While Chloe was trying to encourage herself, a bird coming out of the hospital flew to the column by which she was standing. She curiously walked to the column
and looked at the bird. It had brownish plumage and wore a uniform in a faintly bluish-white color.
The bird just looked through the sheets of paper stuck to the column without looking at Chloe and called somebody's name. “Chamae. You are the next.
Chamae?”
“I am right here.”
The voice was coming from the ground, but the bird could not find it.
“Chamae? Where are you?”
“I'm right here. Look down at the ground. I am just in front of you,” said Chamae.
The bird peered at the ground and looked for him.
“Shall I let you use my flashlight?” Chloe offered, taking the flashlight out of her backpack.
Although it was not too dark to see the animals there, thanks to the dim light of the torches on the agony column, it was difficult even for Chloe to see what was there on the ground without a flashlight.
“Thank you,” said the bird to Chloe and cast the light on the ground. “Ah, you are there. It is your turn now. Come with me.”
The animal on the ground was a chameleon lying down on all four legs, and it looked almost the same color as the ground.
“Ah, Chamae is a chameleon?” said Chloe.
“I even couldn't figure out what it was,” said a dog, one of the patients waiting for their turn to see a doctor. “I saw just the faint, obscure contour of its body, but it looked almost the same as the ground. How did you know it was a chameleon?”
“Well, first of all,” said Chloe, “I noticed its body color was greenish-brown, subtly different from the color of the ground.”
“Greenish-brown? What color is that?” asked the dog.
“Well, it is hard to explain, but it is like a brown color overlaid with a pale green,” said Chloe.
“A brown color? A pale green? What sorts of color are they?” asked the dog in wonder.
“You know brown and green colors, don't you?”
“Well...do you know what brown and green colors look like, Molie?” the dog asked a mole which was also one of the patients. Oddly, it wore sunglasses in this dark place.
“I don't even know what 'colors' are. I have never heard such a word before. What does it mean?” said Molie.
“Colors are black and white, aren't they? Are you stupid?” said the dog to the mole, half in jest.
“Oh, please don't call me stupid. Because I felt I was a biological mistake, I came here to consult a doctor. But am I merely stupid? Is that why I cannot see anything? If so, can I see something if I make an effort? Can I?” said Molie with a serious face. “What is it like to see something? Tell me what it is like.”
“No! Don't consider yourself a biological mistake!” A toad suddenly hopped into the conversation. “The reason you cannot see anything is merely because you don't know how to see. Try now to see something moving.”
“Well,” said Molie. “How can I find something moving if I am not able to see anything?”
“Oh, I am sorry, you are right,” said the toad. “Okay. Try now to see something by moving yourself.”
Molie tried to see something by turning and moving its head to the left and right as the toad said, but still nothing was visible to her. “I am still not able to see anything.”
“You should be!” said the toad.
“I really cannot see anything. Does this really work?” said Molie.
“It works for me,” said the toad. “That's the way I see the world. The ganglion cells generally perform stimulus filtering. So I can only see something moving and passing through my receptive field because it is most likely to be a flying insect I can eat. If it is not moving, why do I have to see it? I simply ignore it,” the toad eagerly explained to Molie, but the dog wasn't paying attention.
“Let's ignore them,” said the dog to Chloe. “For some reason, I've forgotten Molie is blind. Her problem is not so serious that she should come to this hospital.”
“Why not?” asked Chloe.
“Because all other patients have much more serious problems. That's why they came to this hospital and have waited for a long time to see a very good doctor. If you look at some of those sheets of paper stuck to the agony column, you will know why those patients came here,” said the dog.
Chloe then curiously looked through them, but the dog soon interrupted her search with a question.
“By the way, why did you come to this hospital?”
“Because Celestial Tapir...,” began Chloe. Then she wondered whether the dog knew Celestial Tapir, so she promptly changed her explanation. “Because I was told that I should come to the hospital to have my hands treated.”
“What's wrong with them?”
“Well, I was stung on my hands by bees.”
“Do they hurt?”
“Yes. Whenever I think of my hands, they hurt. But if I don't, I feel no pain at all.”
“Don't they hurt very much now?”
“Y...yes.... They've just started to hurt again. I don't know why, but I haven't felt any pain until now, though,” said Chloe, clenching her fists to endure the pain.
“Oh, it must be a very serious matter to feel pain in this world. I am going to write the reason of your visit to this hospital for you,” said the dog. Then it tore down one piece of the blank sheets on the agony column and began to write it down. “Your turn to see a doctor depends on how serious your problem is, but I think you will be called next by the nurse.”
“By the nurse? Who is it?” asked Chloe, still feeling the pain in her hands.
“You saw the bird taking the chameleon into the hospital, didn't you? It is a nightingale, scientifically called Luscinia megarhynchos. And her name is Florence Nightingale. She is a pioneer of modern professional nursing and used to be called the 'Lady of the Lamp.' In the nineteenth century, I was a soldier. When I was injured in the war at that time, it was my pleasure to have her tender care. She used to take care of everybody with love and without discrimination. And she is now taking care of every living thing here regardless of whether they are humans or other animals. So, I think I am lucky because I can have her care again, although I am a dog now. And so shall you, because she will take you to the consultation room next if she looks at the reason of your visit, even though there are still many patients waiting for their turns before you. So, put this sheet on the column before she comes back here.”
“Why do you think I will be the next?” asked Chloe in wonder.
“Because your hands have been violently hurting, haven't they?”
“Yes. But how about the other patients? They have waited for a long time, haven't they?”
“Yes, they have. But they don't have any problems as serious as yours. If you look at some of those sheets of paper on the agony column and compare them to yours or the reason why Chamae came here, you will know. Well, first, look especially at the sheet on the bottom of the column. I think it is Chamae's. I am very curious to know why he came here and how serious his problem is,” said the dog.
Whenever I wake up in a morning, I look in a mirror.
However, I don't see myself in it. All I see in it are the wall
behind me and my eyes. But when I blink even my eyes disappear
in the mirror, and I don't see anything at all. Do I really
exist? Or am I absent in body but present in eyes...well...but
only when I keep my eyes open?
Or, am I just crazy, or what?
Please help me.
I may be driven mad.
Chamae |
Chloe stooped down to take a look at the sheet and read it for the dog. After reading the agony statement, Chloe chuckled a little because she knew what was wrong with the chameleon.
However, the dog took the statement seriously and said, “Oh, poor Chamae. I understand how much he has been afflicted.”
Because Chamae's agony statement was somehow funny to Chloe, she looked through another sheet, expecting more humor, without caring that the dog seemed to be gloomy or sad by feeling sympathy for Chamae, and she read aloud another sheet.
I had been raised on a ranch since I was born there.
I ate only forage every day.
I got tired of it, but there was nothing else to eat there.
What was worse, all I could drink there was
water or urine. That's why I patiently fed myself on them.
However, after I grew up, an artificial sucker sucked up milk
from my udder every day.
When I became too old to produce milk, I was
slaughtered for meat.
What was my life for? I was not born in order to
serve milk nor to be meat.
Please give me my life back, or I shall have to
carry my regret beyond the grave.
Marianne, a maiden who once wanted to fall in sweet love |
As Chloe read the agony statement, she raised her head and looked for the one who had written it, wondering who was the “Maiden who once wanted to fall in sweet love.”
“That is my statement,”said somebody suddenly from behind the agony column.
Chloe again walked around to the back of the column and looked for the owner of the voice. There was a cow that had not been there when she was talking to Celestial Tapir, but that didn't concern her any more. What she was rather surprised at was that the cow was drinking a glass of some sort of liquid as if it were driven to drink alcohol by despair.
“That are you drin--” Before she uttered the question completely, she fancied that something quickly moved away from her and went behind the column.
“You are wondering what I am drinking, aren't you?”said the cow.
But Chloe stealthily walked around the column without listening to the cow, in order to find out what was behind it.
“Well,”said the cow. “I am drinking urine. You may be surprised, but it is not so surprising because....”
The cow continued talking, supposing that Chloe was still listening to it, even though she was now out of its sight, but somebody's sudden scream interrupted the cow, and Chloe promptly turned her eyes toward a head lying on the ground.
“Wow! You are the praying mantis I met before. I am happy to meet you again.”
“You are the female I met before! Oh, I am unhappy to meet you again,” Gray shot back half falteringly and half fearfully. There was Charlie, too, timidly hiding behind Gray.
Chloe frowned at its remark and their attitudes but spoke in a tender voice in order not to scare them. “By the way, why are both of you together in such a place?”
“Of course, because we want the doctor to free us from our paranoia-like female complex,”said Charlie in a loud voice. At the same time, the cow asked indignantly in a much louder voice, “Are you still listening to me!?”
“Yes, I am,”said Chloe, poking her head around from the column. “So, why is it not surprising to drink such a thing?”
As soon as she started to talk to the cow again, Gray and Charlie moved away from her, going back behind the column. But she hesitated to follow them this time and waited for the cow's reply.
“Because urine is good for me to drink,”said the cow.
“Why?”Chloe curiously asked, still keeping her eyes on Gray and Charlie.
“Because urine has urea in it. Urea is a nonprotein nitrogen source and is hydrolyzed to carbon dioxide and ammonia in my rumen, that is, my digestive tract. Then, ammonia is converted into proteins by microorganisms in my rumen. So, in short, urea can increase the protein synthesis in my body. But I originally didn't know this fact, and when the ranchers added urea in feed, I used to refuse it. But my elders told me that urea would actually promote my growth. At that time, I wanted to grow plump as soon as possible because there was a handsome, brave bull I was attracted to. But, unfortunately, I was too thin to gain his affection. So, I tried to eat a lot of forage every day and even drink my urine to become attractive. However, before I opened my heart to him, the rancher took him somewhere. I didn't know where he was taken, but after he came back, he was totally different. Well, he physically looked the same to my eyes, but he looked so gloomy in contract to the ranchers who happily enjoyed the dish called 'mountain oyster.' I didn't know why, but, after that, the ranchers called him an ox rather than a bull. I thought he was just curt to others because he didn't like what the ranchers called him. But after that, he never even talked to any other cattle. And some time later, he was again taken somewhere, and he never came back. I suspect now that he was slaughtered for meat as I was when I was considered useless after the milk was all sucked from my udder by the ranchers....”The cow then drew a deep sigh, looking very sad, and said, “Was I given life in order to be exploited by the ranchers? Was I raised in order to be finally slaughtered to be served as a food? Somebody once told me that the purpose of life was to create more life. But how is it possible if I was already predestined to be exploited and finally slaughtered? I wanted to fall in love with the bull and to make a happy family by having our children. Nevertheless....”
Tears trickled down the cheeks of the cow. It tried to continue to tell its story, but it was interrupted by not only its mournful heart but also someone's scream.
Although Chloe wanted to soothe the cow somehow, her wonder made her quickly respond to the scream, and she walked around in that direction.
“Wah-h-h-h--” Gray's voice was trembling with fear. “Somebody, bring my body here now, please!”the head of the praying mantis cried out. His head was still on the ground while his body was scuttling around without knowing which way to go.
“What is going on now?”asked Chloe.
“A... a... a...”said Gray, disconcerted.
“Calm down. What's wrong with you?”
“A bat...a bat...is coming!”
“A bat?”Chloe curiously looked up at the sky, but nothing seemed to be coming. “Don't worry. I don't see anything in the sky.”
“It's coming! It is definitely coming to hunt me?”shouted Gray crazily. “Oh, God, Buddha, or any divine beings, I appeal to your mercy. Please save my life....”Gray strangely started to pray for help in spite of the fact that he was already dead. However, it was not her first concern. What she really wondered was how he could know that a bat was coming, if it was true.
“Hey!” the head of the praying mantis shouted to Charlie. “Bring my body to me, please!”
“All right!” said Charlie, and tried to grab the body of the praying mantis, but he started to run in the opposite direction.
“Hey, where are you going?” said Chloe to the black widow. “The praying mantis is running that way!” She pointed her finger in the direction in which Gray was running.
“Which way?” asked Charlie.
“That way!” said Chloe.
“Which way? Tell me which! Which way!?”
“I am telling you now! Ah, he changed direction! He is now running this way!”
“Okay!” Charlie turned in the direction she pointed and ran but missed again, and he bumped his head against the agony column.
“What are you doing? Don't be absurd,” Chloe scowled at the black widow's behavior.
“I am not being a fool. To tell you the truth, I am actually blind,” confessed Charlie, having lost his way.
“Really? I didn't know that. You should have told me earlier.”
“But if I had told you the truth, you would've tried to eat me since it would be easier to attack me, wouldn't you?”
“No. I would have never done that!” said Chloe.
“But you are going to attack me now, aren't you?”
“I won't do that!” asserted Chloe. While she was arguing with the black widow, the head of the praying mantis appeared even worse and screamed violently.
“Well,” said the dog. “Something is coming now.”
“How do you know that?” asked Chloe.
“I can smell something is coming.”
“Ah, you have a very keen sense of smell. But I wonder how the praying mantis knew a bat was coming. Did he know it in the same way as you did?”
“No... I don't think he has as keen a sense of smell as I do.”
“If not, how did he know it?”
“To explain it, I have to explain why he is called a 'praying mantis'. Do you have any idea about what his name came from?”
“Well, probably he is called a 'praying mantis' because of his crooked arms. They look like hands lifted in prayer.”
“That's right. But how about 'mantis'?”
“I have no idea. It is just a name, isn't it?”
“It is just a name, but it has a meaning in it,” said the dog.
“A meaning in it? What does it mean?” asked Chloe curiously.
“In Greek, the word 'mantis' means 'soothsayer' or 'prophet.' And becauseof this ability, he is called a 'mantis.'”
“Really? I didn't know that. But I don't think anybody has an ability to know what will happen in the future because the future doesn't exist until we actually reach it.”
“I am not saying he can predict the future,” said the dog. “What I am saying is that he has an ability to apprehend some sort of danger coming toward him even though it may be unknown to others.”
“Is the danger you are talking about a bat which is coming right now to hunt him?”
“Yes,” said the dog simply.
“But how can he know that?”
“He has a bat-detecting mechanism, and his auditory capability sensitive to the sound pulsed by a bat allows him to detect its coming.”
“The sound?” Chloe cupped her hand behind her ear and tried to hear the sound carefully, but she could not hear anything.
“It is not audible to you since it is ultrasonic,” said the dog.
“Ultrasonic? Can he hear an ultrasonic sound?”
“That's not surprising. Many organisms have their own way to detect a danger in order to survive in such a severe world.”
“Really? But we, humans, don't have such an ability, I guess.”
“Well, humans are actually no exception. They do have a latent flair for detecting danger, but many people have just forgotten how to use such an ability since they established safety in their own environment.”
“Really? If so, do you think there are still some individuals who know how to use such an ability?”
“I believe so,” answered the dog.
Chloe was then somehow reminded of Kip, who might have already noticed the danger coming toward him even before he had gone with her to the forest.
“In fact,” said the dog. “I met one human who still had such an ability when he came to this world.”
“Really?” Chloe shouted, excited to hear that. “Isn't that person Kip?”
“Kip? I don't know. I didn't ask his name. But he seemed to have a remarkable ability. He said everything which would happen to him was already predetermined, and he had even foreseen his death before he was killed.”
“Did he tell you why he came to this world? I mean...what had happened to him just before he came to this world?”
“He said he had been shot by a hunter in forest.”
“Really?” Chloe immediately felt certain the human the dog met was Kip, although the bargeman she met in the river said he hadn't seen any human coming to that world before she came. Her heart swelled with joy and excitement, and she sought more detail of the truth. “Can you describe what he looked like?”
“Well, he exactly looked like you,” said the dog.
“He exactly looked like me? Why? Wasn't he male?”
“I believe he was....”
“If so, how come he looked like me?”
“Well, I can't tell any individual differences. Can you tell them in other animals?”
“Well...probably...I can't,” answered Chloe in a small voice.
“The same to me. All humans look the same to my eyes,” said the dog.
The dog's answer discouraged her, but she tried to ask in another way because she really wanted to make sure the person the dog had met was definitely Kip. “How about his clothes? What kind of clothes did he wear?”
“He was wrapped up in just a white rectangular cloth. If my memory is not at fault, I think he called it 'himation.'”
“Are you sure that the cloth in which he wrapped himself was white? I wonder if you really can discriminate a color. Was it really white? Not yellow? Not gray? Or not a color which may look similar to white?”
“I am sure it was white. Although I don't know what green or brown you described look like, I know very well what white and black are like!” said the dog confidently.
Chloe then speculated that if it was really a rectangular white cloth as the dog said, it might be the cloth in which Hypnos, whom she had seen in the hospital, had been wrapped. So, she continued to ask in fear that the person was Hypnos, not Kip.
“Did he have a pair of wings attached to his brow?”
“No,” answered the dog.
“Was he awake?”
“Of course. Otherwise I could not talk to him, could I?”
“Well, that's right,” Chloe chuckled at the silly question she asked. “How about....” She tried to think how she should ask in order to get a definite answer so that she could identify the person the dog met, but she could not find any good way to ask. “Don't you have any way you can tell the specific feature of the person you met, so I can identify who he was or might be?” asked Chloe simply, frustrated by her inability to question him.
“Specific feature? For example?” said the dog.
“For example...well, I don't know. That's why I am so vexed now.”
“Why do you want to know so badly who he was?”
“Because I am looking for my friend, Kip, who must have come to this world. And I think the person you talked about is him because you said he had been shot by a hunter before he came to this world. That is exactly what happened to him.”
“If so, he would be your friend, wouldn't he?”
“But,” said Chloe, “the bargeman, who is called Charon..., well, you know him, don't you?”
“Yes. He was the first one I met when I came to this world.”
“Anyway, he said he hadn't seen any human beings except for me coming to this world recently. So, if you say you saw a human come to this world, that might mean that Charon lied to me, because he must have seen all beings coming to this world, including Kip.”
“Well, I don't think he told you a lie,” said the dog. “He was a very genial and cordial gentleman, I believe. If what he told you is contradictory to what I told you, probably I told you something wrong because I am not completely sure if the one I met was really a human.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I am sure that physically he looked like a human. But that doesn't mean he was a human. He could be an incarnation of a human being, but he might in fact be something different.”
“How could he be an incarnation in spite of having no physical body here?” Chloe promptly asked.
“Oh, yes. That's right,” said the dog. “How should I say exactly...? Let me see.... what is an appropriate word for that...?” The dog pondered for awhile.
“Transfiguration!” it shouted. “Oh, yes! That's it! That must be the appropriate word. Anyway, what I want to say is that he might have merely transfigured himself.
That would be why Charon told you that he hadn't seen any human even though the one I met before looked like a human to my eyes.”
“If it is true,” said Chloe, “what had he transfigured into?”
“Of course, an anthropomorphous vegetable.”
Just as the dog uttered those words, the head of the praying mantis again screeched crazily. Both the dog and Chloe promptly turned to look back at the praying mantis and saw its body scuttle off, bumping itself against one tree and another. The head of the praying mantis immediately went fainted with fear, while a bat awkwardly fluttered down to the ground. Chloe noticed the bat also grew strangely faint as it reached the ground. Distressed, she hurried to the bat, struggling in the high-heeled shoes, but concerned about what had happened to the bat.
