Kenzaburo Oe - Somersault

Kizu admitted he did feel Patron was very charismatic, yet even though they were still continuing their discussions of R. S. Thomas, he didn't have enough to go on to give a proper response. As if he anticipated this, Ikuo con- tinued, not waiting for the stammering Kizu to finish his reply.

"I believe you approached Patron, and later Guide, because you think it s risky for me to be working in their office. Which means it's nonsense for me to ask you this kind of question, I know. Still, I feel that by working alongside them I'm getting deeper into Patron, which is why I wanted to get your opinion. It's a spoiled streak in me, I know: getting more deeply involved with them because I want to and then making you get involved and relying on you.

"This is what I've been thinking: Ten years ago, Patron and Guide lost their faith. They said that all they'd taught up till then was one big joke. If we assume this wasn't some strategy or tactic directed against the authorities or the media, but was something they had to admit from the heart, will this new unexpected movement they're starting create a new kind of doctrine?

Or will they say they were wrong to deny their old teachings, and then re- pent and go back to square one? It seems to me that the people waiting for Patron's next move aren't unanimous in their attitudes."

"I wonder," Kizu said. "At this moment I really can't say. It may seem a little standoffish of me, but to be perfectly frank my ulterior motive in com- ing to their office was so I could be with you. They're not men who will let me get away with that for long. But I am going to try to find out an answer to your questions, especially about Patron."

The day after this conversation with Ikuo, Kizu, egged on by his own words, went over to the office for the first time without being invited.

He didn't accompany Ikuo in the minivan-Ikuo had left early in the morn- ing-but drove over in his Mustang after finishing his daily quota of painting.

It was past the dinner hour when Kizu arrived at the office, but when he parked his car in the hollow of shrubbery next to the gate, the front door was already open and someone was looking out at him. When Kizu went in, he found Ogi standing there, the front door wide open.

"You're expecting someone?" Kizu said in greeting. Ogi nodded and, though they hadn't spoken very loudly, motioned for Kizu to keep his voice down.

Ogi's voice was subdued. "Ikuo drove Dancer to get the doctor."

That's all he said. He slipped past Kizu to shut the front door noise- lessly. Having lived in America so long, Kizu didn't pay much attention to the sound of doors opening and closing, but he realized Ogi was taking care not to slam it.

Guide had come over to the front office trom his attached building. He wore an expensive cardigan with a frayed collar over his shirt and sat on the sofa on the garden side of the room, lost in thought. Ogi went back to the office to take care of some e-mail, and Kizu settled down on the edge of the sofa at a right angle to Guide.

As if Kizu were someone who belonged in this room and he himself did not, Guide nodded a tentative greeting. Then, noticing that Kizu was at loose ends, Guide turned his hood-covered bird-of-prey head to him.

"Patron is in a kind of state right now. It's not one of his deep trances, but something close to it. In the past we would have considered this a pre- liminary. Perhaps it's a prelude to his first deep trance in ten years, I don't know. It started early this morning, so it's been going on for over ten hours now. He hasn't been this way for so long, we thought it best to send for the doctor. Dancer has gone to fetch him."

Kizu had heard about these trances, and just learning that Patron might be close to being in one was enough to put him on edge. He said nothing, just looked at Guide as he continued.

"Would you agree to see him in this condition? Dancer has some plan for you to draw his portrait, so it could also be of help. Anyhow, it's some- thing you'll never see anywhere else."

"I barely know him. Do you think it's all right?" Kizu asked.

"As long as you don't make any noise, it'll be okay. Loud sounds seem to hurt him. In his condition now he's not completely gone over to the other side, but even so… Dancer had never seen him in this condition before and was beside herself; she couldn't drag herself away so I thought it best to send her for the doctor." Ogi looked up in their direction, and Guide said to him, "I'm going to take Professor Kizu in."

Guide led the way down the dim hallway and instructed Kizu to sit down next to the empty bed in his usual spot on the wooden chair, lit in the faint glow of a bedside lamp; Guide himself sat down on the middle of the bed. His actions were matter-of-fact, yet Kizu thought that even if this wasn't a deep trance Patron must be absorbed in something heavy and mystical that he'd never been privy to before. Still, when his eyes adjusted to the darkness he was shocked at what he saw.

Kizu knew there was a low chair Patron used for reading, and a straight- backed chair across from him that he himself used whenever they read po- etry together. What he saw now on the low chair was Patron, legs resting on a stool the height of two shoe boxes, head stuck deep between his widespread knees, arms hanging straight down on each side, unmoving.

Patron's face was hidden, the delicate nape of his neck covered tightly with a white collar, a jacket half slipping down his rounded back. Kizu re- membered seeing that gray jacket during their midnight poetry sessions, but the clothes he had on now were brand new. Perhaps he had several sets.

Wearing fine clothes must be a habit he picked up in his former days as an eager missionary. Another thought struck Kizu; namely, that Patron wore these brand-new clothes because he knew a deep trance was coming on.

Could this state really be only a preliminary? Patron seemed totally absorbed. He held his body in a way you would never expect from a living human being. He sat there, utterly still, every semblance of humanity gone, as if he were carved out of wood or wrought out of metal.

"He's held this position for over ten hours?" Kizu whispered. "Isn't it painful?"

"He doesn't seem to feel any pain. But physically there may be some damage. You know, like when kids bite their lips before the anesthetic wears off at the dentist."

"Why isn't this considered a deep trance?"

"He's too calm. In a deep trance his body moves. Before he goes into a deep trance he acts like this for a short while, and then it's as though he's toss- ing and turning in his sleep. That's the usual pattern. Only when something prevents him from going into a deep trance is he like this, as if he's in a chrysa- lis, for such a long time."

The two of them kept their voices down. Even after they stopped talk- ing, they stayed leaning close to each other, gazing at this unnatural shape in front of them, an object it would be difficult to call a living thing. Guide cleared his throat as if sighing and spoke in a low yet distinct voice. Once, he said, they had had a doctor, a specialist, measure Patron before and after a trance using some specialized equipment. This was twelve or thirteen years ago, done at the request of a TV network. Patron's brain waves and EKG were incredibly calm, his breathing and pulse barely detectable. For a person to have readings at this level and still be alive, the specialist explained, was truly remarkable.

"What about when he's in a trance?" Kizu asked.

"We couldn't attach any measuring instruments," Guide said. "His movements are so violent that after a deep trance he's completely spent, physically and emotionally. After he's come back, he says all sorts of complex things, as if he's possessed. He says he's standing in front of a kind of three- dimensional mesh, a display screen on which a blur of light is continuously changing, receiving information.