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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Lifestyle
Sachie Mikawa, as told to Rosamund Brennan

The moment I knew: after my mum lost everything in Japan’s tsunami, Trent showered her with tiny kindnesses

The couple
Sachie Mikawa and Trent H Baumann at a theatre in Wellington, New Zealand in 2020 Photograph: Supplied

I met Trent in 2012 in a car park in Winnipeg. We were handing out flyers on the Canadian fringe circuit. I was wearing a pink tutu for my contemporary clown show and Trent was in the tight black suit of his vaudeville character the Birdmann. We barely spoke but I had this strange feeling, almost as if I should avoid him – a feeling I sometimes get around people who go on to become important in my life.

Backstage at the next festival in Edmonton, Trent kept trying to give me liquorice but I don’t like it. I wasn’t sure why he was paying me so much attention, although I wondered if he was impressed by seeing me play trumpet in the show.

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