Free Vintage Murakami by Haruki Murakami Page B

impatience.
    “Ah yes, sorry. Well, Tonkichi had one thing he could do really well, and that was catching salmon. He’d go to the river and crouch down behind a boulder and—
snap!
— he would grab himself a salmon. You have to be really fast to do something like that. Tonkichi wasn’t the brightest bear on the mountain, but he could catch more salmon than any of the other bears. More than he could ever hope to eat. But he couldn’t go to town to sell his extra salmon, because he didn’t know how to talk.”
    “That’s easy,” Sala said. “All he had to do was trade his extra salmon for Masakichi’s extra honey.”
    “You’re right,” Junpei said. “And that’s what Tonkichi decided to do. You and he had exactly the same idea. So Tonkichi and Masakichi started trading salmon for honey, and before long they got to know each other really well. Tonkichi realized that Masakichi was not such a stuck-up bear after all, and Masakichi realized that Tonkichi was not just a tough guy. Before they knew it, they were best friends. They talked about
everything
. They traded know-how. They told each other jokes. Tonkichi worked hard at catching salmon, and Masakichi worked hard at collecting honey. But then one day, like a bolt from the blue, the salmon disappeared from the river.”
    “A bolt from the blue?”
    “Like a flash of lightning from a clear blue sky,” Sayoko explained. “All of a sudden, without warning.”
    “All of a sudden the salmon disappeared?” Sala asked with a somber expression. “But why?”
    “Well, all the salmon in the world got together and decided they weren’t going to swim up that river anymore, because a bear named Tonkichi was there, and he was so good at catching salmon. Tonkichi never caught another salmon after that. The best he could do was catch an occasional skinny frog and eat it, but the worst-tasting thing you could ever want to eat is a skinny frog.”
    “Poor Tonkichi!” Sala said.
    “And that’s how Tonkichi ended up being sent to the zoo?” Sayoko asked.
    “Well, that’s a long, long story,” Junpei said, clearing his throat. “But basically, yes, that’s what happened.”
    “Didn’t Masakichi help Tonkichi?” Sala asked.
    “He tried, of course. They were best friends, after all. That’s what friends are for. Masakichi shared his honey with Tonkichi—for free! But Tonkichi said, ‘I can’t let you do that. It’d be like taking advantage of you.’ Masakichi said, ‘You don’t have to be such a stranger with me, Tonkichi. If I were in your position, you’d do the same thing for me, I’m sure. You would, wouldn’t you?’ ”
    “Sure he would,” Sala said.
    “But things didn’t stay that way between them for long,” Sayoko interjected.
    “Things didn’t stay that way between them for long,” Junpei said. “Tonkichi told Masakichi, ‘We’re supposed to be friends. It’s not right for one friend to do all the giving and the other to do all the taking: that’s not real friendship. I’m leaving this mountain now, Masakichi, and I’ll try my luck somewhere else. And if you and I meet up again somewhere, we can be best friends again.’ So they shook hands and parted. But after Tonkichi got down from the mountain, he didn’t know enough to be careful in the outside world, so a hunter caught him in a trap. That was the end of Tonkichi’s freedom. They sent him to the zoo.”
    “Poor Tonkichi,” Sala said.
    “Couldn’t you have come up with a better ending? Like, everybody lives happily ever after?” Sayoko asked Junpei later.
    “I haven’t thought of one yet.”
    THE three of them had dinner together as usual in Sayoko’s apartment. Humming the “Trout,” Sayoko boiled a pot of spaghetti and defrosted some tomato sauce while Junpei made a salad of green beans and onions. They opened a bottle of red wine and poured Sala a glass of orange juice. When they had finished eating and cleaning up, Junpei read to Sala from another picture