Кадзуо Исигуро - Klara and the Sun

‘We’re all so pleased you came,’ the long-armed girl said. ‘Josie’s neighbor, right?’

‘That’s right. I live next door.’

‘Next door? That’s a good one! Only your house and this one, that’s all there is for miles!’

The three girls Josie had been talking to now joined the long-armed girl, all the time smiling at Rick. Josie herself though remained where she was, her eyes watching anxiously.

‘I suppose so.’ Rick laughed quickly. ‘But that still makes me next door.’

‘Sure does! Bet you like being out here. Must be peaceful.’

‘Peaceful is correct. It’s all quite perfect until you want to go to the movies.’

I knew Rick hoped everyone listening would laugh as the adults had done about the pizza deliveries. But the four girls just continued to look at him in a kindly way.

‘So you don’t watch movies on your DS?’ one of them asked eventually.

‘I do sometimes. But I like going to a real movie theater. Big screen, ice cream. My mother and I enjoy that. Trouble is it’s such a long way to go.’

‘We have a movie theater end of our block,’ the long-armed girl said. ‘But we rarely go.’

‘Hey! He likes movies!’

‘Missy, please? Sorry, you have to excuse my sister. So you enjoy movies. Help you relax, right?’

‘I bet you like action movies,’ said the girl called Missy.

Rick looked at her. Then he smiled and said: ‘Those can be fun. But Mum and I like the old movies. Everything was so different then. If you watch those movies, you can see the way restaurants were once. The clothes people wore.’

‘But you must like action, right?’ said the long-armed girl. ‘Car chases and stuff.’

‘Hey,’ another girl said behind me. ‘He’s saying he goes to the movies with his mom. That’s kinda cute.’

‘Doesn’t your mom like you to go with your friends ?’

‘It’s not like that exactly. It’s just…it’s something my mother and I like to do.’

‘Did you go and see Gold Standard ?’

‘No way his mom would like that !’

Josie now stepped forward in front of Rick.

‘Come on, Rick.’ Her voice had anger in it. ‘Tell them what you like to watch. That’s all they’re asking. What do you like to watch?’

Several more guests had by now gathered around Rick, partially blocking my view of him. But I could see at this moment something change within him.

‘You know what?’ He spoke not to Josie, but to all the others. ‘I like movies in which horrible things happen. Insects coming out of people’s mouths, things of that nature.’

‘Really?’

‘May I just ask,’ Rick said, ‘why all this curiosity about what kind of movies I like?’

‘It’s called conversation,’ said the long-armed girl.

‘Why doesn’t he eat his chocolate?’ Missy said. ‘He’s just holding it.’

Rick turned to her, then held out the chocolate still in its wrapping. ‘Here. Perhaps you’d care for it yourself.’

Missy laughed but backed away.

‘Look,’ said the long-armed girl. ‘This is like a friendly encounter, okay?’

Rick glanced quickly at Josie, who was staring at him, her eyes filling with anger. The next second he’d turned again to the guest girls.

‘Friendly. Of course. I wonder if it would please you all to hear I like bug movies.’

‘Bug movies?’ someone else said. ‘Is that like a genre?’

‘Don’t taunt him,’ said the long-armed girl. ‘Be nice. He’s doing okay.’

A voice said: ‘Yeah, he’s doing okay,’ and several people giggled. As Rick turned quickly towards them, Josie reached forward and took the chocolate from him.

‘Hey, everyone,’ Josie called out. ‘I want you all to meet Klara. This here’s Klara!’

She was signaling to me to come closer, and as I did so all the eyes turned my way. Rick too looked at me, but only for a second, then he walked off into a small clearing beside the corner desk. No one seemed to pay him further attention because they were now looking at me. Even the long-armed girl had lost interest in Rick and was staring at me.

‘Now that’s a smart-looking AF,’ she said. She leaned towards Josie in a confidential manner, and I thought she was going to say something further about me, but what she said was:

‘See Danny over there? First thing he comes in, he announces how he got detained by the police. No greeting, nothing. When we told him he had to greet correctly first, he still doesn’t get it. Just keeps boasting about him and the police.’

‘Wow.’ Josie looked to the boys on the modular sofa. ‘So he thinks it’s smart to be a criminal?’

The long-armed girl laughed, and Josie became part of a shape the five girls made together.

‘Then his brother over there gives it away. Too much beer, that’s all it was.’

‘Shush. He knows we’re talking about him,’ someone said.

‘So much the better. The cops found him passed out on a bench and took him home. And he’s telling us like he was arrested or something.’

‘No greeting, nothing.’

‘Hey, I didn’t hear you give Josie a greeting just now, Missy. So you’re just as bad as Danny.’

‘I did. I said hello to Josie.’

‘Josie? Did you hear my sister greet you when you came in?’

Missy became visibly upset. ‘I did say hello. It’s just that Josie didn’t hear me.’

‘Hey, Josie!’ The boy called Danny – the one on the sofa with his leg extended over the cushions – was calling from the rear of the room. ‘Hey, Josie, that your new AF? Tell her to come over here.’

‘Go on, Klara,’ Josie said. ‘Go say hello to those boys.’

I didn’t move at once, partly because I’d been surprised by Josie’s voice. It was like the one she sometimes used when talking to Melania Housekeeper, but not like any voice she’d used before to me.

‘What’s up with her?’ Danny got up off the sofa. ‘Doesn’t she take commands?’

Josie was giving me a stern look, so I began to make my way towards the boys on the sofa. But Danny, who was taller than anyone else in the room, came swiftly through the other guests and, before I was even halfway to the sofa, grasped me by both elbows, so I could no longer move freely. He looked me up and down, then said:

‘So. Settling in?’

‘Yes. Thank you.’

One of the other boys from the sofa at the rear shouted: ‘Hey! She speaks! Rejoice!’

‘Shut up, Scrub,’ Danny shouted back. Then he asked me: ‘So what do they call you again?’

‘Her name’s Klara,’ Josie said from behind me. ‘Danny, let go of her. She doesn’t like being held that way.’

‘Hey, Danny,’ Scrub shouted again. ‘Throw her over here.’

‘You want to see her,’ Danny said, ‘get up off that sofa and come over here.’

‘Just throw her over. Let’s test her coordination.’

‘She ain’t your AF, Scrub.’ Danny’s hands were still tight around my elbows. ‘You need to ask Josie about something like that.’

‘Hey, Josie,’ Scrub called. ‘It’s okay, right? My B3, you can swing her right through the air, lands on her feet every time. Come on, Danny. Throw her over onto the sofa. She won’t get damaged.’

‘So uncouth,’ the long-armed girl said quietly, and several girls, Josie included, giggled.

‘My B3,’ Scrub continued, ‘she’ll somersault and land clean on her feet. Back straight, perfect. So let’s see what this one can do.’

‘You’re not a B3, right?’ Danny asked.

I didn’t reply, but Josie behind me said: ‘No, but she’s the best.’

‘Yeah? So can she do what Scrub says?’

‘I have a B3 now,’ a girl’s voice said. ‘You’ll see him next meeting.’