───────────────────────
───────────────────────
この本はタチヨミ版です。
3E. The two men in a field hospital
5E. The hometown of the alien from Planet Feces
6E. Higan, the Equinoctial week
8E. An unknown episode about the birth of a geometrical planet
I'm sliding down a long slide.
I see the blue sky above and the darkness below, but I don't feel wind because I'm in a vacuum.
A woman, who is on the slide to the left of me, falls down abruptly; maybe because the inclination of her slide becomes steeper from that point on. It's a pity that she has gone, as I was getting on well with her.
The slide turns to the right, then to the left as my speed accelerates. Now I'm sliding much faster than before after having gone across under the woman who had been sliding parallel with me. The more vertical my body becomes, my eyesight moves up with it. Then, I fly a big loop in a flash, and continue to slide down on the continuous steep slope even after the loop. Meanwhile, the inclination of the slide gradually becomes less steep, and I begin to slow down.
I see a sign over my head, which reads: “Supermarket soon ahead”.
The sliding speed suddenly slows down after crossing three hills. I go through the gate of the “Supermarket Yaokichi”, take one of the yellow shopping baskets, which are on my right, and place it on my knees. I look for what I need to buy among the products set up on both sides, and put some necessary things in the basket such as bread, milk, fermented soybeans, apples, tissue boxes, tooth brushes, ball-point pens, underwear and other items like these.
I quickly pay for them while passing by the checkout counter, and go through the gate, which reads: “Please come again”.
Another sign reads: “Restroom soon ahead”. It is getting closer while I'm eating an apple, so I take down my pants by using only one hand. I feel pretty cold on my butt! When I reach the area where the slope is furrowed in the middle, I strain and defecate. In addition, I throw the core of the apple into the furrow from behind. I've finished easing nature, so an electric bidet washes my behind with warm water, and dries it with warm air. I hitch up my trousers to cover my butt.
The inclination of the slide becomes steep again, so my sliding speed increases. Unexpectedly, I see a woman coming up on my left. It is the woman who I met a little while ago. I wish I could slide with her on the “union slope”. Maybe I should at least ask her name.
“Hi! We met again. I'm Salam. What's your name?”
すべってる。すべり台のうえ。
天空は青、眼下は闇。真空なので風は感じない。
左横を並滑していた女性がすうっと落ちた。傾斜角が変わったようだ。話が合ったのに、残念だ。
加速しながら右にカーブしたあと、左にカーブし、さっきの女性の真下をくぐってから更に速度が増す。体が垂直になっていくとともに目線が上がっていき、いっきに大きく宙返り。回転の終点を通過しても急傾斜のまま下降し続ける。徐々に傾斜がゆるみ、速度が落ちる。
頭上に「もうすぐスーパー」の標識。
小さな山を三つ越えると極端に減速する。『スーパー・ヤオキチ』のゲートをくぐり、右に並ぶ黄色い買い物かごのひとつを取って、ひざにのせる。左右に置かれた商品を物色しながら、必要なものをかごに入れていく。食パン・牛乳・納豆・りんご・ティッシュ・歯ブラシ・ボールペン・下着、こんなところか。
レジを通過しながらすばやく勘定をすませ、『またどうぞ』のゲートをくぐる。
りんごをかじっていると、「もうすぐトイレ」の標識。片手で尻をまくる。ああ冷たい。滑り面の中心に溝が切ってある区域にさしかかり、きばる。出た。りんごの芯をお尻側から溝に捨てる。もう出ない。温水のウォッシュレットで尻が洗浄され、温風によって乾かされる。ズボンを上げ、尻をしまう。
傾斜が急になり、速度が増す。左に女性が並ぶ。奇遇だなあ。さっき会った女性だ。この人と合体すべり台でいっしょにすべれるといいのになあ。名前くらい聞いておこう。
「やあ、また会えたね。ぼく、サラム。きみは？」
One day while I was on holiday, I was having lunch sitting at the electric kotatsu heater, when I heard a splash coming from the pond in my yard. I thought that it was probably my neighbor's mischievous cat and had come in again, so I quickly went out onto the verandah and looked around the yard.
Despite what I had thought, it was a boy, who was sitting on his heels in front of the pond, with his back towards me. He was wearing a yellow baseball cap and a white T-shirt, and was beating water's surface with a bamboo leaf. I wondered where his house was, and said:
“Hey, boy! You shouldn't enter here!”
Having heard my voice, the boy stood up, and started to run away without looking back at me. I noticed that his shorts were brown, then slipped my feet into my sandals to follow him.
The boy ran out of the gate of my house, and turned left. I also ran out of the gate, looked to the left, and spotted him turning right at the corner just up ahead. He was a very fast runner.
I walked back to my yard, and picked up the bamboo leaf floating in the pond which the boy had left, when I heard a whistling sound:
“Pew, pew!”
I looked in the direction, which the sound was coming from, and saw the same boy again; he was standing with his arms and legs outstretched with his back towards me, fluttering his hands.
What on earth does he want from me? Does he like making fun of adults? I wondered and shouted:
“Hey, you!”
I threw the bamboo leaf down into the pond, and rushed to the gate. The boy ran to the right this time. When I reached the gate and looked right, I saw that the boy was about to turn to the left at the corner up ahead.
I won't give up this time!
I pushed my feet into my sandals well so they wouldn't come off, rolled up the legs of my pajama pants, as I had just gotten up from the bed, and started to run with big strides, shouting:
“Wait!”
When I reached the first corner, I saw the boy's backside turning to the right at the second corner. Then, when I reached the second corner, I saw his backside turning to the left at the third corner, and so on.
While I was running after him, a memory came into my mind.
I've had a similar experience like this before… Oh, yes. It was when I was in my third year of elementary school.
That afternoon after the classes had finished, I went back to school because I had left something in the classroom. When I entered the classroom through the door, which was in the back of the classroom, someone was leaving the classroom through the other door, which was at the front. I wondered who it could have been, so I took a few steps backwards to get out into the corridor, and looked at the front door. At that very moment, a boy with a yellow baseball cap was just turning to the right in front of the wall at the end of the corridor.
Wow, he runs so fast! I thought.
This boy's retreating figure was just like what I had seen on that day at school.
Chasing after this boy I found that he had led me to the city center, which was crowded with people because it was a holiday. I, who was wearing pajamas, earnestly followed him, pushing my way through the crowd.
Then, another memory flashed into my mind; I had seen the small back of this boy with a white T-shirt before, just after having started to work in a company.
On that day, when I got off the train and was walking along the crowded platform to go to the office, something hit me hard on my side. Just after that, a yellow cap passed by in front of my breast. I followed it with my eyes, and realized that it was a small boy running far away from me. He ran so fast as he dashed up the stairs and was out of my sight in a flash. This boy's retreating figure was just like what I had seen that day at the train station.
Oops! I almost tripped and fell on the ground. That was a close call!
The boy was still running on without showing any signs of fatigue, passing through the crowd skillfully.
What? I think something isn't right with this scene… What's wrong? Oh, I've got it! I see all the people standing with their backs towards me. Does it mean that they are walking in the same direction as me? No, it doesn't. Some of them are walking back towards me. All right, so I'll pass them and turn around to see their faces… Wow! They have back views also on their front sides! Did they just turn back all together after I passed by them?
I surveyed the scene, and found that all the people in the city center were standing with their backs towards me, standing radially from me. Therefore, I could only see the black backs of their heads, their backs, their hips and their heels. They looked like a black Noppera-bo, a Japanese faceless ghost, as their faces were never seen.
Oh, the boy! I've forgotten that I was following the boy! Where is he now? Oh, he's just entered that snack bar over there.
I went in after him.
It was a small snack bar with some seats at the counter and three booths. Suddenly, I felt so tired that I bent forward with my hands on one of the seats. I just wanted to quench my thirst.
“W… water, please.” I said to the owner of the bar, who was shaking a cocktail shaker beyond the counter with his back towards me.
“Here you are, sir.” He put a glass of water on the counter still with his back towards me. His elbow bent in an unnatural way as if he were facing me.
In the end, I couldn't catch the boy. However, he led me to a wonderful world.
“Hello!” The bartender welcomed.
I was in the snack bar, where I had become a regular customer. As my girlfriend came in, I left the seat at the counter and moved to a booth with my glass in hand.
“My usual whisky and water, please.”
After having ordered from the owner, she stood by the table, which I was sitting at, separated her forelock, which was long enough to reach her breast, in two from the middle and pushed it up to both sides with both hands to let me have a peep at her smiling face. Then, she made a half-rotation on her heel, and said:
“I think I'll go with this side today.”
She pulled up her hair to show me her other face on the opposite side.
She is a straightforward girl, who has two front sides and no backside.
休日。こたつに入って昼食をとっていると、中庭の池がぱしゃぱしゃ鳴った。また近所の飼いネコがいたずらをしにきたのかな。すばやく縁側に出て、庭を見た。
池の前に、少年が背中をむけてしゃがみこんでいる。黄色い野球帽に白いＴシャツ。笹で水面を叩いている。どこの子だろう。
「ぼくぅ～、ダメですよー」
少年は立ち上がると、ふり向きもせず駆け出した。茶色い半ズボンをはいていた。
わたしはサンダルをつっかけ、あとを追った。
少年は門を出て左に曲がった。わたしも門を出て、左を見た。むこうの角を少年が右に曲がっていくところだった。すばしっこい子だ。
庭にもどり、池に浮かんでいる笹を拾い上げていると、
「ひゅうひゅう～」
声がした門のほうを見ると、さきほどの少年が後ろ向きに両手足を開き、大の字になって立っていた。手をひらひらさせている。
あの子、なんのつもりだ。おとなをからかっているのか？
「こらぁー！」
手にした笹を池に放り投げ、門にむかう。少年は、今度は右に走った。わたしが門にたどりついて右を見たときには、少年はむこうの角を左に曲がっていくところだった。
今度はあきらめないぞ。
サンダルを深めに履き、寝巻きをはしょって──起きたばかりなのだ──大股で走った。
「待ーてえー」
曲がり角までいくと、むこうの角を右に曲がっていく少年の背中、その角にたどりつくと、むこうの角を左に曲がっていく少年の背中、その角にいくと……。
走りながらふと思った。
むかし、これと似た経験をしたことがあるぞ。──そうだ。小学校三年のときだ。
放課後、忘れ物を取りに学校にもどり、教室の後ろのドアを開けて入ると、前のドアから誰かが出て行くところだった。おや？ と思い、あとずさりして廊下に出て、前のドアのほうを見た。すると、黄色い野球帽をかぶった少年が、ずっとむこうの壁の前で右に曲がったところだった。
なんて足が速い子なんだろう。
あのときと同じ背中だ。
その背中は今、わたしを休日でにぎわう街なかに導いた。人波をかき分けながら必死に追いかける。寝巻き姿のまま。
そういえば──。就職したてのときにも、白いＴシャツを着た、あの小さい背中を見たっけ。
通勤電車を降りて混雑したホームを歩いていると、何かが勢いよく脇腹にぶつかった。直後、わたしの胸あたりを黄色い帽子がよぎっていった。目で追うと、小さい背中が遠ざかっていく。おそろしくすばしっこい少年で、あっというまに階段を駆け昇り、見えなくなった。──あの背中だ。
おっとっと。足がもつれて転びそうになった。あぶないあぶない。
少年のほうは疲れたようすも見せず、走り続けている。たくみに人波を縫うように進んでいる。
ん？ 異様な景色。なにかか変だ。なんだろう？ あっ！ まわりの人がすべて背中をむけている。ということは、みんなわたしと同じ方向に歩いているのか？ いや違う。うしろむきのままこちらにむかって歩いている人もいる。通り過ぎてからふりむいてみる。ぎゃ！ こちら側もうしろ姿だ！ わたしとすれ違った直後に反転したとでもいうのか。
見わたすと、街中みんなうしろ姿だ。わたしを円の中心として、放射状に背中をむけている。確認できるのは、黒い後頭部と背中とお尻と足の後ろ側だけだ。顔がない。まるで黒いのっぺらぼうだ。
そうだ、少年だ。少年を追っていたんだっけ。どこだ、少年は。あっ、むこうのスナックに入っていった。わたしも後に続く。
カウンター席と、ボックス席が三つの、小さなスナックだ。どっと疲れが襲ってきた。両手を椅子にかけてかがみこむ。とにかくノドを潤そう。
「み、水をくれ」
カウンターのむこうで、背中をむけてシェーカをーふっているマスターに頼む。
「はい、どうぞ」
マスターはうしろ姿のままコップを置いた。まるでこちらに正面をむけているように、ひじが不自然な方向に曲がった。
少年は見つからなかった。しかし少年は、わたしをすばらしい世界に導いてくれた。
「いらっしゃい」
すっかり馴染みになったスナックに、恋人が現れた。わたしはグラスを持ってカウンター席からボックス席に移る。
「いつもの水割りね」
彼女はマスターに声をかけたあと、わたしがいるテーブルのよこに立った。両手で、胸のあたりまである前髪を真ん中からかき分け、ちらっと笑顔を見せた。そして、かかとでくるっと半回転した。
「きょうは、こっちでいってみようかしら」
髪をかき上げると、こちらにも顔がある。
うらおもてのない、いい子だ。
タチヨミ版はここまでとなります。
2017年5月9日 発行 初版
bb_B_00150057
bcck: http://bccks.jp/bcck/00150057/info
user: http://bccks.jp/user/127793
format:#002y
Powered by BCCKS
株式会社BCCKS
〒141-0021
東京都品川区上大崎 1-5-5 201
contact@bccks.jp
http://bccks.jp
趣味は読書と散歩です。
