‘Believe me, I am Eliza Gunn and I work for WCGH in Boston and I have come because I am a friend of O’Hara’s.’
‘Ah? And how long have you known O’Hara-san?’
She chewed the corner of her lip. ‘Well, I really don’t know
O’Hara. Personally, I mean. I know a lot about him, though.
I have a message for him, a letter from Charles Gordon Howe.
He is one of the most respected men in journalism.’
‘I know of Howe. It is rumoured he is honest.’
‘Thanks for that, anyway.’
‘It proves nothing.’
‘If he will just meet me, I can tell him whom to call to verify the letter.’
‘I have not said I know the whereabouts of O’Hara, your friend.’
‘Okay, so I exaggerated. But if you did know how to get in touch with him, you could tell him it’s important to see me, right?’
They walked along the bank of one of the many ponds in the park. The chill wind blew across the water, forming mist that swirled among the mossy rocks at its edge.
‘Even if I knew where O’Hara-san was, I would use caution in repeating anything to him,’ Kimura said. ‘When a blind man leads a blind man, they are both in danger of falling in the river.’
‘Supposing I told you the sanction has been lifted. That he’s no longer in danger.’
The old man made no sign of surprise. He said, ‘In the Shinto philosophy there is a saying: “The man who faces a chasm in front and behind must sit and wait.” To take a false step in a time of danger is to invite disaster.’
‘But I’m telling you, the danger is gone.’
‘It will take much proof. The one they call Fuyu-san, the Winter Man, has the heart of a weasel and the tongue of a crow. I would trust a cobra first.’
‘But that’s the point. The Winter Man has been neutralized. He’s impotent now. It’s Mr Howe who is making the assurance.’
‘An improvement.’
‘So I have to convince you first, is that it?’
‘Since I am to be the parrot, you must first teach the parrot to talk.’
Eliza stopped and stared up at the old man for several seconds. ‘I think I got that one,’ she said. ‘But I’m not real sure. I’ll tell you the truth, I’m having a little trouble with your epigrams. Can’t you just say what you mean straight out?’
Kimura laughed arid then nodded. ‘My own grandson once asked me the same question. The difficulty lies in trying to interpret the symbolism of our words into the definitiveness of yours. Is “definitiveness” a good word?’
‘Sounds okay to me,’ she said. ‘I’m still not sure I get the point.’
Kimura stopped. His eyes were warmer, but still wary. ‘The wise man speaks his truth in symbols. It is your choice to interpret what he says.’ He looked back at her. ‘What is truth to me is not necessarily truth to you.’
The sun slipped behind a cloud and the wind grew colder. She rubbed her hands together and shook a chill off her shoulders.
‘Are you cold?’ he asked her.
‘A little.’
‘Come. The Shokin-tei is nearby. Many believe it is the loveliest tearoom in Japan.’
He led her away from the main temple, across the manicured lawns and over a short footbridge to a one-story building with a thatched roof and vermilion walls. Inside, the place was spotless, its lacquered floors covered with tatamis. They left their shoes at the door and sat cross-legged on zabuton cushions beside a low table. The room was a model of stark beauty. Its sliding glass doors were open and facing the park, and the only decoration was a tokonama just big enough for a scroll painting and a bowl of flowers. The room was cool but comfortable. A waitress appeared and took their order. There was no one else in the teahouse.
‘So, you know a lot about O’Hara, eh?’ he said.
‘I’ve studied nothing else for almost two months,’ she said, and recited the litany.
‘I do not mean to offend you, Gunn-san, but you do not know O’Hara, you know about O’Hara. To catch a wolf, you must understand a wolf.’
‘There you go again.’
The waitress padded back with their tea and left as silently. Eliza waited until she was gone before continuing the conversation. ‘His friends won’t talk about him and his enemies don’t know anything to talk about,’ she said.
‘That is good to know.’
‘Then how can I learn anything about him?’
‘You know he came here as a youth. You do not know that he was very difficult at first, What we call chiisai. It would mean in America “small knives.” One who is of the street gangs. The first year was very difficult. But I was persistent and we became friends and after that, Kazuo was like an empty bucket waiting to be filled.’
‘And you filled the bucket.’
‘I merely provided the water. He filled the bucket.’
‘You were his teacher.’
‘One of them. I showed him the way. He learned very quickly. He became a master of tai chi and then went on to higaru, which is a very difficult form of mental discipline and protective movement. I have seen him stand in the position of the bird, on one leg, for six hours without moving or blinking an eye. He reached the ultimate degree of higaru, which is known as higaru-dashi. It is difficult to translate precisely. I think you would call it . . . the Dance of the Vipers. And I have seen him achieve the no-mind state in a few seconds by simply listening to the sound of the wind.’
‘The no-mind state?’
‘It is a Zen exercise, a form of meditation that cleanses the mind and frees one of all thought. It is achieved by concentrating on a distinct sound. A bell, perhaps, or a self-spoken mantra. For some, the process can take hours. O’Hara-san can achieve no-mind in seconds by concentrating on any sound, even the fiddling of a cricket. When he achieves that being, he can memorize entire pages of a book by simply staring at them. They become paintings in his mind.’
‘We call it a photographic memory.’
‘Excuse me ... dozo... a photographic memory is a gift of birth. The no-mind must be learned. O’Hara does not merely learn, he becomes a master. And still the bucket is not full.’
‘He sounds like some kind of mystic.’
‘He is simply a man of honour who has learned that the wise man seeks everything within himself. The ignorant man takes everything from others.’
‘I call that instinct.’
Kimura thought about that for a few moments and said, finally, ‘An oversimplification.’
‘This is very frustrating,’ she said. ‘After all this time, too. What I bring is good news.’
‘Or the cleverest trap of all.’
‘Believe me, I’m not very clever, and a trapper I definitely am not.’
‘Let me explain it another way. You see that stone garden over there. It was designed by Buddhists over four hundred years ago. Everything in it has meaning, the way the stones are arranged, the way they are raked, the placement of the big rocks, what we call stone boats. Only a small part of them is showing, the rest is below the ground, so we can only imagine what is there. I want to believe what I see and hear, but I must not ignore what is imagined.’
Eliza’s shoulders sagged. ‘All right,’ she said, ‘suppose I show you the documents. That should prove he’s a free man.’
‘But you say these papers are only for the eyes of Kazuo.’
‘I came to deliver a message to O’Hara,’ she said. ‘If I must show you the letters first, then that’s what I’ll do.’
‘That would appear logical.’
He sipped his tea and delicately placed the cup back on the saucer. ‘This must be a very powerful man, this one with the message for O’Hara.’
‘That he is.’
He finished his tea and dabbed his lips, and, very abruptly, he stood up. ‘You will be at your ryokan later today?’