Death in Midsummer & Other Stories by Yukio Mishima Page A

leaning room. The floor and all the furnishings leaned so that when one entered upright there was a grating, discordant note to the room.
    'Not the sort of house I'd want to live in,' said Kenzo, bracing himself against a table on which there were yellow wooden tulips. The words were like a command. He was not himself aware of it, but his decisiveness was that of the privileged one whose hope and well-being refuse to admit outsiders. It was not strange that in the hope there was a scorn for the hopes of others and that no one was allowed to lay a finger on the well-being.
    Braced against the leaning table, the determined figure in the undershirt made Kiyoko smile. It was a very domestic scene.
    Kenzo was like an outraged young man who, having built an extra room on his Sundays, had made a mistake somewhere and ended up with the windows and floors all askew.
    'You could live in a place like this, though,' said Kiyoko.
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    Spreading her arms like a mechanical doll, she leaned forward as the room leaned, and her face approached Kenzo's broad left shoulder at the same angle as the wooden tulips.
    His brow wrinkled in a serious young frown, Kenzo smiled.
    He kissed the cheek that leaned towards him and bit roughly into his million-yen biscuit.
    By the time they had emerged from the wobbly staircases, the shaking passageways, the log bridges from the railings of which monster heads protruded, and numerous other curious places as well, the heat was too much for them. Kenzd finished his own biscuit, took what was left of his wife's between his teeth, and set out in search of a cool evening breeze. Beyond a row of rocking-horses, a door led out to a balcony.
    'What time is it?' asked Kiyoko.
    'A quarter to nine. Let's go out and cool off till nine.'
    'I'm thirsty. The biscuit was so dry.' She fanned at her perspiring white throat with Kenzo's sports shirt.
    'In a minute you can have something to drink.'
    The night breeze was cool on the wide balcony. Kenzo yawned a wide yawn and leaned against the railing beside his wife. Bare young arms caressed the black railing, wet with the night dew.
    'It's much cooler than when we came in.'
    'Don't be silly,' said Kenzo. 'It's just higher.'
    Far below, the black machines of the outdoor amusement park seemed to slumber. The bare seats of the merry-go-round, slightly inclined, were exposed to the dew. Between the iron bars of the aerial observation car, suspended chairs swayed gently in the breeze.
    The liveliness of the restaurant to the left was in complete contrast. They had a bird's-eye view into all the corners of the wide expanse inside its walls. Everything was there to look at, as if on a stage: the roofs of the separate cottages, the passages joining them, the ponds and brooks in the garden, the stone lanterns, the interiors of the Japanese rooms, some with serving maids whose kimono sleeves were held up by red cords, others with dancing geisha. The strings of lanterns at the eaves were beautiful, and their white lettering was beautiful too.
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    The wind carried away the noises of the place, and there was something almost mystically beautiful about it, congealed in delicate detail there at the bottom of the murky summer night.
    'I'll bet it's expensive.' Kiyoko was once more at her favour-ite romantic topic.
    'Naturally. Only a fool would go there.'
    'I'll bet they say that cucumbers are a great delicacy, and they charge some fantastic price. How much?'
    Two hundred, maybe.' Kenzo took his sports shirt and started to put it on.
    Buttoning it for him, Kiyoko continued: 'They must think their customers are fools. Why, that's ten times what cucumbers are worth. You can get three of the very best for twenty yen.'
    'Oh? They're getting cheap.'
    The price started going down a week or so ago.'
    It was five to nine. They went out to look for a stairway to the coffee shop on the third floor. Two of the biscuits had disappeared. The other was too large for Kiyoko's very large handbag, and