by Meira Chand
‘You always say the wrong thing, Eiko,’ Yoshiko sighed.
‘Now, right over left, through the hole, and now pull tight, that’s it ...’ Arthur guided Nobuo’s fingers, tying the knot.
‘Now me. Me,’ Hiroshi insisted. Arthur nodded and gave the string to Hiroshi. His fat caterpillar fingers wriggled impatiently from the end of his plaster. He laboured through the knot, his tongue stuck out in concentration.
‘Show us some more,’ said Jun.
‘All right, now this one’s called a tom foot knot. Here’s a half hitch and a running noose, and this is a figure eight.’
Arthur’s fingers moved nimbly, winding patterns in the string. The children watched, absorbed, and then looked up in admiration.
‘Can’t we be Scouts, can’t we?’ Kenichi asked.
‘I like those knots. I’d like to be a Scout,’ Jiro considered carefully.
‘Well, I am not sure you are all old enough. But you could be Cubs, I’m sure. There are enough of you to form your own pack. Yes, that’s quite an idea, quite an idea.’ Arthur repeated, the thought taking hold of him. For he found himself strangely loath to end the night and the company of these children. Their small appraising eyes and lack of guile, so different from the assertive self-consciousness of the older boys he was used to, touched something new within him. In the morning sun, the battered night behind them, he felt some new dimension alive in him. As if he had been given a gift. He knew it was the children. He remembered Ruriko’s small fingers in his mouth, and his stiff response seemed already to belong to another life. Another life. His mind filled suddenly with the thought of Kyo again, but he pushed it down hard.
‘I shall ask Dr Kraig. We shall do something about it. Yes indeed,’ promised Arthur.
‘Then we’ll see you again. You’ll show us more knots?’ Hiroshi anxiously confirmed. Arthur nodded solemnly.
‘Will you really come and visit us?’ Emiko pushed herself forward before the boys to stand in front of Arthur. ‘Can girls be Cubs, too?’
‘No. I’m afraid not, but we’ll see if we can arrange a Brownie pack,’ Arthur deliberated.
‘Good. Now Junko wants to show you her wind dance. He’s ready, Junko. He’s watching.’ At Emiko’s signal, Junko began to whirl madly across the room, and stopped before Eiko Kubo. Arthur clapped politely.
‘I know he is very small, but will you show him a knot. Please.’ Tami came forward, Toshio in tow. ‘He’s been such a good boy, haven’t you, Toshio?’ Tami patted the boy’s small head as she had seen the women do.
‘Oh yes, yes. We mustn’t forget him,’ Arthur agreed, and took Toshio on his knee. ‘But after this I must go down to help Mr Cooper. I shall come back up as soon as I can.’
‘Are you sure this is what you want?’ Daniel asked Akiko.
‘Yes, but I cannot do it alone,’ she said, opening the door of the room. He followed her in.
She lowered her eyes as she walked. At the bed she took a breath before looking down at her mother.
They had closed Kyo’s eyes, the wild look was gone from her face. Cast up at last from her own emotions the compression of life diminished, like a weight removed. Her face was round and smooth in death and reflected only absence. There was a delicacy now, never seen before, risen from beneath.
Akiko stared without a word. Beside her Daniel waited, silent. After a while she nodded to him and turned to leave the room. By the door they saw Eva waiting.
‘I’m glad you came to see her,’ Eva said quietly. ‘You must not remember her with hate, Akiko. Life gave her the wrong hand, it wasn’t her fault entirely. I knew another side of her as well, long ago, before life completely strangled her. And in her own way, she wanted the best for you, otherwise she would not have left you with me. She could have left you anywhere, but she came back here from Tokyo, so that she might give you to me. And that is what you must remember.’
‘Yes, I know,’ Akiko whispered. Daniel put an arm about her and looked at Eva.
‘I’m going to look after her. I want Akiko to come back to America with me,’ Daniel ended quickly, flustered. He hoped his aunt would not disapprove. He had not meant to tell her now, like this.
But Eva only smiled gently and nodded. ‘We’ll talk of it later.’
Outside the room Daniel put a hand on Akiko’s shoulder and turned her to him.
’Are you all right? Did you mind that I told her?’
‘No.’ Akiko smiled and shook her head. For already she felt past and future melt and dissolve their strengths within her.
‘For the first time I feel ready for the future.’ She took his hand and silently they left the room.
Inside, Eva stared at Kyo, her face sad and tired, then walked across to the window. It had happened as she hoped it would. In every way there would be a new life for Akiko, a future devoid of stigma. For it had always worried her, the future she saw in Japan for Akiko. When the child was small it had seemed enough to protect and to love; it had seemed that righted the wrong society had done the child and those others like her. But now Akiko must take her own place in society. Even with Eva’s protection that place was diminished and second-best. What if something ever happened to herself, Eva thought? What then would be Akiko’s position? It worried her deeply. To part with the child, to send her so far away, that would not be easy. But it was a small price to pay for all Akiko would gain. Eva’s eyes misted with emotion.
She thought of the strange and terrible night that seemed to have settled so many issues beyond the taking of life. The morning was damp and clear before her, recreated from the night. The sun glittered on pools of trapped water, in the bay the sea was like a deep fresh bruise, dark and blue, the opposite shore and mountains of Wakayama loomed up distinct and near. Eva wiped tears from her eyes and sighed, filled with grateful relief. Through the window she saw Hiroshi steal out of the front door, into the swampy garden below. There was always a child in need. In her mind the river of life with its battered bits of driftwood flowed on and stopped for nothing. She turned from the window to go and retrieve Hiroshi.
Nate Cooper, Hartley and Dennis inspected the car in the garage. Their bent backs collected beneath the bonnet of Nate’s new blue Mercedes. Behind the wheel Arthur Wilcox prepared to start the car.
‘Okay. Try it once more, Arthur. Last time,’ Nate’s voice said from inside the bonnet. The car choked and guffawed and then fell silent.
‘Nope. It’s no good. She’s not going to do it.’ Nate Cooper stretched himself up and wiped grease from his hands on a rag.
Now he would have to add the car and Maud’s coffin to the accounts of last night. The car would come under insurance, as would most of the rest. But was there any way, he wondered, to get a coffin off the tax?
Arthur got out of the car and shut the door. His mind was filled suddenly again with the thought of Kyo. He remembered the delicate look of her dead face, the peace he had seen in it there. In death he had hardly recognised her. In a strange, oblique way it seemed fitting that it had been himself who had embraced her at the end. For at least he had cared for her sincerely, and he knew there may not have been another like him. Knowing the callous start to her life it was the least he felt she deserved, whatever she had become. Kyo. He said the word silently for the last time, and felt a sudden tugging at his trouser leg. He looked down and found Hiroshi beside him.
‘Yes lad, what do you want?’
‘What’s a carburettor?’ asked Hiroshi.
ALSO BY MEIRA CHAND
THE BONSAI TREE
ISBN: 978-981-4828-23-9
Liberal-minded heir to a traditional business empire, Jun Nagai brings his beautiful, intelligent English wife Kate Scott back to Japan after a whirlwind romance. A marriage his powerful and complex mother Itsuko naturally disapproves. While Jun is pulled between the two cultures, owing loyalty to both, Kate is thrown into an unfamiliar world. Stripped of all romantic illusions, she struggles to retain her individuality in a world where her role o
f a wife lies within strict social constructs.
THE GOSSAMER FLY
ISBN: 978-981-4828-21-5
Confronted by an arrogant and manipulative new maid after her mother is sent back to England following a breakdown, Natsuko, a young girl of English-Japanese parentage, is thrust into a dark and sinister adult world, causing her to retreat into mounting isolation, confusion, fear and anger, leading to a dramatic conclusion in this emotionally charged story.
SACRED WATERS
ISBN: 978-981-4779-50-0
Orphaned as a child and widowed at thirteen, Sita has always known the shame of being born female in Indian society. Her life constrained and shaped by the men around her, she could not be more different from her daughter, Amita, a headstrong university professor determined to live life on her own terms. Richly layered and beautifully evocative, the novel is a compelling exploration of two women’s struggle to assert themselves in male-dominated societies of both the past and the present.
A CHOICE OF EVILS
ISBN: 978-981-4828-24-6
Set against the backdrop of the Sino-Japanese war of the 1930s, the story of those tumultuous years is told through the lives of a disparate group of fictional characters: a young Russian woman émigré caught between her complex love affair with a British journalist and a Japanese diplomat, an Indian nationalist working for Japanese intelligence, a Chinese professor with communist sympathies, an American missionary doctor and a Japanese soldier, all brought together by the monstrous dislocation of war, enmeshed in a savage world beyond their control.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Meira Chand is of Indian-Swiss parentage and was born and educated in London. She has lived for many years in Japan, and also in India. In 1997 she moved to Singapore, and is now a citizen of the country. Her multi-cultural heritage is reflected in her novels.
Also by Meira Chand:
A Different Sky
A Far Horizon
House of the Sun
The Painted Cage
