“Hello?”
“Er, hello? We have a bad line here. Hello?”
“Hello? Yes, my name’s Suda. I gave you a trunk to ship on the 6th, but it hasn’t arrived yet.”
“Ah. Hold the line. I’ll put you through to the Duty Clerk.”
Next, a middle-aged man spoke. I repeated the same thing to him.
“Really. Well, I’ll look into it,” said the man, as if it were too much for him. He obviously had no desire to look into it at all.
“Will you look into it now, please?”
“What, now?” the man said in a sullen tone, followed by silence.
“It contains something important that’s urgently needed. Actually, it’s medicine. Without the medicine, someone could die.”
“Really. Just a minute.” He seemed to be looking, albeit reluctantly. “Er, what was the name again?”
“Suda.”
“Shudder?”
“No, Suda.”
“No shudder?”
“Er, Suda.”
“Er shudder?”
“S for Sparrow. U for Unicorn. D for Donkey. A for Ant.”
“…Eh?”
“S for Sparrow-”
“Mr Sparrow?”
“S for Sparrow. U for Unicorn-”
“Mr Uniform?”
“SUDA. The name is Suda. Suda.”
“Mr Suda?”
“Yeeessss. That’s right.”
“Oh yeah. Here it is. Item received on the 6th. One trunk, was it.”
“That’s the one. That’s the one!”
“Sent to… how do you read that?”
“Pomegranate Island.”
“Yeah, Pomegranate Island. Well, yeah, it’s already been sent.”
“…What?”
“We’ve already sent it out.”
“Hello? Hello?”
“Yeah. Hello.”
“I’m actually calling from Pomegranate Island now.”
“Really.” He wasn’t even slightly impressed.
“And it hasn’t arrived yet.”
“That’s funny. It should have done.”
“Yes.”
“It should be there by tomorrow.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking for the last two days.”
“But it’ll arrive by tomorrow. No problem.”
“And what will you do if it doesn’t?”
“What do you want me to do?” He was laughing.
“Couldn’t you trace it for me?”
“Trace what?”
I was beginning to lose my patience. “I would like you to trace the whereabouts of my trunk.”
“Well, once we’ve sent it out, it can’t be traced.”
“Surely it can. You must know the shipment route. Could you please telephone and check.”
“Could who please telephone and check?”
I snapped, momentarily. “You, of course! No, not necessarily you. It doesn’t matter who. Could someone please look into it?”
“Well, no, actually. We’re very busy with other shipments here.”
“I’m busy too! That trunk is important to me!”
He laughed again. “And our shipments are important to us.”
“It’s a matter of life and death!”
“Really.” He thought I was exaggerating, of course.
“Hello?”
“Yeah.”
“Would you mind telling me your name.”
“Murai,” he answered grudgingly.
“Well, Mr Murai,” I said in a tone of authority, “could you please check out all the points along the route. I’ll call you back later.”
“All right then. Yeah, OK, I’ll check them out. It must be serious if it’s a matter of life and death, eh?” He suppressed a laugh.
I slammed down the receiver in great annoyance. “Jesus. How rude can they get.”
“What’s the matter?” asked my wife next to me.
“The Daitsu people. Their attitude is abysmal. As if it’s more than their job’s worth! Who the hell do they think they are?!”
“What do you expect? They
Her sarcastic tone made me all the more annoyed. “And that gives them the right to be arrogant, does it?”
“Well, yes. They’re not bothered about a piffling little trunk. They specialize in hauling heavy machinery, construction equipment, that kind of thing. Their main business is delivering steel girders in the right order when a railway bridge is being built. Mobility, that’s what they’re all about. So it’s no wonder they pooh-pooh our insignificant household effects.”
“If you knew that, why the hell did you use them?”
“Oh come on. Who else is going to transport a paltry trunk to the middle of nowhere?” she asked with a derisive smile.
“They’ve got a monopoly?”
“Correct.”
“Damn them!” I brought my fist down on the table. And my heart started to palpitate immediately. I quickly took out the medicine bottle and swallowed two tablets. Only three left now.
For a few minutes, my wife seemed lost in thought. Then she looked up at me. “Maybe they’ve deliberately delayed the trunk, out of spite.”
“W-why?” I stared at her. “Do you know something I don’t?”
She answered with a serious expression, as if to stoke my anxiety. “Well, I had a bit of a set-to with the Daitsu driver. He came on his own to pick up the trunk, and asked me to help him carry it. I said why didn’t you bring someone with you, carry it on your own, that’s your job. Then he gave me a really nasty look.”
“What was his name?”
“It should be on the receipt,” she said with a smirk.
There was no Daitsu delivery the next day either. I went to the ferry landing stage with my wife. The only thing to come off the boat was a group of five students who’d come to the island on holiday. They were all male. My wife immediately started chatting to them as if she’d known them all her life.
She said she wanted to buy something at the local Co-op, so I went back to the observation point on my own.
