A man wearing a maple-colored corduroy shirt

Since opening the shop in June, thankfully the number of repeat customers has been increasing. Today a man wearing a maple-colored corduroy shirt came in. He always buys five or six suspense novels at a time. When he's finished the books he bought last time, he comes back to return them. I handed him the book he said "Ah!" to when he finished reading it. Besides the books he bought before, he probably has books at home. He donated about ten books. Today again he was picking up suspense novels. As he chose books, he talked about his past exploits, his family, and how he retired and came to Kesennuma... The man, speaking with a Kesennuma accent, laughed wahaha and launched into a rapid-fire monologue. He seems to be overwhelmed by elder-to-elder caregiving. I felt like I had never heard the term "elder-to-elder caregiving" before. I looked it up and apparently there is even "super elder-to-elder caregiving," meaning both caregiver and care recipient are 75 or older. The man said he had returned to Kesennuma to care for his sibling. Once his sibling's situation calmed down, he wants to go back to work in Koriyama, Fukushima. Tokyo is close, he has many friends there, and since he used to live there he has drinking buddies and can go out and have fun. He said that with a laugh. Watching the man in the maple-colored corduroy shirt walk away, I thought that maybe he wasn't buying the books for himself but for the sibling he is caring for.