator/writer works on a piece, the better the product and more satisfied the customer will be. Unfortunately, the longer the translator works on it, the less he is remunerated on an hourly basis and the less satisfied he becomes. He will also be less inclined to do similar work for the client in the future. It’s lose-lose.

The first installment/chapter of A Woman's Hand can be found here.

A Woman's Hand and other works are available in e-book form and paperback at Amazon.