murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

age, it will cause you pain when you're older. It's true. So think about
it carefully. If you want to take care of Naoko, take care of yourself,
too."
I said I would think about it.
"I was 20 myself. Once upon a time. Would you believe it?"
"I believe it. Of course."
"Deep down?"
"Deep down," I said with a smile.
"And I was cute, too. Not as cute as Naoko, but pretty damn cute. I
didn't have all these wrinkles."
I said I liked her wrinkles a lot. She thanked me.
"But don't ever tell another woman that you find her wrinkles
attractive," she added. "I like to hear it, but I'm the exception."
"I'll be careful," I said.
She slipped a wallet from her trouser pocket and handed me a photo
from the card-holder. It was a colour snapshot of a cute girl around ten
years old wearing skis and a brightly coloured ski-suit, standing on the
snow smiling sweetly for the camera.
"Isn't she pretty? My daughter," said Reiko. "She sent me this in
January. She's - what? - nine years old now."
"She has your smile," I said, returning the photo. Reiko pocketed the
wallet and, with a sniff, put a cigarette between her lips and lit up.
"I was going to be a concert pianist," she said. "I had talent, and
people recognized it and made a fuss over me while I was growing up.
I won competitions and had top marks in the conservatoire, and I was
all set to study in Germany after graduation. Not a cloud on the
horizon. Everything worked out perfectly, and when it didn't there was
always somebody to fix it. But then one day something happened, and
it all blew apart. I was in my final year at the conservatoire and there
was a fairly important competition coming up. I practised for it
constantly, but all of a sudden the little finger of my left hand stopped
moving. I don't know why, but it just did. I tried massaging it, soaking
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