murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

dining hall.
"Is he a doctor or a patient?" I asked Reiko. "Which do you think?"
"I really can't tell. In either case, he doesn't seem all that normal."
"He's a doctor," said Naoko. "Doctor Miyata."
"Yeah," said Reiko, "but I bet he's the craziest one here." "Mr Omura,
the gatekeeper, is pretty crazy, too," answered
Naoko.
"True," said Reiko, nodding as she stabbed her broccoli. "He does
these wild callisthenics every morning, screaming nonsense at the top
of his lungs. And before you came, Naoko, there was a girl in the
business office, Miss Kinoshita, who tried to kill herself. And last year
they sacked a male nurse, Tokushima, who had a terrible drinking
problem."
"Sounds like patients and staff should swap places," I said.
"Right on," said Reiko, waving her fork in the air. "You're finally
starting to see how things work here."
"I suppose so."
"What makes us most normal," said Reiko, "is knowing that we're not
normal."
Back in the room, Naoko and I played cards while Reiko practised
Bach on her guitar.
"What time are you leaving tomorrow?" Reiko asked me, taking a
break and lighting a cigarette.
"Straight after breakfast," I said. "The bus comes at nine. That way I
can get back in time for tomorrow night's work."
"Too bad. It'd be nice if you could stay longer."
"If I stayed around too long, I might end up living here," I said,
laughing.
"Maybe so," Reiko said. Then, to Naoko, she said, "Oh, yeah, I've got
to go get some grapes at Oka's. I totally forgot."
"Want me to go with you?" asked Naoko.
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