SEVENTEEN SYLLABLES
1129
Her own breathing deafened her in the dark, close space, and she
sat and waited until she could hear at last the nightly calling of
the frogs and crickets. Even then, all she could think to say was oh,
my, and the pressure of Jesus' face against her face would not leave.
No one had missed her in the parlor, however, and Rosie walked
in and through quickly, announcing that she was next going to take
a bath. "Your father's in the bathhouse," her mother said, and Rosie,
in her room, recalled that she had not seen him when she entered.
There had been only Aunt Taka and Uncle Gimpachi with her
mother at the table, drinking tea. She got her robe and straw sandals
and crossed the parlor again to go outside. Her mother was telling
them about the
haiku
competition in the
M ainichi
and the poem
she had entered.
Rosie met her father coming out of the bathhouse. "Are you
through, Father?" she asked. "I was going to ask you to scrub my
back."
"Scrub your own back," he said shortly, going toward the main
house.
"What have I done now?" she yelled after him. She suddenly
felt like doing a lot of yelling. But he did not answer, and she went
into the bathhouse. Turning on the dangling light, she removed her
denims and T-shirt and threw them in the big carton for dirty clothes
standing next to the washing machine. Her other things she took
with her into the bath compartment to wash after her bath. After
she had scooped a basin of hot water from the square wooden tub,
she sat on the grey cement of the floor and soaped herself at exag–
gerated leisure, singing, "Red Sails in the Sunset" at the top of her
voice and using da-da-da where she suspected her words. Then,
standing, still singing, for she was possessed by the notion that any
attempt now to analyze would result in spoilage and she believed that
the larger her volume the less she would be able to hear herself think,
she obtained more hot water and poured it on until she was free of
lather. Only then did she allow herself to step into the steaming vat,
one leg first, then the remainder of her body inch by inch until the
water no longer stung and she could move around at will.
.
She took a long time soaking, afterwards remembering to go
around outside to stoke the embers of the tin-lined fireplace beneath
the tub and to throw on a few more sticks so that the water might
