The Girl and the General
Grandpa Hei-kichi was killing noxious insects eagerly in the garden. He was nicknamed “heitai”(meaning a soldier) by town residents, that was a compound of “hei-kichi”(his real name) and “taisho” (meaning a general).In short, Heitai meant General Hei-kichi. But just in hearing, the general could be mistaken for a mere soldier. What a pity! So, at first Hei-kichi was very dissatisfied with it. However, soon he had gotten used to it. Anyway he exceeded 90 years old long ago. Neither could he recall the exact age.The reason he was a general is that grandpa hei-kichi went to the war when he was young and vigorous.Since coming home from the war he has not forgotten it even a single moment. Every year on the war anniversary he spent all day recollecting the war and his dead comrades.When the war ended he was a soldier. As he got older, he began to think that it would be unfair to stay on the rank of soldier. He sometimes felt like becoming a general.One day he was delighted to see in the mirror his figure in uniform of general. He thought it better for himself as well as for his country to become a general. But he decided to keep this promotion secret to his comrades.His life seemed to begin shining gloriously. Even if he had no subordinate, the rank of general was much valuable than any gold medals. He now had nothing to be afraid of. He was feeling that he could do anything.If his wife asked him to go shopping, he could shout at her, saying “You ask me to go shopping, then are you in high rank than the general?”But his wife died 15 years ago. Hei-kichi went on a journey with his war comrades, leaving his wife with mild Alzheimer disease alone. Returning from a journey, he discovered his wife falling down on the floor, already not breathing.Hei-kichi was very disappointed. He brought a wartime souvenir, a photo of him together with young foreign girls, given by his comrade. He would have liked to show it off to his wife.Hei-kichi began to perform a ceremony to soothe the spirits of his dead comrades in front of his self-made shrine in the garden on the war anniversaries after he moved to the present address. At first some curious people saw the sight of the ceremony, but soon they had lost interests in it. Those walking a dog come along there got their attentions caught by dog’s excretion and those jogging on the nearby bank ignore it perfectly.This year things was a little bit different. A little girl was looking on everything of Hei-kichi’s doing. “Little girl, you were looking at me for some time, weren’t you?”“Yes. over there too, people were looking at you.”“What…Where……Is there anybody besides you and me?”“Yes. Those clad in the shabby uniform were looking at you.”Hei-kichi was surprised at hearing it. He thought the dead comrades had come here to observe his ceremony. His eyes got filled with tears.“Yeah…I know…I know…You saw them.”Being gazed by the girl’s big eyes, Hei-kichi has cheered up quickly.“Little girl, will you take a walk with me?”“Yes, I will.” said the little girl joyfully.The old man over 90 years old and the little girl seeming six years old took a walk hand in hand. But nobody paid attention to it.“Grandpa, did you go to a foreign county in war?”“Yes, we went there and saved people tormented by bad guys.”“You saw the large house there, didn’t you?”“Yes, I saw the large pretty house there. We entered into it…”“Weren’t there anybody living there?”“Yes, there were two young ladies……They made dinner for us.”“Was that delicious?”“Oops……yeah, delicious, it was very delicious.”“After that, what did you do?”“Well…well……We played cards together.”“Oh, I’d like to have played cards……”Hei-kichi began to feel like as if she was his real daughter and he wanted to hug her. How happy I would be if this girl were my real daughter……But next moment, hearing a woman’s scream, Hei-kichi’s gun was fired.“Hey, soldier. What are you murmuring for some time?”Before knowing, Hei-kichi had been surrounded by several junior-high school students. “Yes sir, I will return to my original corps as soon as having finished my duties.”“Wao…at last this old man has gone mad……Now let’s do him in!”.Next morning at the foot of a bridge, Hei-kichi was discovered lying on the back, bleeding a lot from his noses. He may be either weeping or smiling.