Kenzaburo Oe - Somersault

"Even after last night's incident I still believe Patron is a very special per- son. He's an extraordinary person, one who definitely journeys to the other side and has mystical experiences. I think that characteristic of his came out in a strange way last night. What happened last night was quite out of the ordinary.

"Even after he was no longer able to sink into a trance, he's continued to suffer as the mediator between the world and his own special God- whether a personified God or something else, I don't know. He's resigned to never escaping that role. What I find more extraordinary is how he made a fool of the God he had such an intimate relationship with and abandoned his followers. And now, without thoroughly reflecting on what he did, he's wel- coming back these hundreds of people.

"But what was even more of a shock for me was how crazed with fear he got, positive that these believers and onlookers are going to be burned to death. That's a human way of looking at things, but since I'm the one they've dubbed Jonah, I'm not expecting ordinary human behavior from him."

"Since I drew both of you in my painting," Kizu said, "you as Jonah, Patron with his wound as the Lord, I suppose I could be accused of having a hunch that your relationship with Patron would follow the lines of the book of Jonah, with Jonah being persuaded, in the end, by God. This has bothered me for a long while.

"When Morio and Patron went in the middle of the night to see the painting, Patron told me the person you're modeled after, according to Wolynski's book, never gives up protesting to God, ends up in despair, and leaps into the sea himself. When I heard this, I felt freed from the concerns I've had for so long. Your relationship with Patron might very well develop in a different direction from that of Jonah and the Lord in the book of Jonah.

Not that I had any idea what path this particular Lord would lead Jonah in… • • At any rate, Ikuo, you are a person who has led a consistent life. From day one you've been the Jonah who protests."

"I suppose you're right," Ikuo said, turning his face to the surface of the lake, glittering in the noon sun, and once more squinting his eyes shut in the brightness. "I felt the same thing about Patron last night. He's a person who's been consistent his whole life, and always will be. Even after the Somersault, he suffered because of a very human sense of integrity. I don't think calling what he experienced a descent into hell exaggerates the kind of suffering he endured. Still, he insisted on being consistent with what he had done in the Somersault. He never attempted a Somersault in reverse."

"And now you've given up hoping for Patron to be the mediator for you and the Almighty?" Kizu asked. "Though you're still quite young, you've lived your whole life seeking God-who will tell you, Go ahead and do it!- and the mediator between you and that voice. And now you've found that Patron isn't the one.

"Does this mean you'll wash your hands of him? That you'll return this Founder, overflowing with love for humanity, to his followers at this confer- ence, and make a clean break with him? Whatever your decision, I want you to know I'll follow you-wherever you go. If that's how things end up, though, with Patron curing my cancer I'd say I was overpaid for the triptych."

"No, I'm not planning to leave right now," Ikuo said. "After our struggle last night, Dr. Koga rushed over and gave Patron a shot to calm him down.

He was probably still feeling the aftereffects of this, but this morning before the press conference he called me over and asked me to exert still more effort to help him with the final event in our program, his sermon.

"He had called me Satan and worse, but he didn't take it back or apolo- gize. He had a new idea for the direction of his sermon, connecting up with the pageant on the cypress island we'd talked about last night. He told me he got the idea from a strangely realistic dream he had, and he'd like me to help him make it happen.

"Patron's going to deliver his sermon from the reviewing stand, and he wants to do this wearing a doll made to look like Guide. The other new dolls for the Spirit Festival he wants taken over to the island and burned up with the giant cypress. Guide's doll should be burned there too, so he wants an- other Guide doll, a much larger one, made for him to wear. His concept is to have himself wearing the same sort of thing as these dolls that are burned up in a requiem ceremony.

"I said I'd help him. As we speak, the Fireflies are out in the hot sun now working on the island, constructing a wooden frame in front of which we'll stand the doll of Guide and a microphone, the same way Patron will be standing in front of a microphone, and placing several kerosene tanks among the cypress leaves.

"They're putting everything they have into the job. Since it'll be a pub- lic demonstration, a continuation of last night's Fireflies procession, I'll make sure they do a great job."

A beat or two of silence ensued. Then Ikuo turned his back to the bright window. For the first time in quite a while his expression was gentle, even bashful, as he said, "How about a shower? I'm all sweaty from last night and I'd like to take one myself. Let's take the afternoon off, in preparation for tomorrow. Pretty soon we're not going to have much to do with them any- more, so let's skip the party at the Farm tonight and leave everything up to the Technicians and the Quiet Women."

On Sunday morning the green leaves of the trees and the summer grasses sparkled in the strong fresh sunlight, and clouds reflected whitely on the sur- face of the lake. Ogi was out with some young workmen sent over by a local company that had contracted to build additional temporary toilets, trying to decide where to locate them. From their experiences on Friday, the night of the Fireflies procession, it was clear that the portable toilets provided by Mr. Soda weren't enough. So they set out to dig out holes in six spots around the grounds that would then have a wooden framework built around them- knowing they had to finish in time for tonight's meeting.

They selected a relatively flat spot, on the mountain side of the path through the grandstands that circled the lake, and set to work. Once the con- ference was over they'd wait until the ground at the bottom of the holes had absorbed all the liquid before filling them in. The holes the motorized shov- els scooped out were deeper than Ogi had imagined. Once they'd decided on the locations and work had begun, Ogi was left with little to do. As the shovels continued their loud clang, he walked down the path from east to north, to the point closest to the island with the giant cypress in the middle of the lake.

The branches of the giant cypress had been trimmed back to a height of about twenty feet. The lopped-off larger branches and the smaller ones with green still on them were piled up on a two-tiered wooden frame surround- ing the trunk-the middle of both the upper and lower tiers left empty for the dolls to be added-and leaned up against the lower tier. Along with the stack of firewood in the island meadow, this was enough to make a spectacu- lar firestorm.

The entire structure was like some sturdy square building. Even if kero- sene was poured on and lighted, it wouldn't collapse to one side but would end up a huge bonfire, safe for all spectators to enjoy.

Another wooden frame was set up apart from the one around the cypress but of the same height, made up of two or three logs with speakers set on top.

Beside it lay a sturdy bamboo ladder, the kind used by lumberjacks, to be used later to place the dolls that were going to be burned on top of the wooden frame.

Sensing someone behind him, Ogi turned around to find Gii, his sun- tanned face looking much older now, leaning against the tiny light-green leaves of a maple and watching him. Gii said, unhurriedly, "Yonah's going around this morning, talking to everyone to make sure everything's set for the evening meeting. He'd like you to go with him; he's already settled the matter with Dancer."