Strange Pictures

Chapter 4’s title page repeats Little A’s childhood drawing of the house, child, tree, and bird.

After stabbing the man at her door—Isamu Kumai—Naomi sits in jail, reflecting on her life. She recalls her childhood and how, after her beloved father’s death by suicide, her mother’s cold and abusive nature showed itself. Her mother would verbally and physically abuse Naomi for the slightest perceived infractions. One day, her mother tried to punish Naomi by attempting to kill Naomi’s pet finch, Cheepy. To save the bird, Naomi knocked her mother down and then battered her with a playhouse that she and her father had constructed for Cheepy. Finally, she jumped on her mother’s belly with all her strength and then stomped on her mother’s neck, breaking it. She felt great joy when she realized that her mother was dead and Cheepy was alive.

Naomi was sent to juvenile detention. She was allowed to keep Cheepy with her because Tomiko Hagio felt that Naomi could be rehabilitated through “contact with animals and children” due to the “maternal love seated deep in [Naomi’s] heart” (189), revealed by the bird drawing. After her release, Naomi trained as a midwife. She worked part-time at a cafe near an art school.