The Hot Spring Inn – Part 1: First Snow

The snow was already deep when Carolyn reached the inn.

It stood at the end of a narrow road in the Hokkaido mountains: a low wooden building with a steep roof, glowing amber in the blue dusk, smoke rising from the chimney. She was sixty-one, a retired nurse from Calgary, newly widowed, with a rucksack, an enormous coat and a month of nothing planned. Snow fell in thick slow flakes. The mountains stood white and silent.

The door slid open. A man bowed. He was sixty-six, slim, grey-haired, in a dark indigo robe, with a calm, lined face and gentle eyes. "Toshiro," he said, in careful English. "Welcome. You must be cold."

"I'm freezing."

"Then first, the bath."

The bath was outdoors, a pool of steaming milky water ringed by snow-laden pines and big smooth stones. A lantern glowed. Carolyn sank into the heat with a groan she could not have stopped. Snowflakes landed on her hair and melted. Steam curled up into the dark. Above, the sky was a vast deep violet.

She stayed there for an hour, unthinking, unweeping, simply held.

Afterwards, in the small tatami room, Toshiro brought tea and rice and pickles and grilled fish on a tray. He knelt, set it down, and withdrew without a word. She ate in silence, her body warm and heavy, the snow falling soft against the paper window. For the first time in five months, she slept the whole night through.

Over the days, a rhythm formed. In the mornings, she walked in the snow. In the afternoons, she read by the stove. In the evenings, she bathed, then ate Toshiro's simple, perfect food. He said little. But he brought extra blankets. He left a flask of hot barley tea outside her door. He moved the furniture so she could see the mountain.

"Can I ask you something?" said Carolyn, on the ninth night.

"Yes."

"Why do you say so little?"

"Because there is so much to look at," said Toshiro.

She laughed, startled. "Green?" she said, a pine, a lantern.

"Green," said Toshiro, with a faint smile. "Very green. More tea?"

Continue the story: Part 2 – The Deep Bath.