Thousand Cranes Read Online Free PDF Page B

how much time it would take you to get home.’
    ‘I shouldn’t be surprised at anything you do, I suppose.’
    She made no apology for having come uninvited and taken over the house.
    She evidently meant to go with him to his room and help him change to the kimono the maid had laid out.
    ‘Don’t bother. I can manage by myself.’ In shirt sleeves, Kikuji withdrew to his room.
    But Chikako was still waiting when he came out.
    ‘Aren’t bachelors remarkable.’
    ‘Very.’
    ‘But it’s not a good way to live. Let’s make a change.’
    ‘I learned my lesson from watching my father.’
    She glanced up at him.
    She had borrowed an apron from the maid, and her sleeves were pushed up. The apron had belonged to Kikuji’s mother.
    The flesh of her arms was disproportionately white and full, and the muscle at the inside of the elbow was like cord. Very strange, thought Kikuji. The flesh seemed hard and heavy.
    ‘I suppose the cottage would be best.’ Her manner became more businesslike. ‘I have her in the main house now.’
    ‘Is there a light out there? I don’t remember having seen one.’
    ‘We might eat by candlelight. That would be even more interesting.’
    ‘Not for me.’
    Chikako seemed to remember something. ‘When I spoke to Miss Inamura over the telephone, she asked if I meant that her mother was to come too. I said it would be still better if we could have the two of them. But there were reasons why the mother couldn’t come, and we made it just the girl.’
    ‘“We made it,” you say, but you did it all by yourself. Don’t you suppose she thought it just a little rude, being summoned out with no warning?’
    ‘No doubt. But here she is. She’s here, and doesn’t that cancel out my rudeness?’
    ‘Why should it?’
    ‘Oh, it does. She’s here, and that means that as far as she’sconcerned matters are going beautifully. I can be forgiven if I seem a little odd along the way. When everything is settled, the two of you can have a good laugh over what an odd person Kurimoto is. Talks that are going to be settled are going to be settled, whatever you do in the process. That’s been my experience.’
    Thus Chikako made light of her behavior. It was as if she had read Kikuji’s mind.
    ‘You’ve talked it over with her then?’
    ‘That I have.’ And don’t you be dodging the issue, her manner seemed to say.
    Kikuji walked down the veranda toward the parlor. A large pomegranate tree grew half under the eaves. He struggled to control himself – he must not show displeasure when he received the Inamura girl.
    As he looked into the deep shadow of the pomegranate, he thought again of Chikako’s birthmark. He shook his head. The last of the evening sunlight shone on the garden stones below the parlor.
    The doors were open, and the girl was near the veranda.
    Her brightness seemed to light the far corners of the large, dusky room.
    There were Japanese irises in the alcove.
    There were Siberian irises on the girl’s obi. Perhaps it was coincidence. But irises were most ordinary flowers for the season, and perhaps she had planned the combination.
    The Japanese irises sent their blossoms and leaves high into the air. One knew that Chikako had arranged them a short time before.
2
    The next day, Sunday, was rainy.
    In the afternoon, Kikuji went alone to the tea cottage, to put away the utensils they had used.
    And he went too in search of the fragrance of the Inamura girl.
    He had the maid bring an umbrella, and as he stepped down into the garden he noticed that there was a leak in the rain gutter on the eaves. A stream of water fell just in front of the pomegranate tree.
    ‘We’ll have to have that repaired,’ he said to the maid.
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    Kikuji remembered that for some time the sound of falling water had bothered him on rainy nights.
    ‘But once we start making repairs, there’ll be no end to them. I ought to sell the place before it falls apart.’
    ‘People with big houses all