Salmonella men on Planet Porno: stories - By Yasutaka Tsutsui Page 0,81
out,” I complained to my wife in a tearful voice that night. “What am I to do? I told the man at Daitsu that I’d get the police to investigate it, but he didn’t seem to care!”
“Well, he wouldn’t, would he,” she replied, sniggering. “After all, they’re corrupt from the top down in that company.”
“Yes…” I remembered an incident from some years back.
She wanted it again that night. In fact, she seemed more aroused than usual. Probably because she’d been flirting with those young students.
“No, no, no,” I cried. “I’ve no medicine left. What would happen if I had an attack? I would surely die.”
“All right then!” she shrieked hysterically. “Because tomorrow, I’m going to be unfaithful with one of those sweet boys!”
“Why do you torment me by saying things like that?” I pleaded in falsetto. “Don’t say such things, please! You should know that sexual activity is bad for people with heart disease. Are you trying to kill me?!”
“I’m saying you don’t have to do it!”
“But then you’ll go and do it with someone else!”
“Huh. Not much of a man, are you.”
“All right. If that’s what you’re saying, I’ll do it for you.” I put my hand on her.
She pushed my hand away. “You don’t have to feel obliged.”
“I don’t feel obliged. I really want to make love to you. Honestly.” More or less ready to die, I forced myself to embrace her.
Perhaps because it had been such a long time, I was finished in no time at all.
“What?! Is that it?!” my wife said in obvious dissatisfaction. “You deliberately finished quickly to protect your heart. I can’t stand this any longer. I’m going to be unfaithful tomorrow. I’ll have it off with all five of them, that’ll show you!”
“Please don’t! Please don’t!” I pulled the sheets over my head and sobbed in sheer misery. My heart was already starting to palpitate after all that strenuous exercise and aggravation. I couldn’t even shout at my wife as I would usually have done. “I think I’m going to die. I’m dying. I think I’m dying. Yes, I’m dying.”
The trunk still hadn’t arrived by the next day. Work was out of the question.
I telephoned Murai at the City Branch again. “It’s Mr Suda from Pomegranate Island.”
“Well, hello! Hahaha. Has your trunk arrived, then?”
“Of course not. That’s why I’m calling you.”
“Yeah. Yeah, of course.”
“My medicine has at last run out.”
“Medicine? What medicine?”
“The medicine for my heart problem.”
“Really.”
“The next time I have an attack, there won’t be any medicine.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Do you know where my trunk is?”
“No. I don’t.”
“Did you try to find out?”
“Really.”
“Did you try to find out?”
“Find out what?”
“Where the trunk has gone.”
“Who?”
I gave a great sigh. “All right, I’ll do it. Please give me the numbers of the Yabuki and Itagaki Branches.”
I wrote the numbers down and phoned both branches. Neither of them had my trunk.
I asked for another long-distance call, this time to the Kawashita Clinic.
A nurse answered. “Kawashita Clinic?”
“Hello, my name’s Suda. I’m one of your patients.”
“Sorry? We have a bad line here.”
“May I speak to Dr Kawashita?”
“I’m afraid he’s not here.”
“Oh dear. Could you tell me where he is?”
“He’s away at a conference.”
“Oh. A conference. Do you know where it is?”
“Sapporo.”
“Sapporo?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, actually, you see, Dr Kawashita gave me some medicine, but it’s been lost, you see, and I wonder if perhaps you could urgently send me some more, please?”
“You’re breaking up. I can’t hear you. Hello? Hello?”
“Hello? Yes. I would like you to send me some serpentina alkaloid urgently, please.”
“Celluloid?”
“No, no. Serpentina alkaloid. That’s the name of the medicine.”
“Medicine? What about medicine?”
“I want you to send it urgently, you see.”
“I can’t issue medicine without the doctor’s instructions.”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Pardon? What did you say?”
“Er, hello? I wonder if you could tell me where Dr Kawashita is staying in Sapporo?”
“Wear what?”
“What hotel is he staying in?”
“What to tell?”
“No, what hotel?”
“This isn’t a hotel. This is the Kawashita Clinic. A hospital.”
“Yes, yes. I know that. But Dr Kawashita, where is Dr Kawashita staying in Sapporo?”
“Ah, I see. Yes. Just a minute. Er, it’s the Queen Hotel.”
“Do you know the telephone number?”
I wrote down the number, then asked for another long-distance call to Sapporo. I’d been talking so loud that I was out of breath and sweating profusely.
I was connected to the Queen Hotel in Sapporo. The line sounded even more distant, so I had to shout at the top of my voice. At last, I was put through to reception.