Fifty Words for Rain(43)

He laughs and mops at his sweaty face. “It’s always a relief to come here and see some pretty ones.” Finally, his eyes fall on Nori. I see his wet lips part.

“This is the Kamiza girl?”

I step back so he can see her better. “Yes. This is Noriko.”

Tanaki comes towards her, but only I am close enough to see the anger snap alive in her downcast gaze.

“Not a word,” I whisper as he nears us. “Not one word, Nori.”

Tanaki takes Nori’s chin in a viselike grip and forces her head up. She does not flinch. His eyes roam over her face and then up and down her body. He reaches a hand around and clenches her buttocks. I draw in a breath that he should be so brazen, but Nori doesn’t react. Not even her eyelashes move.

Tanaki steps back and laughs. “Holy shit, Kiyomi. You are a miracle worker, aren’t you?”

I smile, unable to hide my pleasure at his praise. “I do what I can. But she comes from good stock.”

He looks at her again and speaks directly to her. “Your grandmother is a mean old bitch, but she was a beauty in her day—your mother too. I met her a few times, when she was about your age. Though she was petite. You—” He breaks off to laugh. “You’ve got some meat to you, girl. You’ll make some man very happy, despite your skin.”

I stare at the back of her head and hope she can feel it. She has to say something. He will not be satisfied with his taunting until she speaks.

She meets his gaze for a fraction of a second, and her eyes are as cold and blank as a doll’s. “Thank you,” she says softly. Then she looks away.

Tanaki seems satisfied. He rubs his hands together, and I know that in his head, he is already counting all the money he will make off of her. He turns to me.

“This is good. This is very good. I’ve arranged for some prospective buyers to come see her, and they won’t be disappointed.”

I do a double take, certain that I misheard him. I see Nori turn the color of ash.

I know that I am flushing with anger. “What? I haven’t heard anything about this. I was not consulted.”

He tries and fails to look apologetic. “I know, I know. But there wasn’t time. I got a call last week, a friend of mine looking for a girl to take on his travels. He specified she must be younger than sixteen and pretty. Now, of course, to make things fair, I have to let everyone have a bite at the apple.” He laughs. “End of next month, they’ll all come here for a private viewing. I expect you’ll have her ready?”

I just gawp at him for a moment before I can speak. “I thought we were all in agreement that she was to remain under my care—that is, under my supervision—until she is sixteen. She’s just thirteen. It’s not time yet. I’m afraid I can’t approve this, Tanaki-san.”

It was Yuko’s express command that Nori not be touched until sixteen. But Tanaki doesn’t care about that. If he has been offered a good price for her, he will take it.

I glance at Nori, who is shaking like a leaf. Her little legs look like they are about to give out.

Tanaki clears his throat. “My dear Kiyomi, the matter has already been decided. The gentleman will be here in one month’s time. I believe he does some business in England, so you must be making sure she is learning English. Of course, you’ll get your cut of the profits.” He looks at his pocket watch. “It’s nearly noon. I’m hungry. Have the girls bring me some food. And that girl from before . . . make sure she comes too.”

Without waiting for my reply, he moves past me and goes out. Nori and I exchange a horrified glance.

Her eyes say, Can you save me?

I look away. And that tells her no. No, I can’t.



* * *



—

We have a sulky few days. Whenever I go looking for her, she is elsewhere. I do try to speak to her in the little English that I know, but she acts like she doesn’t understand.

I don’t push the matter. I can’t blame her for being upset. I’m upset. I had thought to keep her until she was sixteen, at the very least; I had thought to teach her more about men . . . about life. She is nowhere close to ready to leave me. And besides that, I quite enjoy her. She is educated, unlike most of the girls I have seen pass through here over the years. I can talk with her. Sometimes after her lessons she will linger and we’ll have a cup of tea and she’ll just tell me things she’s learned from her books. It’s not the worst way to pass an afternoon.

I make it a point not to get attached to my girls, especially to the ones whose ultimate destiny it is to be sold away from this place. But Nori is unconventional. So perhaps my feelings towards her have become unconventional too.

I find that I have trouble sleeping, as if my plush mattress is suddenly a bed of stone. I am too hot in the night, and I toss and turn, searching for a relief that won’t come. I find that I am short with the men who come through here, brushing off their hands and refusing to stop and chat with them as I usually do. I avoid people as much as possible, and the strain of smiling, when I can avoid them no longer, weighs on me as it has not done in years. As the month ticks away and the date of Nori’s sale approaches, I find that it only grows worse.

I know what this pain is. It is the resurgence of my conscience after long years of lying dormant, like a bitter seed trying to sprout through concrete. And it is agony.