?You see, Etsuko, there?s nothing I?m ashamed of. There?s nothing I want to hide from you. Or from those women, for that matter.?
?Do you think we should search by the river??
?The river? Oh, I?ve looked along there.?
?What about the other side? Perhaps she?s over on the other side.?
?I doubt it, Etsuko. In fact, if I know my daughter she?ll be back at the cottage at this very moment. Probably rather pleased with herself to have caused this fuss.?
?Well, let?s go and see.?
n:: When we came back to the edge of the wasteground, the sun was disappearing behind the river, silhouetting the 4: willow trees along the bank.
?There?s no need for you to come with me,? Sachiko said. ?I?ll find her in good time.?
?It?s all right. I?ll come with you.?
?Very well then. Come with me.?
We began walking towards the cottage. I was wearing sandals and found it hard going on the uneven earth.
?How long were you out?? I asked. Sachiko was a pace or two ahead of me; she did not reply at first, and I thought possibly she had not heard me. ?How long were you out?? I repeated.
?Oh, not long.?
?How long? Half an hour? Longer?? -
?About three or four hours, I suppose.?
?1 see.?
We continued our way across the muddy ground, doing our best to avoid any puddles. As we approached the cottage, I said: ?Perhaps we should look over on the other side, just in case.?
?The woods? My daughter wouldn?t be over there. Let?s go and look in the cottage. There?s no need to look so worried, Etsuko.? She laughed again, but I thought her voice wobbled a little as she did so.
The cottage, having no electricity, was in darkness. I waited in the entryway while Sachiko stepped up to the tatami. She called her daughter?s name and slid back the partitions to the two smaller rooms that adjoined the main one. I stood listening to her moving around in the darkness, then she came back to the entryway.
?Perhaps you?re right,? she said. ?Wed better look on the other bank.?
Along the river the air was full of insects. We walked in silence, towards the small wooden bridge further downstream. Beyond it, on the opposite bank, were the woods Sachiko had mentioned earlier.
We were crossing the bridge, when Sachiko turned tome and said rapidly: ?We went to a bar in the end. We were going to go to the cinema, to a film with Gary Cooper, but there was a tong queue. The town was very crowded and a lot of people were drunk. We went to a bar in the end and they gave usa little room to ourselves.?
?I see.?
?1 suppose you don?t go to bars, do you, Etsuko??
?No, I don?t.??
That was the first time I had crossed to the far side of the river. The ground felt soft, almost marshy under my feet. Perhaps it is just my fancy that I felt a cold touch of unease there on that bank, a feeling not unlike premonition, which caused me to walk with renewed urgency towards the darkness of the trees before us.
Sachiko stopped me, grasping my arm. Following her gaze, I could see a short way along the bank something like a bundle lying on the grass, close to the river?s edge. It was just discernible in the gloom, a few shades darker than the ground around it. My first impulse was to run towards it, but then I realized Sachiko was standing quite still, gazing towards the object.
?What is it?? I said, rather stupidly.
?It?s Mariko,? she said, quietly. And when she turned to me there was a strange look in her eyes.
Chapter Three
It is possible that my memory of these events will have grown hazy with time, that things did not happen in quite the way they come back to me today. But I remember with some distinctness that eerie spell which seemed to bind the two of us as we stood there in the coming darkness looking towards that shape furtther down the bank. Then the spell broke and we both began to run. As we came nearer, I saw Mariko lying curled on her side, knees hunched, her back towards us. Sachiko reached the spot a little ahead of me, I being slowed by my pregnancy, and she was standing over the child when I joined her. Mariko?s eyes were open and at first I thought she was dead. But then I saw them move and they stared up at us with a peculiar blankness.
Sachiko dropped on to one knee and lifted the child?s head. Mariko continued to stare.
?Mariko-San, are you all right?? I said, a little out of breath.
She did not reply. Sachiko too was silent, examining her daughter, turning her in her arms as if she were a fragile, but senseless doll. I noticed the blood on Sachiko?s sleeve, then saw it was coming from Mariko.
?We?d better call someone,? I said.
?It?s not serious,? Sachiko said. ?It?s just a graze. See, it?s just a small cut.?
Mariko had been lying in a puddle and one side of her short dress was soaked in dark water. The blood was
