Memory

Unpublished flash fiction

“He speaks English, apparently,” Junko said.

“How do you know?”

“One of the Indonesian nurses said so.”

They knew little about Okada-san. He was eighty-five and originally from Okinawa, that was it. Since he’d been admitted three weeks earlier no one could get more than a few words out of him. His family never visited. That was common enough; a parent gets too much to look after so they send them off to hospital where the nurses can care for him until... Then they forget. A waiting room.

Yuna dished out the tea. In a ward like this, routine was a must, and it was tea time. As she went from room to room she chatted vaguely with each patient. “Hot today, isn’t it?” “Are they winning?” “Those are lovely flowers.” When she reached Okada-san’s room, she decided to test Junko’s theory. She knew little English, but that wouldn’t matter. They were unlikely to get into a conversation.

When she entered he rose, slowly, the effort costing him a lot, and stood almost to attention next to his bed. He always did this, manners maybe, and nothing they said could make him stop. Yuna laid his tea and some dried fruit on his table. “You don’t have to stand, Okada-san, sit down, come on,” she said in Japanese. He ignored her, his gaze fixed straight ahead. “Hot today, isn’t it?” she said. Nothing. He never responded unless he needed something. Lost in his own world.

She tried again, this time in English. “Hot today, yes?” His eyes snapped onto hers. A response. “How are you today?” she said. His expression was changing. His jawline wobbled and his left eye twitched. “You are hungry?” she tried. He was opening his mouth, as if to speak. There was a strange look in his eyes. He looked scared, she thought. A noise whispered past his lips, but she couldn’t hear him. She stepped closer, bent her ear down to his mouth. He understood the gesture. He coughed, clearing his dry, unused vocal chords. When he spoke again she heard it, the one word in Japanese.

“Run.”

“Run?”

“Run,” he said again. Louder. Clearer. “Run. Run. Run.” Each time he said it with more volume, with more force. “Run.” He was shouting now. She went to get the head nurse, Okada-san’s voice ringing through the ward. “Run. Run. Run.”