Demon Stories

Saya: The Old Woman and the God of Water, 1967, NYC

Saya

The Old Woman and the God of Water

1967, New York City

"You are Japanese?" 

I rolled over on my bed and held my peach colored phone closer to my ear. The sound of my old friend Crystal's voice was gravely with sleep. It was too early in the morning, and she sounded a little disturbed. Though sleepy myself, I tried to be at attention for her. It was not normal for her to call so early.

"Yes, Crystal my dear, I am Japanese. Why do you ask?"

"You see...I must know for my friend. She is Japanese, too."

My ears perked. Had I heard correctly?

"Japanese? You are sure?"

"Ah, yes. You are excited. I knew you would be. Yes, she is Japanese. I have known her for three months. I need your help. She is older than me, see. She does not remember some things. She will speak Japanese and she will think she is speaking English. She does this more and more. I want to be a friend to her, but I can not speak to her very well. Will you come with me to tell what she says? She needs help shopping, I help her. I need to know what she wants to buy."

"Of course I will help, Crystal. Just tell me when."

We went over some details, and afterwards I laid in my bed fully awake. To call so early, this matter must have troubled Crystal terribly. They must have been very good friends. 

A week later, I was in a cab on my way to Crystal's apartment. We would be taking the old woman to lunch, and afterwards we would be going shopping at a small pan Asian market which the old woman liked to go to. The market was run by Chinese people, so they were no help when Crystal would ask what the Japanese woman was saying. According to Crystal, the last shopping trip had been a disaster. We did not want another disaster to occur again.

Upon further investigation, the old woman's name was Maiha. This had been difficult to figure out due to Crystal's strong accent. She pronounced my own name as "Say-yah", when it is "Sah-yah". She had been pronouncing Maiha's name as "May-ha" and calling her "May" as a nickname.

"Would that be 'Maeha'?" I asked her. 

"Oh, it could be," Crystal told me. 

"How is it spelled?" 

"M-a-i-h-a?" Crystal told me, if somewhat wobbly and unsure.

"That is pronounced 'my' like saying 'my heart', not like the month of May," I responded kindly.

"Oh!" Crystal said, genuinely surprised. "I must apologize to her. I have been calling her 'May' for three months."