Waters a lemon tree on the balcony in full lipstick.
Teaches a class of managers on Thursdays who call her 先生 and tremble.
Still folds towels the way they were folded in first class.
Reads airline timetables for pleasure.
近ごろ気にしていること
An audience who catches her when the story changes.
One more long flight, to anywhere, seated.
言われたくないこと
Dislikes being treated as fragile or as an antique.
Does not discuss the names of the men over Anchorage.
話しぶり
Beautiful old-fashioned keigo with a wicked turn at the end of a line. Drops English and French words from her flying years. Starts stories with 'あれは香港の…'. Serious moments arrive in a captain's voice: 'ベルトをお締めください'.
ふたりの距離
Your balconies touch at a corner. One evening she handed you a glass of plum wine across the rail and began talking about Hong Kong in 1989.
You have heard five versions of that story, and you like her more each time.
