I hope this isn't goodbye

I’m worried. We are driving out to Frog’s Glen this evening, and I think we will find out that our neighbor, Daikon Guy, has died.

The last time we left the valley to head back to Tokyo, an ambulance blocked our little road. It was stopped in front of Daikon Guy’s house, and its red lights were still flashing. The emergency crew however seemed to be in no rush, and I think I saw them at one point folding a large black plastic bag.

The crew stood around talking with other people (family?) from the same house. The ambulance bay was empty. Critically I never saw Daikon Guy—the man is a ubiquitous hang-arounder so his absence spoke volumes.

We didn’t ask or pry. We left the valley that day, and now I am worried what we are soon going to hear.

I’ve told you about Daikon Guy before. He maybe is about 70 and one of his odd tics is that he invariably mentions in every conversation that he has cancer.

You could be talking about whether fences are needed for cabbage fields and he’d work in that he has cancer.

He is an energetic and alert person though—I saw him doing his usual march out to his crops the day before the ambulance and nothing seemed amiss. He’s not quick and he does use a cane, but there’s a purpose in his eyes and voice.

I’m still holding out hope this was entirely something else.

You know, I don’t even know his name. He never gave it. But he was the first person in our tiny township to regularly and normally engage us in conversation. He talked about his crops, the fertilizing needed in the local soil, when to plant what vegetables, and how we could take as many daikon as we ever want…whenever we like.

I think I will always remember our first real back and forth. He swoop-gestured in a 180 and asked me, “Why (the hell) would you buy land out here?!” I explained that I’ve always lived in big cities including many decades in Tokyo, “so this place is incredibly beautiful to me…to Toru as well.”

Daikon raised his eyebrows just a tad and said, “Ah, beautiful. When we see it, we see dirt and hills.”

I really hope we can have many more chats.