Yume de Aimashou: Eisenhower (Murakami)
from Yume de Aimashou, collected here
Eisenhower (or the State of the Postwar in 1958)
On September 26th, 1958, in the evening, Sonny Rollins stood upon the darkening Brooklyn Bridge, alone and diligently practicing his scales on his tenor saxophone.
“Hey, mister, what’re you doing?” asked a boy as he walked by Sonny.
“I’m fighting a nuclear monster,” Sonny answered.
“No way!” said the boy.
At that very moment, President Eisenhower was commanding the armed forces, out in the middle of the New Mexican desert, locked in grand and deadly battle with a real nuclear monster, which was possessed of four enormous pincers.
“Mr. President, if this goes on, the whole world will be destroyed. Our weapons can’t contend with that,” reported the Secretary of State, delivering the battle status in a haggard voice.
“O God, forgive us. We have brought into this world a being that never should have been,” the President murmured.
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, went the nuclear monster, crushing and trampling tanks and desert soldiers as it came.
“Hey, aren’t the doughnuts ready yet?” I yelled, at nine years old, toward my mother’s back as she stood in the kitchen.
--Haruki Murakami
On September 26th, 1958, in the evening, Sonny Rollins stood upon the darkening Brooklyn Bridge, alone and diligently practicing his scales on his tenor saxophone.
“Hey, mister, what’re you doing?” asked a boy as he walked by Sonny.
“I’m fighting a nuclear monster,” Sonny answered.
“No way!” said the boy.
At that very moment, President Eisenhower was commanding the armed forces, out in the middle of the New Mexican desert, locked in grand and deadly battle with a real nuclear monster, which was possessed of four enormous pincers.
“Mr. President, if this goes on, the whole world will be destroyed. Our weapons can’t contend with that,” reported the Secretary of State, delivering the battle status in a haggard voice.
“O God, forgive us. We have brought into this world a being that never should have been,” the President murmured.
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, went the nuclear monster, crushing and trampling tanks and desert soldiers as it came.
“Hey, aren’t the doughnuts ready yet?” I yelled, at nine years old, toward my mother’s back as she stood in the kitchen.
--Haruki Murakami
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