Washing Statue Wanderlust – Chapter 4

ARAI KANNON

Yuki is only gone for the day before she returns right before closing. She smiles and waves to me but walks past to the shrine. I wish I could turn around and watch her go, but I’m stuck in this one position. Sigh. I miss mobility. It’s been a while since I saw anything more than the world in front of me.

Today was a hot day but also a long day of being cooled by washing. One after another, men and women stood in line to wash me, and the weight of guilt for wanting to leave them was as heavy as this metal prison I’m encased in. A woman who washed me today is plagued by fiery and aching joints. Another woman has cancer. The man who came with her was despondent and already grieving for her though she’s not dead yet and will live another eight years. If only they could hear me, I would tell them.

The orange cat returns to my feet, slinking her body and tail around me before standing on her back paws and resting against my arm.

“You must be joking,” the voice of a priest fades into my periphery before coming around to my front with Yuki next to him. “This statue wants to travel?”

“I do!” I scream and Yuki blinks, but the priest stares at me dumbfounded.

“She just said she wants to go.” Yuki gestures her arm at me, and the priest in his white robes and black hat rubs his face.

“It’s been a long day, and I don’t have time for such nonsense.”

“Sir, I don’t want to take up your time, but Arai has spoken to me all my life, and this is the first time she has ever asked me for anything. Won’t you please reconsider this and let her come with me? It would only be for a few days. We’re heading to Kyoto on the shinkansen. I’ll buy her a ticket and everything.”

The priest steps away from her, gasping, his eyes wide. “Young lady, this is lunacy. I cannot allow you to take this statue from her rightful home. I don’t care how long she’s been ‘speaking’ to you.”

The derision in his voice makes me cringe as Yuki’s face falls. Not many people are lucky enough to hear my voice. Yuki and a spare handful of people over the years have conversed with me and felt blessed by it. I, on the other hand, felt cursed because those people left me and never came back but for Yuki and one other priest here at the temple, Kokei. I haven’t seen him since the summer began.

I would shout and give this priest a good earful of foul language, but it wouldn’t be worth the effort since he can’t hear me anyway.

Yuki bows to the priest.

“Don’t bow to him! Stand up for us!”

Yuki jerks her head at me, her eyes narrowed. “Be nice, Arai. There’s only so much I can do,” she whispers before straightening at the waist.

She sighs in time with the priest, and they stare at each other for a moment.

“I’m sorry to have wasted your time. If you change your mind, please call me at this number.” Yuki produces a business-card-sized piece of paper and hands it to the priest using both hands. He takes it from her with both hands, stunned Yuki would even bother.

He reaches out and places a hand on her shoulder. “Young lady, are you sure you’re well enough to get home?”

Yuki shrugs his hand off and tears form at the corner of her eyes. “I’m fine.” She throws back her shoulders and hikes her purse up. “I’m perfectly fine.”

My insides shrivel in guilt. Yuki doesn’t deserve this kind of badgering. I shouldn’t have said anything to her about this in the first place.

The priest looks warily at her before turning and heading inside.

“Thank goodness no one else was here to witness that,” Yuki whispers at me. “How embarrassing.” Her cheeks color more than a usual sunburn before she opens her purse and takes out a tissue to dab at her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I thought if I appealed to the priests, maybe they would be sympathetic and understanding. Guess I was wrong.”

She kneels down at my side and brushes away the orange cat who comes to her side and tries to rub against her for affection.

“I’m not going to give up. I’ll find some way of letting you see the world. Koharu leaves for Kyoto tomorrow, but I’m not going to go with her. Not without you.”

“You should go. I know you’ve never been outside of Tokyo.”

People with two legs and the ability to travel should travel. I never understood why any of them wouldn’t.

She waves her hand at me. “I don’t feel safe. I know people with my condition can do anything when they take care of themselves, but I…” She fidgets with a stone at her knees. “I’m afraid I’ll screw it up somehow.”

I ponder this sentiment for a moment. Her own view of herself is at odds with everything I have ever learned about her. “Yuki, you are strong and determined, and if you believe in yourself, you can do anything you set your mind to. Go to Kyoto. Have fun. You’ll be fine.”

Yuki bites her bottom lip before standing up and glancing in the direction of the shrine.

“The priest is watching me. He must think I’m crazy,” she whispers.

“Go. When you return, come tell me how your trip was.”

She clutches her purse on her shoulder. “I’ll think about it. Have a good evening, Arai.”

“You as well.”

She walks off towards the exit, and I hope I steered her in the right direction.