The Elephant Vanishes: Stories

“The Second Bakery Attack” is the story of a recently married couple in their late twenties. One night, after eating dinner and going to bed, the couple are so hungry they cannot sleep. They have very little food in the house—only some beers and cookies. After they finish the cookies and the beer, the man—who is the narrator of the story—recalls that the only other time he was this hungry was when he and his friend tried to rob a bakery 10 years before. He tells his wife about the experience: He and his friend, both determined not to work for money, decided one night to rob a bakery. But the baker, an admirer of classical music, presented them with an alternative proposal, saying he would give them all the bread they could carry if they listened to some Richard Wagner records with him.

This story convinces the wife that the foiled bakery attack is to blame for their present hunger. The baker must have put some sort of curse on her husband, and the only way to break the curse is to rob another bakery. The two drive around Tokyo in search of a bakery, equipped with ski masks and a shotgun, but it is past two in the morning, and no bakeries are open.