murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

"You're leaving the sanatorium?"
"It's the only way I can come and see you, isn't it? Anyway, it's about
time for me to get out of this place. I've been here eight years, after all.
If they keep me any longer, I'll start to rot."
I found it difficult to speak. After a short silence, Reiko went on: "I'll
be on the 3.20 bullet train the day after tomorrow. Will you meet me
at the station? Do you still remember what I look like? Or have you
lost interest in me now that Naoko's dead?"
"No way," I said. "See you at Tokyo Station the day after tomorrow at
3.20."
"You won't have any trouble recognizing me. I'm the old lady with the
guitar case. There aren't many of those."
And in fact, I had no trouble finding Reiko in the crowd. She wore a
man's tweed jacket, white trousers, and red trainers. Her hair was as
short as ever, with the usual clumps sticking up. In her right hand she
held a brown leather suitcase, and in her left a black guitar case. She
gave me a big, wrinkly smile the moment she spotted me, and I found
myself grinning back. I took her suitcase and walked beside her to the
train for the western suburbs.
"Hey, Watanabe, how long have you been wearing that awful face? Or
is that the 'in' look in Tokyo these days?"
"I was travelling for a while, ate junk all the time," I said. "How did
you find the bullet train?"
"Awful!" she said. "You can't open the windows. I wanted to buy a
box lunch from one of the station buffets."
"They sell them on board, you know."
"Yeah, overpriced plastic sandwiches. A starving horse wouldn't touch
that stuff. I always used to enjoy the boxed lunches at Gotenba
Station."
"Once upon a time, before the bullet train."
"Well, I'm from once upon a time before the bullet train!"
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