mr. okamoto: "mr. patel, we don't believe your story.""sorry – these cookies are good but they tend to crumble.
i'm amazed. why not?""it doesn't hold up.""what do you mean?""bananas don't float.""i'm sorry?""you said the orang-utan came floating on an island ofbananas.""that's right.""bananas don't float.""yes, they do.""they're too heavy.""no, they're not. here, try for yourself. i have two bananasright here."mr. chiba: [translation] "where did those come from?
what else does he have under his bedsheet?"mr. okamoto: "damn it. [/translation] no, that's all right.""there's a sink over there.""that's fine.""i insist. fill that sink with water, drop these bananas in,and we'll see who's right.""we'd like to move on.""i absolutely insist."[silence]
mr. chiba: [translation] "what do we do?"mr. okamoto: "i feel this is going to be another very longday." [/translation]
[sound of a chair being pushed back. distant soundof water gushing out of a tap]
pi patel: "what's happening? i can't see from here."mr. okamoto [distantly] : "i'm filling the sink.""have you put the bananas in yet?"[distantly] "no.""and now?"[distantly] "they're in.""and?"[silence]
mr. chiba: [translation] "are they floating?"[distantly] "they're floating." [/translation]
"so, are they floating?"[distantly] "they're floating.""what did i tell you?"mr. okamoto: "yes, yes. but it would take a lot of bananasto hold up an orang-utan.""it did. there was close to a ton. it still makes me sickwhen i think of all those bananas floating away and going towaste when they were mine for the picking.""it's a pity. now, about – ""could i have my bananas back, please?"mr. chiba: [translation] "i'll get them."[sound of a chair being pushed back]
[distantly] "look at that. they really do float."[/translation]
mr. okamoto: "what about this algae island you say youcame upon?"mr. chiba: "here are your bananas."pi patel: "thank you. yes?""i'm sorry to say it so bluntly, we don't mean to hurt yourfeelings, but you don't really expect us to believe you, do you?
carnivorous trees? a fish-eating algae that produces freshwater? tree-dwelling aquatic rodents? these things don't exist.""only because you've never seen them.""that's right. we believe what we see.""so did columbus. what do you do when you're in thedark?""your island is botanically impossible.""said the fly just before landing in the venus flytrap.""why has no one else come upon it?""it's a big ocean crossed by busy ships. i went slowly,observing much.""no scientist would believe you.""these would be the same who dismissed copernicus anddarwin. have scientists finished coming upon new plants? inthe amazon basin, for example?""not plants that contradict the laws of nature.""which you know through and through?""well enough to know the possible from the impossible."mr. chiba: "i have an uncle who knows a lot about botany.
he lives in the country near hita-gun. he's a bonsai master."pi patel: "a what?""a bonsai master. you know, bonsai are little trees.""you mean shrubs.""no, i mean trees. bonsai are little trees. they are less thantwo feet tall. you can carry them in your arms. they can bevery old. my uncle has one that is over three hundred yearsold.""three-hundred-year-old trees that are two feet tall that youcan carry in your arms?""yes. they're very delicate. they need a lot of attention.""whoever heard of such trees? they're botanicallyimpossible.""but i assure you they exist, mr. patel. my uncle – ""i believe what i see."mr. okamoto: "just a moment, please. [translation] atsuro,with all due respect for your uncle who lives in the countrynear hita-gun, we're not here to talk idly about botany.""i'm just trying to help.""do your uncle's bonsai eat meat?""i don't think so.""have you ever been bitten by one of his bonsai?""no.""in that case, your uncle's bonsai are not helping us.
[/translation] where were we?"pi patel: "with the tall, full-sized trees firmly rooted to theground i was telling you about.""let us put them aside for now.""it might be hard. i never tried pulling them out andcarrying them.""you're a funny man, mr. patel. ha! ha! ha!"pi patel: "ha! ha! ha!"mr. chiba: "ha! ha! ha! [translation] it wasn't thatfunny."mr. okamoto: "just keep laughing.[/translation] ha! ha!
ha!"mr. chiba: "ha! ha! ha!"mr. okamoto: "now about the tiger, we're not sure about iteither.""what do you mean?""we have difficulty believing it.""it's an incredible story.""precisely.""i don't know how i survived.""clearly it was a strain.""i'll have another cookie.""there are none left.""what's in that bag?""nothing.""can i see?"mr. chiba: [translation] "there goes our lunch."[/translation]
mr. okamoto: "getting back to the tiger…"pi patel: "terrible business. delicious sandwiches."mr. okamoto: "yes, they look good."mr. chiba: [translation] "i'm hungry." [/translation]
"not a trace of it has been found. that's a bit hard tobelieve, isn't it? there are no tigers in the americas. if therewere a wild tiger out there, don't you think the police wouldhave heard about it by now?""i should tell you about the black panther that escaped fromthe zurich zoo in the middle of winter.""mr. patel, a tiger is an incredibly dangerous wild animal.
how could you survive in a lifeboat with one? it's – ""what you don't realize is that we are a strange andforbidding species to wild animals. we fill them with fear. theyavoid us as much as possible. it took centuries to still the fearin some pliable animals – domestication it's called – but mostcannot get over their fear, and i doubt they ever will. whenwild animals fight us, it is out of sheer desperation. they fightwhen they feel they have no other way out. it's a very lastresort.""in a lifeboat? come on, mr. patel, it's just too hard tobelieve!""hard to believe? what do you know about hard to believe?
you want hard to believe? i'll give you hard to believe. it's aclosely held secret among indian zookeepers that in 1971 barathe polar bear escaped from the calcutta zoo. she was neverheard from again, not by police or hunters or poachers oranyone else. we suspect she's living freely on the banks of thehugli river. beware if you go to calcutta, my good sirs: if youhave sushi on the breath you may pay a high price! if youtook the city of tokyo and turned it upside down and shookit, you'd be amazed at all the animals that would fall out:
badgers, wolves, boa constrictors, komodo dragons, crocodiles,ostriches, baboons, capybaras, wild boars, leopards, manatees,ruminants in untold numbers. there is no doubt in my mindthat feral giraffes and feral hippos have been living in tokyofor generations without being seen by a soul. you shouldcompare one day the things that stick to the soles of yourshoes as you walk down the street with what you see lying atthe bottom of the cages in the tokyo zoo – then look up!
and you expect to find a tiger in a mexican jungle! it'slaughable, just plain laughable. ha! ha! ha!""there may very well be feral giraffes and feral hippos livingin tokyo and a polar bear living freely in calcutta. we justdon't believe there was a tiger living in your lifeboat.""the arrogance of big-city folk! you grant your metropolisesall the animals of eden, but you deny my hamlet the merestbengal tiger!""mr. patel, please calm down.""if you stumble at mere believability, what are you living for?
isn't love hard to believe?""mr. patel – ""don't you bully me with your politeness! love is hard tobelieve, ask any lover. life is hard to believe, ask any scientist.
god is hard to believe, ask any believer. what is your problemwith hard to believe?""we're just being reasonable.""so am i! i applied my reason at every moment. reason isexcellent for getting food, clothing and shelter. reason is thevery best tool kit. nothing beats reason for keeping tigers away.
but be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out theuniverse with the bathwater.""calm down, mr. patel, calm down."mr. chiba: [translation] "the bathwater? why is he talkingabout bathwater?" [/translation]
"how can i be calm? you should have seen richardparker!""yes, yes.""huge. teeth like this! claws like scimitars!"mr. chiba: [translation] "what are scimitars?"mr. okamoto: "chiba-san,, instead of asking stupidvocabulary questions, why don't you make yourself useful? thisboy is a tough nut to crack. do something!" [/translation]
mr. chiba: "look! a chocolate bar!"pi patel: "wonderful!"[long silence]
mr. okamoto: [translation] "like he hasn't already stolenour whole lunch. soon he'll be demanding tempura."[/translation]
[long silence]
mr. okamoto: "we are losing sight of the point of thisinvestigation. we are here because of the sinking of a cargoship. you are the sole survivor. and you were only apassenger. you bear no responsibility for what happened. we –""chocolate is so good!""we are not seeking to lay criminal charges. you are aninnocent victim of a tragedy at sea. we are only trying todetermine why and how the tsimtsum sank. we thought youmight help us, mr. patel."[silence]
"mr. patel?"[silence]
pi patel: "tigers exist, lifeboats exist, oceans exist. becausethe three have never come together in your narrow, limitedexperience, you refuse to believe that they might. yet the plainfact is that the tsimtsum brought them together and thensank."[silence]
mr. okamoto: "what about this frenchman?""what about him?""two blind people in two separate lifeboats meeting up in thepacific – the coincidence seems a little far-fetched, no?""it certainly does.""we find it very unlikely.""so is winning the lottery, yet someone always wins.""we find it extremely hard to believe.""so did i."[translation] "i knew we should have taken the day off.
[/translation] you talked about food?""we did.""he knew a lot about food.""if you can call it food.""the cook on the tsimtsum was a frenchman.""there are frenchmen all over the world.""maybe the frenchman you met was the cook.""maybe. how should i know? i never saw him. i was blind.
then richard parker ate him alive.""how convenient.""not at all. it was horrific and it stank. by the way, how doyou explain the meerkat bones in the lifeboat?""yes, the bones of a small animal were – ""more than one!"" – of some small animals were found in the lifeboat. theymust have come from the ship.""we had no meerkats at the zoo.""we have no proof they were meerkat bones."mr. chiba: "maybe they were banana bones! ha! ha! ha!
ha! ha!"[translation] "atsuro, shut up!""i'm very sorry, okamoto-san. it's the fatigue.""you're bringing our service into disrepute!""very sorry, okamoto-san." [/translation]
mr. okamoto: "they could be bones from another smallanimal.""they were meerkats.""they could be mongooses.""the mongooses at the zoo didn't sell. they stayed in india.""they could be shipboard pests, like rats. mongooses arecommon in india.""mongooses as shipboard pests?""why not?""who swam in the stormy pacific, several of them, to thelifeboat? that's a little hard to believe, wouldn't you say?""less hard to believe than some of the things we've heardin the last two hours. perhaps the mongooses were alreadyaboard the lifeboat, like the rat you mentioned.""simply amazing the number of animals in that lifeboat.""simply amazing.""a real jungle.""yes.""those bones are meerkat bones. have them checked by anexpert.""there weren't that many left. and there were no heads.""i used them as bait.""it's doubtful an expert could tell whether they were meerkatbones or mongoose bones.""find yourself a forensic zoologist.""all right, mr. patel! you win. we cannot explain thepresence of meerkat bones, if that is what they are, in thelifeboat. but that is not our concern here. we are herebecause a japanese cargo ship owned by oika shippingcompany, flying the panamanian flag, sank in the pacific.""something i never forget, not for a minute. i lost my wholefamily.""we're sorry about that.""not as much as i am."[long silence]
mr. chiba: [translation] "what do we do now?"mr. okamoto: "i don't know." [/translation]
[long silence]
pi patel: "would you like a cookie?"mr. okamoto: "yes, that would be nice. thank you."mr. chiba: "thank you."[long silence]
mr. okamoto: "it's a nice day."pi patel: "yes. sunny."[long silence]
pi patel: "is this your first visit to mexico?"mr. okamoto: "yes, it is.""mine too."[long silence]
pi patel: "so, you didn't like my story?"mr. okamoto: "no, we liked it very much. didn't we,atsuro? we will remember it for a long, long time."mr. chiba: "we will."[silence]
mr. okamoto: "but for the purposes of our investigation, wewould like to know what really happened.""what really happened?""yes.""so you want another story?""uhh…no. we would like to know what really happened.""doesn't the telling of something always become a story?""uhh…perhaps in english. in japanese a story would havean element of invention in it. we don't want any invention.
we want the ‘straight facts', as you say in english.""isn't telling about something – using words, english orjapanese – already something of an invention? isn't justlooking upon this world already something of an invention?""uhh…""the world isn't just the way it is. it is how we understandit, no? and in understanding something, we bring something toit, no? doesn't that make life a story?""ha! ha! ha! you are very intelligent, mr. patel."mr. chiba: [translation] "what is he talking about?""i have no idea." [/translation]
pi patel: "you want words that reflect reality?""yes.""words that do not contradict reality?""exactly.""but tigers don't contradict reality.""oh please, no more tigers.""i know what you want. you want a story that won'tsurprise you. that will confirm what you already know. thatwon't make you see higher or further or differently. you wanta flat story. an immobile story. you want dry, yeastlessfactuality.""uhh…""you want a story without animals.""yes!""without tigers or orang-utans.""that's right.""without hyenas or zebras.""without them.""without meerkats or mongooses.""we don't want them.""without giraffes or hippopotamuses.""we will plug our ears with our fingers!""so i'm right. you want a story without animals.""we want a story without animals that will explain thesinking of the tsimtsum .""give me a minute, please.""of course. [translation] i think we're finally gettingsomewhere. let's hope he speaks somesense." [/translation] [long silence]
"here's another story.""good.""the ship sank. it made a sound like a monstrous metallicburp. things bubbled at the surface and then vanished. i foundmyself kicking water in the pacific ocean. i swam for thelifeboat. it was the hardest swim of my life. i didn't seem tobe moving. i kept swallowing water. i was very cold. i wasrapidly losing strength. i wouldn't have made it if the cookhadn't thrown me a lifebuoy and pulled me in. i climbedaboard and collapsed.
"four of us survived. mother held on to some bananas andmade it to the lifeboat. the cook was already aboard, as wasthe sailor.
"he ate the flies. the cook, that is. we hadn't been in thelifeboat a full day; we had food and water to last us forweeks; we had fishing gear and solar stills; we had no reasonto believe that we wouldn't be rescued soon. yet there he was,swinging his arms and catching flies and eating them greedily.
right away he was in a holy terror of hunger. he was callingus idiots and fools for not joining him in the feast. we wereoffended and disgusted, but we didn't show it. we were verypolite about it. he was a stranger and a foreigner. mothersmiled and shook her head and raised her hand in refusal. hewas a disgusting man. his mouth had the discrimination of agarbage heap. he also ate the rat. he cut it up and dried it inthe sun. i – i'll be honest – i had a small piece, very small,behind mother's back. i was so hungry. he was such a brute,that cook, ill-tempered and hypocritical.
"the sailor was young. actually, he was older than me,probably in his early twenties, but he broke his leg jumpingfrom the ship and his suffering made him a child. he wasbeautiful. he had no facial hair at all and a clear, shiningcomplexion. his features – the broad face, the flattened nose,the narrow, pleated eyes – looked so elegant. i thought helooked like a chinese emperor. his suffering was terrible. hespoke no english, not a single word, not yes or no, hello orthank you. he spoke only chinese. we couldn't understand aword he said. he must have felt very lonely. when he wept,mother held his head in her lap and i held his hand. it wasvery, very sad. he suffered and we couldn't do anything aboutit.
"his right leg was badly broken at the thigh. the bone stuckout of his flesh. he screamed with pain. we set his leg as bestwe could and we made sure he was eating and drinking. buthis leg became infected. though we drained it of pus everyday, it got worse. his foot became black and bloated.
"it was the cook's idea. he was a brute. he dominated us.
he whispered that the blackness would spread and that hewould survive only if his leg were amputated. since the bonewas broken at the thigh, it would involve no more than cuttingthrough flesh and setting a tourniquet. i can still hear his evilwhisper. he would do the job to save the sailor's life, he said,but we would have to hold him. surprise would be the onlyanaesthetic. we fell upon him. mother and i held his armswhile the cook sat on his good leg. the sailor writhed andscreamed. his chest rose and fell. the cook worked the knifequickly. the leg fell off. immediately mother and i let go andmoved away. we thought that if the restraint was ended, sowould his struggling. we thought he would lie calmly. he didn't.
he sat up instantly. his screams were all the worse for beingunintelligible. he screamed and we stared, transfixed. there wasblood everywhere. worse, there was the contrast between thefrantic activity of the poor sailor and the gentle repose of hisleg at the bottom of the boat. he kept looking at the limb, asif imploring it to return. at last he fell back. we hurried intoaction. the cook folded some skin over the bone. we wrappedthe stump in a piece of cloth and we tied a rope above thewound to stop the bleeding. we laid him as comfortably as wecould on a mattress of life jackets and kept him warm. ithought it was all for nothing. i couldn't believe a human beingcould survive so much pain, so much butchery. throughout theevening and night he moaned, and his breathing was harshand uneven. he had fits of agitated delirium. i expected him todie during the night.
"he clung to life. at dawn he was still alive. he went in andout of consciousness. mother gave him water. i caught sight ofthe amputated leg. it cut my breath short. in the commotion ithad been shoved aside and forgotten in the dark. it hadseeped a liquid and looked thinner. i took a life jacket andused it as a glove. i picked the leg up.
"‘what are you doing?' asked the cook.
"i'm going to throw it overboard,‘ i replied.
" ‘don't be an idiot. we'll use it as bait. that was the wholepoint.'
"he seemed to regret his last words even as they werecoming out, for his voice faded quickly. he turned away.
"‘the whole point? mother asked. 'what do you mean bythat?‘"he pretended to be busy.
"mother's voice rose. ‘are you telling us that we cut thispoor boy's leg off not to save his life but to get fishing bait?
"silence from the brute.
"‘answer me!' shouted mother.
"like a cornered beast he lifted his eyes and glared at her.
‘our supplies are running out,' he snarled. ‘we need morefood or we'll die.'
"mother returned his glare. ‘our supplies are not runningout! we have plenty of food and water. we have packageupon package of biscuits to tide us over till our rescue.' shetook hold of the plastic container in which we put the openrations of biscuits. it was unexpectedly light in her hands. thefew crumbs in it rattled. ‘what!' she opened it. ‘where are thebiscuits? the container was full last night!'
"the cook looked away. as did i.
"‘you selfish monster!' screamed mother. ‘the only reasonwe're running out of food is because you're gorging yourself onit!'
"‘he had some too,' he said, nodding my way.
"mother's eyes turned to me. my heart sank.
"‘piscine, is that true?'
"‘it was night, mother. i was half asleep and i was sohungry. he gave me a biscuit. i ate it without thinking…'
"‘only one, was it?' sneered the cook.
"it was mother's turn to look away. the anger seemed togo out of her. without saying another word she went back tonursing the sailor.
"i wished for her anger. i wished for her to punish me.
only not this silence. i made to arrange some life jackets forthe sailor's comfort so that i could be next to her. i whispered,‘i'm sorry, mother, i'm sorry.' my eyes were brimming withtears. when i brought them up, i saw that hers were too. butshe didn't look at me. her eyes were gazing upon somememory in mid-air.
"‘we're all alone, piscine, all alone,' she said, in a tone thatbroke every hope in my body. i never felt so lonely in all mylife as i did at that moment. we had been in the lifeboat twoweeks already and it was taking its toll on us. it was gettingharder to believe that father and ravi had survived.
"when we turned around, the cook was holding the leg bythe ankle over the water to drain it. mother brought her handover the sailor's eyes.
"he died quietly, the life drained out of him like the liquidfrom his leg. the cook promptly butchered him. the leg hadmade for poor bait. the dead flesh was too decayed to holdon to the fishing hook; it simply dissolved in the water. nothingwent to waste with this monster. he cut up everything,including the sailor's skin and every inch of his intestines. heeven prepared his genitals. when he had finished with historso, he moved on to his arms and shoulders and to his legs.
mother and i rocked with pain and horror. mother shrieked atthe cook, ‘how can you do this, you monster? where is yourhumanity? have you no decency? what did the poor boy doto you? you monster! you monster!' the cook replied withunbelievable vulgarity.
"‘at least cover his face, for god's sake!' cried my mother. itwas unbearable to have that beautiful face, so noble andserene, connected to such a sight below. the cook threwhimself upon the sailor's head and before our very eyesscalped him and pulled off his face. mother and i vomited.
"when he had finished, he threw the butchered carcassoverboard. shortly after, strips of flesh and pieces of organswere lying to dry in the sun all over the boat. we recoiled inhorror. we tried not to look at them. the smell would not goaway.
"the next time the cook was close by, mother slapped himin the face, a full hard slap that punctuated the air with asharp crack. it was something shocking coming from mymother. and it was heroic. it was an act of outrage and pityand grief and bravery. it was done in memory of that poorsailor. it was to salvage his dignity.
"i was stunned. so was the cook. he stood without movingor saying a word as mother looked him straight in the face. inoticed how he did not meet her eyes.
"we retreated to our private spaces. i stayed close to her. iwas filled with a mix of rapt admiration and abject fear.
"mother kept an eye on him. two days later she saw himdo it. he tried to be discreet, but she saw him bring his handto his mouth. she shouted, ‘i saw you! you just ate a piece!
you said it was for bait! i knew it. you monster! you animal!
how could you? he's human! he's your own kind!' if shehad expected him to be mortified, to spit it out and breakdown and apologize, she was wrong. he kept chewing. in fact,he lifted his head up and quite openly put the rest of the stripin his mouth. tastes like pork,‘ he muttered. mother expressedher indignation and disgust by violently turning away. he ateanother strip. 'i feel stronger already,‘ he muttered. heconcentrated on his fishing.
"we each had our end of the lifeboat. it's amazing howwillpower can build walls. whole days went by as if he weren'tthere.
"but we couldn't ignore him entirely. he was a brute, but apractical brute. he was good with his hands and he knew thesea. he was full of good ideas. he was the one who thoughtof building a raft to help with the fishing. if we survived anytime at all, it was thanks to him. i helped him as best i could.
he was very short-tempered, always shouting at me andinsulting me.
"mother and i didn't eat any of the sailor's body, not thesmallest morsel, despite the cost in weakness to us, but we didstart to eat what the cook caught from the sea. my mother, alifelong vegetarian, brought herself to eat raw fish and rawturtle. she had a very hard time of it. she never got over herrevulsion. it came easier to me. i found hunger improved thetaste of everything.
"when your life has been given a reprieve, it's impossiblenot to feel some warmth for the one to whom you owe thatreprieve. it was very exciting when the cook hauled aboard aturtle or caught a great big dorado. it made us smile broadlyand there was a glow in our chests that lasted for hours.
mother and the cook talked in a civil way, even joked. duringsome spectacular sunsets, life on the boat was nearly good. atsuch times i looked at him with – yes – with tenderness. withlove. i imagined that we were fast friends. he was a coarseman even when he was in a good mood, but we pretendednot to notice it, even to ourselves. he said that we wouldcome upon an island. that was our main hope. we exhaustedour eyes scanning the horizon for an island that never came.
that's when he stole food and water.
"the flat and endless pacific rose like a great wall aroundus. i never thought we would get around it.
"he killed her. the cook killed my mother. we werestarving. i was weak. i couldn't hold on to a turtle. because ofme we lost it. he hit me. mother hit him. he hit her back.
she turned to me and said, ‘go!' pushing me towards the raft.
i jumped for it. i thought she was coming with me. i landedin the water. i scrambled aboard the raft. they were fighting. idid nothing but watch. my mother was fighting an adult man.
he was mean and muscular. he caught her by the wrist andtwisted it. she shrieked and fell. he moved over her. the knifeappeared. he raised it in the air. it came down. next it wasup – it was red. it went up and down repeatedly. i couldn'tsee her. she was at the bottom of the boat. i saw only him.
he stopped. he raised his head and looked at me. he hurledsomething my way. a line of blood struck me across the face.
no whip could have inflicted a more painful lash. i held mymother's head in my hands. i let it go. it sank in a cloud ofblood, her tress trailing like a tail. fish spiralled down towardsit until a shark's long grey shadow cut across its path and itvanished. i looked up. i couldn't see him. he was hiding at thebottom of the boat. he appeared when he threw my mother'sbody overboard. his mouth was red. the water boiled withfish.
"i spent the rest of that day and the night on the raft,looking at him. we didn't speak a word. he could have cutthe raft loose. but he didn't. he kept me around, like a badconscience.
"in the morning, in plain sight of him, i pulled on the ropeand boarded the lifeboat. i was very weak. he said nothing. ikept my peace. he caught a turtle. he gave me its blood. hebutchered it and laid its best parts for me on the middlebench. i ate.
"then we fought and i killed him. he had no expression onhis face, neither of despair nor of anger, neither of fear nor ofpain. he gave up. he let himself be killed, though it was still astruggle. he knew he had gone too far, even by his bestialstandards. he had gone too far and now he didn't want to goon living any more. but he never said ‘i'm sorry.' why do wecling to our evil ways?
"the knife was all along in plain view on the bench. weboth knew it. he could have had it in his hands from thestart. he was the one who put it there. i picked it up, istabbed him in the stomach. he grimaced but remainedstanding. i pulled the knife out and stabbed him again. bloodwas pouring out. still he didn't fall over. looking me in theeyes, he lifted his head ever so slightly. did he meansomething by this? i took it that he did. i stabbed him in thethroat, next to the adam's apple. he dropped like a stone.
and died. he didn't say anything. he had no last words. heonly coughed up blood. a knife has a horrible dynamic power;once in motion, it's hard to stop. i stabbed him repeatedly. hisblood soothed my chapped hands. his heart was a struggle –all those tubes that connected it. i managed to get it out. ittasted delicious, far better than turtle. i ate his liver. i cut offgreat pieces of his flesh.
"he was such an evil man. worse still, he met evil in me –selfishness, anger, ruthlessness. i must live with that.
"solitude began. i turned to god. i survived."[long silence]
"is that better? are there any parts you find hard tobelieve? anything you'd like me to change?"mr. chiba: [translation] "what a horrible story."[long silence]
mr. okamoto: "both the zebra and the taiwanese sailorbroke a leg, did you notice that""no, i didn't.""and the hyena bit off the zebra leg just as the cook cut offthe sailor's.""ohhh, okamoto-san, you see a lot.""the blind frenchman they met in the other lifeboat – didn'the admit to killing a man and a woman?""yes, he did.""the cook killed the sailor and his mother."‘very impressive.""his stories match.""so the taiwanese sailor is the zebra, his mother is theorang-utan, the cook is … the hyena – which means he's thetiger!""yes. the tiger killed the hyena – and the blind frenchman– just as he killed the cook." [/translation]
pi patel: "do you have another chocolate bar?"mr. chiba: "right away!""thank you."mr. chiba: [translation] "but what does it mean,okamoto-san?""i have no idea.""and what about the island? who are the meerkats?""i don't know.""and those teeth? whose teeth were those in the tree?""i don't know i'm not inside the boy's head." [/translation]
[long silence]
mr. okamoto: "please excuse me for asking, but did thecook say anything about the sinking of the tsimtsum?
"in this other story?""yes.""he didn't.""he made no mention of anything leading up to the earlymorning of july 2nd that might explain what happened?""no.""nothing of a nature mechanical or structural?""no.""nothing about other ships or objects at sea?""no.""he could not explain the sinking of the tsimtsum at all?""no.""could he say why it didn't send out a distress signal?""and if it had? in my experience, when a dingy, third-raterustbucket sinks, unless it has the luck of carrying oil, lots of it,enough to kill entire ecosystems, no one cares and no onehears about it. you're on your own.""when oika realized that something was wrong, it was toolate. you were too far out for air rescue. ships in the areawere told to be on the lookout. they reported seeing nothing.""and while we're on the subject, the ship wasn't the onlything that was third-rate. the crew were a sullen, unfriendly lot,hard at work when officers were around but ‘doing nothingwhen they weren't. they didn't speak a word of english andthey were of no help to us. some of them stank of alcohol bymid-afternoon. who's to say what those idiots did? the officers– ""what do you mean by that?""by what?""‘who's to say what those idiots did?'""i mean that maybe in a fit of drunken insanity some ofthem released the animals."mr. chiba: "who had the keys to the cages?""father did."mr. chiba: "so how could the crew open the cages if theydidn't have the keys?""i don't know. they probably used crowbars."mr. chiba: "why would they do that? why would anyonewant to release a dangerous wild animal from its cage?""i don't know. can anyone fathom the workings of adrunken man's mind? all i can tell you is what happened. theanimals were out of their cages."mr. okamoto: "excuse me. you have doubts about thefitness of the crew?""grave doubts.""did you witness any of the officers being under theinfluence of alcohol?""no.""but you saw some of the crew being under the influence ofalcohol?""yes.""did the officers act in what seemed to you a competentand professional manner?""they had little to do with us. they never came close to theanimals.""i mean in terms of running the ship.""how should i know? do you think we had tea with themevery day? they spoke english, but they were no better thanthe crew. they made us feel unwelcome in the common roomand hardly said a word to us during meals. they went on injapanese, as if we weren't there. we were just a lowly indianfamily with a bothersome cargo. we ended up eating on ourown in father and mother's cabin. ‘adventure beckons!' saidravi. that's what made it tolerable, our sense of adventure. wespent most of our time shovelling excrement and rinsing cagesand giving feed while father played the vet. so long as theanimals were all right, we were all right. i don't know if theofficers were competent.""you said the ship was listing to port?""yes.""and that there was an incline from bow to stern?""yes.""so the ship sank stern first?""yes.""not bow first?" .
"no.""you are sure? there was a slope from the front of theship to the back?""yes.""did the ship hit another ship?""i didn't see another ship.""did it hit any other object?""not that i saw.""did it run aground?""no, it sank out of sight.""you were not aware of mechanical problems after leavingmanila?""no.""did it appear to you that the ship was properly loaded?""it was my first time on a ship. i don't know what aproperly loaded ship should look like.""you believe you heard an explosion?""yes.""any other noises?""a thousand.""i mean that might explain the sinking.""no.""you said the ship sank quickly.""yes.""can you estimate how long it took?""it's hard to say. very quickly. i would think less thantwenty minutes.""and there was a lot of debris?""yes.""was the ship struck by a freak wave?""i don't think so.""but there was a storm?""the sea looked rough to me. there was wind and rain.""how high were the waves?""high. twenty-five, thirty feet.""that's quite modest, actually.""not when you're in a lifeboat.""yes, of course. but for a cargo ship.""maybe they were higher. i don't know. the weather wasbad enough to scare me witless, that's all i know for sure.""you said the weather improved quickly. the ship sank andright after it was a beautiful day, isn't that what you said?""yes.""sounds like no more than a passing squall.""it sank the ship.""that's what we're wondering.""my whole family died.""we're sorry about that.""not as much as i am.""so what happened, mr. patel? we're puzzled. everythingwas normal and then…?""then normal sank.""why?""i don't know. you should be telling me. you're the experts.
apply your science.""we don't understand."[long silence]
mr. chiba: [translation] "now what?"mr. okamoto: "we give up. the explanation for tke sinkingof the tsimtsum is at the bottom of the pacific."[long silence]
mr. okamoto: "yes, that's it. let's go. [/translation] well,mr. patel, i think we have all we need. we thank you verymuch for your cooperation. you've been very, very helpful.""you're welcome. but before you go, i'd like to ask yousomething.""yes?""the tsimtsum sank on july 2nd, 1977.""yes.""and i arrived on the coast of mexico, the sole humansurvivor of the tsimtsum, on february 14th, 1978.""that's right.""i told you two stories that account for the 227 days inbetween.""yes, you did.""neither explains the sinking of the tsimtsum.""that's right.""neither makes a factual difference to you.""that's true.""you can't prove which story is true and which is not. youmust take my word for it.""i guess so.""in both stories the ship sinks, my entire family dies, and isuffer.""yes, that's true.""so tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you andyou can't prove the question either way, which story do youprefer? which is the better story, the story with animals or thestory without animals?"mr. okamoto: "that's an interesting question…"mr. chiba: "the story with animals."mr. okamoto: [translation] "yes. [/translation] the storywith animals is the better story."pi patel: "thank you. and so it goes with god."[silence]
mr. okamoto: "you're welcome."mr. chiba: [translation] "what did he just say?"mr. okamoto: "i don't know."mr. chiba: "ok look – he's crying." [/translation]
[long silence]
mr. okamoto: "we'll be careful when we drive away. wedon't want to run into richard parker."pi patel: "don't worry, you won't. he's hiding somewhereyou'll never find him."mr. okamoto: "thank you for taking the time to talk to us,mr. patel. we're grateful. and we're really very sorry aboutwhat happened to you.""thank you.""what will you be doing now?""i guess i'll go to canada.""not back to india?""no. there's nothing there for me now. only sad memories.""of course, you know you will be getting insurance money.""oh.""yes. oika will be in touch with you."[silence]
mr. okamoto: "we should be going. we wish you all thebest, mr. patel."mr. chiba: "yes, all the best.""thank you."mr. okamoto: "goodbye."mr. chiba: "goodbye."pi patel: "would you like some cookies for the road?"mr. okamoto: "that would be nice.""here, have three each.""thank you."mr. chiba: "thank you.""you're welcome. goodbye. god be with you, my brothers.""thank you. and with you too, mr. patel."mr. chiba: "goodbye."mr. okamoto: [translation] "i'm starving. let's go eat. youcan turn that off." [/translation]
