murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood

"I should have this done in ten minutes," she said. "Can you stand the
wait?"
"Of course I can," I said.
"Get good and hungry, then. I'm making a lot."
I sipped my beer and focused on Midori as she went on cooking, her
back to me. She worked with quick, nimble movements, handling no
fewer than four cooking procedures at once. Over here she tasted a
boiled dish, and the next second she was at the cutting board, rat-tattatting,
then she took something out of the fridge and piled it in a
bowl, and before I knew it she had washed a pot she had finished
using. From the back she looked like an Indian percussionist - ringing
a bell, tapping a block, striking a water-buffalo bone, each movement
precise and economical, with perfect balance. I watched in awe.
"Let me know if there's something I can do," I said, just in case.
"That's OK," said Midori with a smile in my direction. "I'm used to
doing everything alone." She wore slim blue jeans and a navy T-shirt.
An Apple Records logo nearly covered the back of the shirt. She had
extremely narrow hips, as if she had somehow skipped puberty when
the hips grow fuller, and this gave her a far more androgynous look
than most girls have in slim jeans. The light pouring in from the
kitchen window gave her figure a kind of vague outline.
"You really didn't have to put together such a feast," I said.
"It's no feast," answered Midori without turning my way. "I was too
busy to do any real shopping yesterday. I'm just throwing together a
few things I had in the fridge. Really, don't worry. Besides, it's
Kobayashi family tradition to treat guests well. I don't know what it is,
but we like to entertain. It's inborn; a kind of sickness. Not that we're
especially nice or people love us or anything, but if somebody shows
up we have to treat them well no matter what. We've all got the same
personality flaw, for better or worse. Take my father, for example. He
hardly drinks, but the house is full of alcohol. What for? To serve
guests! So don't hold back: drink all the beer you want."
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