Chatwin and Bucky
I saw Bruce at the bar over there.”
He pointed out of the window.
“He was on his way to the USA from China, but he stopped off in Japan. He was extremely knowledgeable about history and geography, and he liked sake. I remember he was into Russia at the time. Why did he go to Patagonia? You might not know this but Bruce knew a lot about Japanese haiku. He read ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ by Basho and thought that if Basho went to the North, he should go to the South. He had another reason that made sense to me. A long time ago, his grandmother kept a piece of skin of the animal that resides in Patagonia. He kept this story in him all his life, so he wanted to see that animal.
“After we had left the bar and were waiting for the last train, Bruce asked me what I did. I said that I was a researcher and was studying Buckminster Fuller. I added that I had translated Fuller’s book. Then he said,
‘Oh, Bucky. I know him very well.’
The train came at that moment and he hopped into the carriage.
‘I have a lot of things that I want to say about him…’
Before he finished his phrase, the door closed.
“A few days later, I heard about Bruce’s death. Even now I still think about what he wanted to say about Bucky. I am so curious about his last phrase that Bruce is always alive in me.”
He pointed out of the window.
“He was on his way to the USA from China, but he stopped off in Japan. He was extremely knowledgeable about history and geography, and he liked sake. I remember he was into Russia at the time. Why did he go to Patagonia? You might not know this but Bruce knew a lot about Japanese haiku. He read ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ by Basho and thought that if Basho went to the North, he should go to the South. He had another reason that made sense to me. A long time ago, his grandmother kept a piece of skin of the animal that resides in Patagonia. He kept this story in him all his life, so he wanted to see that animal.
“After we had left the bar and were waiting for the last train, Bruce asked me what I did. I said that I was a researcher and was studying Buckminster Fuller. I added that I had translated Fuller’s book. Then he said,
‘Oh, Bucky. I know him very well.’
The train came at that moment and he hopped into the carriage.
‘I have a lot of things that I want to say about him…’
Before he finished his phrase, the door closed.
“A few days later, I heard about Bruce’s death. Even now I still think about what he wanted to say about Bucky. I am so curious about his last phrase that Bruce is always alive in me.”
illustration by Daniel Frost, read more short stories by Yoshiko Nagai here
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