Chapter 56 My Birthplace Wakatake Hotel

My hometown is often foggy. Sometimes sitting in the house, you can't even see the Tang Dynasty-style herringbone boards (the baffles on the gable walls of Japanese houses) on the roof of the courtyard gate.Memories are divided into near and far. For example, in my memory, the place where I was born seems very far away, and some of them have even been blurred. Originally, my mother worked as a clerk in a securities company in Kudocho, Tokyo. Customers say my voice on the phone is very nice! Occasionally my mother takes pride in little things, like sitting at the phone every day when I get home, ready to grab the receiver, ever since someone told me she sounds good on the phone.

You might even become a native of Tokyo! I heard these words from others later, that is to say, when my mother moved out of Tokyo and returned to Mitani Town (now Gamagori City), I was about to be born, so was I born in Mitani Town?I still don't know the correct answer.Similarly, I don't know if I was born in this family (hotel), but I would rather believe that I was born here, so I haven't asked my mother if I was born in Ruozhu Hotel. My family's old house is a three-story hotel with a wooden structure. At that time, in a small city like Gamagori, there were very few three-story houses.

From the standpoint of the children, it is undoubtedly very proud to be able to live in such a house, and even feel a little superior. What kind of scene around the courtyard gate, I can't remember clearly now, whenever I try to recall the courtyard gate of my hometown, there is always a dark emptiness before my eyes.Entering the courtyard door and walking inside is a very wide corridor. Walking along the corridor, you will soon see the wooden stairs leading to the second floor. Of course, the stairs are not the end of the corridor, and the corridor extends to the back of the stairs.On the left hand side of the yard is the tent and kitchen, and the room I live in is just behind the tent.

We moved soon after I entered elementary school, so the impression of the old house before I was ten years old should be very vague in my memory. For example, I have never recalled whether the guest room is on the second floor?And is there a bathroom at the end of the corridor after the stairs? When I wrote about the bathroom, a small bamboo forest suddenly appeared in my mind. These bamboos are not like Mengzong bamboo (moso bamboo) with thick stems, but real bamboo (bitter bamboo), female bamboo (mangosteen) and other bamboos. The stem is very thin, and it is planted next to the bathroom.At the same time, I also remembered the name of the hotel:

Wakatake! Maybe it is because of these bamboos that the hotel is called Ruozhu Hotel? I remember that the bathtub in the bathroom is made of cypress wood. As soon as I walked in, I could smell a strong fragrance of wood, but I don’t know when, there was a slippery feeling at the bottom of the bathtub, which made me start Resentment towards wooden bathtubs.It is said that in order to prevent the wooden bathtub from slipping, there are many tricks. Of course, the most important thing is to have a dedicated servant to manage the bathroom and clean it regularly. Later I realized that the reason why our bathtub was not taken care of by someone is because our family business had already begun to wither. Of course, apart from the uncomfortable feeling of standing in it, the environment of the whole bathroom is still very charming. Especially the bamboo forest outside, whenever there is a breeze, the rustling sound of bamboo leaves that are far and near will give people an illusion, as if they are in a dense bamboo forest, and lying in the bathtub can It is even more refreshing to see the thick and faint emerald green outside the window.Although I don't like bathing very much, because of the bamboo forest, I often go to the bathroom to enjoy the poetic and picturesque sunlight slanting into the bamboo forest.

But I clearly remember that once I almost drowned in this bathtub, it was because when I was taking a bath in the bathtub, a companion stood by and joked with me, I don’t know if he pushed me In short, my body flashed, and then my feet slipped and I fell into the bathtub. I thought I should be able to get up immediately, but maybe one of my feet was injured. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stand up. It was the first time I felt that the bathtub was so deep. Of course, it was inevitable to drink a few sips of bath water. In the end, I didn't know which part of the bathtub I caught, and I managed to get up.

Afterwards, as far as I can remember, I never went into the bathroom with other people, and basically enjoyed the comfortable feeling that the hot water brought to my body quietly by myself.In addition, I have developed a habit of never going into the bathroom at night, because I have to finish washing before the guests come, because I think the rest of the time should be left for the guests to enjoy, including my family, as long as there are guests at home , You must take a shower before four o'clock, from after dinner to midnight, the bathroom during this period should belong to the guests.To be honest, I still don't know when my mother and some other employees take a bath, and there are no other bathrooms in the house. Maybe adults like to take a bath in the public bathroom?

In my memory, my mother has been sitting in the tent with a big abacus in front of her. I said before that my room is just behind the tent, but I have completely forgotten what my room is like, but I seem to remember that there seem to be some toys in the room for me to play with.And some of them I really like, some of them I still have a little memory, but I can't remember the shape and color.I remember once there was a large toy car of the latest style in my room. It seemed that a guest bought it for me as a gift. It was about the 25th year of the Showa era (1950). It's amazing that such an advanced toy was produced back in that era.But compared to this toy, I remember playing with my favorite toys more often.

The guest specially bought this toy for you, why don't you like it?Isn't it fun? Mother would sigh and shake her head from time to time. What I often did at that time was play around on a tricycle, and I took a lot of photos, which I still often look out for now.Many of the photos were photos of me and the waitresses. They said they were group photos, but in fact they were all the waitresses holding me in their arms.My mother seemed to like the waitress and would call out her name every time I took a photo, but eventually I forgot her name.That person loved me so much back then, but I can't remember it at all now, children are really ruthless!

Next, let's go to the second floor to have a look! Since it is a hotel, of course there must be guest rooms, and the second floor is where the guest rooms are located. Facing the stairs is a dance hall. There are large loudspeakers in the dance hall, and songs are played here non-stop every day. One of them is called "Lear Back to Shanghai" which is my favorite. Where are you now?Lear! Whenever the deep and familiar melody sounds, I can't help thinking of this loving world. It is no exaggeration to say that this song has given me a lot of inspiration in life.Because I was more sensible at that time, I could play records by myself, so whenever I was free, I would change to a record I liked, and it is for this reason that I still remember the feeling of touching the handle of the amplifier .

In addition to silently admiring, sometimes I will sing to the round handle on the sliding door to get addicted to being a singer. In my opinion, the round handle is the microphone on the stage. But none of the things mentioned above happened in my home. I remember that the place I often visited at that time was a place called Kibune, which was a geisha house. In my impression, there were three geisha making a living there.The owner's surname is Sakai. When she was young, she seemed to be quite a well-known entertainer, and she was often invited to perform at banquets.The name of their store should come from the Guishen Shrine in Kyoto. Since the Guishen Shrine is a place to worship the god of water, those businessmen who are engaged in the aquatic industry often go there to pray for the god of water to bless their business prosperity. Guichuan is to the east of my house, only ten minutes' walk from Ruozhu Hotel. Since my mother runs a business, she is very busy every day and has no time to take care of me. Therefore, I asked Ms. Sakai to help her take me every night, and then come to pick me up at ten o'clock in the evening when there are few guests. So strictly speaking, Ms. Sakai had taken over the role of mother in a way when I was young. Ms. Sakai is lively and kind-hearted, and I enjoyed her company so much that I have vivid memories of sucking her breasts myself. Salty or not? Ms. Sakai laughed at being bitten by me, but there was no expression of displeasure on her face. Every time I walk into your boat, the first thing I do is run to the sliding door and start showing my singing voice towards the round handle. This child likes to sing very much! Although Ms. Sakai often introduced my actions to others, she never praised me once in my memory. Maybe it was because she was engaged in art, and she would not praise me without a certain foundation, right? In my eyes at the time, I had never met such an artist who paid attention to neatness and cleanliness. There are three sewing machines in her home, which gives people a strange feeling. Do all artists use these machines?In my eyes, these black-lighted machines really don't match the style of the room, and they are even a bit out of place. On the south side of the room is a sliding glass window through which the bright sunlight can shine into the room. I am very familiar with it because I was sent to Ms. Sakai every time before sunset.I have no impression of what the bathroom in their house looks like, because every time I remember, I take a bath in my own home.As for whether they all take a shower before going to Ms. Sakai's house, I don't know. I have thought about this issue for a long time, but so far there is no result.When I can run around without worrying my family, I rarely go to your ship. Ms. Sakai suffered from diabetes in her later years and was almost blind in both eyes. Her eye surgery was performed in a hospital in Tokyo. I visited her once during her hospitalization. white gauze), she burst into tears. I had a very nasty guest before! When I met Ms. Sakai again, her eyes were already healed, but she had to wear a pair of glasses with thick lenses to see clearly. One of her favorite things to do was to tell others about the past, mostly An anecdote about her at the banquet.According to her, a guest asked her to play a very difficult Sanxian. Can't you even play this piece?It's ridiculous!what a pity!You should try harder and hopefully I can hear this piece next time I see you!What a let down! Is Ms. Sakai such a person?Not at all! I was raised by this person! The same annoying guests can be encountered in hotels. Although I slept in a room at the back of the tent, I was often awakened in the middle of the night by drunken guests shouting loudly and sometimes trembling with fright. Some of the calls didn't even sound like humans, but beasts.Alcohol can completely change people, even sex, it is really a poisonous thing, since then I began to hate all kinds of alcohol. Because the hotel is close to the sea, most of the guests are fishermen by the sea. In addition, after World War II, the world has become more and more deteriorating, and drunks talking nonsense can be seen everywhere in the town. The third floor should be a restaurant. Because the various sounds in the restaurant have become very small when they reach my room on the first floor, so in my eyes all the annoying guests are concentrated on the first floor. How nice it would be if I wasn't born in a hotel! Sometimes I can't help resetting my origins because I hate hotel life so much, and it scares me especially at night.I hate being the son of an innkeeper, and apart from the above reasons, there is one thing that I can't stand, and that is the bento (lunch box) that I carry with me to school. Life has always been pretty peaceful, but one day I stumbled across a wonderful thing. At that time, I accidentally saw other children's bento boxes, and there were some tea-brown things mixed in. what is that? I was very puzzled, so I looked at the bento of other students, and found that everyone was the same, only my bento was pure white!Only mine is!That is to say, other children's bento is rice mixed with wheat, only mine is different from them.I am extremely embarrassed!As soon as I got home, I immediately challenged my mother: Please prepare me the same rice mixed with wheat as my classmates! Thinking about it now, I seem to be crying aggrievedly.My mother was puzzled by my actions. From a business point of view, it is impossible for a hotel to serve rice mixed with wheat to its guests. My bento is also made of pure white rice like the guests. I can't deliberately make rice mixed with wheat for your bento! My mother told me firmly. But I didn't listen to my mother's advice at all. I asked my mother to prepare rice mixed with wheat for me anyway. I remember that time, my mother, who was always very kind and amiable, taught me very severely, but I couldn't do it when I was young. Know why I can't eat rice mixed with wheat?This question even bothered me for many years. I hated opening lunch boxes at school, but I had to. I noticed that everyone looked at me with contempt, and I felt a kind of sadness and sadness that I had never felt before. This kid's family runs a hotel! The teacher said this to other students, this sentence stuck in my heart like a thorn.I don't know how long it took, but I gradually got used to this situation, and the feeling like a needle pricking my back gradually faded away. Although I don't like the hotel industry, I still like my home. Ascending to the third floor, you can clearly feel a refreshing wind blowing in from the window on the south side. Standing in front of the window has a very wide view, and the sunlight reflected from all directions makes people dare not open their eyes. It's really like being on the castle tower! From time to time, I feel a sense of pride in my heart. Although I have never been to the castle tower, this idea has always been with me. It is true that standing on the third floor can see Mitani Fishing Port very clearly, but it is a pity. What's more, the scene at that time can't be remembered now, and only the spacious stairs, wide corridors and rooms are left in memory. During the day, due to taking care of the store's business, the waitresses are always busy, because they often have to run upstairs and downstairs with meals, and all the waitresses in the store look very strong. Because there is a tall blackboard-shaped wall in the courtyard to the south of the house, it is difficult to see the outside scene from the courtyard. This courtyard is not an important place, but there are some bamboos in it, and a lot of broken glass is inserted on the blackboard-shaped wall. It is rarely seen in other homes, so it always gives people a strange feeling. Originally, I was living peacefully in such a place, but suddenly one day someone told us that we had to move within a deadline. The atmosphere at home suddenly darkened. I have never felt such an atmosphere in my memory. The mother was weeping sadly in the tent that was not very bright, and the faithful waitress was also crying in the corner. What happened? I walked back and forth in the dark alone, and no one paid attention to me.I found a piece of red paper pasted on my phone at home, and I just wanted to touch it: Don't touch the phone! Mother shouted loudly.I climbed the stairs bored, only to find a piece of eye-catching red paper stuck to the loudspeaker.If you take a closer look, you will find that almost all the places are pasted with red paper. What happened? I hurried downstairs to ask my mother, but my mother was still crying. We were lied to! Her voice sounded like that of a mosquito. Soon I realized that those red papers turned out to be signs of seizure by the court. These papers seemed to be the iron hand that strangled the throat of the hotel. The laughter and singing in the past were gone, even the drunken curses I was most familiar with gone too. We are moving from this home! Gradually I understood the situation before me, that we could no longer live here.However, at the same time, I felt a feeling that I had never felt before: From now on, I can live a peaceful life with my mother as a mother and son. Thinking of this, I even feel a little happy in my heart.