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The Rites of Passages
Thursday, March 02, 2006
A Wild Sheep Chase by Murakami Haruki
"I though that they always served meals on planes," she said, disgruntled.
"Nope," I said, waiting for the hot lump of gratin in my mouth to cool down, then gulping down some water. No taste but hot. "Meals only on international flights. They give you something to eat on longer domestic routes. Not exactly what you'd call a special treat, though."
"Any movies?"
"No way. C'mon, its only an hour to Sapporo."
"Then they give you nothing."
"Nothing at all. You sit in your seat, read your book, and arrive at your destination. Same as by bus."
"But no traffic lights."
"No traffic lights."
"Just great," she said with a sigh. She put down her fork, leaving half of the spaghetti untouched.
"The thing is you get there faster. It takes twelve hours if you go by train."
"And where does the extra time go?"
I also gave up halfway through my meal and ordered two coffees. "Extra time?"
"You said planes save you over ten hours. So where does all that time go?"
"Time doesn't go anywhere. It only adds up. We can use those ten hours as we like, in Tokyo or in Sapporo. With ten hours we can see four movies, eat two meals, whatever. Right?
"But what if I don't want to go to the movies or eat?"
"That's your problem. It's no fault of time."
She bit her lip as we looked out at the squat bodies of the 747s on the tarmac. 747s always remind me of a fat, ugly old lady in the neighborhood where I used to live. Huge sagging breasts, swollen legs, dried-up neckline. The airport, a likely place for the old ladies. Dozens of them, coming and going, one after the other. The pilots and stewardesses, strutting back and forth in the lobby with heads held high, seemed quaintly planar, like the little girls' cardboard cut-outs. I couldn't help thinking how it wasn't like the DC-7 and Friendship-7 days, but maybe it was.
"Well, she went on, "does time expand?"
"No, time does not expand," I answered. I had spoken, but why didn't it sound like my voice? I coughed and drank my coffee. "Time does not expand."
"But time is actually increasing, isn't it? You yourself said that time adds up."
"That's only because the time needed for transit has decreased. The sum total of time doesn't change. It's only that you can see more movies."
"If you wanted to see movies," she added.
As soon as we arrived in Sapporo, we actually did see a double feature.
"Nope," I said, waiting for the hot lump of gratin in my mouth to cool down, then gulping down some water. No taste but hot. "Meals only on international flights. They give you something to eat on longer domestic routes. Not exactly what you'd call a special treat, though."
"Any movies?"
"No way. C'mon, its only an hour to Sapporo."
"Then they give you nothing."
"Nothing at all. You sit in your seat, read your book, and arrive at your destination. Same as by bus."
"But no traffic lights."
"No traffic lights."
"Just great," she said with a sigh. She put down her fork, leaving half of the spaghetti untouched.
"The thing is you get there faster. It takes twelve hours if you go by train."
"And where does the extra time go?"
I also gave up halfway through my meal and ordered two coffees. "Extra time?"
"You said planes save you over ten hours. So where does all that time go?"
"Time doesn't go anywhere. It only adds up. We can use those ten hours as we like, in Tokyo or in Sapporo. With ten hours we can see four movies, eat two meals, whatever. Right?
"But what if I don't want to go to the movies or eat?"
"That's your problem. It's no fault of time."
She bit her lip as we looked out at the squat bodies of the 747s on the tarmac. 747s always remind me of a fat, ugly old lady in the neighborhood where I used to live. Huge sagging breasts, swollen legs, dried-up neckline. The airport, a likely place for the old ladies. Dozens of them, coming and going, one after the other. The pilots and stewardesses, strutting back and forth in the lobby with heads held high, seemed quaintly planar, like the little girls' cardboard cut-outs. I couldn't help thinking how it wasn't like the DC-7 and Friendship-7 days, but maybe it was.
"Well, she went on, "does time expand?"
"No, time does not expand," I answered. I had spoken, but why didn't it sound like my voice? I coughed and drank my coffee. "Time does not expand."
"But time is actually increasing, isn't it? You yourself said that time adds up."
"That's only because the time needed for transit has decreased. The sum total of time doesn't change. It's only that you can see more movies."
"If you wanted to see movies," she added.
As soon as we arrived in Sapporo, we actually did see a double feature.
Posted by Pleonastic Monkey at 10:09 PM 
is this a new Haruki release? I can't find it on amazon--are you sure you spelled it right? I read an essay of his--at least, I think it was his--a couple years back for a class. I thought it was pretty good.
great post/excerpt, nonetheless.
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no, this was one of the first books i read of his. try http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/037571894X/qid=1141441942/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_9/104-6216028-7855149?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
its original english release was 1989.
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