Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Author:Banana Yoshimoto [Yoshimoto, Banana]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Published: 2011-08-26T02:28:58+00:00

BANANA YOSHIMOTO

"An eel pie, of course." I laughed.

His profile was dimly illuminated by the streetlights.

"An eel pie? You mean those coiled pastries? You can buy those at any food stand."

"Well, then . . . some tea, perhaps?"

"Hmm . . . how about some pickled wasabi root?"

"Really? I can't stand the stuff. Do you like it?"

"Only the kind with roe in it."

"Okay, that's what I'll bring you." I smiled and opened the car door.

Suddenly a freezing draft came blowing in.

"It's cold!" I exclaimed. "Yuichi, it's cold, cold, cold!"

I buried my face in his arm, gripping it fiercely. His warm sweater smelled of autumn leaves.

"Surely it'll be a little warmer in Izu," Yuichi said, almost contemplatively. I kept my face pressed to his side.

"How long did you say you're staying?" he said, not moving. His voice resonated directly into my ear.

"Four days and three nights." I gently pulled myself away.

"You should come back feeling a little bit better, and we'll go out for tea again, okay?" He looked at me, smiling.

I nodded, got out of the car, and waved good-bye.

As I watched him drive off, I thought, I can't say everything that happened today was unpleasant.

Whether she or I were winning or losing, who could say? Who could know which of us was in the better position? The score couldn't be determined. Besides, there was KITCHEN

no standard of measure, and, particularly on this cold night, I couldn't even hazard a guess.

A memory of Eriko, the saddest one of all.

Of all the many plants in her terrace window, the one she had acquired first was the potted pineapple. She told me about it once.

"It was the dead of winter. I was still a man then, Mikage. A handsome man, even though my eyes were different and my nose was a little flatter. Because I hadn't had the plastic surgery yet, you see? Even I can't remember what I looked like anymore."

It was a summer dawn and the air was chilly. Yuichi was away for the night, and Eriko had brought back a customer's gift of meat buns. As was my habit, I was taking notes while watching a cooking program I had recorded the day before. The blue dawn sky was slowly beginning to grow lighter in the east.

"Shall we eat these meat buns? It was so sweet of him to bring them to me," she had said, turning on the broiler and making jasmine tea. Suddenly she launched into the story.

I was a little surprised. I had assumed she was going to relate some unpleasant incident at the club. I listened sleepily. Her voice sounded like a voice in a dream.

"It was a long time ago, you see. Yuichi's mother was dying. I was a man, and she was my wife. She had cancer.

At this point it was getting worse by the day. Anyhow, because we loved each other so much, every day I went to BANANA YOSHIMOTO

be with her at the hospital. I foisted Yuichi on a neighbor.

I had a job then, so I sat with her before and after work every spare minute.

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