Masatsugu Ono - Lion Cross Point

“What?” asked Saki eagerly.

Just then Takeru saw something.

“Look!” he said, pointing toward the sea beyond Lion Cross Point.

The water was shining like molten silver in the morning sun. Something had risen gently to the surface. The light behind it was dazzling, but there was no doubt about what it was.

Ken kept talking, though, his eyes on Lion Cross Point:

Tatsuya’s car was approaching the Point. They started going around the curve. Ken’s car followed. But suddenly, to Ken’s astonishment, Tatsuya’s car was no longer in front of him. It had disappeared entirely.

“Disappeared? What do ya mean, Ken?” said Saki.

Takeru gazed silently at what had appeared on the surface of the sea.

“It just disappeared,” said Ken. “I couldn’t understand it. A moment earlier it’d been right there in front of me. I thought it might’ve been carried away by spirits.”

But it was nothing like that. The explanation was simple. The car hadn’t made it around the bend. It was going too fast, couldn’t manage the turn, and went crashing through the guardrail. (“No,” he said on reflection, “I don’t suppose there was a guardrail at Lion Cross Point in them days.”) It dove straight into the sea.

“Dove? Splash?” laughed Saki.

Ken smiled.

“It’s nothin’ to laugh ’bout, Saki,” he said. “Well, I can smile ’bout it now, too, but it was terrifyin’. There were no lights on the road, and it was completely dark. They could easily have drowned. I could hear the car sinkin’. I turned my car so the headlights were shinin’ over the water. There were bubbles comin’ up to the surface. They’re dead, I thought. I really did.”

“But they weren’t dead, were they?” Saki said. “Thank goodness!”

“They were lucky. It was late summer and still hot, so the car windows were all open.

“They’d both been brought up by the sea, so they were good swimmers. They managed t’climb out the windows and swim up. I was so relieved when I saw their heads bobbin’ on the surface. I had been ’bout to dive in myself.”

Takeru tried to imagine it. What had his mother seen? Was that what made her hate this place, detest it? Was that why she’d wanted to get away as soon as she could? Takeru could see something. Might this be what his mother saw? As she struggles to get out the window of the sinking car, from the dark depths of the silent ocean, a dolphin suddenly appears, its body swaying through the water. It swims up close. Its eyes meet hers. It puts its pointed mouth to her ear. She sees the neat lines of its teeth. It whispers. It whispers gently. It tells her important things—about her future, about the two brothers, about what will happen and what can’t be avoided. His mother nods. She nods. But does she understand? Does she really comprehend? The dolphin turns. It encourages her and she doesn’t hesitate. She could have, perhaps she should have, but instead she stretches out her hand and grips the fin on the dolphin’s back. It flicks its tail and heads straight up to the surface, bringing her back to the world.

But was that a good thing?

It’s okay, it’s okay, said a voice—a reply from what had surfaced beyond Lion Cross Point, trying to erase Takeru’s doubts, doubts that would never disappear.

Originally published as: 獅子渡り鼻 (Shishiwataribana)

© 2013 Masatsugu Ono

All rights reserved. First published in Japan by Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo. Publication rights for this English edition arranged through Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.

Translation © 2018 by Angus Turvill

Two Lines Press

582 Market Street, Suite 700, San Francisco, CA 94104

www.twolinespress.com

ISBN 978-1-931883-71-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017953866

Cover design by Liliana Lambriev

Cover photo © Gabriel Barathieu

Typeset by Sloane | Samuel

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This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.