A Story in Yokohama -17【Yellow and purple iris petals】
A Story in Yokohama【 Subtitled "Longing"】-17
On the night Shiro came home discouraged, his wife told him,
“I think we're having a baby.”
“Really?”
“I'm sure of it. I'll go to the clinic tomorrow.”
“Alright. I'll take the day off work and come with you.”
“Thank you. You've been a bit of a different person lately, but you're coming back to me.”
She didn't say anything, but she was aware of it.
“...I've been asked for advice by a high school friend.”
“A woman?”
“She's gone.”
“All right. From now on you spend as much time at home as possible.”
“I do”
“Do you remember the first movie we saw together? It was about a couple, a soldier and a nurse, who escape from the battlefield and go to Switzerland, a neutral country.”
“A Farewell to Arms, by Hemingway.”
“It's a romantic film about two people in love who go boating on a lake in search of a new life. But I won't be like Catherine.”
Catherine and her lover managed to escape from the war, but she would die in a difficult birth. Shiro’s wife was also weak.
“No wonder. It's not going to be like Hemingway's novel.”
The birth was very hard and she lost a lot of blood just before the birth. In the hospital room she was extremely exhausted.
“I don't know what will happen to me. Please take care of my baby.”
“I'm going to name him Yuji, one letter from your name and one from mine.”
“Thank you. My name will remain.”
But his wife and the child's lives ended. His wife's name was inscribed on the grave at Shiro's family temple in Ehime Prefecture. Beside it was the name of Yuji.
Not long afterwards, Shiro received a call from Junko.
“Thank you for bringing me a dream.”
“You've had a baby?”
“Yes.”
“Congratulations.”
Shiro told her that his wife was pregnant and that both mother and child had died.
“I'm sorry for your loss.”
“Come and live with us.”
“You and I have different paths in life.”
“I'll recognize legally the child.”
“I don't want you to recognize, but please do so for one of my children.”
“What do you mean?”
“Male twins.”
“What? How are you going to bring them up?”
“I'll manage with only one.”
“They were born together. You shouldn't separate them.”
“I've got one who's noisy like me and one who's quiet like you. The noisy one is my child.”
“Come live with me.”
“No, I can't. I know I'm selfish.”
“Why not?”
“I don't dislike you, but I can't be the wife of a serious taxman. I'd rather smoke a cigarette and lick a glass of water while the housewife prepares the evening meal. I don't want to use my time to play husband and wife.”
Shiro decided to raise the baby he received from her, naming the child Yuichi. When he told Junko the child's name, she said: “It's your child. You can do what you like with it.” She didn't even tell Shiro her child's name.
“Where are you now?”
“I've rented a small room, where my child and I live. But don't you ever come here.”
“He's got my blood too, I want to see him.”
“No.”
Junko was adamant in her refusal for Shiro to see her child.
“I'm done with you”, she said.
“Your romance was with a female demon. I'm sorry, but please take care of the devil's child.”
After that, Junko and Shiro never saw each other again.
Commentary
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・・・To be continued・・・