Characters
Summary
Short –Questions
1. Describe the woman who visited Mr.
Sakota's pharmacy late at night.
2. What would you have thought if you
had taken the pictures of this woman and she did not appear on them when the
film was developed?
3. What did the men find in the woman’s
small apartment?
4. What did the woman ask for? Why did
this request surprise the pharmacist?
Long- Question
1. Show the points of similarities and
differences between the two supernatural stories "A House Call" and
"The Loving Mother".
10. The Loving Mother
Arlo T. Janssen
Characters
Shoji Sakota : pharmacist
Woman : dead woman
Photographer : Shoji's friend
Child : dead woman's baby
Sapporo : a city of Japan
Drug store : Shoji's medical
An Old Apartment : dead lady's rent house
Ame' : child sweet food like lollipop, a hard round or flat sweet / candy made of boiled sugar on a small stick
A story from the Island of Hokkaido, Japan
Summary
Shoji Sakota was a pharmacist in a city of Japan. He lived alone behind the drugstore, because his wife had died and he had no-one to live with. It was a cold stormy night in 1964. He was preparing his annual business report till midnight. He heard a knock in the door of his drugstore. First he ignored the knock but immediately he heard another knock. He thought that it was due to the wind. Then he heard the knock a third time. It was louder than the previous knocks. And he thought that it was by a person, who might be in emergency. Then he saw nervous looking young woman standing outside.
She pleased him saying her baby was sick. After opening door, he surprised to see her appearance, and also with her demand ame'-on–a-stick. She paid and left quickly. She was an abnormal woman because she had very light skin. And her eyes were also strange because they didn't look at him but through him. The woman visited Mr. Sakota's drug store next two nights regularly. She had the same request, manner and time. Then he decided to take her photos. So he asked to his photographer friend. On the fourth night, when the woman came at midnight her pictures were taken. But developing the film, they couldn't see her image. They found only things of the drugstore. Then, they decided to follow the woman on the fifth night.
On the fifth night she came, bought ame and went out. Then, they followed her and reached a big dark building. She didn't notice being followed. And she entered a room in the building. As they switched the light on they saw a baby (8/9 months), who was licking the ame'. They also saw that the woman was lying near the baby. Touching her, Mr. Sakota knew that she was dead by several days.
Short –Questions
1. Describe the woman who visited Mr. Sakota's pharmacy late at night.
The woman who visited Mr. Sakota's pharmacy late at night was not an ordinary woman. The pharmacist surprised to see her appearance. She had very light skin. She had unwashed and uncombed hair. Her eyes were not looking him but through him when he asked her what can he does for her. She looked so strange that’s why he says that she came from another planet. She was so strange and odd that she didn’t look like normal human being.
2. What would you have thought if you had taken the pictures of this
woman and she did not appear on them when the film was developed?
Nowadays, we use digital camera, so there no chance to disappear the picture form the camera or film. If I had taken the pictures of this woman and she did not appear on them when the film was developed then I would have thought that she might be a ghost.
3. What did the men find in the woman’s small apartment?
The men followed the woman in the mid night. They were not so good to follow someone secretly. But she didn’t mind being followed. She went to an old apartment. When they entered the room, there was a small baby about eight or nine months old, and the baby was licking the ame and was happy. Besides her the woman was sleeping. They thought that the woman was pretend to sleep, because nobody slept within a minute. So he touched her neck and found that she was died by several days.
4. What did the woman ask for? Why did this request surprise the
pharmacist?
The woman asks for an ame, a
chocolate which is a decent food for baby. This request surprised the
pharmacist because of the time. At the midnight in a cold stormy night a single
woman came for an ame. There is something wrong. The woman wasn’t looking
normal human being too. So he surprised so much because he thought she came for
an emergency. But her demand was not so serious to show the any emergency.
Long- Question
1. Show the points of similarities and differences between the two
supernatural stories "A House Call" and "The Loving
Mother".
In the story "A House Call" a little girl comes to the surgeon, Dr, Braun, and pleads him to follow her up to her residence. She says that her mother is very sick and probably dies. She always keeps some distance from doctor. Finally she comes to an old tenement house. In the fifth floor, he sees a woman suffering from pneumonia. He knows her. After checking her up he thinks about the girl. And, he finds the truth that she is a spirit, a dead child.
In the story "The Loving Mother" shoji Sakota is a pharmacist. At midnight a woman comes to ask for ame'. It is very wonderful; a woman at midnight comes only for ame'. In three nights, she comes and asks the same thing. In the fourth night they take many photos, but she does not appear in them. So last day, they follow her and find a little baby licking an ame' and she is died by several days.
Similarity: Both are ghost stories, and they appear after death to help the loved one. In the house call the little girl leads the doctor to her mother's residence. In 'The Loving Mother' mother leads the pharmacist and his friend to her living place.
Difference: In 'A House call' a little child comes to a doctor's residence for a house call, because her mother is serious. In 'The Loving Mother' mother comes to a pharmacist's drugstore. In the former, the daughter is dead, but in the latter one, the mother is dead.
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