Women On the Other Shore (13 page)

After about ten minutes of jostling on the bus from Imaihama Station on the Izukyu Line, t h e girls arrived at "Mickey and Minnie's Place," a family-run inn they had found listed in a recruitment magazine. It was a small, three-story guesthouse located a five- or six-minute walk from t h e beach. T h e y went around back as instructed and were greeted by a large-boned woman with a dark tan who cut them off midbow before they even had a chance to introduce themselves.

"Hi, girls, just drop your things over there, and I need one of you in the kitchen right away to take care of the dishes. If
you
can do that," she nodded to Nanako, then turned to Aoi, "I'd like
you
to hang out the wash. You'll find some of our private things mixed in, too—sorry about that. I hope you don't mind. Oh, this is the kitchen here, and t h e laundry room is right on through there. Just empty everything in t h e washing machines and hang it all up."

The woman kept up a nonstop torrent of words as she showed Nanako to the kitchen and directed Aoi to the laundry room.

This was t h e first time Aoi had ever seen someone else's laundry room or piles of laundry. She transferred the spin-dried wash to a basket she found by t h e machines and headed for the backyard.

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On her way outside, she passed the kitchen again and caught a glimpse of Nanako standing at the sink, her back to the door, washing the dishes stacked on the counter beside her.

The front of the inn where guests came and went was obviously of recent construction, with a crisp, contemporary look, but the backyard had been allowed to go to weeds. Toys were strewn about on the ground and a plastic wading pool was collecting rain. Standing on tiptoe and squinting into the hot sun, Aoi began hanging up the wash. Buried among the mountain of towels from the guest rooms were children's briefs and undershirts, men's socks, a woman's bra and panties, and the like. The large, suntanned woman who'd greeted them at the door apparently was not one to be embarrassed, Aoi noted, as she continued shaking the wrinkles out of towels and shirts and putting them up to dry.

She and Nanako had traveled no more than five hours from home on the train, and yet the air and the sun felt completely different.

It seemed like such a short time ago that she'd been pulling a sulky face at her mother, she could hardly believe she was now in Izu, hanging out a stranger's bra to dry. Sweat trickled down her face.

Was it because they were by the sea that the sun felt so much hotter? Maybe in a place like this she'd finally be able to forgive her mother for everything, she thought, as her head started to swim from the heat.

"Keep it moving, dear." Hearing the woman's gravelly voice behind her, Aoi turned. "I've got gobs of stuff for you to do, so I intend to keep your noses to the grindstone." The woman was watching Aoi from the edge of the veranda. She reached into the pocket of her apron for a cigarette and lit up, exhaling her first puff with an audible
Haaaah.

"I'm Ryoko Mano," she said. "Sounds like an actress's name, doesn't it?" She burst into a hearty laugh. "But sorry, I'm just a pushy old woman. Not that I'm actually all that old yet, but I figure from 100

your perspective even s o m e o n e in their twenties or thirties is an old woman." She laughed again.

Aoi caught a whiff of t h e smoke as it wafted by.

"I'll show you a r o u n d later," Ryoko went on, "but basically, we built the inn as an addition onto t h e front of our house. We're giving you and your friend o u r son's room to use while you're here. Hope you don't m i n d sharing. Speaking of which, you two aren't twins, are you?"

Aoi t u r n e d in surprise. " D o you think we look alike?" She wasn't sure why, but she was pleased with t h e suggestion.

"I don't know. I guess kids your age all look alike to me."

"I'm Aoi N a r a h a s h i a n d she's Nanako Noguchi. We'd like you to know how m u c h we appreciate this opportunity, and we're determined not to let you down."

Aoi bowed deeply, still holding something from the laundry basket in her h a n d . In a fluster, she realized it was a pair of boxer shorts and quickly p i n n e d it up.

"And I appreciate your coming. You'll meet the rest of my family at dinner. We don't eat until after the guests are all done, so dinner will be around eight-thirty or nine, just so you know. Okay, then.

Come find me w h e n you're done with the laundry. I'll need you to get to the baths next."

She threw her cigarette on t h e ground as she got up and disappeared into t h e house, gently thumping on the small of her back with her fists.

Aoi could hardly believe all t h e tasks she and Nanako had to complete before they got their dinner. By the time they finally sat down with the M a n o family a little after nine, she was so tired she wasn't sure she had any strength left to eat.

The M a n o h o m e was connected to the back of the inn by way of the kitchen. C o m p a r e d to the newly built appearance of the inn itself, the family quarters behind showed their age, and there was 101

clutter everywhere. In the dining room, cardboard boxes, toy cars stuffed animals, piles of old newspapers, jars of plum wine, crates of beer, and other odds and ends had been tucked into every nook and cranny.

Aoi sat across from Nanako at the table, joining Ryoko, her five-year-old son Shinnosuke, her husband Futoshi, who was built like a pro wrestler, and his mother Misa as they noisily dug into their food.

After everybody had been introduced, Futoshi tried to engage Aoi and Nanako in conversation, but each time they started to respond to his questions, Shinnosuke would interrupt with a loud remark. Soon Ryoko was on her feet telling him to behave himself. A moment later, Misa ladled more miso soup into the girls' bowls without waiting for them to ask. When he got bored with the grown-up conversation, Shinnosuke fooled with the TV remote for a while, then stood on his chair and started dancing. After a time, Futoshi went back to his newspaper, sipping at his beer and nibbling at his meal as he read, while Misa and Ryoko began arguing about different brands of rice.

Never quite sure what to expect next, Aoi and Nanako worked on their fried mackerel and potato salad, catching each other's eye from time to time amidst all the goings-on. Aoi was accustomed to quiet meals with just her mother, and she couldn't remember ever being at a table with all this commotion. She imagined it was much the same for Nanako.

After dinner they washed up the guest dishes, then the family's, gave the guest dining room a once-over, and when the guests were done in the baths mopped the changing rooms and washing areas. It was eleven-thirty by the time the two girls had had their turn in the bath and retreated to Shinnosuke's room for the night.

They found the tatami floor of the boy's room littered with toys and picture books and Legos and discarded clothing. Moving all these things out of the way, they spread futons side by side in the middle of the room, lay down under terrycloth blankets, and switched off the light. A planetarium of glow-in-the-dark stars appeared overhead, plastered across the ceiling. The girls lay staring blankly at the stars for a time, too exhausted to speak. Finally, Aoi broke the silence.

"You suppose Mr. Mano put those up?" she wondered softly.

"Guess he's the doting father type."

"Mrs. Mano sure cracks the whip, but she seems nice."

"I've never worked so hard in my whole life."

"Me neither. I just might die tomorrow."

"But it was kinda fun, too, don't you think?"

Yeah, it was fun,
Aoi agreed, but she could no longer find the strength to open her mouth.
It feels weird sleeping in a strange house,
doesn't it? You know what, Nanako, we'll probably have to bust our
tails again tomorrow, but I don't mind a bit because I'm with you.

Let's really show Mrs. Mano what we can do. Let's really
wow
her.

Aoi's eyes drooped shut before the things she wanted to say could leave her lips. She tumbled almost instantly into a deep sleep, without even a chance to feel herself drifting off.

It took about five days for the girls to grow used to the rhythms of the inn. Out of bed at seven, ready the kitchen for serving breakfast, clean the dining room and lobby, sweep the front stoop, then get their own breakfast out of the way before guests start appearing in the dining room at around eight. Between serving guests, help with breakfast and cleanup for the Mano family. Once all the guests have eaten and gone out, usually by around ten, clean guest rooms with Mrs. Mano and her mother-in-law. Next come the common areas, including the baths, toilets, hallways, and dining room. Before stopping for lunch, get the two washing machines going on dirty sheets and towels from the guest rooms plus any items the family and they themselves need doing. Eat the lunch prepared by Mrs. Mano and help clean up afterwards, then hang the wash out to dry. When this is done, typically by around two, they can take it easy until four; if 103

they finish later, it means their afternoon break is that much shorter.

At four there is ironing to do and beds to make, and after that, dinner preparations. If any last-minute shopping needs to be done, who-ever happens to be free at the moment goes. T h e guests all finish dinner by around eight-thirty, at which point the family and the girls eat supper. Cleaning up the kitchen and both dining rooms brings the day to a close. On quick days they sometimes got through by nine-thirty, but ten was more the rule.

The sooner they completed all their tasks, the more time they had to themselves, so Nanako and Aoi worked intently, avoiding idle chatter and never goofing off. When they were free, they went back to their room to try on makeup and do each other's hair, or they studied together at the family dining table. At night they would sometimes go down to the beach to walk along the water or watch inn guests launching fireworks.

The streets were filled with young men and women from out of town who'd come to vacation by the sea. A buoyant, holiday mood hung in the air everywhere. Cafe bars open only for the season vied loudly with each other for business each night. When Aoi and Nanako went swimming on their afternoon breaks, young men with gleaming dark tans flirted with them on the beach. About town, a musky smell seemed to catch their noses everywhere they went—

even when passing in front of shops selling dried fish or pickles.

They saw young men and women not much older than themselves cuddling or cavorting on the beach, hanging out of car windows and whooping it up as they cruised Main Street, or shopping at the supermarket with seawater dripping from their bathing suits. But to Aoi, all these people seemed to belong to another world. Squatting on the tiled floor of the bath and spraying away the sand these people had washed from their bodies held a much greater sense of reality. She enjoyed working. Keeping her arms and legs in constant motion gave her a marvelous feeling of liberation.

"You know, Aokins, I keep wishing I'd been born in a place like this," Nanako said o u t of t h e blue one evening as they sat at the dining table with their English workbooks spread before them. The stark white light of t h e fluorescent fixture overhead seemed to wash the color out of everything in t h e room. Down the hall they could hear the sounds of t h e samurai drama old Mrs. Mano was watching on TV.

"I've b e e n t h i n k i n g t h e same thing," Aoi said with a gentle smile.

She took a sip of l u k e w a r m iced tea.

"Yeah? You too? T h e r e ' s something nice about being by the sea, isn't there?"

"Uh-huh. You feel real easy, like you can do anything you want."

"Exactly," N a n a k o said. "I c a n sort of see why so many people like to come here in t h e s u m m e r . It's not just to swim. There's more to it than that."

Breaking off, she leaned back and looked up at the ceiling light.

Tiny insects were circling about.

"When I think about it, I've never had to deal with anything all that tough in my life," Aoi said. "In fact, maybe I've actually had it pretty good compared with most people. That's probably why I'm such a softie. But t h e r e are times when I get so totally fed up with everything, I just w a n t to blame it all on somebody else and scream curses at t h e whole world and r u n away somewhere. Since coming here, though, I've b e e n thinking. If I lived someplace like this and that happened, it seems like I could simply go down to the beach and look at the ocean, you know, and all those messed-up feelings would just melt away. And besides that, I think throwing myself totally into work in a place like this would give me such a great feeling I probably wouldn't even want to blame anybody for anything in the first place."

Aoi wasn't sure exactly what she was trying to say, but as she heard the words c o m e out, part of her felt as if this was something she'd wanted to say to N a n a k o for a very long time.

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"What's it tonight, girls?" boomed Ryoko's gravelly voice as she came into the dining room. "Talking about boys? Confessing summer loves?"

"As if," Nanako said. "Actually, we were both saying we wished we could stay and work here forever."

"You mean it? That's fine by me. Though you do realize perma-nent staff have to work twice as hard." Ryoko roared with laughter.

"Seriously, Mrs. Mano," Aoi said. "I'd love to live and work in a place like this."

"Don't be silly. The only reason you say that is because you know you'll be leaving soon. If I visited your town, I'd probably go starry-eyed and say I wanted to stay there forever, too."

Ryoko poured two fresh glasses of iced tea from the refrigerator and set them down in front of the girls. For herself she got out a tall can of beer and chugged several thirsty gulps standing right there in front of the refrigerator.

"If you really believe that, then I suggest you try coming sometime. You'll be sick of the place in a day, guaranteed. Won't she?"

"Absolutely. All we've got is a river, and a bunch of schools. Lots of schools. But they're all for smart kids, so everybody sticks their noses in the air and makes fun of us. Plus there aren't any cute boys."