Summary

Ichiro’s father is so desperate for a drink he goes out to the liquor store without a coat on a cold night. He falls and hurts himself on the way home, but is only worried about the liquor bottles he carries. Ichiro’s mother has been acting very strangely, and her husband has not been able to get her to eat or to act sensibly since Ichiro left. For example, she waited until it was pouring rain to go hang laundry on the clothesline. . He thinks about how good things were when he and Ichiro’s mother first met, and how they were so attracted to each other they made love, impulsively, before they were married. He believes they brought bad luck on themselves by doing this. Ichiro’s father tries to reach out to his wife, who is packing suitcases and running the bath...