Brazil-Maru

by Karen Tei Yamashita

“This whole thing is a scam!” Kōno said. “We’ve got to stop it. Did you see any of those Nambei Publicity people? Did you?”

  “I haven’t got time for those people.” My old man was jerking Shiratori to the glass doors.

  “Fakes!” Kōno ran after Befu crying, “All fakes! I’ve been asking around. No one’s heard of them. We’ve bought airplane tickets for everybody to nowhere for nothing!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Who’s going to pay for this mistake?” Kōno was getting hysterical. “This will set us back months! Months of work all for this dancing nonsense!”

  The old man nodded. He thought dancing was nonsense too. Befu was like Kōno. He liked chickens. He was the old chicken expert. But the old man was tired now. He used to be angrier in the old days. But Shiratori didn’t know I was crazy. He didn’t know that everything had turned to gray. The old man still sat next to Kantaro, but he never said much anymore. Nothing to say. Only Kantaro got to take cortisone. The old man pushed Shiratori down the stairs of the theater, into the street. He yelled, “If I were younger, I would kill you! I would kill you!”

  Ritsu ran around and around. I looked at her, but I didn’t see her. She was trying to tell me something. She was trying to say she was my mother. She was my mother, but she was no one. She was always no one. Always Ritsu. No one noticed Ritsu. Ritsu had no shoes. Ritsu had the same old dress. The other aunties got their way. They got cloth for new dresses. They got shoes. They got books for their kids. Baseball equipment. Haru got a tri cycle for Hanako’s kids. Ritsu couldn’t even get me pencils. Ritsu was weak. Like Karasumori said, she probably wasn’t on the ark. But nobody noticed. Ritsu was the old man’s wife. Ritsu was Kantaro’s sister. At night the old man remembered Ritsu, but all day he only remembered Kantaro. Ritsu found some stubby pencils. She found some scraps of paper. She thought I needed them. But she was invisible.

  She went to the mango groves with a rope. I went there too. I took the stubby pencils and the paper with me. She was hanging there with bare feet. She looked like a mango. I drew the mango.

  CHAPTER 21:

  The Dream

  Kantaro is dreaming the same dream every night. He screams at night. Haru almost never sleeps. She’s in the kitchen even before the cocks crow. She can hear Kantaro screaming. She rushes in with a rag and slaps Kantaro. “Uno-san! Wake up! It’s a dream! A dream!” Then she makes him wake up and gets him out of bed. She makes him sit up while she changes everything. All the sheets are sopping with Kantaro’s sweat. She has to change Kantaro and rub him down with a towel. All the time she is complaining, “This is a nuisance! Every night the same thing. When is it going to stop?”

  Kantaro shakes his head. “Every night. Every night.”

  Haru makes Kantaro a cup of tea. They sit together until Kantaro feels sleepy.

  “I heard a funny thing,” Kantaro said.

  “What’s that?”

  “I didn’t understand it. Someone was trying to remember something when it happened. He said, ‘You know, it was about the same time when Haru was gone.’” Kantaro stopped and looked at Haru. “I said, ‘Haru gone’ and he said, ‘Yes, when Haru was gone, because everything was wrong for several weeks while she was gone. The coffee was no good. Old Takeshita didn’t get his medicine and almost died.’”

  Haru said nothing.

  Kantaro continued, “I said, ‘What are you talking about? Haru has always been here. She has never been anywhere else.’ Then he said, ‘Yes, but this was when Yōgu left, but my memory is bad. You are right. I am confused. Haru has always been here.’”

  Haru is fat and old. She has thin gray hair in a little bun and funny thick spectacles. Her hair is never in place. When she smiles, her wrinkles go up.

  “What was he talking about?” asked Kantaro.

  “I don’t know,” Haru shook her head. “I don’t know. You know, Uno-san, I have always been here.”

  Kantaro nodded. He looked at this old woman. They said he married her for great love. You still have to hear that story about Kantaro’s great passion. “You know, Haru, we’re old now, but nobody else has a story like ours.” Then he falls asleep. Haru goes back to work.

  Kantaro tells everyone about his dream. He told my old man. He told him to make him forget about Ritsu. My old man listened carefully. Kantaro dreams about hell. There is a hot sea of stinking shit. Every night Kantaro is swimming in shit, choking in the fumes. He gets thrown out again and again by big waves. He tries to breathe, tries to swim, but he is drowning, rolling and cooking in the hot stinking rot.

  My old man had no answer for Kantaro, but Yae’s husband Shintaro Uguisuyama came back. He is always saying something smart. He said, “This dream portends great wealth. You can be sure of it!”

  After this, Kantaro stopped having his dream, but he still liked to talk about it.

  Uguisuyama came back alone for only one day again. He is always too busy. But Uguisuyama had enough time to tell Kantaro that he needed to think about the education of the youth. He said he taught himself everything by reading. He said he can read a book every day. He said the new generation is stupid. We don’t have the same education as Kantaro and Befu and the old-timers. We’re too stupid to keep things going. Kantaro talked about our history, but Uguisuyama said history would take too long.

  Then Uguisuyama went to talk to Karasumori and Fuyuko. He looked at Karasumori’s granite rock. Uguisuyama said he didn’t understand art. “Can you sell this stuff?” he asked. He said Karasumori better study the market. He heard Karasumori got a bad review from a Brazilian art critic. He laughed. “Maybe rich Brazilians want something else. If you don’t sell, what do you contribute to this place? You are both educated. You need to give the youth more than art. They need math, biology, economics, politics, business. They need to have the tools to be farmers and businesspeople.” Then he laughed about the publicity agency mess and about Kōno having to pay for everything. “You got into this mess because you only wanted to go back to Japan.”

  I thought Fuyuko would get mad, but she looked away. It was Karasumori who got mad. He pointed his cigarette at Uguisuyama and said he didn’t understand anything about life at Kantaro’s place. “You are an outsider. It’s easy to criticize when you don’t live here. We came here to live. We left Japan. We don’t need to go back.”

  Fuyuko said, “This is the life I chose. To live my art. When I first came here, I knew I must stay even if he would not.” She looked at Karasumori. “But I was very stupid then. I have learned many things. My ideas are different now. These people are my family. My dance, my body, my life belongs to them. It cannot be separated.”

  Uguisuyama looked at Karasumori. He said, “What about you? Who does your life belong to?”

  Karasumori looked at Fuyuko. He looked confused. He said, “This is the life we have chosen. We left Japan to have the freedom to do our art.”

  “You have your art, but the youth born here don’t have a choice. Only you are free to do your art. Well, not just you. Genji too!” Uguisuyama laughed. “You and Genji!” He laughed again. “Free to do your art!”

  When Uguisuyama left, Karasumori went to his granite rock with a big hammer and crashed down on it again and again. Pieces of the rock flew everywhere. Fuyuko came out and screamed, “Stop!” She ran around and hugged the granite, so Karasumori had to stop in midair. He threw the hammer far away and stomped off. Fuyuko ran after him. She cried, “I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant!”

  Karasumori stopped. He ran back into the house. When he came out, he was holding the mirror. He threw it on the ground, but it did not break. He fell to his knees and looked in the mirror. Fuyuko was there.

  Every other week Uguisuyama’s books keep arriving from Japan. They come in boxes, one after another. Everyone knows now they are just books. No one has time to see what books they are. My old man opened one of the boxes. He found some book and showed it to Kantaro. Kantaro looked impressed. The book got passed around, but no one re
ad it. The boxes get stacked in the dining hall. Now it’s just a wall of books. Everyone ignores it.

  I’ve got nothing to do all day. I follow Haru around. She scolds me, but I don’t care. Now she’s feeding me that genius medicine again. Maybe it’s working.

  The old man’s beard suddenly turned white. His eyebrows turned white too. His eyes didn’t turn white, but they are empty now. The old man looks like a ghost. He doesn’t bother about chickens anymore. He never even talks to Kōno. He doesn’t care about the Uno-Yuwasa Poultry Project. He stays all day with his orchids. Just talking to his orchids.

  For a while everyone on the outside was talking about the Uno-Yuwasa Poultry Project. They talked about how talented Kōno is. They said now Kantaro’s place was on the road to success. All because of Kantaro’s smart son-in-law from Japan, Yoshifumi Kōno. Lots of farmers invested in the Uno-Yuwasa breed of chickens. Someone said we should be proud of Kōno, but I only hear people here complaining. “Kōno is selfish.” “Kōno is an egotist. He wants all the glory for himself.” “Kōno thinks he is the new leader. No one can replace Kantaro.” “Who does Kōno think he is? Kōno is an outsider.” “He thinks he’s better than us. A rich spoiled son from Japan who doesn’t know the past, doesn’t know our history.” “Ever since he bailed Kantaro and Fuyuko out of that publicity agency hoax, he thinks he’s our savior.”

  But Kōno failed. The farmers say the Uno-Yuwasa breed is too weak. They get sick and die. They don’t produce a lot of eggs. They won’t buy any more chicks from us. Kōno is saying it’s not the breed; it’s other factors. Other factors. He is blaming everyone for his failure. He says some workers are lazy. They forget to give the chickens their vitamins. They forget to follow the strict diet. Some people don’t follow instructions. Details are important. Kōno is working day and night. He is losing hair, and his forehead is getting bigger and bigger. Where are the others? He can’t do everything by himself. Some people say that since Kōno did everything himself, then it is all his fault.

  Kōno stood up at dinner. He read a letter from the chicken expert in Japan, old Yuwasa himself. Yuwasa has heard everything from other people. He heard the bad news that Kantaro’s place had made a mess of his famous breed. Now Yuwasa’s chickens have a bad name. He was pretty mad. He was mad at Kōno. He was mad at Kantaro. He was mad at all of us for ruining his reputation. He said we were irresponsible. We had bad debts in the past. We were bad news. He sent public notices to Shigeshi Kasai’s newspaper and other newspapers. The notices said his Yuwasa name was being withdrawn from the Uno Poultry Project. We could call our breed whatever we wanted, but it was not his famous breed. Kōno’s voice trembled when he read the letter. And when he finished, no one said anything. They all just left the dining hall, left Kōno alone. Hanako came with her babies. She handed a baby to Kōno. He held the baby and cried.

  Kimi had been the first to notice that Akiko never returned from the toilets. She ran around the theater searching for Akiko. I knew by now that Akiko had gone with Tsuneo, but everyone was too busy talking about how Shiratori had come in modern disguise and how my old man Befu threw him out. I saw Kimi’s face when she heard about Shiratori. She looked like Befu had punched her one. When she told the old man that Akiko was gone, he shouted, “I should have killed him as I said I would!”

  But Kantaro just said to Kimi, “You stay in the city with Befu, and you bring her back. Don’t come back, if you don’t bring Akiko with you.” Kantaro gave Kimi one of those looks that was worse than getting punched.

  Then they said Tsuneo was gone too. Everyone got very confused. My old man said that it was Tsuneo who warned him about Shiratori. Maybe Tsuneo and Shiratori had planned this together. Tsuneo always liked those upstarts who came around saying they wanted to teach.

  Kimi and my old man stayed in the city. They had to stay a long time. They stayed at Kasai’s house for weeks. My old man slept in the closet. Maybe the mango groves were still there. They couldn’t find Shiratori, but Hatomura still worked at Kasai’s newspaper. Kasai found out that Tsuneo had gotten a job in the produce market, and he and Akiko were staying with Hatomura. The old man wanted to rush out and kill Hatomura, but Kimi made him calm down. Kimi went alone to see Hatomura at Kasai’s office. She lied. She told Hatomura that if Akiko wanted to leave, it was okay. Akiko was getting too old to get a husband. She made Hatomura promise to take care of Akiko. “Akiko has never been anywhere before. It will be very lonely for her. Please, I beg you to be good to her, not to fail her trust in you. But let me just see her one more time.” Hatomura was so stupid. He must have felt wonderful for the last time in his life. He told Kimi where to find Akiko.

  So Kimi and the old man went to Hatomura’s place. Maybe Befu’s an old man, but he grabbed Akiko and pushed her into a taxi and got her on a bus back to Esperança.

  When Akiko got back, Kantaro pretended to look sorry. He told Akiko it was all his fault. “I realize after all this time that it is all my fault. I did not realize how much you wanted to have a family of your own, your own children, your own house to care for. You must forgive me. I have always thought of you as a little girl, but time has been passing for all of us. I have been selfish I admit and not thinking of your happiness. But now, I will make it all up to you, and you must forgive me.”

  Akiko and Kimi both cried. I guess they cried because they are both too old. Then Kantaro told everyone that Akiko and Kanzo were getting married. This was a big surprise because Kanzo and Akiko have never really liked each other.

  Ever since Yae left and got married to Uguisuyama, Kanzo doesn’t say anything. He does his work and keeps his mouth shut. When Kantaro said Kanzo’s got to marry Akiko, he never said a thing. It was just as if Kantaro had ordered him to go plow a field or build a chicken coop.

  Yae and Uguisuyama showed up for the wedding. This time they stuck around for several weeks. Yae brought material to help Akiko make a dress. Yae measured Akiko and cut the material. She said to Akiko, “I saw Hatomura in São Paulo.”

  Akiko said, “Hatomura is a nice man.”

  Yae nodded. Then she said, “Do you want to marry Kanzo?”

  Akiko didn’t say. She looked sad. “Kantaro wants this, so I want it too.”

  Yae said, “Kanzo is a good person, but he is afraid of Kantaro.”

  Akiko said, “I know what everyone says. I am getting old. Soon I will be too old to get married. Finally, Kantaro has allowed me to get married. I can’t say no.”

  No one said anything for a while. Then Akiko said, “You are married to Uguisuyama now. Are you happy?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you regret leaving Kanzo?”

  “No.”

  “Yae-chan,” Akiko almost whispered, “thank you for my dress.”

  Yae put her arms around Akiko, and they both blubbered like two babies.

  Meanwhile Uguisuyama took the truck and got bricks and cement to build a library. A building to put that wall of books in. Kantaro pointed to the books and said, “There are your books. We didn’t know what to do with them. It’s a good thing you came when you did. I was thinking of throwing them out.” Kantaro said this, but I know he took some books for himself. His eyes get tired, and he never reads more than two or three pages. Anyway, Kantaro would never thank an upstart like Uguisuyama.

  Then Kantaro ordered everyone to build the library. Everyone stopped their other work. They had to build shelves too. It got finished the day before the wedding.

  Everyone in Esperança was there. Nobody was going to miss this wedding. Lots of food and lots of gossip. Kantaro spoke at the wedding. “These two events, this marriage and this library, signal the beginning of a new era for Esperança. Fifty years ago, we pioneered a new civilization in the virgin forest to begin a new life. Now we have come together through much sacrifice and many difficulties to build the seed for a new beginning for our children and their children. These two young people, Kanzo and Akiko, are the offspring of our great efforts, our great suffering to con
quer great odds. They have both chosen to stay here in Esperança to continue the work that we have started. By their marriage, they show their devotion to a great ideal and their love for Esperança. In a sense, the library is their wedding present, a present to their future, to the education of their children, the promise of a great civilization, a great dream.”

  Akiko was dressed in the long white dress Yae made. She had a lot of makeup on. She just looked down at Haru’s big wedding cake. Kanzo was the same, just staring into the cake too. They were both too old now to be staring at a wedding cake. But Kanzo couldn’t say no to Kantaro. Kanzo isn’t smart like Tsuneo, but Kanzo doesn’t have to be smart. Some day he is just supposed to become like Kantaro, as a silkworm turns into a moth. I never turned into my old man. Kanzo is too old to turn into anything. At least Kanzo can lift a bag of beans.

  Uguisuyama came by just after the speeches to talk to Kantaro. He said, “I’ve arranged for a small plane. A pilot is waiting for us at the field now. I want you to inspect some land I am interested in buying in Mato Grosso. By plane, it is very close, and we would be back in time for the evening festivities.”

  “Land in Mato Grosso?”

  “Yes. Land is very cheap in Mato Grosso. I have been investigating everything.”

  “You are a sharp businessman, Uguisuyama.”

  Uguisuyama agreed and laughed.

  “My idea is that your people can occupy this land for ranching. Call it a wedding present.”

  Kantaro was really surprised. First the library, now land in Mato Grosso? Kantaro pretended to be calm.

  I never talk much anymore, but Uguisuyama gave me a pack of cigarettes. And I had drunk a whole bottle of beer, so I said, “Take me with you.”

  Uguisuyama didn’t mind. He wasn’t like Karasumori who still hates me. “Come along,” he agreed. Then he said to Kantaro, “Maybe you’d like to take a photo of our new land with this.” Kantaro and I looked at Uguisuyama. He pulled the strap off his shoulders and handed a fancy camera to Kantaro. “Nikon-F2. Latest model.” He pulled a round leather case out of his pocket. “Here’s the wide-angle lens for it. Try it out from the air.” Uguisuyama pushed a button and changed the lens. “They call this a fish-eye.” He let me look through the camera. Kantaro’s face got fat.