Behold the Many by Lois-Ann Yamanaka

Author:Lois-Ann Yamanaka
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2011-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

ANAH WATERED and fed Tora-san’s old mule, older and smellier than him. She unhitched him in the morning with kind words and fed him a fresh pile of chopped corn stalks and timothy grass with a cool bucket of water; she washed him with sweet coconut soap, brushed off his winter coat, combed the tangles from his mane and tail, and braided his long bangs with wild heather; she picked his hooves clean of mud and manure, fed him ti leaves and rose apples, and oiled his broken saddle with kukui nut oil; she did this every day before saddling him up in the evening. Tora-san surreptitiously watched her and shook his head, saying nothing to her but for his grumpy, guttural responses to her constant questioning.

In the morning, Anah brought the old man hot coffee and biscuits covered with butter and honey, cold water and corn bread before lunch, a big musubi filled with pickled vegetables and salted fish for lunch. She asked Aunty Chong Sum to purchase a package of genmaicha from Chinatown with the two bits he gave her for his afternoon bowl of chacha rice and tsukemono.

Anah passed Tora-san a letter for Ezroh as he patted her head each night. “Oyasuminasai, Anah-san. I no answer no mo’ question. Me erai, nei. I so tired, tired work all day.” He’d climb up onto his mule, “Mata ashita nei.”

Anah ran after him.

“I see you tomorrow.” He’d wave to her, the dogs barking alongside him.

Then she’d stop on the bridge over Kalihi Stream. Tora-san never turned to wave good-bye even as she yelled his name that echoed deep in the throat of the valley.

Anah only wanted to tell him good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.

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