murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

eak. My sister just wanted to hang around with her boyfriend for a
while, and I decided I'd take mine on a trip for a couple of days and
fuck like crazy." Midori clamped her mouth shut and rubbed her ears.
"Oops, sorry."
"That's OK," I said. "So you went to Nara."
"Yeah, I've always liked that place. The temples, the deer park."
"And did you fuck like crazy?"
"No, not at all, not even once," she said with a sigh. "The second we
walked into the hotel room and dumped our bags, my period started. A
real gusher."
I couldn't help laughing.
"Hey, it's not funny. I was a week early! I couldn't stop crying when
that happened. I think all the stress threw me off. My boyfriend got
sooo angry! He's like that: he gets angry straight away. It wasn't my
fault, though. It's not like I wanted to get my period. And, well, mine
are kind of on the heavy side anyway. The first day or two, I don't
want to do anything. Make sure you keep away from me then."
"I'd like to, but how can I tell?" I asked.
"OK, I'll wear a hat for a couple of days after my period starts. A red
one. That should work," she said with a laugh "If you see me on the
street and I'm wearing a red hat, don't talk to me, just run away."
"Great. I wish all girls would do that," I said. "So anyway what did
you do in Nara?"
"What else could we do? We fed the deer and walked all over the
place. It was just awful! We had a big fight and I haven't seen him
since we got back. I hung around for a couple of days and decided to
take a nice trip all by myself. So I went to Aomori. I stayed with a
friend in Hirosaki for the first two nights, and then I started travelling
around - Shimokita, Tappi, places like that. They're nice. I once wrote
a map brochure for the area. Ever been there?"
"Never."
"So anyway," said Midori, sipping her Tom Collins, then wrenching
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