She had not grasped the full implications and Tei-ichiâs tone was reassuring. She could do nothing but trust her grandfather.
âFor Shu-chanâs sake, I will do it.â
âThank you,â Tei-ichi said solemnly.
As Haruko came out of her grandfatherâs study, she saw Ayako sitting on the verandah. The sun was shining on her thick coiled hair, making it look deep purple. She was bending over a cloth spread on her lap and peeling a persimmon. More fruit lay in a shallow bamboo basket placed near her. Sachiko and Shuichi were sitting on either side of her. Sachiko moved closer to her mother and made a place for Haruko on the same zabuton.
Ayako had a kitchen knife in her right hand and skilfully turned round and round a persimmon held in her left hand. An orange ribbon grew longer and longer and hung from her hand. When the fruit was peeled, she cut it into four pieces, put them on a plate and stuck a toothpick into each one.
As she handed the plate around, a waft of clean gourd water scent that Kei made for the family as a lotion passed over the children.
Ayako picked up the last piece left on the plate and ate it herself.
âVery sweet,â she said smiling at the children. She picked up the peel from her lap and put it in the basket. Then she bent down again to peel another fruit.
âM-m-m,â Shuichi uttered. Ayako put down the persimmon she was holding and held out her palm to let Shuichi spit out a stone. She wiped her hand with the cloth and picked up the fruit again.
Haruko suddenly thought that it was unfair that she was to be taken away from her family while the other children could live peacefully in such a loving atmosphere. Why did she alone have to go to her uncleâs house when she hardly knew him?
âI have to go and live with Rinji ojisan,â she said, and unexpectedly tears started to roll down her cheeks. They were warm and salty. Ayako looked up.
Sachiko said, âWhy?â and started to cry herself. âOh, no, I donât want you to go away,â she wailed.
âI donât want you to go away, either,â Shuichi cried, too.
Ayako put down the knife and said, âLook, you donât have to go, if you donât want to. Donât cry,â and put her arms around the three children, holding them tight. âThere is nothing sad about it. It is to keep our family together. There is nothing to worry about at all. God will be with us always.â
Desperation surged through Haruko. She felt the helplessness of her mother without realising it. Still in his motherâs arms, Shuichi stroked Harukoâs hand. She smiled at him. She had to go to Rinji ojisanâs house. She would go because that would help Shuichi.
In Rinjiâs house, there were no thick pillars blackened by time and polished by generations of hands like the Miwasâ main house or the Shiraisâ. Each room was elaborately decorated but small.
âCome this way,â Rinji said, and took Haruko to a tiny room built into the garden. âUse this as your own. See, you have your own room. Pleased?â and he left her.
She sat on the tatami floor. Takeko would not be able to stay here, she thought, as she imagined how dark and quiet it would be at night. She untied the furoshiki she had brought with her and, since there was no desk, spread her school books in front of her. Crouching, she opened them.
As it was getting dark and cold, Tetsu came.
âWe will eat now,â she said, and led the way to the kitchen. A simple meal of rice, miso soup and cooked beans was ready for two. A bowl of pickles was in the centre of the table. Tetsu ate without speaking. She picked up a piece of pickle with her chopsticks and noisily crunched it. Kei and Ayako would certainly frown. It was good manners to take a piece from the bowl into your own plate and eat it. When Tetsu finished eating, she poured tea into her rice bowl. At the Shiraisâ, tea was served in a tea cup.
âI will show you how to wash up,â Tetsu said. Haruko had never done any washing up and she noticed that Rinji and Tetsu did not have maids. Getting water from the well was not easy, but she felt grown up. When the washing up was done, Tetsu followed Haruko to her room and showed her where the futons were kept. Obviously Haruko was not going to be given a lamp and there was nothing to do but to go to bed.
She wondered how Sachiko was. Neither of them had ever slept alone. Sachiko had a habit of wetting her bed, and she often crawled into Harukoâs bed early in the morning. When Ayako was away and the wind woke them up, all three children slept huddled under one cover. What would Sachiko do? When Shuichi woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares, would Kei be able to hear him scream and sob?
The sliding door was opened and a manâs voice said, âYou have to get up.â Haruko jumped out of bed. At the Shiraisâ, Kiyo softly called them from outside before she came into the room. Each child had a shallow box into which Ayako or Kei would put the clothes they needed for the day. Haruko found that she had gone to bed without changing. She had to go to school in a wrinkled kimono. It was grey and cold. She shivered.
âFrom today, you are a child of this family,â Rinji said. âYou have to learn lots of things. To get up early is the first important thing. One shouldnât be idle. Now, the first duty of the day is to clean the verandah.â
âChildren have to be disciplined,â he had told Tetsu. âThe worst thing that can happen to a child is to be spoilt.â He was determined to educate Haruko to be an obedient and hard-working woman capable of managing a house.
Tetsu came out with a bucket of water and a floor cloth and left them in front of Haruko without speaking.
âI will show you how to clean the floor,â Rinji said. In front of the astonished Haruko, he knelt down on the floor with his knees apart and his heels together. Supporting himself on his spread-out left hand, he moved the cloth with his right hand from left to right and then, having turned the cloth upside down, wiped the boards this time right to left. He continued this way gradually going backwards. His bottom swayed rhythmically with the motion and Haruko thought it was most undignified. It was comical, too. It was something that she certainly had to tell Sachiko. Ayako would smile and Kei would laugh, Haruko was sure.
In what period of his life had Rinji taken up cleaning the floor, Haruko wondered. She had never seen a man doing housework. At the Shiraisâ even Matabei, who did almost everything else, was not expected to clean inside the house.
She received the cloth from Rinji and tried to wash and wring it as he did. The water was icy, and she thought of Tetsuâs large hands. When the cloth was soaked with water, it was too voluminous for the childâs hands to wring it. It was heavy and dripping.
âWatch it!â Rinji shouted. âWater will mark the floor. Wring it tight. Tighter. Tighter. I will teach you how to sweep the rooms after breakfast.â
Haruko was alarmed. âI must go to school,â she said. Already it was getting late.
âYou donât have to go to school today,â Rinji told her. âWe have more important things for a girl to do.â
Haruko had to dust the sliding screens. She had to polish shelves and sweep the tatami floor. All morning, the house was quiet except for the noise Haruko was making.
Rinji had very few visitors. At the Shiraisâ, there were always lots of people coming and going. First of all there were patients. Then there were relatives. Merchants called. The most popular merchant among the children was a man from the cake shop in town who came a couple of times a week. He brought a shallow box slung round his neck. The box was neatly sectioned and in each little square, there was a sample of an exquisite cake. They were mostly rice or bean-based and not only tasty but had lovely colours