Kenzaburo Oe - Somersault

Dr. Koga was in his clinic. Making his excuses to his patients, he promptly boarded the car Ogi had brought around. Ogi reported to him that the wound in Patron's side was festering, and learned that Dr. Koga, Patron's longtime doctor, had no knowledge of this wound, which had not closed up for years.

"So what you're saying is that, since you first saw it, the hole in his side has remained open?" Dr. Koga asked. "And that it's festering and causing the fever? Have you taken his temperature?… Well, that's okay. Dancer's not there. I can imagine how flustered you were and why you raced right over."

When he entered the bedroom where Patron lay, Dancer was back from lunch. Dr. Koga handed her his medical bag and told her to open the win- dow on the forest side to let in some cool air. Morio was up, changed into a fresh shirt and trousers, but still looking thunderstruck. After checking his eyes and ears, Dr. Koga ordered Ms. Tachibana and Ogi, as well as Kizu, who'd been summoned, to escort Morio out to the living room.

For whatever reason, Ms. Tachibana had kept the rooms shut tight while Patron was in bed with his fever, but now they threw all the living room windows wide open. Morio sat directly on the floor, choosing an FM station on the stereo, the sound of a string quartet, or perhaps a sextet, filtering out for a moment before he slipped on the headphones and went into his own little world.

Ogi leaned forward near Kizu and Ms. Tachibana, and they spoke in low voices.

"I had no idea he had that hole in him," Ms. Tachibana explained, "which is why I was so shaken. Dancer just told me about it. I can imagine how unpleasant it must be to have had that for so long! Mrs. Shigeno said that Patron's being in hell was no metaphor, and Fd have to agree."

"I just happened to hear about the wound yesterday from Dancer," Kizu said. "It's much worse than I imagined."

As you'd expect of a craftsman whose eyes are the tools of his trade, Kizu's expression showed that the afterimage of what he'd seen was still fresh in his mind.

The two of them were silent, so Ogi felt obliged to tell his own im- pression of the wound in Patron's side-something that was actually more Dancer's idea than his own. "Well," he said, "I certainly consider his wound rather extraordinary, though I'm not at the point of thinking of it, as Dancer does, as a Sacred Wound. Patron is certainly a man of special gifts, someone who's had great hurdles to overcome in his life. I never imagined I'd be work- ing for a person like him.

"Even so," Ogi went on, "I don't think my devotion to him has any mystical coloring to it. Nothing of Dancer's insistence that the wound in Patron's side is a condition of his sanctification. That's been my attitude toward Patron, and I don't think it's put me at a disadvantage. Dancer, though, has a lot invested emotionally. She feels it's her responsibility that the wound in Patron's side she's been taking care of when she bathes him and so on should have started to fester; this has really upset her."

"Dancer thinks Patron's wound getting worse like this after we've moved to the Hollow might be a premonition that something's going to occur with the new church movement," Ms. Tachibana added.

Kizu looked as if he'd heard this before, but Ogi gave it some thought and, though he hadn't figured it all out himself, told them what was bother- ing him.

"Dancer hasn't confirmed this herself, but according to what Dr. Koga told her, that wound apparently appeared after the Somersault. When I hap- pened to learn of this wound by chance," Ogi went on, "I didn't have any proof, but I was sure it must have been there ever since he started his church. You know-since people who start religious movements must be different, it was a sign that he's chosen. Following this logic, even after abandoning his doctrine and his church, Patron must still be an extraordinary person since he still has the wound. Maybe this way of thinking only goes to show why people call me an innocent. But don't people who are outside a religion tend to sanctify the people within it, even though they're not necessarily influenced by them?

"Once I heard that the wound appeared after the Somersault, though, my simplistic way of interpreting it was as God's punishment, as a sign of disgrace. Isn't that why he called himself an antichrist? But whether it's a holy sign or sign of disgrace, one thing's for sure-I can't view this Sacred Wound from a neutral standpoint anymore, as if it has nothing to do with me."

Ogi, though concerned about what was going on in the next room, had become more and more absorbed in his own impressions. He could feel Kizu's eyes on him, a leisurely look that reacted positively to what he was saying.

Ogi felt embarrassed by his final, excited words, but Kizu took up where he left off.

"About this Sacred Wound," Kizu said, "to use the term you seem to have settled on: I wonder how Ikuo will react to having had this kept secret from him by his fellows in the church. That might be a problem. Just as you say, Ogi, I can't imagine Ikuo being unmoved by it. Two days ago, I think it was, Ikuo and Dancer debated whether or not to have Patron pose naked in my triptych. Dancer let Ikuo have his way without revealing a thing about an injury."

Just then Dancer and Dr. Koga emerged from the bedroom. Dancer turned to Kizu and spoke in a decisive voice.

"There's something I'd like to say. I'm the one who confused the situa- tion, so first of all I'm going to go over to talk with the Quiet Women. I assume they've all heard the details of what Ms. Tachibana saw, and I'd like to apolo- gize for keeping it a secret.

"Dr. Koga says the key thing is how the Technicians react. They shared a life of faith with Patron until the Somersault and believe they're somehow privileged, so we really have to put our heads together to come up with a con- vincing way of explaining things to them. To them, Ogi and I are just some assistants who started working during Patron's period of inactivity, so it might be better if Patron spoke to them himself."

Dr. Koga went over to take a look at Morio, who was still absorbed in his music, his head turned completely away from them; then he turned to- ward Dancer.

"Aren't you're being a little too emotional about this?" he said. "I can understand how seeing Patron suffer with this fever might make you react.

But being overwrought and attacking the church organization is only going to lead to trouble."

"So being overly calm about it is better?" Dancer asked. "You said we need to wait until his wound is cleaned up and his fever is down, and we shouldn't let the news about the Sacred Wound spread beyond those who've actually seen it. But I don't think that's what's important."

"What is important?"

"How the church moves forward. After Patron suffered for ten years, he's restarting his movement-which is the whole reason why he moved here.

And right afterward something happened to the Sacred Wound he's been concealing. Isn't that significant? I'd like to apologize to Professor Kizu too,"

Dancer went on. "I opposed his plan to use Patron as a model to help com- plete the painting for the chapel. But seeing how things are, I realize I was wrong. Please feel free to go into the bedroom and sketch him as he is, suffer- ing from the wound in his side. Dr. Koga can wait a while before bandaging it up."

At dinner that evening, Ogi didn't run across either Ikuo or Kizu in the dining hall. Dancer went off to discuss the Sacred Wound with the Quiet Women at the Hollow and with the Technicians at the Farm, but she didn't show up later at the office. Ms. Tachibana and her brother were staying with Patron.

As Ogi ate his solitary late supper, one of the Quiet Women, Ms. Oyama, came up to him. She'd already heard from Ms. Tachibana and Dancer about Patron's fever and all the attendant happenings. She didn't, however, express any concerns about Patron's health. Instead she invited Ogi to attend the prayer meeting the Quiet Women would be holding that evening at eight in the chapel to pray for Patron's recovery.