Salmonella men on Planet Porno: stories - By Yasutaka Tsutsui Page 0,76
a vicious circle. I don’t want to frighten you, but if that happens, even a regime of complete rest and a change of air won’t work. You need to relax, and try not to get angry. That’s the best cure.”
“But my wife makes me angry. I can’t help it.”
“Will your wife accompany you to the island?”
“Of course.”
“You see, this is your perfect chance for a complete convalescence.” He screwed up his face. “Is there no way you could go alone?”
“You’re joking! I couldn’t leave a skittish woman like that on her own. Who knows what she’d get up to.”
“Distrust between partners, suspicions of infidelity, these are things that can directly aggravate your condition, you see.”
That hit a raw nerve. “Are you saying I’m jealous?” I said loudly. “How can I help it? She’s a wanton woman, I’m telling you!”
“All right, all right. Calm down.” The doctor hurriedly tried to pacify me. “That’s exactly what I mean. You mustn’t allow yourself to become so agitated!”
“Can I have the medicine?”
“Well, if you promise not to waste it, I’ll let you have eight months’ supply. But don’t come to me saying you’ve used it up and could I give you some more. This is all you’re getting. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
“Serpentina alkaloid,” he said to the nurse before turning back to me. “Whatever you do, don’t take too many. Your blood pressure isn’t very high, so if you exceed the dose it could be life-threatening.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Huh, he’s only trying to frighten me, I thought. Once I’d got the pills I could do what I liked with them!
The rule in my company, Marine Chemical Resources Development, is that, once a decision has been made to send an employee to an island or coastal observation point, the work has to start within a week. But this only applies to single employees. I was given special dispensation of two weeks in which to prepare, as I’m a family man. And on the final afternoon of those two weeks, I boarded a small steam ferry to Pomegranate Island from Cape Ichizen with my wife and child. The ferry crossed to the island and back once a day.
“What? WHAT?! What sort of island is that?!” my wife shouted at the top of her voice as we approached Pomegranate Island. We could now see the whole of the island before us. “What kind of shape do you call that?!”
In the middle of the island was a mountain shaped like an upturned helmet. The top of the mountain was split wide open like a pomegranate exposing its obscene red insides.
“You’ve got to be joking! I can’t live on an island that looks like that!!” my wife shrieked at me in a state of shock. “Why of all places do we have to live on an island that’s got its top split open?”
“How could I have known?!” I shouted back. “I’ve only seen it on the map. Nobody told me Pomegranate Island was an island with its top split open!”
“Aha, ahaha, ahahahaha!” Our son pointed at the island and laughed merrily.
“It’s a volcano, that’s what it is! What are we going to do if it explodes? The whole island will be wiped out!”
“Are volcanoes shaped like that?!”
“It’s a bloody volcano, I tell you! Of course it is!” She started to sob. “What am I going to do? I wish I’d never married you. I had another proposal after we were engaged, I’ll have you know. Now he’s been posted to Europe with his family. What a mistake it was to choose you!!”
“It’s because you say things like that and make me angry that my condition gets worse,” I said slowly, deliberately, breathing deeply to control my rage. “Dr Kawashita has said it many times. Marital discord, and particularly quarrelling, is very bad for my heart. Some of his patients have even died of heart failure during rows with their wives.”
“Well, if you’re so scared of dying, hurry up and divorce me, then! All you ever say is Dr Kawashita this, Dr Kawashita that. He’s nothing but a ruddy quack!”
“He is not a quack!” I screamed. “Do you want me to get angry and die?”
“Are you dying then? ARE YOU?” she screamed back. “Go on then, die! Then I might believe you!”
“H-how… h-h-how—” Her logic was so absurd that I could find no words in reply. “How could you say—” I could hardly breathe. A prickling pain pierced my heart.
“It’s the company that’s trying to kill you by sending you to