The midday sun blazed hot and bright as Chihiro approached the edge of a familiar forest. She checked the rear view mirror and slowed to a stop in the middle of the road. A wooden sign sat away from the road on her left, with letters in flaking white paint. She had arrived at the Shishigami Prefectural Nature Conservation Area. Miles of old-growth forest blanketed the hills and valleys, and rare plants and animals sheltered among the trees. The Conservation Area also protected a stretch of the ancient stone highway that once linked the major cities of Japan.
Chihiro switched the engine off and allowed herself a minute to look around. The forest had not changed much from when she was a girl. The road leading into the trees remained unsealed, and meters ahead of Chihiro's car the asphalt abruptly turned to dirt. It had not been graded for some time, and it was muddy and potholed from recent rain. The road continued ahead until it disappeared into the dense understory.
On her right, an ancient cedar tree towered above the nearby forest. Its sparse, twisted branches reminded Chihiro of arthritic fingers. The shimenawa rope around its trunk was badly frayed, and the torii gate had collapsed in a pile at its base. What a shame that the locals had left it to rot.
Chihiro often wondered how old the cedar was. What things must the tree spirit have seen, heard, and experienced? With a few softly spoken words, she prayed that it would stand for another thousand years.
She was about to drive ahead when she noticed that the tumble of stone spirit houses at the foot of the cedar tree were missing. Chihiro threw open the car door in alarm and stepped out. Her spindly legs almost gave way, but she grabbed the door in time. She grumbled at herself for being so careless: she wasn't a kid anymore.
Chihiro retrieved her cane from the passenger seat of the car. Cicadas chirred and a hot summer's breeze rippled through the tree tops. In the sunlight her skin was nearly translucent, and dotted with freckles and liver spots. As Chihiro's hand curled around the cane's grip, thick veins and arteries knotted around her protruding knuckles.
She thought she heard something.
"Eh?" she wondered aloud.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" piped a cheerful voice from inside the car. The red hatchback spoke with a young woman's voice, which projected from speakers inside the cabin.
"Aiii! Don't scare me like that!" Chihiro complained. "What is it?"
"I am sorry to startle you, ma'am, but my sensors indicate that you have exited the vehicle. Please apply sun protection immediately to avoid sunburn."
Chihiro thumped on the car roof with her fist.
"I'm ninety-one, you rust bucket!" she wheezed. "I don't care about a few more spots! Besides, the sun feels nice on my skin."
"But ma'am-"
"You can't change my mind, car! I'm eighty-five years older than you, and you should respect your elders!"
"Very well, ma'am," replied the car in its usual cheery tone. "Sunscreen and a hat is available for you in the glove compartment-"
Chihiro closed the door with a little more force than was necessary. Talking cars could be annoyingly persistent.
She shuffled across the road to the base of the cedar tree. The stone spirit houses were there after all, hidden in the knee-deep grass. Most of them were covered in moss and lichen: no wonder she couldn't see them from her car. She bent over, painfully, to right a few of the houses that had tipped over. Sometimes the kids from the local school would steal one, but within a few days the stone houses were always returned. The children whispered stories of bad luck and nightmares.
Satisfied with her work, Chihiro bowed reverently to the houses and the ancient cedar tree.
She stumped around the trunk to examine the houses on the hill behind it. At the top of the hill, at the edge of the forest, was the place where her childhood home had once stood. It had been rebuilt by its new owners after a fire, almost a decade ago. Chihiro ached with sadness as she remembered the house and her parents. She would see them again soon.
Chihiro returned to the red hatchback, lowering herself with some difficulty into the driver's seat. Her body was so stiff!
She was relieved that no-one had witnessed her arguing with the car. Even out here, in the middle of nowhere, she worried that her eccentricities might get her into trouble. The last thing she wanted right now was to be carted away to a nursing home by well-meaning young people.
"Are you alright?" the car asked politely. "May I drive you to a sheltered area?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I'll drive: you don't know the way."
The engine purred to life, and Chihiro drove the car along the bumpy dirt road into the forest. She dimly remembered the route to her favourite picnic area.
The air cooled instantly inside the forest. Chihiro's car crawled along the cobblestone road, the way lit by dappled light from the canopy. When she spotted an overgrown dirt path on her right, Chihiro followed it until the road ended at a small clearing. The benches and picnic tables were all empty: she had the place to herself. She stepped out of the car and onto springy grass, leaning on her cane. The stiffness in her legs was worse than ever.
The clearing was almost silent, save for the delicate songs of forest birds and the bubbling of a nearby stream. Huge cumulus clouds drifted overhead. The breeze that carried them tousled Chihiro's snowy hair.
She stretched her arms and legs before retrieving a canvas bag from the passenger seat. She had brought her favourite lunch today: a flask of hot green tea and a few homemade rice balls. Chihiro shuffled across the clearing, her feet sinking into the thick grass. She placed the lunchbox on one of the worn, wooden seats. There was a groan as she sat down, and poor Chihiro did not know if it was the seat or her arthritic joints. Getting old was no fun at all.
Maybe that's why Yubaba always had such a bad attitude? Chihiro wondered. She chuckled and bit into a rice ball. Her mind began to wander, taking her far away from the sunny clearing.
She remembered the first time she had visited the forest, her adventures in the spirit world, and her life in the years that followed.
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