     "You have to work harder than the others?you have to be more diligent than the others? I thought to myself, gaining back my determination. While I was lying there thinking about the jumping lice and my renewed determination, nine o'clock then ten o'clock had passed, and I still hadn't been able to sleep. I hadn't had a chance to think until know. I stretched out my neck and began to count the people packed into the room. Including me there were twenty-five people. My second day there I counted the tatami mats in the sleeping room - - there were only twelve mats. That meant that there were at least two people or more per mat.

     I was lying there thinking dreamily like that, when all of a sudden I had to go to the bathroom. What a coincidence - - I was wedged in tightly between Tanaka and Sato. It was going to be very difficult to climb out. Everyone was sleeping soundly. I couldn't throw the quilt off - - it would have woken everyone up. I wanted to slip quietly out from the top edge of the quilt but then I would run into the row of people sleeping right beside me - - their heads just covered the path I needed to walk on. Supporting my body on my hands, I leaned over and cautiously slipped out from under the quilt - - it must of taken five minutes, and even then I couldn't help but to bump Sato. He rolled over, but I was luck, I didn't wake him up.

     I finally managed to crawl out from under the quilt but then I realized that to get over to the stairs to get outside was a whole new matter - - everyone's heads semed to be very close together. It was only because one's feet take up less room than one's body that there was a bit of extra room around people's feet to walk in. But since everyone's feet were covered up by the blankets, it was hard to distinguish where the empty spaces were. I looked carefully for a place to put my foot before each step, until I finally reached the door. I did step on someone's foot in the middle of the room - - I startled him and he jumped up.

     When I came back from going to the bathroom, U ran into a more difficult situation. I wanted to get back to the place I'd been sleeping in but I ran into the same problem I'd had on the way out. When I finally got back to my place, I discovered that Sato had rolled over there was no room for me anymore. I'd only met him today - - I didn't know what sort of temper he had, and I didn't dare move him. My only alternative was to sit there for the time being. After a while my reslove to not wake him up slowly disappeared. I spent a long time nudging him over until I was finally able to slip back under the covers.

  Prev   |25|26|27|28|29|30|31|32|33|34|35|   Next