After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

partly due to the alcohol. That informal way of talking reminded him of someone. 
Somebody had spoken the same way. Someone he had met fairly recently. 
“Tengo, have you ever tried hashish?” 
“Hashish?” 
“Cannabis resin.” 
Tengo breathed in the night air and exhaled. “No, I never have.” 
“How about trying some?” Kumi Adachi asked. “Let’s try it together. I have some 
at home.” 
“You have hashish?” 
“Looks can be deceiving.” 
“They certainly can,” Tengo said vaguely. So a healthy young nurse living in a 
seaside little town on the Boso Peninsula had hashish in her apartment. And she was 
inviting him to smoke some. 
“How did you get ahold of it?” Tengo asked. 
“A girlfriend from high school gave it to me for a birthday present last month. She 
had gone to India and brought it back.” Kumi began swinging Tengo’s hand with her 
own in a wide arc. 
“But there’s a stiff penalty if you’re caught smuggling pot into the country. The 
Japanese police are really strict about it. They have pot-sniffing dogs at the airports.” 
“She’s not the type to worry about little details,” Kumi said. “Anyhow, she got 
through customs okay. Would you like to try it? It’s high-quality stuff, very potent. I 
checked into it, and medically speaking there’s nothing dangerous about it. I’m not 
saying it isn’t habit forming, but it’s much milder than tobacco, alcohol, or cocaine. 
Law enforcement says it’s addictive, but that’s ridiculous. If you believe that, then 
pachinko is far more dangerous. You don’t get a hangover, so I think it would be 
good for you to try it to blow off some steam.” 
“Have you tried it yourself?” 
“Of course. It was fun.” 
“Fun,” Tengo repeated. 

---

598
“You’ll understand if you try it,” Kumi said, and giggled. “Say, did you know? 
When Queen Victoria had menstrual cramps she used to smoke marijuana to lessen 
the pain. Her court doctor actually prescribed it to her.” 
“You’re kidding.” 
“It’s true. I read it in a book.” 
Which book?
Tengo was about to ask, but decided it was too much trouble. That 
was as far as he wanted to go picturing Queen Victoria having menstrual cramps. 
“So how old were you on your birthday last month?” Tengo asked, changing 
subjects. 
“Twenty-three. A full-fledged adult.” 
“Of course,” Tengo said. He was already thirty, but yet to have a sense of himself 
as an adult. It just felt to him like he had spent thirty years in the world. 
“My older sister is staying over tonight at her boyfriend’s, so I’m by myself. So 
come on over. Don’t be shy. I’m off duty tomorrow so I can take it easy.” 
Tengo searched for a reply. He liked this young nurse. And she seemed to like him, 
too. But she was inviting him to her place. He looked up at the sky, but it was covered 
with thick gray clouds and he couldn’t see the moons. 
“The other day when my girlfriend and I smoked hashish,” Kumi began, “that was 
my first time, but it felt like my body was floating in the air. Not very high, just a 
couple of inches. You know, floating at that height felt really good. Like it was just 
right.” 
“Plus you won’t hurt yourself if you fall.” 
“Yeah, it’s just the right height, so you can feel safe. Like you’re being protected. 
Like you’re wrapped in an air chrysalis. I’m the 
dohta
, completely enveloped in the 
air chrysalis, and outside I can just make out 
maza
.” 
“
Dohta
?” Tengo asked. His voice was surprisingly hard. “
Maza
?” 
The young nurse was humming a tune, swinging their clasped hands as they 
walked down the deserted streets. She was much shorter than Tengo, but it didn’t 
seem to bother her at all. An occasional car passed by. 
“