Chapter 5: The Storeroom Door

The caravan master came in at dusk with six drivers, four mules, and a voice that filled the whole dining room.

"Six beds, a bath, and your best wine!" he shouted. "Hurry, girl, we've been on the road since the river!"

Hanae had a good eye for guests by now, after five nights.

This one smelled of money and cheap perfume, and he looked at her inn as if he'd found a mouse in his shoe.

"Swords on the rack," she said, with a smile.

"My men carry knives."

"Knives on the rack too."

He glared at her.

Then he threw a belt knife on the rack with a clatter, and his drivers followed him in a sullen line.

Jiro was at his usual seat at the end of the table.

He did not look up, but she saw the fingers of his right hand tighten once on his chopsticks.

Dinner was loud.

The caravan master complained about the soup, then the rice, and he sent back the wine twice.

Tamae brought him a third cup herself, with a face.

"You'll pay for the extra cup," the old woman said.

"I'll pay for nothing. This place is a pigsty."

He laughed at his own joke, and his drivers laughed too, a beat late.

The next morning Hanae came down the stairs at dawn and found the dining room empty and the front door standing open.

On the table lay a single copper coin.

She stared at it.

Then she heard Tamae shouting in the yard, and she ran.

The mules were already loaded.

The caravan master was swinging up onto the first one.

Tamae stood in front of it with her arms spread, a small, plump woman blocking the road.

"Six dinners, six beds, six baths, three bottles," Tamae said. "You pay the girl, or you don't leave."