Mandala Road by Masako Bando

Author:Masako Bando
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857282675
Publisher: Anthem Press
Published: 2013-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

28

Shizuka had worked up a bit of a sweat by the time she rode through the gate of the Senbashi house on her bicycle. After getting lost on the way, she’d wound up pedalling all over town before finally arriving.

Still breathing hard, she pressed the bell, and her mother-in-law appeared at the door. Takiko looked ready to go out, in lipstick and earrings and an attractive blue, yellow, and green knit dress.

“Sorry to be so late,” she apologized. “I got lost.”

Having said she would be there at three, it turned out there were no buses at the right time, so she had decided to come by bicycle and get some exercise while she was at it. Then she made the mistake of taking what she thought would it be a shortcut through the paddies, only to come out somewhere completely wrong and not know where she was. She’d more or less had to circle around the entire town, and it was now well past three.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Takiko said lightly. “My meeting isn’t until five anyway. We have plenty of time.”

There’d been no word from Asafumi in two full days and Shizuka was starting to be seriously concerned. When she called the Nonezawas, Takiko had urged her to come by the house so they could talk.

The shoe cupboard and floor in the entryway were polished to a high sheen. As Shizuka removed her shoes and stepped inside, Miharu appeared down the hall.

“Hi, Shizuka,” she said. She had on the jacket she wore for work, apparently having just returned from her shift. “Still no word from Asafumi?” she asked as she took the jacket off.

Shizuka shook her head and removed her jacket, too. Takiko suggested they all go into the kitchen. Shizuka took a seat at the large table, while Miharu went to the counter and measured out some tea for the teapot. Warm sunshine filled the spacious room, its soft light brightening the white plates and bowls filling the dish drainer, the coffee maker sitting out on the counter, and the plastic tablecloth covering the table. Two weeks after Kikuo and Koichiro left on one of their usual sales trips, the more comfortable atmosphere of an all-female household had settled in.

“He mentioned before he left that he thought he might stay over somewhere for a night, but then he didn’t come back last night either,” Shizuka said, trying not to show how worried she was.

Miharu cocked her head thoughtfully as she poured hot water into the teapot. “It certainly didn’t look like a particularly dangerous road,” she said. “I mean, where he could wind up crashing or something.”

Takiko was slicing some yokan she had gotten from the refrigerator. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, Shizuka,” she said with a smile. “When the men go off on a trip, we often don’t hear from them for as much as a week at a time.”

“But this wasn’t really like that. He just wanted to see if the houses listed in that notebook were still there.

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