a€?You plannina€™ on spendina€™ that long here, are you? Watch out. Better not. No good wil come of it. You let yourself get hooked by that good-for-nothing girl, therea€™s no tel ina€™ what wil happen.a€?
a€?Whya€™s that?a€?
a€?That girl of yours looks good, but shea€™s a loony.a€?
a€?Why?a€?
a€?Why? Look, the whole vil age says shea€™s crazy.a€?
a€?There must be some mistake there, surely.a€?
a€?No, no, therea€™s more than proof enough. Look, best just drop the idea. Too risky.a€?
a€?Dona€™t you worry about me. So what proof is there?a€?
a€?Ita€™s a weird story. Here, settle down and have a smoke if you like, and Ia€™l tel you. Wash your hair for you?a€?
a€?No, leta€™s leave it at that.a€?
a€?Ia€™l just get rid of the dandruff, eh?a€?
Without further warning, the barber brings ten filthy claws down hard onto my skul and commences to scrape them fiercely back and forth. His nails thrust themselves between every hair on my head, to and fro, with the speed and ferocity of a gianta€™s rake whirling about over a barren wasteland. I dona€™t know how many thousands of hairs my head holds, but as his fingers go gouging about, each one of them seems to be being ripped from its roots, and the surface that remains feels as if ita€™s hatched al over in raised welts. The ferocious energy of those fingers transmits itself down through the skul and rattles my very brains.
a€?Howa€™s that? Feels pretty good, eh?a€?
a€?You certainly have astonishing powers.a€?
a€?Eh? A fine massage like that gives everyone a lift.a€?
a€?I feel as if my heada€™s about to fly off.a€?
a€?Feeling limp and feeble, are we? Ita€™s al to do with the weather. Spring sure does make the old body go al floppy, doesna€™t it? Ah wel , have a smoke. Youa€™l be feeling bored, al alone there at Shiodaa€™s. Drop over for a chat. We old Tokyoites, we got lots in common the others wouldna€™t understand, eh? So that girl comes along and says hel o to you, does she? No sense of right and wrong, thata€™s the trouble with her.a€?
a€?Werena€™t you just going to tel me something about her when suddenly dandruff was flying around and my head almost went with it?a€?
a€?True enough, true enough. Cana€™t keep a story together in this sil y head of mine. Right, so then that priest fel er gets al funny for her . .
.a€?
a€?What priest is that?a€?
a€?That useless underling of a fel ow at Kankaiji temple.a€?
a€?I havena€™t come across any priest in the story yet, underling or otherwise.a€?
a€?That so? Sorry, Ia€™m a bit hasty. Fine figure of a fel er he was, sort of priest whoa€™d be hot for the ladies, bit of you-know-what. Ends up he sends a lettera€”hey there, hang on a moment. Did he come after her? Nah, it was a letter right enough. And thena€”there was, uma€”gonea€™n gotten a bit muddled here. Ah, right, yes, thata€™s it. Big surprise, right?a€?
a€?Who got surprised?a€?
a€?She did.a€?
a€?She got a surprise when she received the letter?a€?
a€?Wel , ita€™d be another matter if she was the modest sort whoa€™d get surprised, wouldna€™t it. Dear me, no, not her, nothinga€™d surprise that one.a€?
a€?So who got surprised, then?a€?
a€?The fel er what came after her.a€?
a€?But you said he didna€™t come after her.a€?
a€?Right. Got it around my neck a bit, too impatient. Gets a letter.a€?
a€?So it was the woman, then.a€?
a€?No, no, the man.a€?
a€?You mean the priest.a€?
a€?Sure, the priest.a€?
a€?So why was the priest surprised?a€?
a€?Why? Wel , hea€™s in the hal saying sutras with the abbot when suddenly in she rushes.a€ The barber snickers. a€?Shea€™s a loony right enough.a€?
a€?Did she do something?a€?
a€?a€?If you love me so much, leta€™s make love right here in front of the Buddha,a€™ says she, just like that, and she throws herself around Taiana€™s neck.a€?
a€?Good heavens.a€?
