No Longer Human ( PDFDrive )

46
about getting back to their lodgings, but since I lived
just around the corner, I decided to make a dash for
it. Ju6t as I was about to rush outside, I noticed
Takeichi hovering dejectedly in the entrance way.
I said, "Let's go. I'll lend you my umbrella." I grabbed
Takeichi'a hand as he hesitated, and ran out with
him into the rain. When we arrived home I nuked my
aunt to dry our jackets. I had succeeded in luring
Takeichi to my room.
The household consisted of my aunt, a woman in
her fifties, and my two cousins, the older of whom
was a tall, frail, bespectacled girl of about thirty (she
had been married at one time but was later separated),
and the younger a short, round-faced girl who looked
fresh out of high school. The ground floor of the house
was given over to a shop where small quantities of
stationery supplies and sporting goods were offered
for sale, but the principal source of income wag the
rent from the five or six tenements built by my late
uncle.
Takeichi, standing haplessly in my room, said,
"My ears hurt."
"They must've got wet in the rain." I examined
his ears and discovered they were both running horribly.
The lobes seemed filled to the bursting with
pus. I simulated an exaggerated concern. "This looks
terrible. It must hurt." Then, in the gentle tones a