Summary: Chapter 35
Naomi dreams of her mother doing a death dance with a
rose in her mouth. The rose is connected to Obasan’s twine, which
is connected to Aunt Emily’s package. A figure Naomi calls the Grand
Inquisitor descends and begins opening her eyes and her mother’s
mouth. Naomi wakes. She thinks that to understand her mother, the
Grand Inquisitor has to listen to her silence. She thinks that the
rose stands for her mother’s story. She decides to stop her inquisition,
her search for the truth. Obasan wakes and begins reading the papers
from Aunt Emily’s cardboard folder.
Summary: Chapter 36
As Naomi does the dishes, Nakayama-sensei, Aunt Emily,
and Stephen arrive. Naomi is surprised by the gray in her brother’s
hair. He seems uncomfortable. Nakayama-sensei says a prayer over
the tea and Uncle’s bread. Then he looks at the letters. Aunt Emily
says she wanted to tell the children a long time ago. Nakayama-sensei reads
the letters aloud. They are from Grandma Kato to Grandpa Kato.
Summary: Chapter 37
Naomi mentions that in high school, she learned that her
mother’s grave had been found. The first letter from Grandma Kato
is brief. The second says that Grandma Kato and Naomi’s mother decided keeping
silent would help the horror abate, but it didn’t. Naomi’s mother
specifically didn’t want her children to know what had happened.
Grandma hoped by writing about the events to her husband, she would
rid herself of some pain.
In 1945, Grandma and Naomi’s mother
were in Nagasaki, helping Naomi’s cousin, Setsuko, with her new
baby, Chieko, who looked just like Naomi. While they were there,
many of their family members died in a bombing of Tokyo. One day,
as Grandma was getting ready to make lunch, with Chieko strapped
to her back, the bomb hit. Grandma was knocked unconscious. She
awoke to find a scene of total devastation. The baby was unconscious,
but alive. Both of Setsuko’s eyes had been blown out, and her skin
came off against Grandma’s hand, but she was still alive and calling
for her son, Tomio. Tomio survived unharmed. Everywhere there were
people hideously maimed and dying. Grandma headed toward the house
of Setsuko’s father-in-law. At a stream, exhausted, she fell asleep.
When she woke, she and the baby were at the father-in-law’s house,
but Tomio was gone. He was never found. One day, Grandma came across
a bald woman who had lost her nose and a cheek. Maggots filled her
wounds. This woman was Naomi’s mother.
Naomi’s mother recovered in a hospital. She insisted on
wearing a mask after her bandages were off. At four years old, Chieko
was dying of leukemia.
Nakayama-sensei says a prayer for forgiveness. Naomi asks
her mother to help her listen.
