Arthur Golden - Memoirs of a Geisha

“Who is Mameha?” she whispered to me.

Obviously she had overheard the maids talking among themselves; I could see them huddled together on the dirt corridor just at the edge of the walkway.

“She and Hatsumomo are rivals,” I whispered back. “She’s the one whose kimono Hatsumomo made me put ink on.”

Pumpkin looked like she was about to ask something else, but then we heard Mameha say, “Mrs. Nitta, I do hope you’ll forgive me for disturbing you on such a busy day, but I’d like to talk with you briefly about your maid Chiyo.”

“Oh, no,” Pumpkin said, and looked into my eyes to show how sorry she felt for the trouble I was about to be in.

“Our Chiyo can be a bit of a nuisance,” Mother said. “I do hope she hasn’t been troubling you.”

“No, nothing like that,” Mameha said. “But I noticed she hasn’t been attending the school these past few weeks. I’m so accustomed to running into her from time to time in the hallway… Just yesterday I realized she must be terribly ill! I’ve recently met an extremely capable doctor. I wonder, shall I ask him to stop by?”

“It’s very kind of you,” said Mother, “but you must be thinking of a different girl. You couldn’t have run into our Chiyo in the hallway at the school. She hasn’t attended lessons there for two years.”

“Are we thinking of the same girl? Quite pretty, with startling blue-gray eyes?”

“She does have unusual eyes. But there must be two such girls in Gion… Who would have thought it!”

“I wonder if it’s possible that two years have passed since I saw her there,” Mameha said. “Perhaps she made such a strong impression it still seems very recent. If I may ask, Mrs. Nitta… is she quite well?”

“Oh, yes. As healthy as a young sapling, and every bit as unruly, if I do say so.”

“Yet she isn’t taking lessons any longer? How puzzling.”

“For a young geisha as popular as you, I’m sure Gion must seem an easy place to make a living. But you know, times are very difficult. I can’t afford to invest money in just anyone. As soon as I realized how poorly suited Chiyo was-”

“I’m quite sure we’re thinking of two different girls,” Mameha said. “I can’t imagine that a businesswoman as astute as you are, Mrs. Nitta, would call Chiyo ‘poorly suited’…”

“Are you certain her name is Chiyo?” Mother asked.

None of us realized it, but as she spoke these words, Mother was rising from the table and crossing the little room. A moment later she slid open the door and found herself staring directly into Auntie’s ear. Auntie stepped out of the way just as though nothing had happened; and I suppose Mother was content to pretend the same, for she did nothing more than look toward me and say, “Chiyo-chan, come in here a moment.”

By the time I slid the door shut behind me and knelt on the tatami mats to bow, Mother had already settled herself at the table again.

“This is our Chiyo,” Mother said.

“The very girl I was thinking of!” said Mameha. “How do you do, Chiyo-chan? I’m happy that you look so healthy! I was just saying to Mrs. Nitta that I’d begun to worry about you. But you seem quite well.”

“Oh, yes, ma’am, very well,” I answered.

“Thank you, Chiyo,” Mother told me. I bowed to excuse myself, but before I could rise to my feet, Mameha said:

“She’s really quite a lovely girl, Mrs. Nitta. I must say, at times I’ve thought of coming to ask your permission to make her my younger sister. But now that she’s no longer in training…”

Mother must have been shocked to hear this, because although she’d been on the point of taking a sip of tea, her hand stopped on its way to her mouth and remained motionless there during the time it took me to leave the room. I was nearly back to my place on the floor of the entrance hall when she finally responded.

“A geisha as popular as you, Mameha-san… you could have any apprentice in Gion as your younger sister.”

“It’s true I’m often asked. But I haven’t taken on a new younger sister in more than a year. You’d think that with this terrible Depression, customers would have slowed to a trickle, but really, I’ve never been so busy. I suppose the rich just go right on being rich, even in a time like this.”

“They need their fun more than ever now,” Mother said. “But you were saying…”

“Yes, what was I saying? Well, it makes no difference. I mustn’t take any more of your time. I’m pleased that Chiyo is quite healthy after all.”

“Very healthy, yes. But, Mameha-san, wait a moment before you leave, if you don’t mind. You were saying you’d almost considered taking on Chiyo as your younger sister?”

“Well, by now she’s been out of training so long…” Mameha said. “Anyway, I’m sure you have an excellent reason for the decision you’ve made, Mrs. Nitta. I wouldn’t dare second-guess you.”

“It’s heartbreaking, the choices people are forced to make in these times. I just couldn’t afford her training any longer! However, if you feel she has potential, Mameha-san, I’m sure any investment you might choose to make in her future would be amply repaid.”

Mother was trying to take advantage of Mameha. No geisha ever paid lesson fees for a younger sister.

“I wish such a thing were possible,” Mameha said, “but with this terrible Depression…”

“Perhaps there’s some way I could manage it,” Mother said. “Though Chiyo is a bit headstrong, and her debts are considerable. I’ve often thought how shocking it would be if she ever managed to repay them.”

“Such an attractive girl? I’d find it shocking if she couldn’t.”

“Anyway, there’s more to life than money, isn’t there?” Mother said. “One wants to do one’s best for a girl like Chiyo. Perhaps I could see my way to investing a bit more in her… just for her lessons, you understand. But where would it all lead?”

“I’m sure Chiyo’s debts are very considerable,” Mameha said. “But even so, I should think she’ll repay them by the time she’s twenty.”

“Twenty!” said Mother. “I don’t think any girl in Gion has ever done such a thing. And in the midst of this Depression…”

“Yes, there is the Depression, it’s true.”

“It certainly seems to me our Pumpkin is a safer investment,” Mother said. “After all, in Chiyo’s case, with you as her older sister, her debts will only grow worse before they get better.”

Mother wasn’t just talking about my lesson fees; she was talking about fees she would have to pay to Mameha. A geisha of Mameha’s standing commonly takes a larger portion of her younger sister’s earnings than an ordinary geisha would.

“Mameha-san, if you have a moment longer,” Mother went on, “I wonder if you would entertain a proposal. If the great Mameha says Chiyo will repay her debts by the age of twenty, how can I doubt it’s true? Of course, a girl like Chiyo won’t succeed without an older sister such as yourself, and yet our little okiya is stretched to its limits just now. I can’t possibly offer you the terms you’re accustomed to. The best I could offer from Chiyo’s future earnings might be only half what you’d ordinarily expect.”

“Just now I’m entertaining several very generous offers,” Mameha said. “If I’m going to take on a younger sister, I couldn’t possibly afford to do it at a reduced fee.”

“I’m not quite finished, Mameha-san,” Mother replied. “Here’s my proposal. It’s true I can afford only half what you might usually expect. But if Chiyo does indeed manage to repay her debts by the age of twenty, as you anticipate, I would turn over to you the remainder of what you ought to have made, plus an additional thirty percent. You would make more money in the long run.”