The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

A SCOLDING FROM MUM

“You’re a boy, Yoshio!” said his mother. “You need to start acting like one. You can’t keep crying and running home like this. You know they pick on you because you’re always playing with girls. Why don’t you join in with the boys and play their games?”

Masako watched as her mother started to rant. Once she started, there was no telling how long she would go on for, and Yoshio had already started to sob again.

“Boys need to have the courage to fight back!” their mother continued. “If you want to keep on playing with girls all the time, I’m going to have to snip off your weenie!”

“Oh!” gasped Masako.

“What’s the matter?” said her mother, slightly annoyed at having her lecture interrupted.

“I know why Yoshio is afraid of going to the bathroom, and why he always wets his bed! It’s because of what you say when you tell him off for playing with the girls!”

“What?” said their mother, looking first to Masako, then to Yoshio.

“The scary woman Yoshio sees in the bathroom at night — it’s you, Mum! And the reason she’s always holding scissors is because, well you know, the scissors are for…”

Masako watched her mother’s face change as she slowly put the pieces together.

“Oh, so what you’re saying is that the scissors are for cutting off Yoshio’s weenie?”

Yoshio, who had since stopped sobbing, looked up at his mother, while Masako and her mother looked back at him. For a moment there was silence, then both Masako and her mother burst out laughing at Yoshio’s quizzical expression.

“You know what that means, don’t you Yoshio?” said Masako, pulling herself together. “It means you just made that woman up in your mind because of what Mum said to you. Do you see? That means there’s not really a woman there at all, so there’s no need for you to be scared any more!”

“Oh, I see,” said Yoshio, though it wasn’t clear if he really understood or not.

Yoshio’s mother didn’t say anything, but she seemed to be feeling bad about the careless choice of words that had scared her son so much. And though Yoshio didn’t entirely understand what had just happened, he did at least understand that there was no woman in the bathroom to be afraid of. So from that day on, he was always able to go to the toilet all by himself, even in the middle of the night, and he never wet his bed again. As for Masako, she was surprised at how well she’d been able to help Yoshio overcome his fear. Now she felt even more determined to conquer her own.