The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

Author:Haruki Murakami [Murakami, Haruki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2024-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

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Her son was in a coma for three days at the hospital, then his heart and lungs gave out, and he quietly took his last breaths. The cause of death was a blow to the back of his head that had struck the curb when the truck had hit him and sent him flying. It was a completely quiet passing, with no bleeding or visible changes to his body. Death came suddenly, before one could think about it. He must not have felt any pain. Mercifully, one might say. Though that was no consolation to his parents.

According to the statement by the truck driver, when the child on the red bicycle had suddenly dashed out from the gate into the road, he’d slammed on his brakes and turned to the right, but not in time, and the child collided with the end of the bumper. The road was a fairly narrow one in town, so the driver wasn’t driving that fast, within the speed limit, but since the boy had suddenly run in front of him, there was nothing he could do. But I am so, so sorry, he said. I have a small child myself, and I can feel the pain his parents must be going through. I don’t know how I can ever apologize for this.

The police investigated the skid marks on the asphalt, which backed up the driver’s statement that he hadn’t been speeding. Involuntary manslaughter charges were filed against him, though it was hard to fault him for being careless. For some reason the child must have raced out the gate onto the road, his head full, perhaps, of some childlike notion. Or perhaps he wasn’t used to the bike yet and lost control. There wasn’t much traffic in front of their house, but still it was dangerous, and he’d been strictly warned to stay behind their fence and never venture out onto the road. And the gate must have been shut and latched.

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