ABSTRACT
That night Oshina’s condition worsened. She woke Kanji not long after he had fallen asleep with her pitiful whisper:
‘I can’t open my mouth at all!’ Her jaws were locked shut, and no matter how much saliva she swallowed, her throat
remained constricted. She was terrified, and so was Kanji. ‘What? It’s worse? Just try to hang on till morning, okay?’ He tried to reassure her, but
he himself had no idea what to do. He lay in bed uneasily until dawn. Then, even more concerned about her, he sent a neighbor for the doctor while he remained at her bedside. They did not usually summon a doctor, but this time Kanji was too alarmed to think of the money it would cost. The doctor lived to the east, across the Kinu River.
