Strange Pictures

Six-year-old Yuta Konno remembers a time just before his father’s death three years previously. His father took him to the cemetery near his home, though he cannot remember what his father said during that visit. The woman caring for Yuta, Naomi Konno, cooks dinner, wrestling with her conscience regarding whether she spoke too harshly to Yuta earlier when he drew on the floor with permanent marker. When Naomi goes into the living room to tell Yuta that dinner is ready, he watches her closely, trying to decide, “[Is] Mama feeling better, or still angry?” (59) Naomi gentles her voice as she urges him to come and eat.

Later that night, exhausted from her day, Naomi wonders whether she is still young enough to raise a child on her own. She struggles to make enough money to care for Yuta at her part-time job as a grocery clerk, and she worries about how she will manage financially as he gets older. She is also worried because she thinks that someone has been following her lately. A car followed her and Yuta as they walked home earlier in the day and then sped away once she and Yuta gained the safety of their apartment lobby.