百度搜索 村上春树短篇集 天涯 或 村上春树短篇集 天涯在线书库 即可找到本书最新章节.
The Sea Lioivalby MURAKAMI Haruki
Translated by Kiki
I am smoking a cigarette after a simple lunch when a sea lion es to my apartment. I hear a knock, so I ahe door. At my front door there is a sea lion. There isn’t really anything special about him. It is just an ordinary sea lion. I mean he isn’t wearing sunglasses or a three-piece Brooks Brothers suit. Actually he looks old- fashioned and almost ese.
”Good afternoon. o meet you,” says the Sea Lion. “I trust that I’m not disturbing you. Is this a good time?”
“It’s ok, I’m not really that busy,” I say, a bit flustered.
Sea lions are relatively harmless animals. There is nothing fierce or threatening about them. It doesn’t matter what kind of sea lion you have at your front door, there is really no reason for . And this one didn’t look any different.
That realization is almost more disturbing.
“If you could just give me ten minutes, I’d be really grateful.” Out of habit I gla my watch. But that is unnecessary. I have time.
“But it might not even take that long,” the Sea Lion adds, practically reading my thoughts. Without even thinking about it I lead him into my apartment. I even offer him a glass of barley tea.
“You shouldn’t have. You really didn’t o go to such trouble.” He downs half of the tea in one gulp. Theakes a cigarette from his jacket pocket and lights it with his lighter. “It’s still really hot, isn’t it?”
“That’s for sure.”
“But at least the ms and evenings are not so bad.
“Yeah, but it is September after all.”
“Hmm. The high school baseball tour is already finished. And the Giants have all but ched the pennant.Nothing much to get worked up about, is there? Summer’s practically finished.”
“I guess you’re right.”
The Sea Lion nods in agreement and looks around my apartment. “Five me f, but do you live here alone?”
“No, I live with my wife, but she’s away on a trip at the moment.”
“Really? Taking separate vacations sounds like fun.” The Sea Lion gives a knowing slightly ical laugh.
It was pletely my fault, and I take full responsibility. I don’t care how drunk os at some bar in Shinjuku, one should never offer a business card to the sea lion s<bdo>藏书网</bdo>itting on the stool. I think everybhat. What else I say but since I am a thoughtful person, I offered it to him. I didn’t have any choice. It’s what I had to do. The sea lion took it.
Misuandings cause problems. It isn’t that I dislike sea lions. There isn’t anything that I hate about them. I admit that I’d be torn if suddenly one day my sister annouhat she wants to marry a sea lion. Assuming they love each other I would not vigorously protest such a marriage. Falling in love with a sea lion might happen.
However giving a business card to a sea lion is a pletely differele of fish. As you all know sea lions are symbols of the vast o. A is the symbol of B, and B is the symbol of C. So C is the symbol for both A and B. Sea lions have established their unity on such a pyramid structure. Maybe it tains a high risk of chaos.At the core of this pyramid is the business card. That’s why the sea lion always carries a thick bunch of business cards in his briefcase. For the sea lion those cards represent his pla the unity. It’s the same as those birds that collect beads.
“A few days ago an associate of mine received your business card, I believe.”
“Really?” I pretend to have no idea what he is talking about. “I retty drunk so I don’t really remember that well.”
“But my friend was delighted.”
I drink my tea, politely feigning i.
“I apologize again for dropping in unannounced, but I wao take this opportunity to visit you. And since I have this card. . . .”
“You want something from me?”
“It’s just a little thing. We just need some symbolic assistaeacher.” Apparently the animals called sea lions describe humans as “teacher.”
“Symbolic assistance?”
“Oh pardon me.” He reaches into his briefcase, takes out a business card, and hands it to me. “This should help explain matters.”
“Sea Lioival Executive ittee Chairperson,” I read from the card.
“I trust that you have heard of anization.”
“Well, I ’t really say that I have,” I say. “Maybe I’ve heard something about it.”
“For us sea lions, our festival is aremely importa. It’s full of symbolic import. But this event is also beneficial for the rest of the world”.
“Hmm.”
“At the moment our existence is pretty marginal. But, at this time …” Suddenly he cuts himself off and stamps his cigarette out in the ashtray. “The world is prised of many diverse factors. We sea lions are shouldering the responsibility for the spiritual factor.”
“Oh sorry, but really, I’m just not ied in that kind of talk….”
“We are aiming for a renaissance of sea lions. For this to occur there must be a corresponding renaissance all over the world. In the past our festival has been closed to you humans because of our own indedness. But today our message to the world is this: we have fually ged our festival. We hope that our festival serve as a springboard to achieve such a renaissahat is our message for the world.”
“I guess I follow what you are saying.”
“Up to now we have approached our festivals as simply festivals. Of course t<s></s>hey are beautiful aing spectacles. But we sea lions believe that life is preparation for the festival because festivals help us dis the true nature of our sea lioy. Festivals firm our identity: our sea lion-ness, if you will. Self-discovery is located in such tinuous a. Self-discovery is the culmination of the final a.”
“firmation of the what?”
“The grand deja vu.”
I keep nodding my head even though I have no idea what he is babbling about. That’s just how <u></u>they talk. They say what is on their minds. I usually just stand bad let them get it out of their system. By the time the Sea Lion fi is past 2:30 and I am dead tired.
“That’s all I have,” the Sea Lion says, calmly finishing his warm tea.” Do you basically uand what I have been talking about?”
“You are looking for a handout.”
“No, no, we are seeking spiritual assistahe Sea Lion corrects.
I reato my billfold and remove two ohousand yen bills and place them in front of him. “Sorry, this isn’t much, but tomorrow I have to pay my insurand my neer subscription is also due.”
“Thank you very much. Every little bit helps, as you know. It’s the thought that ts,” the Sea Lion says, waving off my excuses with his hand.
The Sea Lion leaves behind a thin pamphlet entitled “The Sea Lio” and a sticker on which “Are sea lioaphorical?” is printed. Finding the proper location for the sticker is a problem until I remember an illegally parked red Sel<bdo></bdo>i the neighborhood. I place it firmly in the middle of the windshield. It looks like one of those really adhesive stickers so he might have some trouble removing it.
百度搜索 村上春树短篇集 天涯 或 村上春树短篇集 天涯在线书库 即可找到本书最新章节.