It was a lie. There was no woman in his life. As pious a lie as it was, he began to loathe himself. His inability to just say no to anyone was pathetic and made him feel like some kid who was never going to grow up. All he could do was be inconsistent in the hope that the others would realize that he wasnt interested.
His wish wasnt granted, and Minako began to address the lie. Suppose you did have a child and it led to marriage. Youll need money. Therell be the cost of the wedding and youll have to find somewhere to live. And your child, of course. Do you realize how much it costs to raise kids?
The Ushijimas were childless, but this didnt make them feel any less qualified to lecture Enoyoshi. They insisted that the salary earned from an ordinary company job wasnt enough to raise a family. Always struggling to make ends meet, hed never be able to realize his own dreams
The Ushijimas were trying to get him interested in a pyramid-type sales scheme funded by foreign capital.
Enoyoshi was well aware that the organization in question was not involved in anything illegal. The concept of cutting costs through non-store retailing and handing the margin to the salespeople was not a bad one. The salespeople belonged to different echelons of a pyramidal hierarchy the higher the level, the greater the performance bonus. The Ushijimas were apparently on the third rung from the bottom and were eager to move up. To do so, they had to recruit salespeople by hook or by crook. Persuading new blood to sell the products manufactured by the company, training the rookies to become great sales reps, was the only way to improve their ranks. A car salesman no doubt familiar with marketing techniques, Enoyoshi would be a great catch for the Ushijimas. In fact, the products manufactured by the company included a car-care line.
Rising in rank meant making more money, enough to buy an apartment in just one year. The Ushijimas claimed they were making double what they made as civil servants from the pyramid scheme. Otherwise, they wouldnt have the yacht. The yacht was an absolutely indispensable tool for their recruitment efforts. Once they were out at sea, they could hammer their victim with their recruitment pitch without worrying about the victim escaping. The yacht also served as proof that the scheme could indeed make your dreams come true. For the Ushijimas, yachting was like holding one of those home parties where the host peddled some product.
Imagining it is key. Imagine it long enough and hard enough and it will come true.
Ushijima argued his case fervently, but Enoyoshi would have none of it. The world that Ushijima was painting held no interest at all for Enoyoshi. He wasnt indifferent to making money, but he simply wasnt ready to pursue it at the price of wrecking relationships. He could indeed imagine where it would all lead if he went after ever-increasing sales bonuses. Hed find himself in a sort of religious cult, a clique of similarly minded fanatics with one goal and one ideal, and it would be impossible to break away.
The Ushijimas reacted with clear displeasure and irritation. They spoke disapprovingly of Enoyoshis lack of imagination, calling him a fool, even hinting that he was an inferior human being. With their vaunted imagination, they predicted that Enoyoshi would live and die as a pathetic man working all lifelong just to eke out a living, without worthwhile dreams.
Enoyoshi could not even be bothered to argue with them. Of course, spending his entire life as a mere salesman was a distinct possibility. It would have been pointless to tell them that the idea didnt really upset him. It would have been tedious. All Enoyoshi wanted was to get off the yacht as soon as possible. Hed had enough of not having solid ground beneath him and being aboard someone elses yacht. He loathed the craven subservience that the unaccustomed setting was inducing in him.
The yacht was moving steadily northward about a hundred yards east of the Wakasu Golf Links, which stretched north to south on a slender tract of land. It was only another mile and a half to the Ara River Bay Bridge, and beyond it was the entrance to the Dream Island Marina. He wouldnt have to put up with them much longer now. Once off the yacht, he would never have anything to do with them again.
His prayers for haste notwithstanding, the engine of the MINAKO sputtered and came to a stop. So strangely that Ushijima stopped in mid-sentence and gulped. He looked over at the outboard motor.
Odd, very odd.
Enoyoshi glanced unconsciously at his watch. 6:27 p.m., that was when the yacht came to a standstill. A Keio line train was crossing the iron bridge ahead of them, making a distinctive sound. The light from the train windows formed a stream of white in the evening sky above the mouth of the river. Lights were lit in almost every building that lined the bay. The yacht had stopped just as the black surface of the sea began to glimmer with the reflections of these lights.
The area where the yacht had stopped ruled out the possibility of having run aground. They were several hundred yards west of the sandbar known as Sanmaizu that extended due south of the Kasai Coastal Park near the mouth of the former Edo River. Iron poles marked such shallow stretches of water to indicate the hazard. At night the tips of these poles were illuminated. There was little risk of accidentally running aground on sandbars unless there were strong winds or a dense fog. The Dream Island Marina staff had warned them repeatedly about the shallows outside the entrance, and for all his faults as a sailor, Ushijima had been steering the yacht with particular attention to avoiding the shallows.
The engines stopped, hasnt it? Enoyoshi noted incuriously, making no move to get up from his bench.
With a dubious look, Ushijima unscrewed the cap on the gasoline tank and peered in to check that it wasnt empty. He gingerly pulled the hand starter. The engine started immediately. The Ushijimas looked relieved, but only for a brief while. As soon as the skipper shifted into forward gear, the engine sputtered and died once more.
Now, instead of trying to restart the engine, Ushijima tilted up the drive unit out of the water.
What is this? Ushima exclaimed wildly, making Enoyoshi spring up. All three of them looked at the propeller.
In the evening darkness, soaked with seawater, the thing looked almost black. Ushijima reached toward the drive unit and retrieved, from in between the trim tab and the propeller, a childs blue canvas shoe. It had probably been floating nearby when the laces got tangled in the shaft and the whole shoe ended up being wound in to the propeller.
It was one of those Disney products, with a Mickey Mouse motif. Ushijima turned the shoe upside down to check the size. It was small and probably belonged to a young boy.
Shrugging his shoulders, Ushijima handed the shoe to Enoyoshi and made a face. His attitude suggested that he wanted Enoyoshi to get rid of it one way or another. With all kinds of objects floating in the sea, it wasnt strange to find a childs shoe. Yet, Ushijima seemed to find the thing somewhat sinister and seemed even afraid of it. After handing the shoe to Enoyoshi, he used a towel to wipe the palm of his right hand meticulously.
Ushijima prodded with a look, and Enoyoshi was about to throw the shoe back into the sea when he noticed a name on the heel. Kazuhiro, it said in black marker pen.
Little Kazuhiro, Enoyoshi muttered to himself.
Just throw it away, okay? Ushijima commanded rather menacingly.
Rather than hurl it away, Enoyoshi set it on the surface like a little boat and gave the heel a gentle shove.
The virtually brand-new left shoe bobbed unsteadily as it floated away. The current in this area was pretty swift, close as it was to the mouth of the River Ara. The shoe floated south and soon melted into the blackness of the sea. Enoyoshi pictured a little boy hopping about on his right foot.
Ushijima lowered the drive unit back into the water and started the engine. Theyd removed the shoe that had caused the engine trouble; they ought to be ready to go. Enoyoshis watch read 6:35. Theyd lost five minutes but it looked like theyd return on schedule at seven.
Lets be off, said Ushijima, putting the boat into forward gear. This time the engine didnt stall and churned steadily.
The feeling they got in the next few moments was hard to describe in words. A gurgling sound could be heard from behind the drive unit and there was a rush of tiny bubbles to the surface. It was clear that the propeller was turning to drive the boat forward. Yet the yacht was not moving. It felt like being in a dream, or rather, a nightmare, where no matter how hard you try to run away from the monster, your feet cant get traction and only your heart speeds off. All three aboard felt more or less like that. Although the hull and deck of the yacht lay between them and the water below, it was as if their own feet had become entangled in some piece of rope that floated up from the seabed.
Enoyoshi and Ushijima remained absolutely speechless, while Minako nervously kept standing up and sitting down on the bench. She demanded in a strident tone that verged on a scream, Whats up? Why arent we moving?
Ushijima fiddled with the gears and tried putting the engine in reverse. The yacht refused to move in either direction.
Enoyoshi and Ushijima remained absolutely speechless, while Minako nervously kept standing up and sitting down on the bench. She demanded in a strident tone that verged on a scream, Whats up? Why arent we moving?
Ushijima fiddled with the gears and tried putting the engine in reverse. The yacht refused to move in either direction.
Could you try leaning over port? asked Ushijima.
As requested, Enoyoshi and Minako leaned overboard the left side of the vessel. As it tipped, Ushijima put the engine into forward gear, to no avail. They tried motoring forward with the weight on starboard, then backwards weighted on starboard, and finally backwards weighted on port, but the yacht refused to budge, as though itd taken root.