==JAPAN: KM== [People]

I thought it would be an ordinary lunch, but I was wrong.
One day in August, when I was a high school student, I went to a small coffee shop near my house with my family to have lunch. It was a hot afternoon, and there were no customers except for us. When we began to eat, a woman entered noisily and she ordered iced coffee and curry with rice. Since she wore gaudy clothes and earrings which seemed to be expensive, I thought she was ill-matched for this small town. The moment she sat down, she asked the master, "Please tell me how to get to the station." He said, "O.K. Are you a stranger around here?"
"Yes, I have come here for the first time."
"Where did you come from?" my mother asked.
"I came from Tokyo."
I thought to myself, "She is probably a career woman, working for a large company, who came to this small town on business, and lost her way to the station."
My father asked, "Oh, you are a working woman. What is your job?"
"I work for a construction company."
"Is a golf course or something going to be built around here?"
"No, no. I didn't come here on business. I took three days' paid vacation for the first time."
I thought that probably she had been disappointed in love or had failed in business and was making a carefree trip and that nobody spoke to her so as not to hurt her feelings.
But she talked on by herself. We stopped eating and were listening to her.
"To tell you the reason why I came here: I was visiting a friend, from my university days, who is married and lives in this city. I had taken three days' vacation and took the shinkansen yesterday. But the invitation had come so suddenly, I couldn't manage to get a reserved seat, and the train was so crowded with summer vacationers that I couldn't even sit down. I managed to reach this city at 6:00 p.m. My friend came to the station, picked me up and took me to her house."
She drank a mouthful of coffee and we had a bite of lunch.
"I see. But you took a three-day-vacation. Why aren't you staying two days more?" the master asked.
"I had intended to stay two days more just like she had proposed.... But that day her husband didn't come back at 7 o'clock as was expected. Though I was very hungry, we didn't eat dinner and waited for him till 9 o'clock. But he didn't come. We ate dinner and waited, but he still didn't come. I was very tired, and went to sleep before he came. Then, at 12 o'clock or so, I woke up because I heard very loud voices. The husband and wife had begun to quarrel!"
"Oh, that was unfortunate!" somebody said.
"I tried to stop the quarrel, but she had had a pent-up feeling for a long time. Finally, I thought the quarrel was over and fell asleep again. However, the next morning, on the contrary, the situation was worse. She didn't prepare breakfast and they didn't speak to each other. After her husband went to work, she told me that she would pack her things and go to her parents' home. I was surprised, and tried to dissuade her from doing so, but she began to pack her things. So I left her house....But I didn't know the way to the station and I haven't eaten anything since yesterday. I wandered around in this heat and now I'm here."
We all sighed.
"Unfortunate....What will you do now?"
"I'll go home. And tomorrow I'll stay at home killing my time. Well, that I had come here was a complete waste...."
"How about sightseeing in Nagoya on your way home?"
"I don't want to go sightseeing. But, do you know a hot spring near here?"
"How about "Gero"? It's a quiet place, and you can take a rest leisurely. It takes only two hours from here by train."
"That's a good idea."
"Shall I see you to the station?" my father asked.
"Yes, thank you very much."
She ate the curried rice voraciously. Then we drove our car and saw the woman to the station.
She told us that she was very grateful for our kindness to her, but she would never come to this town again.

COMMENT
I thought this happening amused him who was spending his summer vacation being bored. He looked at the strange visitor and used his imagination, but she began to speak what he never imagined. Her experience was so rare and unfortunate that I read through her story without stopping, just as the people in the coffee shop were absorbed in her talk. I sympathized with her who had her summer vacation spoiled and admired his family who drove the strange visitor to the station

Yukiko Kawai