Yukiko by MacDonald Harris

Author:MacDonald Harris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Galileo Publishers
Published: 2017-07-11T15:22:49+00:00

F I V E

A pale light is coming in through the paper walls. I lie for a moment half awake and half asleep, not quite realizing where I am. Then I feel the cold shape of the handbag against my elbow and remember. I sit up drowsily and a little stiffly on the tatami. I grope around for my watch and then remember that I no longer have it. But it is not early. I can see now that the sun is shining brightly through the paper walls. I am alone in the room. I stand up, find my straw sandals, and go out to the front of the house.

Obasan is already up and laughs at me for sleeping so late, making a sleeping gesture by laying the side of her head on her folded hands. Ikeda and Havenmeyer are eating breakfast, sitting on the floor in front of the low table. There are also the girls. Their names, Ikeda explains, are Fumiko, Asako, and Chieko. The eldest is about twelve, the next about ten, and Chieko, the smallest, only six. They are almost as merry as Obasan. They keep repeating “Honto no gaijin!”—a phrase which they probably picked up from Obasan. It invariably sends them into giggles. They are particularly interested in Havenmeyer, probably because they have never before seen anybody dressed like a bush in the forest. With my pale face and beard they probably take me for an Ainu, and Ikeda in his khaki shorts and shirt looks much like the soldiers they see every day. It is Havenmeyer who attracts most of their attention. He pretends not to be bothered by their giggling but I can see he doesn’t like it. He is wearing his .45 even at breakfast, I notice, although he has left his pack and his other gear in the room. He is keeping an eye on Obasan to be sure she doesn’t go off toward the rear of the house. It occurs to me for the first time to wonder where Obasan sleeps. Probably, I conclude, she gave her room to us last night and slept in some closet or other.

“Where’s Fox?”

Ikeda says, “He went out early, before I got up. I woke up and saw him leaving. He didn’t say anything.”

“He’s going to get us in trouble with these touristical walks,” says Havenmeyer. “I’m going to have a talk with him when he gets back.”

“Maybe he knows somebody here. He might have met them on his bicycle trip.”

“That’s another thing I want to talk to him about.”

I don’t say what I might say, that Angelo could hardly get us in more trouble than Havenmeyer did on his own touristical walk. It is too risky getting into a quarrel with him when Angelo isn’t here to smooth it over.

“Fox is somewhat undisciplined. He’s not a career officer. He has a poetic temperament. He’s subject to impulses. You have to take him as he is.”

“How’d he get promoted to lieutenant?”

“He’s an excellent navigator.”

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