Washing Statue Wanderlust – Chapter 6

ARAI KANNON

Yuki doesn’t visit for a week, and thinking she must be having an excellent time in Kyoto, I try not to worry about her. I’m a statue and yet I fret over a young woman who is more capable of taking care of herself than I am. It’s a good thing I don’t have to worry about my body falling apart. I will probably be like this till the end of time.

I’m washed all day, and as the sun starts to fade, Yuki comes by an hour before the doors close.

“Hi, Arai,” she says, bowing at the waist. “How are you? You’re looking bright and shiny.” She winks at me, and I laugh.

“I believe I will be bright and shiny forever with all the washing I undergo. I remember once a bird pooped on me, but I was washed and clean a heartbeat later.”

“I’m sorry we weren’t able to dirty your feet with a trip to Kyoto…”

“How was your trip? Tell me everything!”

Yuki stares down at the ground. “Kyoto was fun, I guess. I had a fabulous time the first day, completely overdid it, and turned back into being a grandma the next day.”

Huh. She appears to be the same age as when she left. “I’m not following you.”

She laughs, her cheeks pinking, before she shades her eyes from the slanting early evening sun. “I’ve kept the schedule of an old person for quite a few years because of my diabetes. There’s this thing that happens around dawn for everyone, a spike in glucose levels, that’s no big deal to people who aren’t diabetic, but for me, it’s a real problem. I have a hard time sleeping in, so I’ve always gotten up early, and I eat an early dinner to avoid this spike. But the rest of my friends stay out late and sleep in.”

“Ah, I understand. You don’t fit in?”

I feel bad for her because she looks and sounds just like all the other young people, but inside, she’s very different.

She sighs, coming forward to dip a ladle into the cistern of water and wash me. “No. I’ve never fit in. I only have Kohaku as a good friend because she understands me. She doesn’t even mind that I talk to you. She thinks it’s normal.”

“You’re more than normal, Yuki. You’re gifted.”

“I don’t feel gifted,” she says, dribbling the water on my head and down my back. She wipes it away with a cloth and prays for good health.

“Anyway, I didn’t come here today to talk about me. I came to give you a taste of the world.” She smiles as she pulls some rectangular thing out of her purse. I’ve seen the humans with these things before but didn’t know what they were. “I decided that if you can’t see the world, I will bring it to you. We’ll start with Japan and work our way outward.”

She glances over her shoulder a few times, but the courtyard is empty, most people already gone to dinner at one of the local restaurants or on their way home.

“It’s fine,” I whisper, not sure why I keep my voice down when she’s the only one who can hear me. “We’re alone.”

“Great.” She turns the rectangular device around. “Do you know what this is? It’s a tablet computer.”

“People use these to take photos of me. I’ve seen them before. What can you do with it?”

“Access the internet, save photos, text other people…”

“What’s the internet?”

Yuki laughs. “Oh boy. That’s a hard question to answer. Let’s just say that if you need anything, the internet can provide it to you.”

“Like a god?”

Yuki’s eyes dance with the light of the setting sun. “If only. The internet can’t cure illnesses, but it can sure make you feel like you have one.”

I don’t understand her, but that’s not necessary to continue.

“Anyway, I wanted to bring the world to you, and I couldn’t figure out how. I thought maybe Koharu and I would get people from around the world to send you things, but that seemed expensive and we’d have to wait a long time. So instead, I made you a slideshow of a tour around Japan.”

She sits next to me and lifts the tablet to my eyes. “Let me show you photos from my trip to Kyoto first…”

Yuki steps me through her trip to Kyoto, through temples and shrines, around statues like me and tourists praying in silence. The area around Kyoto is beautiful, teaming with life, greenery and old-world style buildings. Nothing like the areas that surround me here in Tokyo. From Kyoto, she switches to photos she scavenged from the internet of Osaka, Hokkaido, and Okinawa. I’m amazed that this place in which I live is just the beginning of a world of snow, forests, beaches, and oceans.

“Wow. I wish I were able to travel. There’s so much to see outside of this little courtyard I’m in every day.”

I ponder what I could possibly do to convince both Yuki and the priests I should be allowed to travel. Maybe all the convincing in the universe won’t be enough, though.

“I’m learning the world is a vast and amazing place. Next time I come I’ll show you more of Asia. Korea, Thailand, Indonesia… I think you’ll enjoy these places. You seem to like Okinawa.”

“It’s beautiful,” I say, sighing.

Yuki pulls a light shawl from her bag and drapes the fabric over her shoulders as a priest walks by and bows to her. He glances at her from behind, a suspicious frown creasing the spot between his brows.

“I’ll come back, either tomorrow or the next day.” Yuki bows and smiles. “We’ll continue our adventures together then! Good night, Arai.”

She walks off and is replaced at my feet with the orange cat. She turns around three times and curls into a ball, snoring away within moments. I should sleep like this cat, but I can’t stop dreaming about the beaches and wide blue water of the ocean. I believe this kind of longing is called wanderlust. Sigh. I have it bad.