ボーアタルジ 久子 Boa Tarde, Hisako！（Hello, Hisako！）

Part Ⅰ (5) Hisako met manager Fujita ; (6) Kazuo phoned to Brazil

　5 Hisako met manager Fujita

　Some of the workers descended from overseas Japanese working for Shirakaba Crushed Stone had weekends' boarding, in addition to the dormitory, outside the factory. The manager had signed as guarantor for them. But this was for the single workers not for the worker with a family.

　　Factory manger had agreed to act as guarantor for Kazuo to rent an apartment when he came back to Japan with his family.　When she heard of this the day before the accident, Hisako had visited manager’s office to thank him as a parent. She asked for taking good care of Kazuo's wife and children. But she felt uneasy at the ruined look of him. Was it not the factory manager who said "Do come back again"?

　One more thing had made her uneasy. When she had said goodbye and was leaving the office, she noticed that 'scary man' was listening.

　Hisako returned to her dormitory without seeing Kazuo that day. But thought it was too late in the night to visit him she telephoned Kazuo instead, for she was worried about the manager's attitude. "What have you said?" Kazo asked in a tired voice. Hisako said that the factory manager's attitude did not seem very happy about his coming back to Japan. Kazuo seemed to have been depressed to hear of factory manager's attitude. She could not help a sense of foreboding surging in heart. The next day the accident happened. (End of section 5)

　6 Kazuo telephoned to Brazil

　Kitagawa and Maruki behaved as if nothing had happened after it was known that two had not been dismissed.

　Here is a conversation between Kazuo and Hisako before Kazuo died.

　"What happened in the world?"

　"Nothing."

　"Are you angry with me?"

　"Nothing."

　"How does he treat you?"

　"He is ignoring me, all the time. So, I work on my own pace."

　Before Kazuo dies, he said he had phoned to his family in Brazil the previous night. Hisako was keenly thinking of the question why he made a phone call. For the past one month, due to worsened rheumatism on hands, she could not cook dishes from Brazil for him. So, Kazuo, out of concern for her, called her every day without fail at 7 to 10 pm. The last call from him had been two days before his death. Then he had said, "I have just phoned to Brazil. I asked my wife and children, Jiro and Mayumi if they are all well, and asked what they want for the souvenir". He had continued, "I will choose cassette tapes for Mayumi, a cassette deck for Jiro, fishing rod for my father in-law. For my wife and children I am yet to decide." And it was their last conversation.

　On the 5th of November Kazuo worked as usual. And in the evening, he had a very good time singing songs one after another to his guitar with Katu-chan.

　He ended his 24 years life on the 6th of November, leaving his family in Brazil.

(End of section 6)