Kenzaburo Oe - Somersault

"Right this moment?" Ogi asked.

"My truck is in the little park beyond the parking lot."

They turned back to the east shore, greeting the young workmen they passed, and walked down the aisle, a little shoddily laid out, below the chapel and the monastery. Unconcerned about all the trampled-down spots on the path's shoulders, Gii strode on.

"Where did he say we're going to talk?" Ogi asked.

"We'll be meeting the first group, representatives of the Quiet Women, in the hills. After the party last night, some of their friends stayed at the mon- astery, and we can't very well make them leave so early in the morning. The women will drive over in Yonah's car."

"You drove over here, right? So I'll drive from here. The prefectura! police haven't shown up yet, have they?"

"They don't view the church as dangerous enough to warrant sending the riot police here this early."

As Gii had said, there weren't any other cars at the little park. Despite Ogi's insistence, though, he didn't make any move to hand over the keys. Ogi caught a glimpse of a doll wrapped in cloth bags in the loaded truck bed.

"I'd heard about these dolls, but the ones used in the Spirit Procession are really big, aren't they?" Ogi asked.

"The one in back was made to Patron's special order; Mayumi had to stay up all night to do it. It's the Spirit of Guide. She said it wasn't so hard since she'd already made one, though the larger size did cause her a little trouble."

They drove down the Shikoku highway bypass, down to where the older district road leveled out, and crossed the bridge over the Kame River, the water sparkling below.

"We're going to drive up to a piece of worthless meadow my mother inherited," Gii explained, "at the intersection of two logging roads. One road goes up past the entrance to the Farm; the one we're going to climb goes past the junior high."

As the truck turned the corner and entered the glen, a woman teacher from the junior high, out sweeping the decorative shrubbery in front of the school, looked up in surprise at Gii, driving without a license. For his part, Gii remained totally cool and collected.

He parked the truck at the base of a red pine tree, branches trimmed back to quite high up, the greenery near the top shining in the brilliant sky.

A red Ford Mustang was parked in front of a clearing leading to another log- ging road. As Ogi stepped down the narrow path down the short slope, clutch- ing at branches to steady himself, Gii said to him, "Better not touch the wax trees. He Who Destroys planted wax trees from here up to the ridge to use as raw material for the Fireflies' candles. Do you suppose he really planted them so he could pour hot oil over his enemies?"

At an unexpectedly steep slope where they could look down at the vil- lages and the river in the bottom of the valley, there was a square meadow jutting out like a stage. Ikuo was standing there, talking with three of the Quiet Women.

To the left below them was a sparse stand of red pines, a path cutting through it that went down to where they could see-through a large bam- boo grove just before the path went uphill again-half of the lake in the Hollow and the Plexiglas skylights on the roof of the chapel reflecting the sun- light. In the midst of this wonderfully placid scenery, the bypass to the cross- Shikoku highway cut through a mountain one hill over. The whole scene was so bucolic it made Ogi want to tell Gii that he understood the feelings of the Fireflies, ready to fight to defend the legends of their land.

Before he could say anything, though, Ikuo saw the two of them approach and abruptly waved Gii off.

"Go guard the car," he told him abruptly. "The key's in it, so if a truck comes and wants to pass, move it so he can!"

Ikuo led Ogi and the three women over to an old tree in the west cor- ner of the meadow, bursting with dark green berries hanging down on long stems. There was a place constructed out of thick logs where they could sit.

Ogi found Mrs. Shigeno and Ms. Takada, whom he hadn't seen in a while, full of the same sense of incongruity he'd felt yesterday morning in Ms. Oyama, who rounded out the threesome. Their skin was equally pale and lusterless, but what was even more noticeable was the clumsy, amateurish way the Quiet Women had done up their hair. The hair behind their ears and at the napes of their necks was newly shorn. What's more, a dark, solemn shadow had fallen over their expressions.

As the three sat side by side on the log seat, with the river on their right, Mrs. Shigeno, at the end, looked up at the small orange-red berries on the branch above her and said, "Whenever I see this many berries it always makes me think of when the Chinese matrimony-vine wine we used to make was ready to drink. But that doesn't move me anymore. My interest in trees and plants is entirely practical."

Ogi was the only one who responded to this by gazing up at the thin stalks of the matrimony vine and its bell-like berries. He realized that her statement was merely a prelude leading up to the main theme of their talk.

"Ogi is helping Professor Kizu write a history of Patron's church, and I want him to witness all the decisions that are made and the events that take place," Ikuo said, as if making sure the Quiet Women understood. "I'll be talking with the Technicians next, and he'll be accompanying me there as well… Ogi, I'd like you to remember that the Quiet Women were follow- ers of Patron years before we first came across him. As junior members, then, you and I have to do whatever we can to help them, no matter what they ask of us. They're not looking for our input, and it would be out of line to object to anything they say. Okay, this being said, we'd like to hear what sort of program the Quiet Women propose."

"Do you understand, Ogi-kun?" Ms. Oyama said. "Ikuo's told us you're the church's chronicler, but we're the ones responsible for the events you'll chronicle. Before Patron's sermon, after seven P. M., we'd like to have the whole chapel set aside for us to use. At yesterday's press conference there were people who said that was unfair, but I'd like you to give your word one more time that you won't say anything. In terms of time, this should overlap with part two of the Spirit Procession.

"I'm sure there'll still be people who want to come see Professor Kizu's triptych or who'll want to take refuge inside the chapel to listen to Patron's sermon without all the bugs flying around them. Our old friends might in- sist on coming inside. Despite this, just before seven P. M. the Quiet Women will enter the chapel and barricade it from inside. The Technicians will be outside, standing guard."

Before Ogi could say a thing, Ms. Takada, who ever since moving to this area no longer seemed bothered by having only one eye, and who was in charge of business affairs for the Quiet Women, spoke in a calm, composed voice.

"At that time, blessed by Patron's sermon, we will ascend to heaven. In the sacred ground of the church, listening to Morio's music, the Quiet Women will pass away."

Aghast, Ogi turned around to look at Ikuo. His rough-hewn, brawny face stared straight ahead, his expression unchanged. Only Ogi's heart was pounding, his face flushed. The blood pounding in his ears drowned out the cicadas screeching all around them. Mrs. Shigeno tried to explain things further.

"After Guide passed away, Patron announced that he would be return- ing to his religious activities. At that point we took this to mean that he was laying the preparations for ascending to heaven. That's why we had our chil- dren sing 'Hallelujah!'-to praise Patron's decision. We were so happy he allowed us to move here right away, thinking he was giving us the go-ahead sign. After moving here and getting to know Ms. Tachibana and Morio bet- ter, our resolve is firmer than ever.