Chapter 6
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SOON, A TYPICAL SUMMER was in full swing. The temperature rose, and I sat with Skank-san, eating ice cream and bathing in the wind of an electric fan.
“It’s weird, when the breeze from the fan hits it, the ice cream always seems to melt faster.”
“That’s because when the wind blows, it sends all the warm air onto it.”
“Even this cool breeze?”
“Cool as far as you’re concerned. But it’s still warmer than the ice cream, isn’t it?”
I was so moved I thought my eyes might fall out of their sockets. Skank-san really was far sharper than I. However, not even she knew anything about why Minami-san had disappeared. It truly was a mystery.
“Life is like a watermelon.”
“And what does that mean?”
“You can chew up most of it,” I said. “But there are some little bitty parts that you still can’t eat.”
“Aha ha, that’s true. But even if you can’t eat them, you can still bury them somewhere for them to sprout into something new.”
“Whoa.”
“Say, little lady, are you full yet?”
“Not at all. Hitomi-sensei said that your appetite goes away in summer, but that’s just another mystery to me, cuz when it’s hot out I use up all my energy, so I have to eat lots!”
“Then I have a favor to ask of you. Could you run to the supermarket and buy us a wedge of watermelon?”
“I can do that!”
I proudly accepted the money from Skank-san and put my yellow socks back on. She would stay behind, freshening up for work. I loved ice cream, of course, but watermelon was one of my other favorite things. It was a wonderful thing that Skank-san loved the same things that I did.
“Maybe she was a ghost,” said Skank-san.
She rubbed lotion into her face as I downed some barley tea before heading out into the afternoon sun.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Minami-san.”
I had not even considered that Minami-san might have been a ghost. I tried recalling her face.
“But she wasn’t see-through or anything. She had legs and stuff. I think if anything she’s probably more like a Totoro than a ghost.”
“Ha ha, I see. In that case, you’ll probably see her again, while you’re still a child.”
That might be true, I thought. I couldn’t wait for the day when I’d get to see her again.
“I’m going now!”
I donned my shoes, shoved the money into my pocket, and headed to the nearby supermarket with my little friend, who had been rolling around in the shadows.
It was fortunate that I drank that tea before heading out, I thought. Outside, it was sweltering, heat radiating from the sun and from the ground and the walls of the buildings as well. Without that tea, I might’ve shriveled up into a tiny mummy before I made it to the market.
My dark-furred friend, not suited to the summer sun, sought out the shadows. That makes sense, I thought, as she wore neither shoes nor socks on her four little feet. Of course, I had to carry her through the spots where there were no shadows. As I carried her, she sang all the while. “Meow meow!”
I sang along with her. “Happiness won’t cooome, wandering my way sooo…”
“Meow meow!”
As we reached the supermarket, there were tons of people going in and out of the automatic doors. I could not help imagining the shop itself eating watermelon and spitting out the seeds. I became a bit of a roadblock as I stood there in front of the doors, enjoying the cool breeze that came out from within, like an exhalation.
“Okay, you wait right here now.”
“Meow.”
The nice shadowy spot that I found for her had a prior occupant: a large yellow dog with a collar around his neck, many times bigger than her. Not showing the slightest hint of fear, she sat down beside him. Suddenly aware of her presence, he looked at her and she looked at him, and for some time they carried on like that. Oh my, was this the start of a new romance?
Although I worried whether a wicked girl like her could truly bring happiness to an upstanding fellow like him, I decided not to interfere. I left them behind, and quietly entered through the automatic doors.
I greeted the security guard as always. The guard, who stood watch near the doorway just like a watchman from a fairytale, respectfully returned my greeting. Initially, I had assumed security guards were policemen out on an errand, but the elderly guard reminded me of a sorcerer and had explained once that guards were allies of justice, guarding the gates of this marketplace.
As I stepped within, a myriad of smells floated to my tiny nose.
I loved coming to bigger supermarkets. No matter how many times I visited, I always found things I had never seen before, never eaten before, and all of my favorite things buried among them. It brought me the same joy that I felt when searching for a wonderful book.
I found the watermelons quickly. There were round, uncut ones; and ones cut into triangular wedges. I found a wedge that was just big enough for me and Skank-san, and placed it into my shopping basket. There were also some square-shaped melons there. Having never seen such a thing before, I was shocked. Seeing how much money it would take to buy one of them, I quickly understood that even when it came to melons, things that were different were more costly.
Although I had already found what I had come here for, I decided to look around some more. I had no intention of interfering with my friend’s romantic pursuits, and I wished to stay inside this cool place just a little bit longer.
I saw fish and vegetables, and as I looked at the recipe cards beside the baking supplies, thinking how I wanted to be like Granny someday, a voice suddenly called to me.
“Koyanagi-san!”
I turned around at the familiar voice. I wonder whether my face was as bright as that day’s sun. “Oh hey, Ogiwara-kun! Here to shop?”
“Yeah, my mom sent me out here. You?”
“I came to buy some watermelon. It’s hot out.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty hot today. I want to go out to some cold planet, like the Little Prince.”
A very Ogiwara-kun reply, I thought. As far as I was aware, he and I were the only ones in our class who had read that book. I had not spoken to him since the time I told him the story about the baobab tree. At school, he was always talking to someone else, so I was thrilled at the chance to converse with him again.
We talked for some time about The Memoirs of a White Elephant, which he had finished reading. Was it five minutes? Ten? I quickly forgot that I had come on an errand for Skank-san.
I only remembered my objective when I looked down at the watermelon in my hands. While the idea of leaving gnawed at me, I could not keep my beloved Skank-san waiting. It was time for me to go.
Ogiwara-kun and I were not friends. We only talked to each other from time to time. We had never eaten lunch, or even a snack together. Plus, I was not the only one who Ogiwara-kun spoke to. He was like that with everyone in the class, even Kiriyuu. Even so, I was able to converse with him as easily as I could with Skank-san, or Minami-san. He was the only one in our class who was as clever as me.
My wedge of watermelon was growing lukewarm and I switched it out with another. Then I finally took my place in line at the register. After a short while in line, I handed my watermelon to the lady at the register and paid.
“Running errands?” she said. “That’s impressive, little lady.”
I did not think that was impressive at all. “Thank you, but I don’t think that’s true.”