Ge-ge-ge no nyobou 9/21

[mbarker]

a.k.a. sometimes it's the little things

The neighbor couple talked with Fumie in the store. They handed her a bamboo platter with a whole fish carefully laid out, ready to eat as sashimi. Fumie said, "Oh, thank you so much! That's very generous." The neighbors smiled, and asked, "So how is Genbee?" Fumie said, "He's still very weak." The neighbor said, "Well, I'm sure seeing your face helped him get better."

There was a sound at the door behind them, and they all turned. Fumie said, "Chiyoko?" It was her old friend from school.

They sat down at the table and looked at each other. Chiyoko said, "No matter how old I get, when I come back here, I always feel young." Fumie said, "What are you doing here, anyway?" Chiyoko smiled. "Oh, my mother had a cold. Nothing serious, but while I was in town..."

Fumie said, "What about the other girls in the sewing class?" Chiyoko said, "Oh, they're all grandmothers, now." Then she chuckled. "Actually, me too." Fumie said, "Any great-grandmothers?" Chiyoko winked. "Well, not quite."

Kumiko brought tea and set it on the table. As she walked back into the kitchen, Chiyoko said, "That's a really good woman." Fumie said, "What do you mean?" Chiyoko said, "Well, she's moved in here, and taken care of your folks for so long."

Then Chiyoko said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Congratulations on the success of Kitaro on TV!" Fumie ducked her head. Chiyoko said, "I guess Shigeru is busy." Fumie said, "Yes, very busy. But he stays healthy." Chiyoko nodded. "That's your sign." Fumie said, "What?" Chiyoko said, "When a man works long and hard, but stays healthy, that's because his wife took care of him." Then she waved at the TV. "I saw the TV show. Your name wasn't up there, but everything I saw reminded me of you. And I kept thinking, good going, Fumie!" Fumie shook her head.

Then Chiyoko said, "It's just like... do you remember at school? You were always there, but we had to remind the teacher to give you a prize for attendance? And he had to look at your record to check?" Fumie chuckled.

Miyako, Fumie's mother, walked in. "Oh. Chiyoko! I haven't seen you in a long time."

Later, Fumie and Kumiko were in the kitchen. Fumie said, "There's a lot of good memories in this kitchen." Kumiko said, "Yes, but... I used to be so scared of Genbee." Fumie chuckled. "We all were!"

As they worked, Kumiko started singing "Aka tombo" [Red Dragonfly]. Fumie joined in, singing harmony. When they finished the song, Fumie said, "I remembered us being good harmony." Then Kumiko said, "Dan dan." Fumie said, "What? For three day's help?" Kumiko said, "Well, it's been good. I think it helped Genbee."

Then Kumiko said, "I used to really feel like a stranger here. But just the other day, I was rubbing Genbee's arm. He said he was lucky to have his daughter so close. I asked him if he knew what he had said, and he looked at me and said, yes, my daughter."

Miyako came in, and said, "Do you know where the fingernail clippers are?" Kumiko said, "Yes, I put them away over here."

In the morning, Fumie, Miyako, and Genbee were in his room. Fumie looked at him, sitting up in his bed, and said, "Next time I'll bring Aiko." Genbee said, "Don't hurry." He took a breath, and said, "Take care of your home first." He breathed. "We'll wait."

Fumie looked at him, and said, "Well, you take care."

Later, Miyako rushed into the kitchen where Kumiko was working. Miyako said, "Where is he?" Kumiko said, "What? Fumie left already." Miyako nodded. "Yes, but Genbee is gone." Kumiko said, "He can't be. He can't walk yet, can he?"

In front of the family shrine, Genbee sat. He had lit a candle. Now he lifted his arm with his hand, and then held his hands up in prayer. "Mother? Takashi and Fumie are so far away." He paused to breath. "I can't help them anymore. Please take care of them for me?"

In the kitchen of her home, Fumie laid several jars of honey, packages of soba, and ume boshi. [Soba is buckwheat noodles. Ume boshi is sour plums, which are usually pickled salt or sweet.] Shigeru looked at the food. Fumie said, "Here, try these." She opened the ume boshi. He picked one up and bit into it. "Oh, sweet. They made them with honey?" Fumie said, "Yes. But I don't know who is going to keep the bees now." Shigeru said, "Well, maybe you can ask next time?" She said, "I just don't know when the next time will be."

That spring, when the cherry blossoms bloomed and fell, she still had not gone back. But under the cherry blossoms, Fumie opened the mailbox and took out the cards and letters. One of them was from Kumiko. Fumie read it. "Oh, good, Genbee is still healthy."

As she turned, a figure came walking down the street. Fumie looked at the man in the suit and said, "Kitamura?" He smiled.

Inside, Kitamura, the former assistant from Shonen Land, sat in the visitor's chair with Shigeru. Kitamura said, "Congratulations on the success of the Kitaro anime." Shigeru nodded. Kitamura continued, "Because of that, there's a boom in Kitaro manga now."

Shigeru said, "I thought you had left the manga business? What are you doing now?" Kitamura said, "Well, yes. I moved to weekly publications. And now I'm a lead editor of those. In fact, I'd like to talk with you."

Aikawa and Sugai came in from the other room. Kitamura stood up, and said, "Sugai? You haven't changed, at all." Sugai said, "Well..." Shigeru said, "Kitamura is a lead editor in weekly magazines now."

Kitamura sat down again, and looked around. "I... I have a big favor to ask you."

<to be continued>