SEVENTEEN SYLLABLES
1125
were only kidding, Natsu," she said. "Here, you try it on now."
Mter Natsu buttoned herself into the coat, inspected herself
solemnly in the bureau mirror, and reluctantly shed it, Rosie, Aid,
and Fuyu got their turns, and Fuyu, who was eight, drowned in it
while her sisters and Rosie doubled up in amusement. They all went
into the front room later, because Haru's mother quaveringly called
to her to fix the tea and rice cakes and open a can of sliced peaches
for everybody. Rosie noticed that her mother and Mr. Hayano· were
talking together at the little table-they were discussing a
haiku
that Mr. Hayano was planning to send to the
M ainichi,
while her '
father was sitting at one end of the sofa looking through a copy of
Life,
the new picture magazine. Occasionally, her father would
comment on a photograph, holding it toward Mrs. Hayano and
speaking to her as he always did-loudly, as though he thought
someone such as she must surely be at least a trifle deaf also.
The five girls had their refreshments at the kitchen table, and
it was while Rosie was showing the sisters her trick of swallowing
peach slices without chewing (she chased each slippery crescent down
with a swig of tea) that her father brought his empty teacup and
untouched saucer to the sink and said, "Come on, Rosie, we're
going home now."
"Already?" asked Rosie.
"Work tomorrow," he said.
He sounded irritated, and Rosie, puzzled, gulped one last yel–
low slice and stood up to go, while the sisters began protesting, as
was their wont.
"We have to get up at five-thirty," he told them, going into
the front room quickly, so that they did not have their usual chance
to hang onto his hands and plead for an extension of time.
Rosie, following, saw that her mother and Mr. Hayano were
sipping tea and still talking together, while Mrs. Hayano concen–
trated, quivering, on raising the handleless Japanese cup to her lips
with both her hands and lowering it back to her lap. Her father, say–
ing nothing, went out the door, onto the bright porch, and down the
steps. Her mother looked up and asked, "Where is he going?"
"Where is he going?" Rosie said. "He said we were going home
now."
"Going home?" Her mother looked with embarrassment at Mr.
