Lederhosen
By MURAKAMI haruki
translated by Alfread Birnbaum
quot;Mot; a friend of my ;all because of a pair of ss.quot;
Ive got to ask. quot;A pair of ss?quot;
quot;I kno sounds strange,quot; s;because it is a strange story.quot;
A large tutors electric organ, but most of ime sennis, so srim and alanned. You migs fanatic. One days off, ss in a morning run before o to do laps; t ternoon its tennis, follos, but Im nowhere near her league.
I dont mean to suggest s te trary, siring; sting emotional pressure on anyone. Only s attaco t body--craves vigorous activity, relentless as a comet.
o do tle on t siful--so, even agreed to take t inevitably, ten to tage, some problem hrough.
Like my ;S unlucky.quot;
quot;ell, I guess,quot; I sympathize.
Im not in total agreement rue, luck may rule over parts of a persons life and luck may cast patc y laps or run ty kilometers--to overcome most any trouble. No, on marrying, is . Marriage just doesnt fall , at least not entirely.
And so sutoring electric organ, devoting every free moment to sports, falling regularly in and out of unlucky love.
Its a rainy Sunday afternoon and s shopping.
quot;Forgive me,quot; s;I took a rain codays tennis, t...Am I interrupting anyt;
Not at all, I say. I didnt feel quite in to sitting around, cat on my lap, co tcc ty minutes of Jaicularly riveted to tube. But c anys t of our eyes.
Its ts roll up. No sign of t a bit. Sill no alking. No after an is, s mine.
Im already t popping in t video fation--at least to my mind, ting up--but I uess a reason is w.
quot;t really ssquot;, s;t;
quot;You mean ts traps?quot;
quot;You got it. Fated a pair of leder. ell, Fatty tall for ion. even look good in ted t can you picture a Japanese man akes all kinds.quot;
Im still not any closer to tory. I o ask: ances be--and of whese souvenir lederhosen?
quot;Oelling t of order. Stop me if t make sense,quot; she says.
Okay, I say.
quot;Moter . Someto do. Of course, Mot speak German, s eac overseas bee in . Itd been ages since s. So Mot taking ten days off and going to Germany, t allo, and Mot;
quot;ts ?
quot;Rig; s;Mot ed o bring back, and Fat;
quot;Okay so far.quot;
s argue until all ; storm out of t come least not tly ther women.
quot;Not a bad man, a kind of a skirt-c; sosses off matter-of-factly. No relations of alking. For a second I almost t no, Im told, hes alive and well.
quot;Fatroubles ting along just fine.quot;
t go incident. ended ten days in Germany to nearly a monto tokyo, and o Japan, sayed er of hers in Osaka. She never did come back home.
Neiter--nor and il tal difficulties, ient one--so ploddingly patient in fact t simes ion; family al and moted to er. So even make t to call, it o ts edly, but t o come to t ions were.
In mid-September, ter returning to Japan, entions kno of told ;You o me.quot; ould so explain, ;Ive lost all love for you--in any way, s; Oely none.
quot;All t; sells me. quot;But it just ts splitting up many times, so I psyc plain divorced all t funny business, I ten so upset. t Motoo. ts ;
I nod.
quot;Up until t point, Id alaken Motand by me. And yet t a ion. It me so able to forgive Mot time. I e ters asking o set traig sions, never even said sed to see me.quot;
It until ter t sually saer utoring electric organ. Meanweac a prep school.
s been able to talk to er because s knoo say. quot;I myself couldnt tell ;but it all started over t pair of ss.quot;
quot;Ss?quot; Sarted as I o speak to curiosity got tter of er into a nearby coffee sea. So story.
t sold to up for her.
quot;All to buy ledersmans so expensive, said er.
So Motrain to buy rain compartment sat a middle-aged German couple, o buy leder; Mot;Vat so?quot; toget;Zat is ze place, ja is ze best.quot; very confident.
It old-fasoone streets led in all directions, and cats o a cafe for a bite of kasekuchen and coffee.
S sip of coffee and playing tle too the shop.
quot;t; Mother said.
o travel by oneself, s as sones. In fact, t time in y-five years t sraveled alone. During trip, s once been lonely or afraid or bored. Every scene t met ouc sil ter-- no need to trouble hem.
S problem. It iny old guild s didnt ourists, but inside she door and walked in.
took dos and scribbled to a notebook. Beain divider one of sewing machines could be heard.
quot;Darf ic; ther.
quot;I to buy leder; she responded in English.
quot;For Madame?quot; he asked back.
quot;No, I buy for my ;
quot;Ac; said t;your ;
quot;No, I say already, ; she replied.
quot;Ziss make problem.quot; t;Ve do not make article for customer .quot;
quot;My ,quot; Moth confidence.
quot;Ja, of course, of course,quot; tily. quot;Excuse my not good Englis I vant say, if your exist sell ze leder;
quot;; Mother asked, perplexed.
quot;Is store policy. Is unser Prinzip. Ve must see ze leder fit customer, ve alter very nice, only zen ve sell. Over one ation on ziss policy.quot;
quot;But I spend o come from o buy your leder;
quot;Very sorry, Madame,quot; said t;Ve make no exception. Ziss vorld is very uncertain vorld. trust is difficult sink to earn but easy sink to lose.quot;
Motood in trained o break tuation to te t difference in size, tical expressions.
quot;ell, per; Mot;I find man just like my man puts on lederer very nice, you sell ledero me.quot;
t old man looked .
quot;But, Madame, zat is against rule. Is not same man ;
quot;Pretend you do not kno man and t man sell ledero me. t o your policy. Please, I beg you. I may never come back to Germany. If I do not buy leder;
quot;; ted. for a feurned to tream in German. times. turned back to Mot;Very ion--very exception, you please understand--ve vill knoter. Not so many come from Yapan to buy leder;
quot;t; so t;Das ist so nett vor I; Ser ory--folds able and sig of my coffee, long since cold. till no sign of t tion ake turn?
quot;So t; I interject, eager to ;Did your mot;
quot;Yes,quot; sterly expression. quot;Mot on a bencc t. it asking seems t speak a ;
quot;t; I joke.
quot;I dont kno ; s;tuation to ted to stand in for Fats tucking tling ay minutes time Moto divorce Fat;
quot;ait,quot; I say, quot;I dont get it. Did somety minutes?quot;
quot;Not all. Only t;
quot;But ?quot;
quot;ts somet understand after all time. It made t man in t an unbearable disgust rising in ed to back. Mot from tly like Fatrying on ttle boy. As Motood t tain about sloogeto somets ;
My s alk, but Im still t the lederhosen.
quot;So, you dont e your mot; I ask whe room.
quot;No, not really. ere not close at all, but I dont ;
quot;Because sold you about t;
quot;I ter so me, I couldnt go on ing say ainly dont kno, but it may o do ;
quot;Still, if you leave t of it, supposing it tory of a aking a trip and finding o forgive ;
quot;Of course not,quot; s ation. quot;t is t?quot;
A proxy pair of leder her never even received.