殺されたおばさんの名前はヤナギモトミドリといって、最初の発見者は仲間のヘンミミドリというおばさんだった。正確にいうと、第一発見者ではない。スギオカが逃げてから、十一人の通行人が喉から血の泡を吹いているヤナギモトミドリの傍らを通過したが、みな見て見ないふりをしたのである。普通乗用車がぎりぎりに擦り違えるくらいの道路なので通行人が気付かないわけがない。ヤナギモトミドリはこれでもかというほどフリルのついた白いドレスを真っ赤に染めて、カレーパンがつぶれて黄土色のカレーがコンクリートの上に排泄物のようにこびりつき、梅雨の晴れ間の痛烈な太陽によって、買い物袋から散乱したあさりはあっという間にはっきりとした腐臭を放つようになっていた。十一人の通行人達は、全員ヤナギモトミドリを見たが、すぐに目をそむけ、何も見なかったことにしようと自分に言い聞かせた。幼児をつれた若い夫婦は、「あ、おばちゃんが倒れてる」と言って指差した子供に、「知らん顔をしなさい」とたしなめたほどだ。「あれはね、あの人が一人で遊んでるの、近寄ってはいけません」。一人の予備校生はヤナギモトミドリを見てとっさに助けるか警察を呼ぶかしようと思ったが、白のシャツを着て、おまけにデートの前だったので「ごめんなおばさん」と呟いて、そのまま通り過ぎることにした。「シャツが汚れるもんな、それにすぐ横にウンコみたいなものもあったし」。ヤナギモトミドリはスギオカに喉を裂かれてから五十秒後に心臓が完全に停止したので、抱き起こそうが警察を呼ぼうが彼女を助けることはできなかったわけだが、死者のプライドということになると発見と通報の遅れは重大であった。

     The victim's name was Midori Yanagimoto. The body was discovered by Midori Henmi, a friend of the deceased. Technically, Henmi was not the first person to find the body. After Sugioka fled from the scene, eleven persons passed by Yanagimoto, whose neck was foaming with blood, but all pretended not to notice her. And they had to have noticed her. The road where she was lying was barely wide enough to accommodate two passenger cars placed side by side.

     The middle-aged victim's frilly white dress was stained a deep red. The ocherous contents of a crushed curry-filled roll stuck to the pavement like so much excrement. Clams that had spilled from her shopping bag, baked by a blistering sun that shone during a lull in the early summer rain, had quickly begun to give off the unmistakable stench of something rotting.

     Indeed, all eleven passersby saw Yanagimoto, but they immediately averted their eyes and told themselves to forget what they had seen. One young couple even said, "Pretend like you didn't see anything" when their small child pointed at Yanagimoto and said, "A lady is on the ground." They added, "She's just playing by herself. Don't go near her." A cram school student saw Yanagimoto and instinctively thought about helping her or maybe calling the police, but since he was wearing a white shirt and had a date later, he decided to keep walking, only murmuring, "Sorry." He thought to himself, "My shirt will get dirty...and there was a turd or something right next to her." Yanagimoto's heart had stopped beating 50 seconds after Sugioka slashed her throat, so going to her rescue or calling the police was not going to save her life. Nevertheless, the fact that the body was not reported to the police sooner was a major blow to the deceased's dignity.

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Copyright (C) 1998-2010 Jeffrey G. Stocker