The Family I Saw at E Island

Shonan Beach and Enoshima Island

(Translated by Saya)

Every Summer, around the end of July, I take a holiday on a weekday to go swimming at Shonan Beach, alone. *1
There are too many visitors on weekends, and although it can be nice to go there with a girlfriend or friends, it's better to be on my own because I can just lay on the beach all day doing nothing but drink beer, and forget about all my troubles.
So that is why I visit the beach every year.

On that particular day too I intended to drink some beer so I travelled by train.
I got off the train and walked down the path leading to the sea, which was flanked by shops and restaurants.
I went into one of the restaurants to take late lunch.
Although it was a weekday, the restaurant was quite crowded, because schools were on holiday.

A mother and a daughter sat at the next table to mine.
The daughter must have been in her third or fourth year of her elementary school...
I wasn't trying to eavesdrop on them, but since I was eating all by myself I couldn't help but overhear their conversation.
"Mum, how long has it been since we got separated from Dad?"
"It has been four years."
There was a pain in the mother's voice as she answered her daughter's question.

Oh, so the father is living away from his family, perhaps for work. Or for some other unknown reasons.
I was making all sorts of wild conjectures in my mind, as I gulped down my Shirasu Don. *2

Shirasu Don

"Isn't Dad feeling lonely by himself? He hasn't been with Yuka*3 and Mum for a long time. He must be lonely, isn't he?"
Hmm. Maybe he isn't living away for work. If it were just for work, he would have gone home every now and then.  The girl wouldn't have said "for a long time."
"Dad is a strong man so he must be OK. He must be fine."
Must be? ... I see, then they probably got divorced. That was why only the mother and daughter were here to enjoy the beach. They must be feeling lonely.
I thought, as I sipped the bitter green tea.

But as I stood up to go to the till, I again overheard their conversation which gave me quite a shock.
"Mum, I wonder if Dad hasn't stopped smoking even in the other world. Yuka always told him to stop smoking!"
"I don't know. But it won't harm him to have a little pleasure like that."
OK. So the father is dead...

Shops on Enoshima Island

After lunch, I went to the beach, changed into swimming trunks, and opened a can of beer.
"Oh, it's sooo great to be on the beach!"
I had already forgotten about the mother and daughter at the restaurant, and was simply taking in the joy of the moment.

I don't know how much time had passed... but at one point I looked to one side, a few metres ahead of me, and saw the mother and daughter from before under a beach umbrella.
I noticed there was a middle-aged man standing next to them.

I had thought the mother and daughter came here on their own. Perhaps he was the mother's new partner?
I felt somehow curious and kept my gaze fixed on them.
They looked like nothing other than a family.
Did the mother remarry? Or was he just a boyfriend?
While I looked on, I opened another can of beer.
Hmm? But I wonder why he wasn't with them back in the restaurant? Did they meet up on the beach?
I somehow started having a weird feeling in my stomach.

Soon, the mother and daughter went into the sea, carrying their swim rings with them.
There was only the man remaining on the beach.

Shonan Beach

As I watched them playing among waves, a weird thought sprung to my mind.
Despite the sun and heat, I felt shivers run through my body.
Wait...Isn't this guy.....the dead father they spoke about?
I shifted my gaze onto the man again.
He was looking at me too.

"Oh!" I exclaimed under my breath.
He had a cigarette between his lips.
And still holding the cigarette in his mouth, he scuttled towards me on all fours.

No, please, don't come near me!
I prayed in earnest. My heart was racing.
But he was coming closer and closer...

When he was right in front of my eyes, he said:
"Excuse me, but have you got a light?"

I stared at him.
He wasn't a ghost or anything like that. Just a normal middle-aged man.
I helped him light the cigarette.
Now that my fear was gone, I found myself becoming strangely talkative.
We even started a little chit chat.

After a while the man said,
"But isn't it nice to spend time alone on the beach?"
"Yes...but, I envy you that you have a family with you. I like being alone, but sometimes I wish I had some friends who came along with me so that we could have a party on the beach or something, you know."
I lied, out of politeness.

As soon as I finished saying my words, the man stared at me intently.
His eyes were wide open like eyes of a fish. I was taken aback by his expression.
"What do you mean...that I am with a family? Are you being sarcastic....?
My wife and daughter passed away.....exactly on this date four years ago....."

What? But those two.....I opened my mouth to reply, but stopped.
The beach mat that looked large enough to accommodate three people had vanished.
Bags and pouches that were lying there before had vanished too.
The beach umbrella too wasn't there anymore.

The man was still staring at me intently.
In a fluster, I looked towards the sea and searched for the mother and daughter.
There were other families swimming in there, which made it hard for me to spot them.
I searched for them for sometime with my eyes.
......But, I couldn't find them.

I turned my head towards the man again.
He wasn't there....Did he just leave?
On the beach, at the spot where the man had been standing, there was a cigarette butt shoved into the sand.
Were the mother and daughter ghosts?
No, impossible.
I heard their conversation, distinctly.
And anyway, I knew for sure there were no such things as ghosts in this world....
Exhausted from the hard thinking and intoxicated from beer, I soon fell asleep on the beach.

For the whole of the next week, I couldn't stop thinking about the family.
I decided to pop into a library to look up in old newspaper articles and find out what happened on that date, four years ago.
Maybe I had been unreasonably obsessed about it, but I was thinking it would be incredible if I found an article related to the family.
For example, I thought I might find an article about a mother and a daughter who died in a car crash or drowned in the sea, or something unbelievable like that.

I opened a local newspaper, feeling excited as if I had become a criminal investigator.
.....But the next moment, I was struck dumb with shock.
"Mother and Daughter Viciously Murdered with Kitchen Knife. Husband Found Hanging Near Crime Scene.....The police is currently investigating the possible connection between the death of the husband and that of the wife and child..."

I felt chills in my bone.
There was a picture of three of them together next to the article.
I hurriedly covered the picture with my hand. I really didn't want to see it.
What I thought next was this:
I won't be able to go to E Island next year.

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*1 The Shonan Beach and E Island: The narrator must be talking about Enoshima Island, since it is the only famous island found off the coast of Shonan that starts with the letter E. (For further information, see Enoshima Travel Guide)
*2 Shirasu don:  A dish consisting of baby sardines with rice. (5 Restaurants in Enoshima for Delicious Shirasudon)
*3 Yuka: A  common Japanese girl's name. The girl here is referring to herself.