A fugitive disguises himself as a Buddhist pilgrim on a small island in Japan, only to realise that his fate rests in the hands of a novice monk.

Simon Rowe grew up in small town New Zealand and big city Australia when orange Fanta came in glass bottles and AM radio was king. He now writes and teaches in the samurai castle town of Himeji in western Honshu. His stories have appeared in TIME Asia, the New York Times, the Weekend Australian, the South China Morning Post and the Paris Review.