murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

"Me, too," I said. "Every once in a while, I think about myself, "What
the hell, I'll do'."
"Hey, I don't mean that in a bad way. I'm not very good at putting my
feelings into words. That's why people misunderstand me. All I'm
trying to say is I like you. Have I told you that before?"
"You have," I said.
"I mean, I'm not the only one who has trouble working out what men
are all about. But I'm getting there, a little at a time."
Midori brought over a box of Marlboro and lit one up. "When you
start at zero, you've got a lot to learn." "I wouldn't be surprised."
"Oh, I almost forgot! You want to burn a stick of incense for my
father?"
I followed Midori to the room with the Buddhist altar, lit a stick of
incense in front of her father's photo, and brought my hands together.
"Know what I did the other day?" Midori asked. "I got all naked in
front of my father's picture. Took off every stitch of clothing and let
him have a good, long look. Kind of in a yoga position. Like, "Here,
Daddy, these are my tits, and this is my cunt'."
"Why in the hell would you do something like that?" I asked.
"I don't know, I just wanted to show him. I mean, half of me comes
from his sperm, right? Why shouldn't I show him? "Here's the
daughter you made.' I was a little drunk at the time. I suppose that had
something to do with it."
"I suppose."
"My sister walked in and almost fell over. There I was in front of my
father's memorial portrait all naked with my legs spread. I guess you
would be kind of surprised." "I s'pose so."
"I explained why I was doing it and said, "So take off your clothes too
Momo (her name's Momo), and sit down next to me and show him,'
but she wouldn't do it. She went away shocked. She has this really
conservative streak."
"In other words, she's relatively normal, you mean."
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