Ruined Map - Abe Kobo [89]
“Shall I turn down the sound further?”
“No. It’s fine. It’s best this way.”
The girl smiled sarcastically. Placing both hands on the counter, she drew herself back and, raising her naked leg, crossed it in a large arc. Her thick gleaming thigh completely filled the space between the counter and the bar stool. Putting her weight on the arm that held the glass, she turned the upper part of her body toward me, reducing the distance separating us by half. “Is the customer you were talking about the man next to me?”
“No. He’s not the one. But it doesn’t seem to be the first time here for him either. Do you remember him?”
“I can’t remember the face of every single customer. The light’s right in my eyes and the customers are as black as crows at midnight.”
“But Mr. Nemuro’s pictures were terrific,” I said, gently caressing the girl’s leg with my fingers. Seeing she put up no resistance, I boldly placed my palm on the curve of her large white thigh, while over her shoulder I could see Tashiro averting his gaze in confusion, clamping his lips on his second drink, which had just been brought, as if he could bite the glass. “Letting someone go so far in taking pictures of you is proof you were rather intimate, isn’t it?”
“What sort of work does he do?”
“He’s a section head.”
“Office workers run out of money. My fee for working outside is high. In return, I do what the client wants.” Suddenly she finished off her gin fizz, which she had been sipping slowly and, holding up her glass, ordered a second without requesting permission. “But I’m going to be married in a little while. I want a big ceremony. My bridal gown is definitely not going to be a rented one. I’m going to put up all my friends at the most expensive hotel and have a party where everyone can drink as much as he wants, all night long, free.”
“By ‘friends,’ you mean model friends? In that case, your fiancé must know about your work, doesn’t he?”
“None of your business.” I seemed to have touched a sensitive spot; she peevishly brushed my hand away. “I don’t do this work for the fun of it or to show off. Of course, I’ve had my dreams too. But I wasn’t lucky. I’ll never take second place to anyone. If the others think they do better than I, let’s just compare bankbooks. Your purse is empty if you play the lady and do bathing-suit ads for discount houses. For my kind of work twenty-five or twenty-six is the peak, and after that the only thing left is what’s in your bankbook.”
“Then you can look your fiancé in the face.”
“It’s true. Nobody has to spend money on me. I’m the one who provides all the expenses for the ceremony and the down payment on an apartment. I’m not going to buy anyone to marry me.”
“If that’s so, then those pictures are pretty valuable articles.”
“What pictures, for heaven’s sake? You’re so secretive.”
“The ones of only your back and buttocks. Don’t you remember? The fellow who specialized in backs and buttocks. The charming dimples about the cleavage in your buttocks. Look. This one.”
Grasping a photo I had ready in my pocket, I held it in front of her eyes. Suddenly her expression changed and even her voice took on an uncompromising severity.
“How can you know it’s me?”
“Because I do.” Again I placed my hand on her thigh, absorbing her through my palm. “First of all, your hair, for instance.”
“What do you mean?” Suddenly she laughed nervously, at the same time frowning suspiciously. “That’s silly. Not everybody, but most of us wear any wig the customer demands. Right now I’m wearing long black hair on order.”
Abruptly she turned and looked at Tashiro over her shoulder, swinging her long tresses and lashing out the ends, which she grasped in her hands. I could not tell the meaning of her high-pitched woman’s voice. The expression on Tashiro’s face was hidden