Hako7_Natsuyasumi.pdf

Narise Konohara

In the Box / Summer Vacation

Summer Vacation

When the train leaned steeply, his own body was pulled along with it. Even after the rails straightened

out, the train continued to clatter at regular, measured intervals. When they approached a station, the

next stop and connecting lines were announced over the PA. Although he knew he had his directions

right, Nao Takamura nevertheless pressed his face against the glass and peered at the station sign

every time they slowed to a stop.

There were only a handful of people on the train: two girls about his age; an old man with a

cane; a businessman who was falling asleep with his mouth open wide, like a carp waiting to be fed.

There was also an older girl who looked like she was in high school. She was talking on a cell phone

which had lots of keychains hanging off of it. Her talking was louder than the clattering of the train.

A moment ago, they had been ducking through what looked like an alleyway, drawing right

up close to the houses. Now, suddenly the scenery opened up before his eyes. He could see the ocean

through the window on the left. It was a deeper blue than the sky, and it sparkled and glittered. The

sight was enough to make his heart beat faster. The train ran along the ocean for a little while before

diving once again into an alleyway-like gap between the houses.

Tsumagi... said the sign at the station. He got off. The coolness of the train had made him

completely forget how hot it was outside. The strong rays felt like scorching prickles on his skin, and

the shadow at his feet was stark. A sheen of sweat appeared on his brow.

There was no shopping district right outside the station, like the town where Nao lived. There

was a bus stop out front, but no cars on the road in front of it. Nao shouldered his backpack and took

out a crumpled piece of paper from the pocket of his shorts. He stopped an older man in coveralls

who tried to slip past him.

“Excuse me, can you tell me where the police station is?” The goodhearted man took him to

the police station beside an eyeglass store, about a five-minute walk from the station. There was a

young officer sitting inside the police station, and when he noticed Nao, he crouched down with a

gentle expression on his face.

“What’s wrong? Are you lost?” he asked.

“I want to go to the place that’s on this paper.”

The officer peered at the wrinkled scrap of paper as he knitted his brow.

“Hmmm,” he said. “It’s a bit far from here. For you, it might be a thirty-minute walk or so.”

“I can walk.”

“What grade are you in?”

“Grade three.”

The officer grimaced and hummed indecisively before going around behind his desk and

retrieving a piece of paper.

“This is a map of the area. You’re right here.” He marked the middle of the map with a marker.

“Keep going right on this path. When you see Ito’s Barbershop on your right-hand side, turn left. Keep

walking, and take the third turn to the left. Then you have to walk quite a bit more, and you should

see a small bridge called Ginrou Bridge. Cross that and walk for a bit more, and that’s where it’ll be.”

2013-10-09

Narise Konohara

In the Box / Summer Vacation

The police station and his destination were now connected by a fluorescent-yellow line.

“Are you going to Grandma’s place? A friend’s house?”

Nao looked up from the map and stared at the officer in the eye.

“I’m going to see my father.”

“Your father?”

“My parents got divorced when I was small. My father lives here.”

The officer suddenly looked at Nao with pity. “...I see,” he said. “Does your father know you’re

coming?”

“No.”

“I see,” the officer murmured again.

“Thank you for giving me directions.” Nao bowed like he did at his school’s morning assembly,

and left the police station with the map in hand. He took the path to the right and kept walking. His

forehead was sweaty, and so was his back. It was sticky and uncomfortable. His head was hot, too. Just

then, he remembered how his mother always told him to wear a hat.

He glanced left and right over and over, and when he started getting anxious about whether he

had gone too far or not, he was relieved to see Itou’s Barbershop. He arrived at the small bridge called

Ginrou Bridge, written in Chinese characters he could not read. He built up momentum and leapt

across it, and was able to cross it in seven steps. From there, he looked at the map and counted the

number of houses. The fourth one―this was it.

Dad lives here. The thought made his heart suddenly beat faster. His father’s house was a little

far away from the rest. It was surrounded on all sides by a wooden fence about the same height as a

grown adult. Nao glanced at his surroundings as he walked once around the house. Apart from the

entrance facing the sidewalk, there was another entrance on the opposite side of the house. At the

sidewalk entrance, Nao pushed the wooden gate lightly, and it yielded easily and swung inwards. He

slowly and cautiously peeked inside.

The yard was very spacious, and there were many trees. The path leading from the gate to the

entrance of the house looked like it had been paved with concrete. What should I do, what should I do?

Nao carefully stepped forward, still battling his confusion.

There was a nameplate on the pillar at the entrance. It read “Kitagawa”. Nao spread open the

piece of paper that was now damp from clenching it in his hand. His father’s name was Takafumi

Douno. His grandmother had taught him how to read the Chinese characters. But the name on the

nameplate was not it.

Does that mean this isn’t Dad’s house? Did I get my directions wrong? His thoughts were broken by

a dog barking. His whole body flinched. There was a dog barking in the far end of the yard. It was a

sandy-coloured dog. Its leash was too short for it to come this far, so the dog stood on its hind legs and

barked at him loudly. Nao was terrified enough to wet his pants, but his knees shook and he could not

move.

“What’s wrong, Ao?”

He heard an adult voice.

“Is someone there?”

A man emerged from the dense green leaves of the yard. He was wearing a T-shirt and shorts.

2013-10-09

Narise Konohara

In the Box / Summer Vacation

On his feet were bamboo sandals. He was really tall. His hair was short, and his face was... scary. His

eyes were scary. His father had looked so much more gentle in the photos.

“Who’re you?” The man looked down at him.

“A... Are you my dad?”

The man slowly tilted his head.

“M―My name is Nao Takamura. I came to―to see my dad.”

When my dad sees me, he’ll smile, pick me up and say, “Nao, you’ve gotten so big.” Then he’d say, “Did

you come here all by yourself? Good for you.” That was what he had expected, but his real dad was scary.

Very scary.

“What’s your dad’s name?”

Nao felt like crying that his father would ask him such a question.

“Takafumi Douno.”

The man crouched in front of him and reached out. Feeling like the hand was about to hit him,

Nao flinched. The man’s large palm did not hit him, but instead ruffled Nao’s damp hair so roughly it

hurt.

“Your dad is at work. He won’t be home ‘til evening,” the man said brusquely. Nao had

assumed he could see his dad if he went to his house. He had never even thought of what to do if he

wasn’t home. But at least this scary man isn’t my dad. He was relieved at the thought.

“Where’s your mom? Isn’t she here with you?”

Nao gulped and gripped the straps of his backpack.

“...She’s on a trip. She said I could stay at my dad’s place while she was away.” It was a lie. It

was true that his mother had gone on a trip, but she had told him to stay at Grandma’s place while she

was gone. He had gone to his grandmother’s, but had wanted to see his father so badly that he had

lied to her, telling her that his mom had said he was allowed to go over to his dad’s house to play. He

had left his grandmother’s house this morning. He had transferred once on the train and clattered

along, finally arriving at the station nearest to his father’s house past noon.

The man was staring at him.

“How old are you?” he finally asked.

“Nine years old.”

“Which means you’re in third grade, huh? Is school fun?”

Nao nodded once.

“Do you have lots of friends?”

“Average.”

The man grinned and stood up. He grabbed Nao’s wrist as he still clung to his shoulder straps.

“Come on in and wait inside until Takafumi gets home.”

Nao was taken into the house by the tall man, who half-dragged him by the hand. The house

looked old on the outside, but it looked old on the inside, too. The entrance had a steep step. The

faded white walls had cracks in them, and were peeling in the corners. The lighting on the ceiling had

no covers, and the bare light bulbs dangled in the air.

When he stepped into the hallway, the floorboards creaked. The man brought Nao to a room

with tatami flooring. It was a bare room with sparse furnishings. There was a television against the

2013-10-09

Narise Konohara

In the Box / Summer Vacation

wall, and a large low table in the middle of the room. That was it. However, the top of the table was

littered with many sheets and books, pencils and erasers.

There was a large window across the room from the entrance, and it was thrown open wide.

Beyond that was the porch and the yard. In the yard there was a dog house with a red roof, and the

same dog was barking with its snout in the air.

The man left the room. Nao shrugged his backpack off and put it down against the wall. His

watch said it was two o’clock. I wonder when Dad’s gonna come home, he wondered, when he felt a

breeze on the back of his neck. It was hot outside, but the breeze made it cool.

“Here.”

The man brought him cold tea on a tray. There was a banana beside it.

“Oh. Thank you.” Nao was hungry, since he had only had breakfast and eaten nothing for

lunch. He immediately went for the banana first and stuffed his mouth. The cold barley tea went

smoothly down his throat. It felt cold and nice. Eating kept him fully occupied. When he was done,

Nao looked up at the man to see him sitting cross-legged at the table and making scraping sounds as

he drew something out on paper.

“Um―”

The man stopped and looked up.

“Who are you, mister? Isn’t this my dad’s house?”

The man was looking at him, but wasn’t answering. The cicadas were buzzing loudly in the

yard. Finally, the man’s lips appeared to move.

“I’m Kitagawa. I’m your dad’s friend, and I live here with him.”

“Oh.”

He began drawing again.

“Um―”

His hand stopped. Mister 1 looked this way.

“What kind of person is my dad?”

The man’s eyes moved away from him and roved. “Let’s see... he’s honest and gentle.”

Gentle. Hearing that made him happy. The face he had seen in photos had been smiling gently,

too.

“How old is my dad?”

“His age? He’s... two years older than me, so forty-six.”

“And his height? How tall is he?”

“I think about 170? He’s shorter than me.”

“What does he like to eat?”

“Curry, mapo doufu , stuff like that.”

“I like curry, too.”

Mister grinned. “So do I.”

At first he’d thought Mister was a scary old man, but he wasn’t. His face looked gentle when he

smiled.

1 Although Kitagawa is called “Mister” by Nao throughout, the original Japanese word ojisan can also mean

“Uncle”.

2013-10-09

Narise Konohara

In the Box / Summer Vacation

“What kind of work does my dad do?”

“He calculates stuff for a factory that makes food.”

“Uh-huh...” His father, whom he had only seen in photos, was slowly being pieced together

into a human shape, like he was putting pieces of a miniature model together. Suddenly the dog

barked, and Nao’s shoulders tensed.

“You don’t like dogs?”

“I’m scared of getting bitten, so I usually don’t get close.”

“Ao can be noisy when he barks, but he doesn’t bite.”

Even though Mister said he didn’t bite, the dog was still scary when it was barking with its big

jaws and its big voice. Nao had wanted a smaller dog like a dachshund or a chihuahua, or a cat, but

they weren’t allowed to keep pets in their current apartment.

“Is this dog my dad’s?”

“He’s both of ours. We have a cat, too.”

“A cat?”

Mister went out to the porch. “Shiro, Shiro,” he called, and a white cat came out of the bushes

across from them. It meowed in a cute voice. The cat sprang up onto the porch and purred as Mister

petted it. Mister scooped it up and brought it over to him.

“Wanna try touching it?”

Nao carefully reached out. The cat had soft, fluffy fur, and it felt nice. Mister handed the cat

over to Nao, but the cat arched its back, twisted out of the child’s arms and escaped into the bushes.

“It can be a bit shy,” Mister muttered, then sat down in front of the table. Nao peered at his

hands as he wielded a pencil. It was a drawing of a large building and a woman.

“Mister, are you drawing a picture?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s soooo good. You’re like an artist!” Their eyes met, and Mister grinned.

“Want me to draw a picture of you?”

“What? Really?”

Mister pushed the half-finished drawing aside and took out a fresh sheet. His pencil raced

across it with speedy strokes. Thin lines overlapped before Nao’s eyes and formed the shape of a face.

“There. Done.”

Not even ten minutes had passed, and on the desk was an image of his face.

“Wow! It looks just like me! That’s so cool!”

Whenever Mister grinned, gentle wrinkles formed at the edges of his eyes.

“Drawing is my job,” he said.

“So you really are an artist, Mister?”

“I illustrate for books or do individual pieces. Stuff like this.”

He drew out a book buried in the mountain of papers on the table, flipped open to a page, and

showed it to him. There were lots of words on the page, mixed with what looked like English. It

looked like a difficult book. There were pictures, but he couldn’t tell what they were of.

“What’s this a picture of?”

“It’s a tendon of the foot. This is a book that doctors look at.”

2013-10-09

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