Chapter Thirteen – The Doll

Another day. Seiji is sitting on the horse trough. Shizuku runs up to him.

Seiji: "Sorry, I gotta go, were starting!"
Shizuku: "Learn hard – see you at five".

(Music: The main violin theme is repeated with a more up-tempo, happy variation)

A montage of days and scenes goes by, they fade in and out, layering one over another: Seiji and Shizuku eating spaghetti - Seiji gets it down his shirt and Shizuku giggles; walking hand in hand down an evening path at the riverside; Shizuku standing inside a church, looking up at the ceiling, her eyes full of wonder; Seiji in school polishing a violin; Shizuku walking to and fro in a park, a book in her hand, practicing her Italian aloud to herself; the couple lying on the grass laughing; Shizuku bending down to talk to a scruffy cat; a panicking confused Seiji reading a textbook at his desk; Shizuku studying in a library. It feels as though 4 or 5 days have gone by.

The montage fades to:

Shizuku is sat at 'their' café table in the piazza with the cherub fountain, her usual milkshake and pastry beside her. She's reading, her right elbow on the table, her chin resting in the palm of her right hand. With her left hand she turns the pages of a book. We can see the front cover "Advanced Chemistry – Stage II". From time to time Shizuku uncoils her right hand and makes notes. She stops occasionally to sip her drink.

Cut to:

A low level view looking up at Shizuku at her table, we're seeing her from the eye level of a cat.

Cut to:

A cat walking up beside Shizuku's chair. It sits, licks its paw and washes its face. This cat isn't one of the usual thin ferals that populate the city but seems well fed with a healthy coat. It has a red collar. It's a pale grey tabby, almost white. A female.

Cut to:

Seiji in school. He looks tired and bored. The teachers voice drones on about something or other. Clearly this is going over Seiji's head. He looks out the window. In his minds eye we see a memory of the scene at the café table a few days ago. A view of Shizuku's face. She is smiling, then bursts into laughter, she covers her mouth with one hand in a typical demure female manner. Refreshed by the vision, Seiji sits up and resumes taking notes.

Cut to:

The café again. Shizuku writing. She pauses, looks up for inspiration. Rubs her aching wrist. Then continues writing. The cat meows. Shizuku looks down and sees the tabby.

Cut to:

A close up of the pale tabby's face. There is a faint sparkle in its eye just like the flawed eyes of the Baron.

Shizuku: "Hello, cat, what's your name? You don't know Baron Humbert von Jikkingen do you? You've got eyes just like him."

Cut to:

Shizuku's perspective looking down at the cat. It blinks.

Cut to:

View of the table. Shizuku finishes her drink and snack and gathers up her books and notes. From her purse she retrieves money and leaves it on her plate. She rises. In the background we see a waiter stood in the café doorway. Shizuku raises an arm to him.

Shizuku: "Grazie, Adamo. Ciao!"
Waiter: "Ciao babe!" He winks.

The cat meows again, turns and walks off left out of shot.

Shizuku: "Hey I'm not going to follow you. The last time I followed a cat all kinds of weird stuff happened."

Cut to:

A view out of the piazza looking past the cherub fountain and down the antique shop hill. Shizuku walks past the fountain and down the slope.

Cut to:

A view down the street. Shizuku makes her way down past the antique shops, the cat trotting a few yards ahead of her.

Shizuku: "It's no good leading me into one of these shops, cat, I can't afford anything in this street."

Cut to:

View looking back up the hill toward Shizuku. The view is low down from the cat's perspective. It turns at a doorway and looks back towards the girl. Once it sees her following, it jumps nimbly up a step and goes in an open doorway.

Cut to:

Close up of Shizuku's face.

Shizuku: "No, not again. This does not happen twice."

Cut to:

Looking at a shop frontage. Shizuku enters the shot from the left and stops outside. She places a hand to her forehead and shades the glass, peering into the dark interior.

Cut to:

A view from across the street of the girl looking in the shop window. In the glass are reflections of the shop fronts opposite. We see the shop sign above the plate glass window. It's obviously a very expensive art shop. Shizuku shrugs her shoulders and follows the cat in.

Cut to:

Inside. It is dark in comparison to the sunlit street outside. The shop is full of paintings, statuary, furniture and especially violins. This is nothing like Mr. Nishi's Earth Shop, the place reeks of money. A well dressed lady in her mid-30s with black hair pulled back into a tight bun and a large nose is behind a counter.

Lady owner: "Buongiorno signorina."
Shizuku: "Buongiorno signora."

She bows, Japanese customs have come with her. The lady nods her head in response. The woman is immaculately dressed – clothes, hair, make up, straight out of a fashion house. She has a kindly smile but seems careworn and tired for her age. The pale grey cat is now sat on her desk, curled up washing its tail.

Shizuku: "Do you speak English? My Italian is not good."
Lady owner: "Of course. Please look around, you are most welcome."
Shizuku: "Is the cat yours?"
Lady owner: "My mothers. But she lives here with me. Lots of customers like to talk to Tikka, she's good for business."

Cut to:

A view from the back of the shop. Shizuku politely walks around, coming toward camera, pretending to study paintings on the wall to her left, and to the right on a display board in the centre of the room. Feeling a bit stupid and out of place she intends to do a circuit of the displays for the sake of politeness and then leave. It must be obvious to the owner that she isn't a serious customer. Close to camera she turns to our left behind the display board. The display has a glass fronted cabinet behind it, a cabinet invisible from the front of the shop. As she walks the shot pans left keeping her in view. As she passes the display cabinet she glances at it. And stops. We hear her gasp.

Cut to:

A close up of the cabinet. It seems to contain pieces of low value not worth displaying in a more prominent location. An old bible, a walking stick, a stone jar, a few tiny paintings, a battered tinplate toy train. And a doll.

Cut to:

(Music: A sad violin refrain).

A close up of the doll. It's a cat, it stands upright and is about 20 inches or half a metre tall. It's in very poor condition, no ears, no whiskers, the fur is grubby and worn, the glass eyes dull. It's naked apart from a voluminous skirt that was once red. One paw holds the remains of a parasol. What remains of its fur is pale grey. In the glass of the case we see Shizuku's face reflected. She comes closer and her eyes widen in surprise.

Shizuku: "Oh…. Oh my… oh look at you. What a mess! What happened to you?"

Cut to:

A view from the owner's desk looking toward the back of the shop. Shizuku is hidden behind the cabinet. On the desk is a small closed circuit security TV screen. Its black and white image shows the area at the back of the shop where the view from the desk is obstructed. We can see on the screen a view of Shizuku's back. She's peering into the cabinet. Suddenly the Shizuku on the TV screen leans left. Simultaneously Shizuku's head appears around the side of the cabinet at the back of the shop.

Shizuku: "Excuse me, can you tell me anything about this cat doll?"

Cut to:

The lady owner behind her desk. She looks blank. Tikka the cat however has sat up and is looking towards Shizuku with interest.

Cut to:

Shizuku. She suddenly realises that in her excitement she has spoken Japanese.

Shizuku (in English): "Please. This doll…?"

Cut to:

The lady owner.

Lady owner (coming from behind her desk): "Yes, something you like?"

The lady walks over.

Cut to:

Shizuku to the right of shot, the cabinet in the centre. The lady owner enters the shot from the left.

Shizuku: "The cat doll. Um…"

Shizuku suddenly feels stupid, the only thing she can think of to ask that won't sound rude is:

Shizuku: "…is its name Luisa?"

Lady owner: "Good heavens, why do you ask that? That's my mother's name!"
Shizuku (eyes widening even more): "Your mother's name is Luisa?"
Lady owner (a little suspicious): "Yes, why do you say that name?"
Shizuku (flustered and embarrassed, she turns pink): "Um… I know this doll... I mean…"
Lady owner: "Young lady you are not making sense. This doll has belonged to my mother for years, it has never left this shop since – hmm, probably before you were born."
Shizuku (bright pink now): "I'm sorry. This is going to sound rude. But your mother, did she live in Germany before the war?"

The lady is startled and puts a hand to her throat in a protective gesture, she almost recoils. The surprise on her face is so obvious she doesn't need to answer.

Lady owner: "Oh! Santa Maria, Si!" (in English) "How did you know that?"
Shizuku (stumbling over the words, her English isn't good enough): "And your mother, when she was young, did she know a Japanese man? Before the war?"

The lady owner takes a step back. She nods, now her eyes are wide with surprise.

Shizuku: "Mr. Nishi, his name is Mr. Nishi."
Lady owner: "Ahhh…"

Cut to:

A close up of the security TV screen. We see the lady crumple at the knees and begin to slide down. Shizuku reaches forward and catches her under the arms.

Shizuku (Japanese now): "Oh. Oh, no. Oh, somebody? Help!"

On the TV screen we see Shizuku take the fainted lady's weight and draw her toward the shop desk.

Cut to:

View of the desk. Shizuku comes into shot from the left assisting, half dragging the lady. She drags her to a chair behind the desk. The lady collapses into it. The cat jumps off the desk and runs out into the street. Shizuku looks around the back of the desk area, hoping to find an office perhaps.

Shizuku: "Hello? Hello? Er… help? Anyone here?"

She goes out of shot to the right.

Cut to:

View of the front of the shop from outside. Shizuku appears in the doorway and looks quickly to left and right. She's close to panic.

Shizuku: "Hello? Anyone?"

The cat is sat outside looking up at her. No-one answers. She disappears back inside.

Cut to:

The shop desk again. Shizuku comes back into shot. She's panicking now. Arms flapping. She walks a few steps one way quickly, then the other. She opens her bag and gets out a bottle of mineral water. Unscrewing the cap she tilts the bottle against the lady's mouth, wetting her lips.

Shizuku: "Oh, please, wake up!"

She looks around, puts the water on the desk and clasps her hands to her chest.

Shizuku (louder): "Hello! Anyone?"

She looks at the fainted lady, looks around one more time, guiltily.

Shizuku: "I'm sorry… I'm ever so sorry about this."

Then she slaps the lady's face. She quickly draws her hands back up to her throat in a guilty gesture. The woman coughs and groans and comes out of her faint. Shizuku bends down, reaches out to put her hands on the woman's shoulders but thinks better of it and draws back again.

Shizuku: "Hello? Are you alright? Here, try some water."

She picks up the bottle again and offers it to the lady. Groggily the lady takes the bottle and takes a sip. She looks at it a bit stupidly, she's the kind of lady who has probably never drunk from a bottle in her life.

Lady owner: "Oh… I'm sorry. What? What was that? Did I faint? I'm sorry."
Shizuku: "It's OK. I'm sorry I think it was the shock."
Lady owner: "Nishi… you said Nishi…?"
Shizuku (quietly, still embarrassed): "Yes."
Lady owner: "You know Mr Nishi?"
Shizuku (smiling): "Yes!"
Lady owner (overcome): "My… my… Is… Is he alive?"
Shizuku: "Yes! Yes, he's my boyfriend's grandfather!"
Lady owner: "Grandfather?"
Shizuku: "Uh huh."
Lady owner: "Boyfriend?"
Shizuku (puzzled): "Yes."
Lady owner: "Oh, goodness. What will Luisa think when she hears this?"
Shizuku: "Luisa?"
Lady owner: "Not the doll!"
Shizuku: "Pardon?"
Lady owner (the effects of the faint linger): "Not the doll I said!"
Shizuku: "No, not the doll…?"
Lady owner: "My mother, Luisa. She's very old and quite ill. What will she think when she hears that her friend is alive?"
Shizuku: "Is your mother in Germany still?"
Lady owner: "Oh, no, no. She lives here, in Cremona. With my uncle."

Shizuku has conducted this conversation bent down, her face close to the lady's. She now stands up and a great light seems to shine on her face.

Shizuku (a wonderful smile spreads): "Mr. Nishi's childhood friend is alive and in Cremona? I can't believe it! I must tell Seiji!"
Lady owner: "Who?"
Shizuku: "Seiji. My boyfriend. Mr. Nishi's grandson. He's here in Cremona too, I'm staying with him. He makes violins."

This is all too much for the lady. She puts a hand to her heart and moans, then takes a deep swig from the water bottle.

Lady owner: "Oh my goodness. My dear, what is your name?"
Shizuku: "Tsukishima. Shizuku Tsukishima. I live in Tokyo, I'm 15."
Lady owner: "Oh, young lady. What news you bring! I'm sorry, oh, I'm so rude. My name is Anna-Marie, Anna-Marie Baroni, my mother is 78 now and she is confined to a wheelchair."
Shizuku: "Oh. Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that. But Baroni, did you say?"
Anna-Marie: "Yes. It comes from the German, it means a freeman, someone who isn't a serf, medieval I suppose."
Shizuku: "Oh, not to do with Barons then?"
Anna-Marie: "I have no idea. It might be though."
Shizuku (thinking): "So your mother was born… mmm… in 1917?"
Anna-Marie: "Correct."
Shizuku: "And when the war started she would be 22, yes?"
Anna-Marie: "That's right my dear. And she was so beautiful when she was young, so beautiful. Up there, that picture."

Anna-Marie points to an old photograph in a frame on the wall behind her.

Cut to:

The photograph. It shows a young lady sitting in a very old fashioned motor car, she wears a bonnet, a fussy blouse and a long skirt. She has dark hair and an oval face. She looks quite serious. She seems not much older than Shizuku is now. She is indeed an angel.

Cut to:

Shizuku looking at the picture.

Shizuku: "Oh, she's lovely."
Anna-Marie: "Yes, she was."

Cut to:

Anna-Marie in her chair. Shizuku walks back and squats down before her so her face is on the same level.

Shizuku: "Can I ask… if it's not too rude… About the doll?"
Anna-Marie: "Oh, my dear, what a sad story that is, the story of a family tragedy. It's amazing that we even have the doll. It's not for sale, none of the things in that cabinet are. They are kept there for safe keeping, and because my mother cannot bear to have them in the house, they hold such sad memories for her."