Kenzaburo Oe - Somersault

Kizu picked up a jar of butter; the label on it had a colored woodblock print ot a tree and the logo FRUIT OF THE RAIN TREE. Kizu selected some meat, butter, eggs, and vegetables from that display shelf, and when he took his shopping basket over to the register the old woman lifted her gray head, her wizened face still lively, and said proudly, "You won't find roast ham better than this in the city!"

"It does look good. Why do you keep it shoved back in the corner?" Kizu asked.

"It's not shoved in a corner; it's just that only certain people buy it. Since new people are moving here from the city now, I was going to increase my order, but Satchan from the Farm-not a very friendly type, I can tell you- said she's going to negotiate directly with the new church's cafeteria!"

Kizu paid for his purchases. As he was about to collect his paper bag of groceries, the old woman lifted rheumy eyes that seemed to cling to him and said, "You're the painting teacher, aren't you? I understand you're famous! The junior high is very happy such an important person's come to town, but they also say to keep the door open when they're alone with you, Professor. The as- sistant principal said this, and to the boys, no less! What a distressing thing!"

Kizu was taken aback by the old woman's sudden comment. But with the good grace of a man his age, he was able to roll with the punches.

"Well, it's only natural," he said, "that people who've lived here for a long time want to keep an eye on people from the city bringing in their own religion."

The old woman suppressed a faint smile, but went with the tack Kizu was taking.

"If you go upriver from here and over the pass, just before the Hollow, where you all are, there's a house above a tall stone wall, right? We call it the Mansion to distinguish it from the other houses. A lot of unusual people have come out of that line, including one man who went on to college and became a diplomat, and then his son came back here to start a church! The ham and butter you just bought were made by people related to that diplomat's son.

Their church isn't around anymore, so if you build this new church you can expect people to say things for a while."

"I suppose it's only to be expected that we wouldn't be very welcome,"

Kizu said, trying to put an end to the conversation. He was finding her a bit too much, but the old woman wasn't about to let him get away so easily.

"No, no. We're not that kind of people! People in Maki Town came here with handbills. I put them up for a day but then took them down. I buy goods from them, so I had to post them, but I'm not opposed to a new church being started here! All the food you bought-and you bought a lot, didn't you?- was made by former church people; this woman named Satchan who runs the Farm, they say her son got his power from his father, the one who built the old church here!"

Just then something happened that truly startled Kizu. When he'd entered the store, walked past the register, and looked around, there hadn't been any other customers visible in the three aisles. But just then, in the aisle next to the one he'd been in, from out of the shadows of the shelves of deter- gent and toilet paper a thin-as-a-rail middle-aged woman suddenly popped up, pointed at Kizu, and began prattling.

"They call that son of hers New Brother Gii, but where he came from is anyone's guess! The woman who gave birth to him fourteen years ago? When I used to teach at the new junior high she was a boy student. A womanish man!

"Is it really possible she became a mannish woman and had a child?

You're from Tokyo-an educated man, I gather-but don't let her coax you into anything. She made my husband donate his whole estate to their church.

That's one scary woman, I tell you!"

"My, my, Mrs. Kamei," the woman at the register said. "And here I was thinking you'd recovered from your hysteria. I don't believe someone from out of town would understand what you're talking about, even when you go into such detail."

The woman customer's hair was pulled back, affording a clear view ot her face. Her skin had the strange look of a shriveled apple someone had for- gotten in a refrigerator. She shrank back at the words of the old woman at the register but still looked up at Kizu as she continued her warning.

"You've got to watch out for that woman. She's going to be running that Farm she inherited, together with your church, isn't she? That woman is what I'm saying! I went to the Hollow to warn you people not to be deceived by her, but with those men guarding the buildings I couldn't get close. So I lay in wait beside the river until you came out of the clinic. I don't have any ill feelings toward you and the others. All I want is to warn you how frighten- ing that mannish woman is!"

The old woman came out from behind the register and struck Mrs. Kamei-who was leaning against the shelf of detergent, saliva wet- ting her chin-on her back. When Kizu left the market he was afraid the woman might follow him, so he hurried up the slope that led to the Hollow.

The arrival of the first wave of new residents was finally over, the room assignments all taken care of, and it was decided to hold an evening meeting, with Patron in attendance, so everyone could hear the reports from those in charge of the various aspects of the move.

Kizu, though, hadn't heard about the meeting, since Ikuo had gone off after breakfast to take care of some matter at the Church of the Flaming Green Tree Farm without mentioning it. The first time he heard about the gather- ing was when he joined Ogi and Dancer, who as they were wont to do came an hour after the peak time for lunch in the monastery cafeteria. Dancer asked Kizu to report at the meeting on how his plan for a children's art school was coming along.

"If Ikuo had only told me there was a meeting, I could have finalized things with the teachers this morning," Kizu said. "For some reason they seem a little slow in responding."

Dancer found it strange that Ikuo hadn't said anything about the meet- ing, even though the two of them were living together.

"Ikuo's been talking about the Farm with Satchan, and they've just about reached an agreement," she said. "I expect he'll report on it tonight… Pro- fessor, you bought some of the Farm's ham, butter, and vegetables, didn't you?

Isn't it great? They've hired some of the local young people and have been able to continue farming the fields and running the meat plant on a small scale.

The original investment to set it all up came from their church.

"Satchan told us that wages have gone up this year and they might not be able to turn a profit. They weren't thinking of scaling back to the point where the work would be done in individual homes, but she was worried whether she'd be able to pass on the factory to the children going to the jun- ior high now and to her adopted daughters.

"When he heard this, Ikuo proposed that the Technicians be allowed to use the facilities for their own work and help run the factory with them, so it could get back to the size it was when the church was operating it. It was a perfect match. So they drew up a plan to have several people from the Tech- nicians spend their time at the Farm."

"He hasn't told me any of these details," Kizu said, clearly full of mis- givings, "but even if it's for the church could Ikuo really be so interested in the production of meats and other food? I find that hard to believe."

"He's very enthusiastic about it," Ogi said, in Dancer's stead. "He's also quite interested in the communal life the church's young people used to live at the Farm. Not long ago, Asa-san held a workshop on how they've been running the Farm, and Ikuo showed a lot of interest in something that came up; namely, that a sect in that church, people who were involved in the manu- facturing process, had engaged in weapons practice in order to defend the church."