SEVENTEEN SYLLABLES
III 1
"Oh, go on home," her mother said. "We'll make out for
awhile."
In the privy, Rosie peered through a knothole toward the fields,
watching as much as she could of Jesus. Happily she thought she
saw him look in the direction of the house from time to time before
he finished unloading and went back toward the patch where his
mother and father worked.
As
she was heading for the shed, a very
presentable black car purred up the dirt driveway to the house and
its driver motioned to her. Was this the Hayashi home, he wanted
to know. She nodded. Was she a Hayashi? Yes, she said, thinking
that he was a good-looking man. He got out of the car with a huge,
flat package and she saw that he warmly wore a business suit. "I
have something here for your mother then," he said, in a more elegant
Japanese than she was used to.
She told him where her mother was and he came along with her,
patting his face with an immaculate white handkerchief and saying
something about the coolness of San Francisco. To her surprised
mother and father, he bowed and introduced himself as, among other
things, the
haiku
editor of the
M ainichi Shinbun,
saying that since
he had been coming as far as Los Angeles anyway, he had decided to
bring her the first prize she had won in the recent contest.
"First prize?" her mother echoed, believing and not believing,
pleased and overwhelmed. Handed the package with a bow, she
bobbed her head up and down numerous times to express her utter
gratitude.
"It is nothing much," he added, "but I hope it will serve as a
token of our great appreciation for your contributions and our great
admiration of your considerable talent."
"I am not worthy," she said, falling easily into his style.
"It
is I
who should make some sign of my humble thanks for being permitted
to contribute."
"No, no, to the contrary," he said, bowing again.
But Rosie's mother insisted, and then saying that she knew she
was being unorthodox, she asked if she might open the package be–
cause her curiosity was so great. Certainly she might. In fact, he would
like her reaction to it, for personally,
it
was one of his favorite
Hiro–
shiges.
Rosie thought
it
was a pleasant picture, which looked to have
