| A
strange reply
Fujii Itsuki twisted in her bed. It had been a cold night and she had the worst of colds. She opened one eye and squinted to see the time on her bedside alarm clock. It was nearly ten o'clock. She was feeling very ill, and her body ached everywhere. Itsuki decided to take a day off from work that day; she was a librarian at the community library. A familiar rumble of a motorcycle signaled the arrival of the postman. Wearing her heaviest coat, she stumbled out of bed. Mr. Tanaka, the postman was a young lad who was about the same age as Itsuki. Opening the door, she saw Tanaka, as exuberant as ever, holding her letters. She wore a face mask lest her cold spread to him, and snatched the letters from his hand. "I have a cold. Please go away," shouted her into the cold winter morning. Tanaka was not the least concerned about catching a cold from her. Reaching in to his pocket, he pulled out a pair of cinema tickets. "I've got two tickets for Saturday's show..." "I cannot go," she replied, racing back into the warmth of the house. "Oh...please don't be like that. How about next week?" asked the ever cheerful Tanaka. "No!" Itsuki banged the door behind her. There were letters for mother and grandpa. Bills also; they never seem to end. The last letter was addressed to Fujii Itsuki, and it was from a Watanabe Hiroko. "Hiroko...Hiroko?" mumbled Itsuki, "Who could Hiroko be?" She opened the envelope.
Fujii sat down and pondered. It was very quiet now, and the snow was falling gently. Despite the serenity, Itsuki just could not fathom the meaning of this strange letter, or remember if she know anyone called Hiroko. The letter was meant for her as Aki was the short form of her name. That night, Itsuki laid on her bed, but she could not sleep. Her cold had not gotten better. She was still thinking about the mysterious letter. Suddenly, she know what had to be done; she started to type on her typewriter..
She felt so amused that she was doing this. "This is so ridiculous,", she thought.
|