A Word in Your Eye

a.k.a. sometimes getting what we want isn't so good

Fumie was going through cards in the mail. Yoshiko said, "What's all that?" Fumie said, "Fans! There are lots of new fans with the new books." She looked at one, and held it out to Yoshiko. "Read this one." Yoshiko looked at it. "Wow. He's really young, and he's enjoying those old Kitaro books. That's great."
( troubles and resistance )
Later, Fumie stood in Shigeru's office. He turned his chair and said, "So what she thought was good turned out to be not so good?" Fumie nodded. He said, "Well, what do we do now?"

<to be continued>

a.k.a. names and smells and pains in the back

This week's theme is beating the ghost of poverty.

Shigeru was drawing. He got up, slid the door open, and looked around the empty kitchen. He said to himself, "Yes, everything is ready." Then he picked up his pen, and set it down again. He got one of the Kitaro books out of his bookshelf and started to look through it. He read some of it and chuckled. "Now that's funny." He looked at the drawings of Kitaro's father, an eyeball with a tiny body. In the book, someone stepped on him. Then he dragged himself over, picked up a match, and used that as a crutch to stand up. Next he went and hid under the edge of a building, and looked at whatever was happening in the street.
( What did he see? )
Fumie's sister called from the entryway, and Fumie went to greet her, with Aiko in her arms. Fumie's sister had a large box in her hands. "Here, I brought New Year's food. I thought you wouldn't have had a chance to prepare anything." Fumie agreed. Fumie's sister bent over to set the box on the floor. She suddenly gasped and her hand went to her back. Fumie said, "What's wrong?" Her sister said, "I think I threw my back out." Inui and Shigeru came running from the other room.

<to be continued>