Did you ever try to s impresses you very muco receive an impressive lack of appreciation?

    Its like taking landscape pictures from your vacation, and t dont bother.

    to me alented, absorbing, inspiring er  s story I ;Sleep.quot; e tory (;Sleepquot; and transcription-friendly), yping out one day at  to tes ions made trospect, potentially a bit touc day; but ts beside t.)

    I guess  cural battles carefully.

    But if at least one person is searcronic Murakami and is gratified by t have been in vain.

    =============================================

    ttack, by haruki Murakami

    Im still not sure I made t cold my  ttack. But t mig ion of rigo say t s, and vice versa. I myself ed tion t, in fact, .

    If you look at it t just so  I told my  ttack. I  been planning to bring it up--I ten all about it--but it  one of t-you-mention-it kind of ther.

    reminded me of ttack  before ten a lig six, crao bed at nine-ty, and gone to sleep. For some reason,  exactly t. A fees later, truck ornado in tremendous, overpowering hunger pangs.

    Our refrigerator contained not a single item t could be tecegorized as food. e tle of Frencter, and a box of refrigerator deodorizer. ito establisanding o tary be alone anything else.

    I  time, and sarial  a design scy-eigy-nine-- year hings on our minds.

    e bot too o go back to sleep, but it  just to lie too o do anyt out of bed and drifted into tcable from eac could  hunger pangs?

    e took turns opening tor door and  no matter imes ents never cter and dressing and deodorizer. It migo saute tter, but tomac to be eaten  to satisfy an appetite.

    quot;ould madame care for some Frenceed in deodorizer?quot;

    I expected o ignore my attempt at ;Lets get in t restaurant,quot; I said. quot;t be one on t;

    Sed t suggestion. quot;e cant. Youre not supposed to go out to eat after midnig; S way.

    I breat;I guess not.quot;

    reverberated in my ears y of a revelation. Maybe ts  o t t one t could be satisfied t of taking it to an all-nigaurant on the highway.

    A special kind of  mig be?

    I can present it ic image.

    One, I am in a little boat, floating on a quiet sea. ter, I see ting up from tty close to ters surface, but just  tell. Four, transparency of ter interferes ion of distance.

    te description of t arose in my mind during time my o an all-nigaurant and I agreed ;I guess not.quot; Not being Sigmund Freud, I o analyze  t I kneuitively t it ion.  grotesque intensity of my anding--I all but automatically agreed ion).

    e did t  better ting t like beer muc ter cookies in ttom. tovers, soft and soggy, but wo, savoring every crumb.

    It  and boundless as tter cookies and beer left not a trace.

    time oozed t in a fis. I read t on tared at my c tor door. I turned terdays paper. I used tcard to scrape togetabletop.

    quot;Ive never been t; s;I  o do ;

    quot;Maybe,quot; I said. quot;Or maybe not.quot;

    ed for more fragments of food, I leaned over t and looked do ter volcano. ty of ter all around t gave me an unsettled feeling, as if a ically sealed cavern t rance nor exit. Somet tential reality of nonexistence--resembled t feel op of a eeple. tion between hunger and acrophobia was a new discovery for me.

    occurred to me t I omac as empty t was--

    quot;time of ttack,quot; I heard myself saying.

    quot;ttack?  are you talking about?quot;

    And so it started.

    quot;I once attacked a bakery. Long time ago. Not a big bakery. Not famous. t bad, eittle neig in t w, ;

    quot;If you o attack a bakery, ;

    quot;ell, t in attacking a big bakery. All ed  money. e tackers, not robbers.quot;

    quot;e? ;

    quot;My best friend back ten years ago. e  buy toote. Never ty ao get our tack ;

    quot;I dont get it.quot; S me. ar in t; you get a job? You could er sc acking bakeries.quot;

    quot;e didnt  to ely clear on t.quot;

    quot;ell, youre  you?quot;

    I nodded and sucked some more beer. to my brain and ruggling h hunger pangs.

    quot;times c; I said. quot;Lets go back to bed. eve got to get up early.quot;

    quot;Im not sleepy. I  you to tell me about ttack.quot;

    quot;to tell. No action. No excitement.quot;

    quot;as it a success?quot;

    I gave up on sleep and ripped open anots interested in a story, so  all ts just the way she is.

    quot;ell, it . e got ed. But as a  didnt ake it from ;

    quot;Free?quot;

    quot;Not exactly, no. ts t.quot; I s;t tening to an album of agner overtures. So en to take as mucalked it over   be  sense of t   anybody. So  our knives back in our bag, pulled up a couple of cened to tures to tannc;

    quot;And after t, you got your bread?quot;

    quot;Rig of  in our bag and took it  us fed for maybe four or five days.quot; I took anot a long, slow rocking.

    quot;Of course,  you couldnt say ed a crime. It o agner urn,  our bread. Legally speaking, it ransaction.quot;

    quot;But listening to agner is not ; she said.

    quot;Oely not. If ted t o listen to o end. Nobody could icipated t. I mean--agner? It  a curse on us. No I t,  ;

    quot;You ;

    I rubbed my eyes again.

    quot;Sort of. Not your finger on. But tarted to cer t. It urning point. Like, I  back to ty, and I graduated, and I started udying t you and got married. I never did anyt again. No more bakery attacks.quot;

    quot;ts it?quot;

    quot;Yup, ts all to it.quot; I drank t of tabs lay in tray like scales from a mermaid.

    Of course, it  true t not of ttack. ty of t you could  your finger on, but I didnt  to talk about th her.

    quot;So, ts ;

    quot;I opped oget seen  know w ;

    For a telling ory. But s ready to press me on it.

    quot;Still,quot; s;ts  it? ttack  cause.quot;

    quot;Maybe so. I guess it ense talked about tionso agner for days after t. e kept asking ourselves if  it sensibly,  c . Everybody got ill cant figure out h bread.

    quot;But even so, ake. And someake  stayed ting a dark ss rue. It ;

    quot;Do you till ?quot;

    I took tabs from tray and arranged to an aluminum ring t.

    quot; kno ts o tell w;

    quot;ts not true.quot; S at me. quot;You can tell, if you t it. And unless you, yourself, personally break tll stick ootll torture you till you die. And not just you. Me, too.quot;

    quot;You?quot;

    quot;ell, Im your best friend no I?  a il I married you. Dont you ts abnormal? Your curse is oo.quot;

    I nodded. tabs and put tray. I didnt kno I did feel so something.

    tarvation ronger t omacransmitted to tced machinery.

    I took anot my undersea volcano. ter  not even notice it  felt as t ing in midair, ely noto support it. I could see every little pebble on ttom. All I o do ouchem.

    quot;eve only been living toget; s;but all time Ive been feeling some kind of ; Sly into my eyes and brougogetabletop, erlocking. quot;Of course, I didnt kno il no;

    quot; kind of presence?quot;

    quot;Like ty curtain t  been was;

    quot;Maybe its not a curse. Maybe its just me,quot; I said, and smiled.

    S smile.

    quot;No, its not you,quot; she said.

    quot;Okay, supposed youre rig is a curse.  can I do about it?quot;

    quot;Attack anot as t;

    quot;No;

    quot;Yes. No unfinis;

    quot;But its t. ould a bakery be open no;

    quot;ell find one. tokyos a big city. t be at least one all-nig;

    e got into my old Corolla and started drifting around treets of tokyo at 2:30 a.m., looking for a bakery. tceering , treet like retc on t, long and stiff as a dead fison automatic sgun. Its sled dryly in t of my ment. gun, I  s explain and I didnt ask. Married life is .

    Impeccably equipped, o find an all-nigy streets, from Yoyogi to So Yosuya and Akasaka, Aoyama, e-nigokyo  no bakeries.

    tered patrol cars. One rying to look inconspicuous. took us and crept past, finally moving off into tance. Botimes I gre my ration never faltered. S bakery. Every time sed tgun s rustled like buckw husks in an old-fashioned pillow.

    quot;Lets forget it,quot; I said. quot;t any bakeries open at time of nig to plan for t;

    quot;Stop t;

    I slammed on the brakes.

    quot;t; she said.

    treet ters rolled do ed, c McDonalds hing else.

    quot;I dont see any bakery,quot; I said.

    it a  and pulled out a roll of clotape. epped out of t out on my side. Kneeling at t end, sore off a lengtape and covered te. t around to ticed efficiency to s. I stood on taring at her.

    quot;ere going to take t McDonalds,quot; s we would have for dinner.

    quot;McDonalds is not a bakery,quot; I pointed out to her.

    quot;Its like a bakery,quot; s;Sometimes you o compromise. Lets go.quot;

    I drove to t. S-wrapped sgun.

    quot;Ive never fired a gun in my life,quot; I protested.

    quot;You dont o fire it. Just . Okay? Do as I say. e  t?quot;

    quot;Sure, but--quot;

    quot;tomers get toget. Ill do t.quot;

    quot;But--quot;

    quot;y?quot;

    quot;I guess so.quot; itook tgun and rolled back t a little. t.

    quot;Do ; I asked, o o myself.

    quot;Of course ;

    earing a McDonalds , ter flas;elcome to McDonalds.quot; I  t t girls  McDonalds late at nig of  only for a second. I cauged  us.

    Obviously, tality manual said not uation like tarting to form t comes after quot;elcome to McDonalds,quot; but o stiffen and t come out. Even so, like a crescent moon in t of a professional smile lingered at the edges of her lips.

    As quickly as I could manage, I ungun and aimed it in tion of tables, but tomers tudents, probably--and tic table, sound asleep. tra-garde sculpture. t t look likely to obstruct our operation, so I soer.

    All toget ter, te ties--and a student type in tc you could read as an expression. tood togeter, staring into tgun like tourists peering doening move. to rest top of ter, my finger on trigger.

    quot;Ill give you t; said t;ted it at eleven, so  oo muc you can ;

    quot;Lo ster and turn off t; said my wife.

    quot;ait a minute,quot; said t;I cant do t. Ill be  permission.quot;

    My ed orn.

    quot;Youd better do w s; I warned him.

    top ter, t my  to table. urned off t a scrical panel t loter. I kept my eye on

    a burglar alarm, but apparently McDonalds dont  o anybody to attack one.

    t ster made a  y bucket being smas, but t table ill out cold. talk about a sound sleep: I  seen anyt in years.

    quot;ty Big Macs. For takeout,quot; said my wife.

    quot;Let me just give you t; pleaded t;Ill give you more to mess up my accounts and--quot;

    quot;Youd better do w s; I said again.

    t into tcogetarted making ty Big Macs. tudent grilled t them up. Nobody said a word.

    I leaned against a big refrigerator, aiming to patties s, sizzling. t smell of grilling meat burroo every pore of my body like a so my blood and circulating to t corners, togetically sealed o its pink walls.

    A pile of ed to grab and tear into t I could not be certain t suc ent ive. I o . In t kitcarted sing under my ski mask.

    t tgun. I scratctle finger of my left  itco an ear to bot couldnt ally, because I y on, but t kno and I  about to tell them.

    My ed t to to a bag.

    quot;o do t; t; you just take ts ting ty Big Macs?quot;

    I shook my head.

    My ;ere sorry, really. But t any bakeries open. If ttacked a bakery.quot;

    t seemed to satisfy t least t ask any more questions. them.

    quot;ere stealing bread, not; sed , sort of like nodding and sort of like srying to do bot time. I t I .

    My o a post as expertly as if stons. S, or if anyone ed to go to toilet, but no one said a , s . tomers at table ill asleep, like a couple of deep-sea fis  aken to rouse them from a sleep so deep?

    e drove for a y parking lot by a building, and pulled in. te  six Big Macs doo tomace four. t left ty Big Macs in t. Our

    as if it could go on forever--vanis lig SONY BEtA ad toensity. Soon truck tires te. Afterward, sed her head on my shoulder.

    quot;Still  really necessary for us. to do t; I asked.

    quot;Of course it ; it me. S as soft and as ligten.

    Alone no and looked doo ttom of ters calm surface reflected ttle tering in a breeze--lapped against t. thing else.

    I stretc in ttom of t and closed my eyes, ing for tide to carry me where I belonged.