At a women's college where Ron had taught, I must overcome shyness to give a slide show and talk about the odyssey before an audience of about a hundred silent Japanese girls. I quickly discover the Japanese reticence to speaking out, especially in women. I get another assignment from the enthusiastic senior editor of a major Japanese motorcycle magazine. I re-open negotiations with JAL for sponsored passage to Hawaii. Again it is possible, if I can provide national publicity.
Japanese magazines are interested in the odyssey story.
Tense and delicate three-way negotiations climax in a deal for magazine coverage for JAL and my flight to Hawaii. Negotiations begin for Melawend's passage to Hawaii. Everybody wins, except Melawend. The crushing irony is that having come so far, through so much, Melawend will remain on a skid, her wheels never touching the land of her birth. And I feel a loss too.