Back then, the young woman carrying it had been on the opposite platform, midway up the stairs. And the young man standing next to her now had been trying earnestly to persuade her to accept an invitation somewhere, while she smiled back at him.
That heartwarming scene of budding romance that Tokié had just happened to witness appeared to have developed into a fully-fledged relationship. The two of them stood there now, fingers lightly interlaced, talking and laughing as they waited for the train.
Tokié herself was waiting for the train with her granddaughter Ami and holding the carrier for her miniature Dachshund. Ami had wanted to name the dog something vaguely genteel and French-sounding like Marron or Chocolat, but naming rights were the preserve of the pet’s owner.
Tokié would have preferred to get a Japanese dog breed but not many of them were small enough. She learned that a Shiba Inu, for instance, required a significant amount of daily exercise, and thus might not be the best breed for someone her age.
There was also a miniature version called the Mamé Shiba Inu, but Tokié had heard that some so-called mini Shiba Inu still grew to be the same size as a regular Shiba Inu, and that was a risk she wasn’t willing to take.
In the end, Tokié went with a breed that Ami had wanted, a black long-haired miniature Dachshund, though she would not budge on the dog’s name.
Ken was his name. It was the same as the Kai Ken that Tokié’s parents had long ago, who had lived until around the time when Tokié’s son had started nursery school. Her son seemed not to remember this detail – he had made the comment about the fact that since ‘ken’ was one way to read the kanji for dog, it wasn’t a very ingenious name.
Ami, for her part, was upset that Tokié hadn’t chosen a more charming name but Tokié was unmoved. She was certainly not the type of grandmother who would go to such lengths to indulge her granddaughter.
After about half a year had passed, though, Ami seemed to have come around to the name Ken. And the dog was fulfilling its purpose: Ami started staying over at Tokié’s house; in fact, the night before, her daughter-in-law had brought Ami over on the way home from nursery school, apologizing and asking whether Tokié minded taking care of her. Ever since she had got Ken, it seemed that Tokié’s home had been transformed into a de-facto overnight playschool.
‘Granny, let me hold Ken’s carrier!’
‘No, dear. You asked before and you wouldn’t have made it all the way down the staircase just now, would you?’
‘I can hold it just fine while we’re waiting!’
Not wanting Ami to make any more of a fuss before the train arrived, Tokié relented and handed the carrier to Ami.
‘Step back a little. You mustn’t drop the carrier. If it even looks like you aren’t holding it properly, I’ll make you give it right back to me.’
As expected, Ami wasn’t able to hold on to it for the duration of their wait.
‘Here, I’m giving it back,’ she said.
‘What did I tell you?’
Just as Tokié took the carrier back from Ami, they heard the signal at the crossing for the oncoming train.
As it turned out, there was absolutely no reason for Tokié to have been concerned about whether Ami would make a fuss before they got on the train.
The moment the train doors opened, shrill female voices gushed forth, chattering and laughing. Had these belonged to young children or students, Tokié might have been willing to look the other way without giving it much further thought, but in this case she couldn’t help wondering why, when some women reached a certain age, they appeared to lose all sense of decency.
The train car seemed so full of their frisky cries, at first Tokié thought the ladies had taken over half of the seats, but in reality they only numbered five or six – their chitter-chatter was just that loud. It didn’t help that, despite the fact that they were sitting in a row along one bench, they were trying to have a single conversation together, so they were all shouting at the top of their lungs.
It was no coincidence that there were only a few other passengers sharing this car with them. Those who were riding with them appeared impatient or didn’t try to hide their annoyance, but the housewives kept babbling on, seemingly oblivious.
The din was such that when Tokié boarded the train, Ken whimpered through his nose, perhaps out of fear. One of the housewives actually seemed to notice, because she looked over at the carrier Tokié was holding and made a little frown.
The door through which they had boarded left them as close as possible to where the ladies were sitting and Tokié wanted to put some distance between them if possible. She took Ami by the hand and stood near the opposite door.