vantage of Mameha. No geisha ever paid lesson fees for a 
younger sister. 

"I wish such a thing were possible," Mameha said, "but with this terrible Depression . . ." 

"Perhaps there's some way I could manage it," Mother said. "Though Chiyo is a bit 
headstrong, and her debts are considerable. I've often thought how shocking it would be if 
she ever managed to repay them." 

"Such an attractive girl? I'd find it shocking if she couldn't." "Anyway, there's more to life than 
money, isn't there?" Mother said. "One wants to do one's best for a girl like Chiyo. Perhaps I 
could see my way to investing a bit more in her . . . just for her lessons, you understand. But 
where would it all lead?" 

"I'm sure Chiyo's debts are very considerable," Mameha said. "But even so, I should think 
she'll repay them by the time she's twenty." "Twenty!" said Mother. "I don't think any girl in 
Gion has ever done such a thing. And in the midst of this Depression . . ." "Yes, there is the 
Depression, it's true." 

"It certainly seems to me our Pumpkin is a safer investment," Mother said. "After all, in 
Chiyo's case, with you as her older sister, her debts will only grow worse before they get 
better." 

Mother wasn't just talking about my lesson fees; she was talking about fees she would have 
to pay to Mameha. A geisha of Mameha's standing commonly takes a larger portion of her 
younger sister's earnings than an ordinary geisha would. 

"Mameha-san, if you have a moment longer," Mother went on, "I wonder if you would 
entertain a proposal. If the great Mameha says Chiyo will repay her debts by the age of 
twenty, how can I doubt it's true? Of course, a girl like Chiyo won't succeed without an older 
sister such as yourself, and yet our little okiya is stretched to its limits just now. I can't 
possibly offer you the terms you're accustomed to. The best I could offer from Chiyo's future 
earnings might be only half what you'd ordinarily expect." 

"Just now I'm entertaining several very generous offers," Mameha said. "If I'm going to take 
on a younger sister, I couldn't possibly afford to do it at a reduced fee." 

"I'm not quite finished, Mameha-san," Mother replied. "Here's my proposal. It's true I can 
afford only half what you might usually expect. But if Chiyo does indeed manage to repay her 
debts by the age of twenty, as you anticipate, I would turn over to you the remainder of what 
you ought to have made, plus an additional thirty percent. You would make more money in 
the long run." 


"And if Chiyo turns twenty without having repaid her debts?" Mameha asked. 

"I'm sorry to say that in such a case, the investment would have been a poor one for both of 
us. The okiya would be unable to pay the fees owed to you." 

There was a silence, and then Mameha sighed. 

"I'm very poor with numbers, Mrs. Nitta. But if I understand correctly, you'd like me to take on 
a task you think may be impossible, for fees that are less than usual. Plenty of promising 
young girls in Gion would make fine younger sisters to me at no risk whatever. I'm afraid I 
must decline your proposal." 

"You're quite right," said Mother. "Thirty percent is a bit low. I'll offer you double, instead, if 
you succeed." 

"But nothing if I fail." 

"Please don't think of it as nothing. A portion of Chiyo's fees would have gone to you all 
along. It's simply that the okiya would be unable to pay you the additional amount you would 
be owed." 

I felt certain Mameha was going to say no. Instead she said, "I'd like to find out first how 
substantial Chiyo's debt really is." 

"I'll fetch the account books for you," Mother told her. 

I heard nothing more of their conversation, for at this point Auntie ran out of patience for my 
eavesdropping, and sent me out of the okiya with a list of errands. All that afternoon, I felt as 
agitated as a pile of rocks in an earthquake; because, of course, I had no idea how things 
would turn out. If Mother and Mameha couldn't come to an agreement, I would remain a maid 
all my life just as surely as a turtle remains a turtle, When I returned to the okiya, Pumpkin 
was kneeling on the walkway near the courtyard, making terrible twanging noises with her 
shamisen. She looked very pleased when she caught sight of me, and called me over. 

"Find some excuse to go into Mother's room," she said. "She's been in there all afternoon 
with her abacus. I'm sure she'll say something to you. Then you have to run back down here 
and tell me!" 

I thought this was a fine idea. One of my errands had been to buy some cream for the cook's 
scabies, but the pharmacy had been out of it. So I decided to go upstairs and apologize to 
Mother for having come back to the okiya without it. She wouldn't care, of course; probably 
she didn't even know I'd been sent to fetch it. But at least it would get me into her room. 

As it turned out, Mother was listening to a comedy show on the radio. Normally if I disturbed 
her at a time like this, she would wave me in and go right on listening to the radio-looking 
over her account books and puffing at her pipe. But today, to my surprise, she turned off the 
radio and slapped the account book shut the moment she saw me. I bowed to her and went 
to kneel at the table. 

"While Mameha was here," she said, "I noticed you in the formal entrance hall polishing the 
floor. Were you trying to overhear our conversation?" 

"No, ma'am. There was a scratch on the floorboards. Pumpkin and I were doing what we 
could to buff it out." 


"I only hope you turn out to be a better geisha than you are a liar," she said, and began to 
laugh, but without taking her pipe out of her mouth, so that she accidentally blew air into the 
stem and caused ashes to shoot up out of the little metal bowl. Some of the flecks of tobacco 
were still burning when they came down onto her kimono. She put the pipe down onto the 
table and whacked herself with her palm until she was satisfied they'd all been snuffed out. 

"Now, Chiyo, you've been here in the okiya more than a year," she said. 

"More than two years, ma'am." 

"In that time I've hardly taken any notice of you. And then today, along comes a geisha like 
Mameha, to say she wants to be your older sister! How on earth am I to understand this?" 

As I saw it, Mameha was actually more interested in harming Hatsumomo than in helping 
me. But I certainly couldn't say such a thing to Mother. I was about to tell her I had no idea 
why Mameha had taken an interest in me; but before I could speak, the door to Mother's 
room slid open, and I heard Hatsumomo's voice say: 

"I'm sorry, Mother, I didn't know you were busy scolding the maid!" 

"She won't be a maid much longer," Mother told her. "We've had a visit today that may 
interest you." 

"Yes, I gather Mameha has come and plucked our little minnow out of the aquarium," 
Hatsumomo said. She drifted over and knelt at the table, so close that I had to scoot away to 
make room for both of us. 

"For some reason," Mother said, "Mameha seems to think Chiyo will repay her debts by the 
age of twenty." 

Hatsumomo's face was turned toward mine. To see her smile, you might have thought she 
was a mother looking adoringly at a baby. But this is what she said: 

"Perhaps, Mother, if you sold her to a whorehouse . . ." 

"Stop it, Hatsumomo. I didn't invite you in here to listen to this sort of thing. I want to know 
what you've done to Mameha lately to provoke her." 

"I may have ruined Miss Prissy's day by strolling past her on the street, perhaps, but other 
than that I haven't done a thing." 

"She has something in mind. I'd like to know what it is." 

"There's no mystery at all, Mother. She thinks she can get at me by going through Little Miss 
Stupid." 

Mother didn't respond; she seemed to be considering what Hatsumomo had told her. 
"Perhaps," she said at last, "she really does think Chiyo will be a more successful geisha 
than our Pumpkin and would like to make a bit of money off her. Who can blame her for 
that?" 

"Really, Mother . . . Mameha doesn't need Chiyo in order to make money. Do you think it's an 
accident she's chosen to waste her time on a girl who happens to live in the same okiya I do? 
Mameha would probably establish a relationship with your little dog if she thought it would 
help drive me out of Gion." 


"Come now, Hatsumomo. Why would she want to drive you out of Gion?" 

"Because I'm more beautiful. Does she need a better reason? She wants to humiliate me by 
telling everyone, 'Oh, please meet my new younger sister. She lives in the same okiya as 
Hatsumomo, but she's such a jewel they've entrusted her to me for training instead.'" 

"I can't imagine Mameha behaving that way," Mother said, almost under her breath. 

"If she thinks she can make Chiyo into a more successful geisha than Pumpkin," Hatsumomo 
went on, "she's going to be very surprised. But f'm delighted that Chiyo will be dressed up in 
a kimono and paraded around. It's a perfect opportunity for Pumpkin. Haven't you ever seen 
a kitten attacking a ball of string? Pumpkin will be a much better geisha after she's 
sharpened her teeth on this one." 

Mother seemed to like this, for she raised the edges of her mouth in a sort of smile. 

"I had no idea what a fine day this would be," she said. "This morning when I woke up, two 
useless girls were living in the okiya. Now they'll be fighting it out . . . and with a couple of the 
most prominent geisha in Gion ushering them along!" 

Chapter twelve 

The very next afternoon Mameha summoned me to her apartment. This time she was seated 
at the table waiting for me when the maid slid open the door. I was careful to bow properly 
before coming into the room and then to cross to the table and bow again. 

"Mameha-san, I don't know wha