Kyoko stood at the stern, watching the white foam behind the boat, when she heard Etsuko call her name. She turned and saw that the previous cheerful expression was gone from her friend’s face. She wasn’t sure, but it looked as if Etsuko’s eyes were shining with held-back tears. Then she noticed a cardboard box in Etsuko’s hands, apparently taken from her travelling bag, which lay open on the deck beside her.
“What’s that?” Kyoko asked.
Etsuko walked up to her with the box and opened it. Inside was the sad-faced black Kewpie doll, holding its broken heart. She took it out and placed it on the deck and switched it on.
The two women watched in silence as large tear-drops began to fall from the doll’s eyes, while its hands were desperately trying to put together the two halves of its broken heart.
Then Etsuko switched off the doll and put it back into the box. She produced a black ribbon from her handbag and carefully tied up the box with it.
Kyoko was looking on wide-eyed, wondering what Etsuko was trying to do. She didn’t have to wait long for an answer.
“I don’t think I need this doll anymore,” Etsuko whispered and pushed the box off the deck into the foaming white water.
The box disappeared in an instant, but for a while Etsuko kept staring at the endless wake behind the boat. When finally she turned to Kyoko again, she was smiling.
Kyoko took hold of Etsuko’s hands and smiled with her. She knew it wouldn’t be long before her friend’s surname would change again.
Honeymoon to Nowhere Page 28