Page:The Cannery Boat.pdf/235

Rh They’ve got a damned nerve, the picketing squad or whatever they are. Let go, I tell you.”

The man wrenched away one of the girl’s hands, but in doing so he slipped.

“Don’t get so angry. Listen while I finish telling you. Why have you got so quick-tempered lately?”

They sat down on a bench. All was dark. They were in a little shrine on an open space at the back of the works. The girl was Kimi-chan and the man was her lover, Toyama.

“I suppose, then, if I was to go away from you for a bit, they’d say I’d taken to my heels and run … the damned fools.”

“There’s no need for you to get excited so quickly.” Kimi-chan never lost her presence of mind.

“You fool, can anyone help getting excited over a thing like this? You damned fool.” He tried again to rise, but she held him back.

“Don’t talk so loud, dear. You’ll have all the people coming to see what’s the matter,” said Kimi-chan. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t guess that you’re here and come after you, and then I’ll be hit too.”

“You?” His tone was full of sarcasm.

“Yes, me.”

But still he did not believe her sincerity.

“Don’t be silly! You? You’re the trusted comrade of all those youngsters, aren’t you? Don’t make me laugh!”

Toyama vented his despair on her, and then at his own words felt a fierce loneliness.