Washing Statue Wanderlust – Chapter 2

ARAI KANNON

The sun peeks over the roof of the temple next to me, and the cat sleeping at my feet rises and stretches, her long orange tail pointed straight up in the air.

“Sweet cat, thank you for keeping me warm this night,” I say as she slinks off. “Come back any time! Darn cats. Why don’t they talk to me after they’ve slept with me? I mean, really…”

I huff, annoyed with myself and the way I always bow down to people, letting them walk all over me, pour water over me every day. I don’t mind doing my sacred duty, don’t get me wrong, but there are days when no one thanks me or cares much about my own feelings.

The sun rises early during this part of the summer, way before five in the morning, and the temple staff, maidens, and priests don’t open the doors until six, so I get some time to warm up in the sun and feel my body dry before being washed all day. I enjoy this small respite each morning, and I look forward to summer every year. The cold water is not so bracing or frigid as it is in winter, but winter also brings fewer visitors. It’s a toss up which I like better.

When the gates open at six, I’m surprised to see Yuki waiting to enter. She was just here the other day, and she’s a young girl, not prone to waking up early in the mornings, especially during a break from school.

“Yuki!” I call out, and she smiles and comes right to me. No one is at the temple yet since it’s not a holiday nor a weekend. The grounds are quiet and serene.

“Hi,” she says, smiling and squatting down next to me. “I was hoping to visit you today without anyone around.” She glances over her shoulder nervously, but I shush her worries.

“Believe it or not, I talk with one of the priests and a few of the maidens. It’s not unusual for them to hear the statues in temple grounds. Being connected to the gods is something that happens to many. Now, how can I help you today? Are you feeling well?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she says waving her hand at me. “I thought, maybe, you were lonely and might want to talk. Am I crazy for thinking that? You get hundreds of visitors a day…”

“Not crazy at all!” What a sweet girl even if she seems tired and depressed. “You’re right. I was just yelling at that orange cat over there an hour ago to be polite, but she can’t hear me.” I laugh when Yuki turns to eye the cat. “It’s all right. I often get animal visitors as well, and there’s a spry tanuki spirit that likes to come through here every now and then.”

“Really? You’re joking.”

“I am not,” I say, but dissolve to chuckles. “You’ll have to come by some time at night and meet him.”

Yuki smiles, her pale lips quirking. “I guess I will.” She sits down on the ground cross-legged. “I had an idea and I was wondering if you’d be up for it.”

“Really? Well, let’s hear it.”

“You said you’d want to come with me, if I traveled…”

“I practically begged you to take me with you.” I laugh imagining little, skinny Yuki carrying a heavy statue like me on a shinkansen or hiking with me on her back up a mountain. “A long time ago, I was once a mobile statue. People carried me in a portable shrine until I ended up here. Now I sit here day by day and get washed over and over.”

Yuki glances over her shoulder as a few people filter into the grounds of the temple. The courtyard is heating up, the sun beating down on the roof tops and the birds singing in the trees.

“I was thinking that maybe we could travel together. Do you think your healing powers would extend to me if you were with me? I’m scared to go on my own.”

Her pale lips and cheeks are pinked by the recent heat wave, and I remember when she was baby and her parents brought her here all the time. They prayed hard because they struggled with the insulin and such an active child. They must have scared her into inactivity, though, because she doesn’t seem very hardy now.

“I would love to come with you, and I’ll make you a deal. If you figure out how to bring me along, I’ll grant you good health for life.”

She jumps to her feet, her eyes wide. This is a good decision. She needs to be spurred into action.

“Really? You can do that? I just figured, you know, that you talk to me, but that’s all you do.”

“Pshaw. I’m a god. I can do whatever I want.”

She giggles, covering her mouth with her hand. “What I wouldn’t give for that kind of magic.”

“If you had that kind of magic, you would be a statue here like me and not a real person,” I remind her. What I wouldn’t give for two feet so I could walk out of here and experience the neighborhood I live in.

“No. I guess we make sacrifices in our own ways.” She dusts off her pants. “I’m going to take you up on your offer, statue…”

“You can call me Arai.”

“Arai. But first I need to come up with a plan for us.” She hikes her purse up on her shoulder as people queue behind her to wash me. “I’ll be back in a few days, okay?”

“Sounds great. I’m looking forward to seeing the world with you, Yuki.”

She bows to me, smiles, and waves as she walks out of the courtyard.