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The village was so small that it took you at least ten days to find it on the map. It was a peaceful village with sunny hills and lots of greenery. But this village, full of goodness, had one shortcoming. The soil was so poor that almost no crops could grow. The villagers devoted themselves to preparing the soil every day so that, some day, they could grow nutritious and delicious crops. One day, however, a great uproar like the eruption of a volcano occurred in this otherwise peaceful village. It started with one junk truck. Mind you, you don't often see a junk truck as terrible as this one. The truck was just about ready to fall to pieces--- all it would take would be a little push from your index finger. This moving scrap pile staggered into this peaceful village, rattling and rumbling like a cracked bell. It was one fine afternoon in May. Just after lunch, all the villagers were relaxing at home. "Hey! What's that noise?" Surprised at the rattling and rumbling that was coming near, almost all the villagers came out of their homes at once. |
With their mouths agape, the villagers gazed intently at the approaching truck that had ruined the blissful surroundings. It seemed like a very long time or a really short instant but, in either case, the rattling and rumbling noise came closer and closer. The junk truck was driven by an old lady with her silvery gray hair done up elegantly. Looking at the villagers who remained standing and staring, the old lady waved with joy, moved her toothless mouth, and seemed to have mumbled, "Thank you for welcoming us." She had no teeth left in her mouth, said Mr. Gon later with the best eyesight in the village. That's why the words that the smiling old lady uttered sounded like: "Dad-yu-wo-weggoming-ud." according to the villagers. These mysterious words were interpreted by Ken, a boy who just turned five years old and had good ears. "The old lady said, 'Thank you for welcoming us.'" That settled the matter. The words that Ken interpreted could not be wrong. There were more surprises. The junk truck had an old sewing machine on its bed. No one touched the sewing machine but its pedal moved by itself, briskly sounding out the rhythm of a samba, something like du-da-da, du-da-da-da in tune with the rattling and rumbling noise of the truck. The sound was so rhythmical that the stone statue of Jizo (guardian deity of children), which usually does not budge, was induced into dancing (or so insisted several villagers) and this hearsay also caused a big uproar. The surprise did not end there. A girl about the same age as Ken was sitting quietly on the sewing machine, looking quite timid. She wore a yellow hat, a bit too large for her, and was appeared bashful and very uneasy. Eventually, the junk truck driven by the old lady suddenly shook and started lurching, nearly falling forward. Just then, the girl's hat was caught by the wind and blown into the air. In response, the girl quickly took off after her hat. It happened only momentarily but Ken thought he saw the girl flap golden wings, fly up into the air, and skillfully catch her hat. After catching he hat, the girl sat back down on the sewing machine as if nothing had happened. Of course, her golden wings were no longer visible. Ken caught his breath, feeling that he had seen something secret that he should not have seen, and looked at the people around him. Fortunately, all the villagers were absorbed in talk about the dancing Jizo statue and no one else seemed to have noticed the girl's hidden golden wings. Ken felt relieved and looked at the girl as she adjusted the hat she had retrieved. Then, the girl smiled at Ken as if to say, "What you saw just now is a secret between you and me." Eventually, the junk truck rattled and rumbled away, sounding out the rhythm of du-da-da, du-da-da-da. |
Not tonight, though. The lights remained on in most all the houses, and people kept talking well into the night again and again about the junk truck they saw at high noon. Of course, Ken was wide awake. He felt anxious to tell Father, Mother, and Big Brother about what he had seen during the day--- about the girl's golden wings. His mouth kept trying to move by itself as if urging him to tell about his experience. How hard it was to keep a secret! Ken was angry with himself for being anxious to give away the secret. But he remembered, again and again, the promise he made to the girl who smiled at him as if to say, "It's a secret between you and me," and managed to keep himself from telling about the secret. That night, the villagers were too surprised to sleep but, before the night gave way to day, another big uproar occurred. Old Gengoro, who always got up earlier than anyone else in the village, went out for his daily morning walk with his dog, Yota, and what did he find? In the old, dilapidated house at the edge of the village, covered with overgrown weeds, the couple on yesterday's junk truck had settled and started to clean up the house. Seeing all this, Old Gengoro started to run from the old house, which the villagers called the Weedy Mansion, and reached the village plaza in one minute, a distance which usually takes fifteen minutes to cover. Despite the old man's wish to tell the news to all the villagers as soon as possible, they were still fast asleep because they had stayed up late last night. "What are you all doing? Wake up now!" Old Gengoro couldn't wait any longer. At four in the morning, he climbed up the fire tower and rang the fire bell fast and furious to wake up everybody. |
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