No Longer Human ( PDFDrive )

175
always did in those days, to questions about each
other's experiences during the air raids.
I said, "You haven't changed a bit."
"No, I'm an old woman already. I creak at the
joints. You're the one who really looks young."
"Don't be silly. I've got three children now. I've
come today to buy them some sea food."
We exchanged these and other greetings appropriate
to long-separated friends and asked for news of
mutual acquaintances. The madam suddenly broke off
to ask, in a rather different tone, if by chance I had
ever known Yozo. I answered that I never had, whereupon
she went inside and brought out three notebooks
and three photographs which she handed to me. She
said, "Maybe they'll make good material for a novel."
I can never write anything when people force
material on me, and I was about to return the lot to
her without even examining it. The photographs,
however, fascinated me, and I decided after all to
accept the notebooks. I promised to stop by again on
the way back, and asked her if she happened to know
where my friend lived. As a fellow newcomer, she
knew him. Sometimes, in fact, he even patronized her
shop. His house was just a few steps away.
That night after drinking for a while with my
friend I decided to spend the night. I became so im-