Kenzaburo Oe - Somersault

Ogi went on to explain that Ikuo's plan was to have the Technicians take over work at the Farm on an experimental basis and make it into an economic base for a second and third wave of believers. Ogi also mentioned that Ikuo had been holding talks with a group of students from the junior high in the valley and the high school in Old Town.

"After we spent our first night in the house on the north shore of the Hollow," Dancer added, "we went back to the chapel the next morning. There were human bones laid out on the floor, and though Ogi was pretty calm about it, I can tell you I was shocked. After I talked with Asa-san, I understood that those bones were a written challenge to us from this group of boys and their little detective-novel secret society. Ogi, remember how they spelled out the name of their group in the bones?"

"YOUNG FIREFLIES. According to Asa-san it's the name given to a local custom-"

"That group, then, was threatening us because we're encroaching on their territory," Dancer said. "We knew the people in Maki Town were divided into two factions, those who accept us and those who want us out.

What worried me was whether those children sneaking into the chapel to play a prank were a vanguard of the group opposed to us and whether this meant a serious clash with the church was imminent.

"When he heard this, however, Ikuo went to meet with this secret soci- ety and arranged things with them by himself. I think the former junior high principal was also involved. We found out that the leader of this group is Satchan's son."

"Ikuo never said a thing to me about it," Kizu admitted.

"I'm sure the two of you have more important things to talk about,"

Dancer said encouragingly.

"Ikuo should be giving a report at the meeting today," Ogi said. "I think he's the person in the church who's been working the hardest, what with forg- ing a relationship with the Farm and trying to get to know the young men in the area."

The podium had been put away to clear a space in the middle of the chapel for the meeting, with several rows of chairs set up around this space. Light filtering in from the high windows on the cylindrical walls and down from the skylight made a play of light and shadow in the empty space that Kizu found beautiful.

Whenever they had meetings in the conference room of his university and there were more people than chairs, the students and staff would sponta- neously squeeze more chairs into each row, with an efficiency that always im- pressed Kizu, and the way the chairs were lined up here revealed an intimate knowledge of the interior of this building. Obviously it wasn't the first time they'd used the chapel for these purposes.

When Kizu mentioned this to Dancer, she told him that setting up the chapel had become part of the Technicians' day-to-day duties, just as the Quiet Women had taken on meal preparation and the daily cleaning of the inside of the chapel and its grounds.

Kizu recognized the sort of dynamic manpower that those trained in intellectual endeavors could demonstrate. It was different, though, from what he'd known at his own institute, something he realized for the first time since joining this organization of believers.

Now that he thought of it, the way the Quiet Women prepared the daily meals also ran so smoothly it was as if they'd been doing it all their lives. Every day at noon, when he went from the north shore of the Hollow along the weir to the dining hall, he found the chapel, the monastery, and the courtyard, as well, all clean and neat as a pin.

After eating lunch in the dining hall he usually went back home to the north shore. When he stopped by the office or went through the courtyard, almost every church member he ran across were people he'd seen before. Kizu got the impression that in the rooms in the monastery they were leading an equally well-ordered communal life. It also occurred to him that the lifestyles of each of these two groups, the Quiet Women and the Technicians, couldn't help but affect others who were to move here.

On this day, too, both groups took efficient charge of the meeting. Every- one found seats without any congestion, in so orderly a way you would have thought individual names were carved on the backs of the chairs. Patron, accompanied by Morio-Ms. Tachibana taking an inconspicuous spot di- agonally behind them-sat down in the first row of seats on the lake side of the building. Dancer and Ogi, who sat on either side of Patron, urged Kizu to sit in the same row with them. Beside him sat Dr. Koga and, next to him, Ikuo.

Directly across from Kizu sat Mrs. Shigeno of the Quiet Women- together with their leader, Ms. Oyama-who gave Kizu a friendly nod of greeting. Among the group of Quiet Women clustered around these two were women Kizu remembered seeing in the greenhouse along the Odakyu Line.

He caught a glimpse of Ms. Takada, the one with the scar on her face, her body angled off to one side, seated in the second row.

This was the first time Kizu had seen all the former radical faction, the Technicians, who were among the first to move here. Clustered in their own little group like the Quiet Women, these men in the prime of life gave the impression of being an intelligent elite group. Kizu was frankly pained by the thought that these welleducated researchers had left their fields of spe- cialization and were now doing manual labor as members of a religious organization.

What a terrible loss to Japanese academia and industry! Kizu thought, the idea itself the product of his long years in America and an American uni- versity. He wondered if the church office had prepared a program to make good use of these men who-both as people and as highly skilled specialists- were so far above average.

Patron opened the meeting with remarks that were unexpectedly care- free.

"Well, everybody, I'm hoping, with the land and the buildings that are still being readied and through the facilities at the farm, that you've been getting an upbeat feeling about our future here. How do you feel about it?

I don't think the character of our life here will be changing all that much, so if any one of you feels uncomfortable with our communal life, I'm not recommending that you just grin and bear it. There's a great number of people who've already announced their intention to move here. Please feel free to discuss this in informal groups or come individually to the office if you'd like to talk about it, but feel free to move in and out as you please.

Normally you'd be hearing this sort of thing from representatives of our office, but since I don't have anything else to say today, I decided to announce this in their place."

Morio seemed so taken by Patron's casual way of speaking that he could barely restrain himself from applauding. Instead, he merely nodded, and Pa- tron gave him a serious nod in return. Kizu was favorably impressed by their completely natural rapport. Those who lived with Patron in his detached house on the mountain side of the eastern edge of the monastery didn't take their meals in the dining hall, so it was the first time in quite a while that Kizu had seen Morio.

Soon after they'd moved to the Hollow, Patron had invited Kizu and Ikuo for dinner at his residence, but Kizu was busy with his large-scale paint- ing-he'd finished the sketches he'd begun in Tokyo and though the main theme wasn't settled, the hint Dr. Koga had dropped was swirling around in his mind-and couldn't spare the time. The explanation the office staff had given convinced Kizu that Ikuo was busy, but day after day he'd return late at night, well after dinner was over, and Kizu, finding it too troublesome to walk alone over the weir to the dining hall, would more often than not make do with groceries he picked up at the market.

In this casual intimacy between Patron and Morio, Kizu could sense a positive mood surrounding Patron's daily life in this new location, where he now seemed to be getting back on track.