Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before the Coffee Gets Cold

‘Oh, I suppose.’

Despite the cool temperature of the cafe, Fusagi continued to wipe the sweat forming in beads on his face.

‘Coffee, please,’ he ordered as he removed the travel magazine from his shoulder bag and spread it out on the table.

‘OK,’ Kazu said with a smile, and disappeared into the kitchen. Fumiko once again began to stare at the woman in the dress. Kohtake was leaning forward with her cheeks resting on her hands and looking at Fusagi, who was looking down at the magazine, oblivious to the fact that he was being watched. Nagare, while watching these two, began to grind coffee using a retro-looking coffee mill. The woman in the dress, as always, continued to read her novel. As the aroma of freshly ground coffee filled the cafe, Kei appeared from the back room. The sight of her made Nagare stop.

‘Good grief!’ Kohtake said when she saw Kei’s complexion. She looked very pale, almost bluish, and she was walking as if she might faint.

‘Are you OK?’ Nagare asked brusquely, clearly horrified as the blood seemed to have drained from his face too.

‘Oh dear, sis, I think you’d better rest today,’ Kazu called out from the kitchen.

‘No, I’m OK. I’m fine,’ Kei said, trying her hardest to look better, but she couldn’t hide how unwell she was.

‘You don’t look like you’re feeling too good today,’ Kohtake said, standing up from her counter seat while assessing Kei’s condition. ‘You should be resting, don’t you think?’

But Kei shook her head. ‘No, I’m fine. Really,’ she insisted, making a peace sign with her fingers.

But it was plain to see that she wasn’t.

Kei was born with a weak heart. Ordered by doctors not to take part in intense physical activity, she was never able to take part in things like sports days when she was at school. Nevertheless, she was naturally sociable and free-spirited – an expert at enjoying life. This was one of ‘Kei’s talents for living happily’, as Hirai would say.

If I am unable to do vigorous exercise, that’s OK – I won’t do vigorous exercise. That is how she thought.

Rather than just sitting out the races on sports days, she would get one of the boys to push her in a wheelchair. Of course they never had a chance of winning, but they gave it their all and always seemed to be bitterly disappointed when they lost. In dance class, she would make slow movements, in complete contrast to the swinging and shaking the others were doing. Doing things differently from everyone else would normally antagonize those making sure no one went against the grain, but no one ever thought that way with Kei. She was always everyone’s friend; she had that sort of effect on people.

But irrespective of her strength of will or character, Kei’s heart often seemed to deteriorate. Although never for very long, Kei was often pulled out of school and hospitalized for treatment. It was in hospital, in fact, that she met Nagare.

She was seventeen years old and in her second year of senior high school. While in hospital, she was confined to bed, so she got her enjoyment from the conversations she had with her visitors and the nurses who came into her room. She also enjoyed staring out at the outside world beyond her window. One day, while looking out the window, she saw in the hospital garden a man who was fully wrapped in bandages from head to toe.

She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Not only was he entirely wrapped in bandages, but he was also so much bigger than everyone else. When a schoolgirl walked in front of him she appeared tiny by comparison. It was perhaps rude to do so, but Kei called him the mummy man and she could watch him all day without getting bored.

A nurse told her that the mummy man had been hospitalized after a traffic accident. He had been crossing the road at an intersection when there was a minor collision between a car and a truck just before his eyes. He luckily escaped the collision but the side of the truck dragged him about twenty metres and threw him into a shop window. The actual car crash was minor and the people in the car weren’t injured. The truck, however, had driven up onto the kerb and toppled over. There were no other bystanders hurt. If the same thing had happened to someone of normal build, it could have meant sudden death, but the large man soon picked himself up as if nothing had happened. Of course, that was far from true, and he was a bloody mess, bleeding everywhere. But despite his condition, he stumbled to the overturned truck and called out, ‘ You OK? ’ Petrol was leaking from the truck. The driver was unconscious. The big man pulled the driver from the truck and while casually carrying him over his shoulder called out to one of the onlookers gathered at the scene, ‘ Call an ambulance! ’ When the ambulance came, they took the big man too. He had terrible bleeding from all the cuts and grazes, but he hadn’t broken any bones.

After hearing the mummy man’s background story, Kei grew even more intrigued. It wasn’t long before this intrigue had grown into a full-blown crush. He became her first love. One day, on an impulse, she went to meet him. When she stood before him, he was even larger than she had imagined. It was like standing in front of a wall. ‘I think you’re the man I want to marry,’ she declared, without reservations or embarrassment. She said it clearly and directly to the mummy man – the first words she had ever spoken to him.

The mummy man looked down at her and for a while said nothing. Then he offered a pragmatic yet not entirely negative reply.

‘You’ll be working in a cafe if you do.’

Their three years of dating started then, and finally when Kei was twenty and Nagare was twenty-three, they signed the registry books and became husband and wife.

Kei went behind the counter and began drying the dishes and putting them away, as she always did. The siphon could be heard beginning to gurgle from the kitchen. Kohtake continued to look at Kei with concern, but Kazu slipped into the kitchen and Nagare once again started grinding coffee beans with the mill. For some reason, unbeknownst to everyone, the woman in the dress was continuing to stare at Kei.

‘Oh,’ Kohtake exclaimed just before the sound of breaking glass could be heard.

The glass had fallen from Kei’s hand.

‘Sis! Are you OK?’ Normally so calm and collected under any circumstances, Kazu came rushing out in a panic.

‘I’m sorry,’ Kei said, beginning to pick up the broken glass.

‘Leave it, Sis, I’ll do it,’ Kazu said while propping up Kei, who was beginning to buckle at the knees.

Nagare said nothing and watched.

It was the first time Kohtake had seen Kei in such a serious condition. Being a nurse, she dealt with ill people all the time. But seeing her friend looking so unwell shook her to the point of the blood draining from her face.

‘Kei, darling,’ she muttered,

‘Are you OK?’ asked Fumiko.

It naturally caught Fusagi’s attention as well, and he lifted his head.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I think Kei should go to the hospital,’ Kohtake advised.

‘No, I’ll be OK, really…’

‘But I really think…’

Kei shook her head stubbornly. But her chest was heaving as she breathed. Her condition seemed worse than she thought.

Nagare said nothing. He just kept looking sombrely at his wife.

Kei took a deep breath. ‘I think I had better lie down,’ she said and staggered towards the back room. She had gathered from Nagare’s expression that he was seriously concerned about her condition.

‘Kazu, look after the cafe, please,’ Nagare said as he followed her.

‘Yeah, sure,’ Kazu replied, standing still as if her mind was elsewhere.