"The buildings in the Hollow were first built by the Church of the Flam- ing Green Tree, which was quite active for a short time. The peak of their activity was when the congregation all marched out of the Hollow to this very nuclear power plant. When they arrived, all of them, from the Founder down, prayed, and the plant suddenly shut down. There must have been some small malfunction or something.
"In your case, those who were followers before the Somersault make up the core of the new church. I heard from my wife that Patron's policy is to accept even the former radical faction. Most churches end up excluding a minority. They push one group to the point where they end up creating a small extremist faction. This sort of intolerance is a common fault of movements in this country, so my wife was quite impressed by your church's level of for- bearance. I'd like to be a tolerant person myself. But there is an absolute line beyond which tolerance is impossible.
"I respect people who are preparing for the end of the world, I really do.
And I feel the same way about believers who value a millennial reign of repen- tance more than their own lives. I'd like to return the vegetation and plant life around here to the way it used to be and put a brake on the decline in the local people's diet. I'm just a simple old man, but in a way I do think about the end of the world. But if the former radical faction attempts to collect on their old IOUs, then as I just said you can be sure I will put a stop to it."
His hair was white as an old man's but full, and he shook his head to punctuate each phrase. Her prominent freckled cheeks shining, Asa-san took up where her husband left off.
"My husband did the cooking tonight in order to let you talk freely without being under the watchful ears of the local women. Another reason was he wanted the chance to tell you his opinion-as he just did! He's had a bit too much to drink, but it hasn't affected him, and I know he gave this some careful thought. Even if you hadn't come here, there still would be a history of Patron, Guide, and the church, wouldn't there, before and after the Som- ersault? My husband and my history can't be separated from this land here.
The Former Brother Gii's Base Movement, the New Brother Gii's Church of the Flaming Green Tree-these are all part of the history of this land."
"Don't forget Meisuke-san's insurrection," her husband added, now definitely showing signs of drunkenness.
"There's this history that clings to the land," Asa-san went on, "but this doesn't mean that history repeats itself. My older brother, who's a novelist, has written that most things people do is a kind of repetition-with-slippage.
Not just a simple repetition, in other words. Starting with the two insurrec- tions connected with Meisuke-san, through the Base Movement of Former Brother Gii to New Brother Gii's Church of the Flaming Green Tree, each one was a repetition-with-slippage. The slippage, then, is productive.
"And now here's Patron and all of you about to build your new church in this land. It's possible to see it as a repetition of previous events. Or maybe a repetition of things you all have done elsewhere. Either way, it will end up a repetition-with-slippage. In other words, there will be new elements in whatever you end up doing. As my husband was lamenting, your church shouldn't just have to repeat what it was trying to do before the Somersault."
An emotion appeared in Dr. Koga's eyes, now even more dark and shin- ing than usual, and as Asa-san paused he called out to her.
"Ma'am, I think the principal and you are truly outstanding people.
When I opened the clinic here I had the same misgivings the principal spoke of. But wouldn't it be a little too obvious if the remnants of the former radical faction tried to deceive Patron once again into doing what they planned be- fore the Somersault? For the time being I'm relieved that Patron has put forth his concept of the Church of the New Man. That's the slippage you spoke of.
He's an obstinate person. He isn't criticizing his own role in the Somersault, nor is he going to set the clock back to before the Somersault. He's trying to introduce some slippage."
"The liquor's gotten to me, I'm afraid," Mr. Soda said, "and I can't make any proper comment, but I do agree with Dr. Koga that the slippage that Patron has carved out over the past decade is powerful. As long as that holds true, we at the Kansai headquarters made the right decision to lay the ground- work for him here.
"What do you say we follow the principal's lead and go down to the floor level? The space below Meisuke-san's kamidana was wasted space, so we made a cellar for storing sake. It's a wine cellar, but we also have some very nice whiskey there. It would appear that we haven't maintained the good drinking habits of the Base Movement, after all. Would you join me for a drink? Koga, be a good guy and bring some glasses for us. There s water in the cellar."
"I'll take care of the glasses," Asa-san said in a spirited voice. The former principal told her to rinse them out first, so she went over to the sink to do what he said.
Mr. Soda turned on a light in the dirt-floored area and the four men, looking down through the window that looked out over the valley and the shiny rain-dewed leaves of the nearby branches of the birches and elms just outside, sat down in a row and began to drink their whiskey and water. The former principal expounded on the topic of the island region where this malt whiskey originated.
For the first time Mr. Soda expressed his reaction to seeing Kizu's trip- tych. "Dancer sent me an e-mail saying that Patron quoted from the letter to the Ephesians. I reread it myself, and it says, 'He has made the two one and has destroyed the dividing wall of hostility through his own flesh,' right?
When I saw your painting in the chapel, Professor, I thought it shows exactly that: the Old Man and the New Man in one painting. Old Men like us still want to have hope, don't we?"
"That's right, Mr. Soda. Guide died as one of the Old Men, and even though we're all Old Men ourselves, we want to believe we can coexist with the New Men."
Dr. Koga, too, was starting to show signs of being drunk, and when Asa- san, who'd quickly finished the dishes, slipped on her sandals and joined them, he reverently poured out some whiskey into a new glass for her, asking how much water she'd like.
31: THE SUMMER CONFERENCE
1
Registration was to begin at 10 A.M., on the first Friday in August, at the temporary office set up below the dam. Under the clear sky a line had already formed before seven. Kizu heard that by the time the official regis- tration began, the line extended all the way to where it could be seen from the Mansion, where Mr. Soda was staying.
The temporary office was set up in the square below the dam with two red and green vertically striped tents that looked like overturned bowls. A festive summery feeling swept through the line of people, making the atmo- sphere all the more lively.
Ms. Asuka brought over a Fruit of the Rain Tree lunch box and soup in a paper container for Kizu and was uncharacteristically excited as she re- ported that by afternoon the number of registrants had topped five hundred.