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Short short with English summary
     

                           

目線
四月も末となった。東京では、木々の緑が美しい。私の住んでいる辺りは、桜と銀杏が多く、まだ薄く小さい葉を通す光が本当にきれいだ。躑躅も満開で、近頃は道端とか建物の回りが華やかである。
私は、朝の9時頃にプールに行くので、バスに乗る機会が多い。バスは本数も少なく、定まった時間帯なので、乗客の顔ぶれは何時もほぼ同じである。停留所ごとに数人ずつ乗り降りするわけだが、皆さん、生活感を引きずっているように見える。
先日、珍しく若いお母さんが2歳くらいの子供を胸に抱えて乗ってきて、丁度私の前の席を占めた。新コロナの所為でマスクをして無口な乗客のなかで、子供の習いたての言葉が良く聞こえた。バスの窓からの景色を話していた。都バスは床をフラットにする努力と車体構造との取り合いで、座席の高さが上下している。それに伴い、目線の高さと窓枠とが微妙に異なる。そこで、この子供とお母さんとのおしゃべりが食い違っていた。その内、お母さんは坊やを膝に抱き上げ、目線を揃えた。
目線を揃えようという努力に、世界の指導者達・権力者達も気が付いてほしいものだ。

Sight line
It is the end of April. Young green leaves are beautiful in Tokyo. In the area where I live, trees are mostly cherries and gingkoes. It is truly beautiful when the morning sunbeam goes through those small thin leaves. Azaleas are also in full blossoms, making the edges of streets and around the buildings brilliant.
I am used to go to swimming club so I often take the same bus in the mornings around 9 o'clock. Since there are not so many buses, I meet same people. Some get on and some off at stops. I observe people are fighting for their lives.
The other day, I met a young mother with a boy, ca.2 years old. They took a seat just in front of mine. I could hear his words. The rest of us in the car had anti-Corona masks and kept quiet. He was talking about the scenes from the bus window. The buses in Tokyo try to have flat floor adjusting the levels of the seat to clear the uneven bus body construction. Therefore, the sight level differs leading to different scenes through the windows. I realized the chat between the boy and the mother were not quite fitting together. The mother took him on her lap to have a same sight for both of them.
When shall the world leaders, the power holders, realize how necessary it is for us to have a same eyesight?

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