As always, a lot has happened in these last 50 pages. Since the last post, Sayuri wrote to Mother about returning to Gion. Soon after, Auntie comes to the house and brings Sayuri back to Gion. Once she is back, Mother reopens the okiya and the three must clean up the place since it has become dusty since they have lived there. When Sayuri goes to visit Mameha, Mameha tells her that English will get her farther than dance these days because of all the American soldiers visiting Gion. Sayuri prepares herself for her first appearance back as a geisha and goes to entertain Nobu and the Minister at the teahouse. The Minister turns out to be a very boring person, who only grunts for responses. He drinks non stop and eventually throws up out of the window of the room in the teahouse. He makes such a fool of himself that night with his drunken stupor, Sayuri is sure he is not having a good time. Nobu really dislikes the man but must obey his orders. To their suprise, the Minister requests Sayuri's present again after this awful meeting. Sayuri tells Nobu he should bring the Chairman, mostly because she wants to see him more, and she says she will also bring more geisha the next time. When she tells Mameha of this, Mameha says she should also invite Pumpkin, who Sayuri hasn't seen in a very long time. Apparently, Mother did not allow Pumpkin to move back into the okiya after the war so she had to move into a "sad little okiya" as Auntie put it. Sayuri goes out and finds her and invites her to the meeting with Iwamura Electric. Pumpkin does not believe her presence is wanted and is somewhat rude to Sayuri. Nevertheless, she turns up at the party which turns out to be fun and exciting because of her presence. The geisha are invited back for more parties with the men throughout the winter and following spring. After a while though, Sayuri's presence is requested to entertain Nobu and the Minister, shortly after her arrival the Minister gets very drunk and Nobu orders him to go home. Nobu and Sayuri stay at the teahouse though, and Nobu tells her that the Minister inquired to become her danna that night and since the mistress of the teahouse said it could not be arranged he asked if he could have one night alone with Sayrui, which is why Nobu was so angry with him. Nobu was mad that the Minister only wanted to use Sayuri and thought he had a chance when her when men like Nobu actually had feelings for her. Then Sayuri and Nobu get into a fight. Nobu says he would never want to see Sayuri again if she had chosen to go through with spending the night with the Minister (I think you can guess what that implies). After Sayuri lies and says she would not do such a thing, Nobu tells her to bring the rock he gave her when he told her to come back to Gion, which is a symbol meaning he will propose himself as her danna. Sayuri does not want to give him back the rock, because she does not want him to become her danna since it will ruin her chances with the Chairman. She tries to do what she is told though and when she returns to the okiya tries to get Auntie to stop her from going back to the teahouse to avoid Nobu. Auntie makes her go back though and Nobu tells Sayuri that "things are possible now that were not before." Afterwards, Mother tells Sayuri that Iwamura Electric is taking the usual dinner group to Amami, an island, for the weekend. During her first airplane ride, Sayuri comes up with a devious plan to make Nobu not want to be her danna anymore. She decides Nobu must walk in on her and the Minister which will make him hate her. She has to force herself to do this though because she does not believe she is strong enough to break his trust. She lures the Minister to an abandoned place though, and beforehand instructs Pumpkin to bring Nobu to the place, and specifically says to make sure the Chairman stays away. Pumpkin responds to this in a somewhat rude way but Sayuri believes she will do what was asked. As Sayuri has succeeded in seducing the Minister, she sees Pumpkin with....the Chairman. Uh oh right? I can only imagine what is racing through Sayuri's mind.
As stunned as I was at the end of this section, I guess I should have seen it coming. Sayuri had taken Pumpkin's place as adopted daughter of the okiya. And Hatsumomo and Mameha's bitter rivalry only made the situation worse. I feel so bad for Sayuri, because in doing something wrong to try to save herself from a destiny she does not want, she may have diminished her chances at being with the man she has loved all along. I hope she can explain herself to the Chairman, because I really do believe he is her destiny.
No comments:
Post a Comment