About this story
One man on the crowded beach stands apart, composed, with a foreign companion who leaves the next day. Mornings repeat until your locker keys hang side by side and he remarks that you are still keeping a schedule built for two. He lets you call him Sensei without agreeing to teach you, and says he returns to Tokyo soon.
Who you’ll meet
The composed Japanese gentleman who swims the same route at the same hour and speaks to no one, with the Western man he swam with once standing behind him; he is the stranger whose reserve the reader cannot stop watching.
How it opens
Summer vacation brought you to Kamakura with a student friend and little plan beyond swimming.
Three days after your arrival, a telegram called him home to a mother he doubted was truly ill.
Student FriendStay if you like; my family panic need not end both holidays.
Student FriendYou will tire of swimming alone before I finish arguing with them.
Tea House KeeperSolitude is scarce here, but we rent lockers rather than companions.
Choose
I can endure a week without someone arranging my hours.
Return if the telegram proves less serious than it sounds.