The Woman in the Dunes - Machi Abe [73]
But what could be so displeasing to them about “Hope?” No matter from what angle he looked, he could find nothing suspicious about the trap. Crows were uncommonly cautious because they scavenged for human refuse around where people lived. Well then, it was a question of who would have the most patience … until they became completely accustomed to the rotten fish in the hole. Patience itself was not necessarily defeat. Rather, defeat really began when patience was thought to be defeat. He had named the contraption “Hope” originally with this in mind. The Cape of Good Hope was not Gibraltar, but Capetown.
He returned slowly to the house, dragging his feet. It was time to sleep again.
29
WHEN the woman saw him, she blew out the lamp as if she had just remembered and changed her position to a lighter place near the door. Did she still mean to go on working? he wondered. Suddenly he felt an irresistible impulse. Standing in front of her, he struck the box of beads from her knees. Black grains, like grass seed, flew over the earthen floor, sinking at once into the sand. She stared at him with a startled look, but said nothing. All expression suddenly left the man’s face. A weak groan came from his sagging lips … followed by some yellowish spittle.
“It’s pointless. You might as well give up. It’s all so pointless. The poison’ll soon be in your blood.”
She still said nothing. The beads which she had already strung swung feebly back and forth between her fingers, shining like drops of molasses. A slight shaking rose through his body.
“Yes, indeed. Soon it’ll be too late. We’ll look one day and find that the villagers have disappeared to a man and that we’re the only ones left. I know it … it’s true. This is going to happen soon for sure. It’ll already be too late by the time we realize we’ve been betrayed. What we’ve done for them up till now will be just a joke to them.”
The woman’s eyes were fixed on the beads which she held in her hands. She shook her head weakly.
“They couldn’t do that. It’s not anybody can make a living once he gets out of here.”
“It all comes to the same thing then, doesn’t it? Anyone who stays here is not living much of a life either.”
“But there is the sand.…”
“The sand?” The man clamped his teeth together, rolling his head. “What good is sand? Outside of giving you a hard time it doesn’t bring in a penny.”
“Yes, it does. They sell it.”
“You sell it? Who do you sell such stuff to?”
“Well, to construction companies and places like that. They mix it with concrete.…”
“Don’t joke! It would be a fine mess if you mixed this sand with cement—it’s got too much salt in it. In the first place, it’s probably against the law or at least against construction regulations.…”
“Of course, they sell it secretly. They cut the hauling charges in half too.…”
“That’s too absurd! Even if half price were free, that won’t make it right when buildings and dams start to fall to pieces, will it?”
The woman suddenly interrupted him with accusing eyes. She spoke coldly, looking at his chest, and her attitude was completely different.
“Why should we worry what happens to others?”
He was stunned. The change was complete, as if a mask had dropped over her face. It seemed to be the face of the village, bared to him through her. Until then the village was supposed to be on the side of the executioner. Or maybe they were mindless man-eating plants, or avaricious sea anemones, and he was supposed to be a pitiful victim who happened to be in their clutches. But from the standpoint of the villagers, they themselves were the ones who had been abandoned. Naturally there was no reason why they should be under obligation to the outside world. So if it