People from My Neighborhood by Hiromi Kawakami

Author:Hiromi Kawakami
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Catapult
Published: 2021-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

Pigeonitis

The first case of pigeonitis popped up right after the May holidays.

The victim was a middle-aged farmer, but it took a long time for anyone to notice, so he was already in pretty bad shape when he was diagnosed. He lay there on his sickbed clucking and cooing away. A person suffering from pigeonitis sounds like a pigeon when they try to talk. In severe cases, their body also begins to take on pigeon-like characteristics. It is so contagious that most of those who look after the sick catch it themselves.

“Anyone with symptoms, no matter how minor, must be tested without delay!” A van with a loudspeaker dispatched by the town hall patrolled our streets, blasting announcements.

“Children must avoid school at all costs. If you have contracted the disease, proceed directly to the isolation wing of the hospital.”

Despite these instructions, those with mild symptoms could often avoid detection just by keeping their mouths shut.

“The problem is, the food they’re serving in the isolation wing is really vile,” Kiyoshi Akai lectured us. He was our self-proclaimed expert on pigeonitis, his qualification being that he had witnessed the first case up close and seen with his own eyes how the farmer’s body had been transformed.

“The first thing that happens is your chest begins to stick out like a pigeon’s. Then your eyes get big and round. Finally, you begin to walk like a pigeon. You start tilting forward from the waist, and your movements get all herky-jerky,” Kiyoshi pronounced, spit flying everywhere.

We were all frightened, with one exception—Kanae’s sister. “So your chest expands and your eyes get big and round,” she murmured. “I could live with that.”

The biggest problem with pigeonitis was that your mind became pigeon-like. It was bad enough that you laid eggs one after another, scattered your droppings everywhere, and chased after insects; what caused even more trouble was your pattern of thought.

For one thing, you lost the power to think ahead. Completely. Your only concern was what was taking place in the immediate present. Once the disease had taken hold, our town was a terrible sight for several months. Everything was an absolute shambles, no one paid any attention to being on time, and all work was put on hold. None of this, however, bothered those who had the illness. Soon, almost everyone had caught it, and people sailed blissfully through the chaos of their daily lives.

“Eat all the bugs we want! Make all the babies we can!”

Everyone was buoyed by this mentality, and in fact the pregnancy rate during this period skyrocketed.

You could only catch pigeonitis once, which meant the whole town was immune once the outbreak had passed. After about six months, there were no new cases, and things gradually returned to normal. We all kept quiet about what had taken place during that time, so that the solidarity of our community was actually improved.

Only one person in town hadn’t contracted the disease—Kiyoshi. He was grief-stricken. The fact that he was the one among us who should most likely have caught pigeonitis seemed to make it only worse.

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