looking to buy tomatoes. Looked like they wanted something else, too. Who knows, I may score with one of em."
"The hell you say," Koji roared, lifting his unshaven face. "Send one my way, too."
"If you ain't working with me, you ain't gonna get a chance. Come help me out tomorrow. With just me there, I'm too busy to make friends, know what I mean?"
"I'll be there." Koji laughed and licked his lips, which shone.
The phone rang. They heard running footsteps, then Tomiko's voice saying, "Hello? Ah, it's you Tetsuo. It's been a while."
Mitsuo licked his lips in turn. A gritty, salty aftertaste remained on his tongue. Again he saw the group of women who'd come in the sticky afternoon heat, tugging their children behind them. He imagined taking one of the women into the hothouse and stripping her in the shadows of the tomato plants. Thoughts of his own rippling power excited him. In his fantasy, a child stood off to one side, crying its eyes out.
"I can't stand it; I've got too much energy left. Let's go into town." Mitsuo placed both palms upon the table and stood. Table crumbs stuck to his skin. Koji remained seated calmly, and clamped his hands on Mitsuo's.
"Let's get clean first. Looking like day laborers ain't gonna get us anywhere."
Tomiko returned from the bath and popped the tab on a fresh can of beer. She tottered back into her chair, folded her arms on the table, and looked at her son and Koji one after the other. "Well, drink up. Let's enjoy ourselves tonight, the three of us."
"Got something to do. Me and Koji're goin' out." Mitsuo averted his glance from his mother's face. Silence. He stuck out his hand to take another piece of cod roe, but left it where it was, just scratching at it with his fingernail. He felt a gelid sensation on his fingertips. The thin layer of film over the blood vessels burst, and the roe broke apart into bright red clumps.
A horn sounded in the garden. Koji had modified the muffler of his Skyline, and the engine roared thunderously, like a large truck. Mitsuo pulled on a clean pair of jeans, jammed a comb in his wet hair, and headed outside. A cool breeze played upon his bronzed cheeks. In the headlights, the hothouse appeared to be on fire. The tomatoes burned black and flames danced on the leaves.
Koji leaned his shoulder out of the car window and yelled, "Hey lady-killer, you should've dried your hair."
Mitsuo opened the door with a soft, white, wrinkled finger. Koji shot away before Mitsuo had completely settled in his seat, and the door slammed shut on its own. The glass in the passenger's window fogged almost instantly, and Mitsuo lowered the window to dry his hair in the rush of wind. It would be dry by the time they hit town.
"Have to do the planting. It's only one acre, so it'll be done in two days. If you help me, that is." Koji's words spurted from his mouth in unison with the vibrations of the car. Each time they rounded a curve, the headlights brought the roadside thickets to life. Koji never slowed, and his sharp jerks on the wheel drew squeals from the tires. He whistled. "How about stopping in on your papa?"
"Don't wanna see his face." Mitsuo slapped Koji's hand off his shoulder. Koji pretended to lose control of the car, jerking wildly on the steering wheel. They continued winding down the road.
"What does your mother think about your old man? You wouldn't believe how she gets off on telling those dirty stories. She's tough. Everyone likes her."
"She's just putting on an act."
The lights of the town appeared through the darkness, moving right and left as the road curved one way or another. The sky above was a fiery red. The sight reminded Mitsuo of his older brother who'd called earlier asking for money. Scrounging for the down payment on a house, Tetsuo was still three million yen short. As the eldest son, he claimed he was entitled to a share of the money from the sale of the family land. As far as Mitsuo was concerned, Tetsuo was lucky it had been their mother who had answered the phone. He himself would have told his brother straight off that if Tetsuo's head wasn't up his ass he'd know their father had left home two months ago, taking the bankbook and the family seal with him.
Just when the weather had turned, bringing a cold, dry and dusty wind, the old man had stopped coming home. He rented an apartment in town and set up a love nest with his mistress. At first, Mitsuo had given them a week at most. How long could it take the fool to realize she was interested only in his cash?
The car crossed an interchange. Along the sides of the road signs studded with yellow lightbulbs flashed in the darkness, advertising a gas station and a restaurant. The surroundings were getting brighter. They crossed a river. The surface of the water reflected the windows of the nearby buildings.
Mitsuo got out in front of the sturdy front gate of the elementary school. The gate was always left unlocked, and ever since the town had started taking shape the schoolyard had doubled as a parking lot. The surrounding neon made the blackness seem like a swamp, and Mitsuo had hesitated a moment before finally stepping out.
On the main street a pack of men in suits sang drunken melodies, their arms laced around each others' necks. Mitsuo bounced energetically along, feeling excitement in each step he took.
Koji seemed excited, too. He said, "A man needs to get into town every now and then, eh?"
"Yeah, we're too young to be country bumpkins."
"Hey fellas, come have fun in here." A man in a black suit with a bow tie put an arm around each of their shoulders in feigned geniality. His breath stank of curry. He raised his little finger and stuck it in front of Mitsuo's nose, at the same time elbowing him in the side.
Koji said, "We'll have a drink. Hey, we're still sober!"
"Drinking's better with a pretty girl to flirt with. All the beer you can drink for five thousand yen." The man stood in front of Mitsuo and held up the five fingers of one hand. Mitsuo folded back two of the fingers. The man re-extended one and pressed it against Mitsuo, "OK, four thousand yen for the both of you. It's a deal."
Mitsuo walked with one arm pressed on the man's shoulder. "I'm telling you, I'm telling you," the man repeated, meaninglessly, jabbing Mitsuo in the side.
Koji came up from the other side and leaned on the man's remaining shoulder. "Remember, it's four thousand yen for the both of us." The men stumbled along like entrants in a three-legged race.
As they walked, Mitsuo asked the guide, whose hair was now dyed in neon, "Where are you taking us?"
"The finest cabaret in Japan."
Men in short pink coats walked about clapping their hands to attract customers. The names of various establishments were printed on their coats. One said to Mitsuo and Koji, "Say, you men look like you could be with a woman night and day. How about it?" Their own guide urged them forward.
Women dressed in negligees, mini skirts, and nurse uniforms stood beside the blinking lights of the entrance of their destination, beckoning them inside. Light bulbs in five colors illuminated the arch-shaped door, though the stairway down was murky. The man continued using all his strength to push Mitsuo and Koji forward. He seemed to regard them as prey, and his hunt unfinished until he'd shoved them down the hole of the entrance and slammed the door behind them.
Ear-piercing sound greeted them inside. Once in, they were made to hand over five thousand yen a piece. Mitsuo and Koji were led to separate seats
