Five Spice Street

‘‘Your work is finished because that baby has already parted from Madam X. I saw this scene with my own eyes. Carrying his bag on his back, he vanished from Five Spice Street. And so in this way, the problem has been solved! When we write the history, we can write him out completely. Ah, it has saved us from so much unnecessary dissension! My mind is empty. I can’t say what kind of feeling it is. From the day this baby arrived, I’ve been carrying a heavy burden on my back. Now, it’s over. I should be happy. Why am I at loose ends? All of a sudden, I felt that while he was here, I had vitality and purpose. Then, I looked even younger-right? If he had come and said good-bye to me before he left, making a transition, maybe the situation would be somewhat different, but he just lifted his bag to his back and left: this was too callous! We’ve been used to his being here for some years now. Every time I organized an activity, I took him into account-even when I decided what clothes to wear. Whenever I made a speech-ah, those splendid speeches! — I always thought of him as my audience. It was only because I imagined this that I exerted myself particularly energetically. How could he have thought of leaving so cruelly? I still thought that he would at least come to my home and bid me farewell. Haven’t we been good friends telepathically for a long time? All along, I thought there was a tacit understanding of friendship between him and me because everyone here has this kind of tacit understanding with me. I am the mother of the whole street. After X hooked another man, I just began waiting contentedly. I thought that on a stormy night, he would certainly come to my home. He had no other place to go, so he could come only to me. At a time like that, all his memories of me would be revived. He would see a plump and appealing image for the first time. He would immediately connect this beautiful image with this piteous woman in front of him who was covered in black mourning clothes. He would certainly recall every detail of her charm and appeal, and regret that he had let a great opportunity slip away. Inevitably, he would even conceive an evil thought, and in that instant he would change from a child into a man. This very moment, the woman in the black clothes looked up, and their two gazes fleetingly crossed: it was the exchange of a soulful gaze between two adults. Then the guy’s beautiful head drooped. ‘Why have I been so blind?’ he asked bitterly.