Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan, volume 2.pdf/72

56 *Wife.—And ‘Souvenir’!
 * Husband.—Yes, and that takes me back to my hatred of getting up early.
 * Wife.—Yes, I know, for you got angry with me every morning and grumbled at me when I woke you.
 * Husband.—Well, it is most annoying to be wakened up in that way every morning! I have always wished to experience the happiness of being wakened unconsciously and naturally by the strains of some beautiful song near my bed-side … the song of a girl. I knew that you would never help me, so I determined to use that phonograph for the purpose.
 * Wife.—Yes, I remember……
 * Husband.—Don’t interrupt! Let me finish what I was saying. I remember one night I asked you to wake me up the next morning by playing some melody on the phonograph close to my pillow, instead of thundering in my ear as you usually do, ‘It’s time to get up!’ I promised you that as soon as the record finished I would jump out of bed. That night I tumbled quickly into bed, and prayed to God to send an early dawn with a clear sky. I remember going to sleep, still feeling the pleasant effects of a bottle of beer I had drunk for my supper.
 * Wife.—Yes, and the next morning I did just as you had asked me.
 * Husband.—Yes, for once you did keep your word, and put on ‘Souvenir’ to wake me up.