American Triumph: 1939-1945: 4 STORIES IN 1

by Susan Martins Miller, Norma Jean Lutz, Bonnie Hinman

  Mama and a Japanese woman stood in the office. It had been nearly three years since Laura had seen her, but the woman had to be Mrs. Wakamutsu.

  Laura hesitantly approached the office. Eddie seemed just as stunned as she was, for he hung back behind her.

  A Jap in the office. A Jap. The word Jap kept echoing in Laura’s mind. What would Yvonne say? Oh, her friend had known that a Japanese family had lived there before the war, but somehow that knowledge and seeing a real Jap didn’t fit together.

  “Kids, come say hello,” Mama said.

  Laura and Eddie edged forward.

  “Hello, little ones. My, how you’ve grown since I last saw you,” Mrs. Wakamutsu said. “We’ve brought a surprise for you.”

  Can there be more of a surprise? Laura wondered. She finally found her voice and said hello. “When did you arrive?”

  “We got here this morning, sooner than we expected. I wrote your mother, but we arrived before my letter.” She laughed, a quiet sound. “We are so happy to be back home.”

  Home? Home! Where would they stay? There were no vacancies at the hotel.

  “We’ve rearranged things a bit,” Mama said. “You girls are all in one room now. It’s wall to wall with five beds, but it will work for the time being.”

  Laura gazed silently at her mother. Five beds. She, Corrine, Margie, and Ginny made four, and there was only one set of bunks in that room. Laura was quite sure the Wakamutsus’ only daughter had left the relocation center in the summer when she’d found a sponsor and a job in Chicago. Ginny had read that letter to her. Well, Sachiko must have come back for a visit now that the Wakamutsus were free.

  “Eddie, we’ve put Minoru and Kiyoshi in with you and Gary. Mr. and Mrs. Wakamutsu will use the room Corrine and Margie shared.” Mama turned to Mrs. Wakamutsu and hugged her. “I’m so delighted you’re back.”

  “Do you want us to put up the mail?” Laura asked. Their normal routine was to put up their school things, get a glass of milk and a piece of bread, and report back to the office to relieve Mama before mail time.

  “Sure,” Mama said. “We’ve still got lots to do to get everyone settled in. Get a snack, and then you can take over.” Laura turned to walk to the apartment when her mother called her back. “Oh, wait, the surprise!” Mama scurried out of the office and walked with Laura and Eddie down the hall.

  The apartment was no longer a haven of peace and family love. Boxes were so stacked in the middle of the living room, there was barely room to walk. Two Japanese boys were carrying boxes toward the bedrooms under the direction of Mr. Wakamutsu. Laura knew they had to be Minoru and Kiyoshi, but they had grown a foot taller since she’d last seen them.

  Laura and Eddie exchanged greetings with the boys, and Mama called, “Miyoko!”

  A young Japanese girl about Laura’s size walked into the living room from the direction of the girls’ bedroom.

  “Here’s the surprise,” Mama said. “Miyoko Ito is staying with the Wakamutsus for a while. She’ll be going to your school. Too bad she won’t be in your class. She’s a grade younger.”

  Laura stared at the Japanese girl until Mama nudged her.

  “Hello,” Laura managed.

  Miyoko made a small bow in graceful Japanese fashion. “I’m so pleased to meet you,” she said.

  “You can introduce her around at school tomorrow,” Mama said.

  What was Mama thinking? Take a Jap to school? Be friends with a Jap? What would the other kids think? Oh, what about Yvonne?

  “I’d better go back to the office,” Laura said. “It’s almost mail time.”

  “Miyoko, would you like to join them in the office?”

  Mama asked. Miyoko looked at Laura and said, “Perhaps in a little while. I am still unpacking.”

  “Of course,” Mama said.

  Laura skipped her usual after-school snack and hurried back to the office, carrying her schoolwork with her.

  “You may go back to the apartment if you wish,” she told the Japanese woman at the office. “Miyoko is still unpacking.”

  “Yes, we have lots to do,” Mrs. Wakamutsu said. “We are storing some boxes in the linen room. How could we have accumulated so much during our stay at the relocation center?”

  Laura smiled but didn’t comment.

  “Laura, I hope you will be kind to Miyoko. Her mother died two years ago, and her father is in the army. He has entrusted her to our care until he returns. If he returns.”

  Laura nodded but didn’t promise anything. Mrs. Wakamutsu left the office, and Laura sat down with a sigh of relief. What was happening to her world? Just when she had gotten settled, something else happened to disrupt her life.

  Eddie opened the office door.

  “What do you think?” Laura asked without explaining any further.

  “I’m glad she’s not a boy. You get to take her around school and not me. Why is she here?”

  Laura explained the little she knew about Miyoko. “I feel sorry for her, but she’s a Jap.”

  It felt odd to say that out loud. It felt wrong, yet kids at school said it all the time. “Get the Japs.”

  “Kill the Japs.”

  “Mail here yet?” Mrs. Lind was at the window, as was her habit this time of day.

  “He’s running a little late,” Laura said. She held out the newspaper. “The Wakamutsus are back.”

  “I know. I saw them move in this morning.” She shrugged. “It’s nothing to me. I’ve rented with them, but I’ve heard talk that some of the new residents … aren’t pleased.” She said the last as if she were searching for the right words. “After all, if Roosevelt thought they were a threat and had them locked up, aren’t they still a threat? That’s what I’ve heard people say.” She lumbered over to the couch and sat down with the paper.

  Mrs. Lind had a point. Laura didn’t know much about the lock-up order, but she was going to ask questions. But who could she ask? She might not get any time alone with Mama and Dad without the Japs around.

  There it was again. It didn’t feel right thinking of the Wakamutsus as Japs. She had thought of them as the Japanese family her parents knew. But talk at school was about Japs in America being spies. That’s why they had been sent to the relocation centers and internment camps.

  The mailman delivered a large packet of letters. Eddie took half, and Laura took half.

  “Here’s a letter from Mr. Arnold,” Eddie said. “It’s to Mama and Dad. And here’s the one from the Wakamutsus.”

  “Nothing from Bruce in my pile,” Laura said.

  “Nothing here, either,” Eddie said. “But here’s a letter from Jerry Bowers.”

  Of course, Maude—that’s who she could ask about the Japs. Laura could ask her anything. “I’ll deliver it. Can you take care of the office by yourself?”

  Eddie looked at her with his who-do-you-think-you’re-talking-to look.

  “Sorry. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Laura scurried down the hall to Maude’s apartment. Once inside, she impatiently waited while Maude read her son’s letter before bombarding her with questions.

  “He was still on Guam when he wrote this,” Maude reported. “I wonder if he went to the Philippines. There was bad fighting in Luzon.”

  “It doesn’t do any good to worry about him,” Laura said. “Face your fear. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  Maude smiled. “Didn’t I give you this lecture?”

  “Yes, and it helped me.”

  “And it helps me when fear rears its ugly head,” Maude said. “What’s bothering you now? You’ve got that look.” She reached over and smoothed the line between Laura’s eyebrows. “If you scrunch up like that whenever you have a problem, you’re going to have some big wrinkles.”

  Laura moved over by the mirror beside the door and looked at her reflection. Sure enough, she had a scrunched-up look. “Eddie looks like this when he’s worried.”

  “Sometimes siblings do that. They can have some of the sam
e habits. So what’s bothering you?”

  Laura walked back to a chair across from Maude and announced, “The Wakamutsus are back.”

  “I know.”

  “They’re Japs.”

  “Yes, they are.”

  Didn’t Maude understand? “Jerry’s fighting the Japs. Doesn’t that bother you? Don’t you hate them?”

  “We’re not fighting the Wakamutsus. They’ve lived here for many years. Their children were born in Seattle. That makes them American citizens.”

  “Then why were they sent to relocation centers?”

  Maude pursed her lips. “That’s a good question, and I don’t have a good answer because I don’t understand it myself.”

  “Didn’t President Roosevelt send them to the centers?”

  “He signed the order, but I imagine there was a lot of pressure brought on him by people who were afraid. See, Laura, fear makes people do some crazy things.” Maude explained about the removal of the Japanese to the inland relocation centers and the new order letting them return to coastal cities like Seattle.

  “Couldn’t they prove they weren’t spies?”

  “I don’t think they were given the chance. The thought was that most of them have relatives in Japan. They would have to have divided loyalties. You ought to talk to Mrs. Wakamutsu about this.”

  “I can’t ask her!”

  “Why not? I imagine she’d be very interested in your reaction. She’s going to get it a lot. People are still fearful. They act badly when they’re afraid. In fact, Mr. Wakamutsu may have a hard time finding someone to give him a job.”

  “The Wakamutsus brought a Japanese girl with them. I have to take her to school tomorrow.”

  “Oh, so that’s what all this is about.”

  “All the kids hate the Japs.”

  “So tomorrow could be a hard day.”

  “Very hard.”

  “You’re the only girl president in the school, Laura. You’re a leader. You can figure out a way to make the students accept this girl.”

  “How?”

  Maude smiled again, a sly smile. “I don’t know, but you’re a bright girl. You’ll figure it out.”

  That wasn’t the answer Laura wanted, and she muttered to herself as she walked down the hall to the office. How would she handle tomorrow? What would Yvonne do when she met Miyoko?

  That evening the Edwardses and the Wakamutsus had a grand dinner. There wasn’t room for everyone at the dinner table, so the younger kids carried their plates to the living room to eat. An air of festivity dominated the small apartment. Laura tried to get into the mood, but she felt as if a cloud the size of the one that normally blocked the top of Mount Rainier hung over her.

  Miyoko asked Laura some questions about school, and Laura answered them the best she could.

  “You’ll have to go to the principal’s office, and she’ll tell you which class you’ll be in. Mrs. Sawyer’s class is one of the smallest, so I think you’ll end up there.” That class was always at the bottom of the stamp-sale list because it didn’t have as many kids to buy stamps.

  As soon as everyone had eaten, the two families crowded into the living room for a meeting. Every chair was taken, and the floor was covered with kids, some sitting on unopened boxes.

  “You all know the sleeping arrangements,” Dad said. “As soon as there are vacancies in the hotel, we’ll spread out. But for now this will have to do. We had a letter from Mr. Arnold today.” Dad explained to the Wakamutsus that Dale had been killed in the war. “He’s going to move in with his daughter in New Mexico. We’ll crate up his things and ship them to him. As soon as that’s done, there will be one hotel room available to us. Any questions?”

  “Can we do our homework in the office?” Eddie asked.

  “That shouldn’t be a problem,” Mama said.

  That was a relief. Doing homework in the office had to be much better than coming to this cramped apartment to find a space to sit down. Maybe when they were moved to other hotel rooms, things would get better.

  “Any other questions?” Dad waited, but no one spoke up. “Then I’d like us all to bow our heads to thank God for the Wakamutsus’ return.”

  Dad ended his prayer with the usual request that the war would soon end and that Bruce, Neil, Jerry, and the other soldiers would return home. This time he included Leonard Ito, Miyoko’s father, in his prayer.

  The bedroom was crowded, and it took Laura awhile to get to sleep on the hard cot. Miyoko’s cot was only inches from hers. Before sleep claimed her, the thought crossed Laura’s mind that the little Jap could try to hurt her while she slept. She pushed the thought away. There was that ugly fear again. Miyoko was an American. Her father was fighting in the war. Surely that would overrule her Japanese blood. For just a moment, she wondered if Miyoko had the same kinds of fears, what with going to a new school and feeling everyone’s hatred toward the Japanese.

  The next morning, Laura trudged alongside Miyoko as they walked to school. Eddie had left early to set up a special stamp-sale exhibit, the new plan Yvonne had mentioned the day before. Laura figured he didn’t want to be seen with Miyoko.

  Laura took Miyoko to the office and waited as Mama had told her to while Miyoko was assigned a teacher. Then Laura walked her to her classroom and introduced her to Mrs. Sawyer. At recess, she saw Miyoko standing by herself on the playground and forced herself to go over to her.

  “Come meet my friend,” Laura said and took Miyoko to where Yvonne was talking with another girl.

  “Yvonne, this is Miyoko Ito. She’s living with us at the hotel.”

  Yvonne took one look at Miyoko, glared at Laura, and then turned and stormed off.

  CHAPTER 8

  Miyoko’s Story

  Laura was ignored by Yvonne the entire day. When it was time to go home, Yvonne didn’t walk out of Miss Burch’s classroom with Eddie.

  “Where’s Yvonne?” Laura asked.

  “She said she had something to do after school,” Eddie said and nodded back at the room.

  Laura stuck her head in his classroom and saw Yvonne standing by her desk as if waiting for something. “Coming?”

  “No. Traitor!”

  Laura recoiled as if she’d been hit. How could Yvonne call her a traitor? She couldn’t help it that President Roosevelt had let the Japs out of the relocation centers. Well, if that’s the way Yvonne wanted it, fine.

  Laura marched back to where Eddie had been joined by Miyoko. “Let’s go. Where’s Kenny?”

  “He went with Jack Heaton,” Eddie said.

  “Oh,” Laura said. So Eddie was also being treated badly because of Miyoko. “Well, let’s get home.”

  “Your friends are not kind,” Miyoko said once they were on the sidewalk.

  “They don’t understand,” Eddie said. “We’ve been at war against the Japs a long time.”

  “I am not a Jap. I am an American.” Miyoko said it with quiet authority that made her seem old. “I was born in California. My father is Nisei, born in California. My grandfather was Issei, born in Japan, but that was a long time ago. Long before the war.”

  “But you look Japanese,” Laura said.

  “That is my heritage, but Japan is not my country.” Miyoko said it with such sincerity that Laura believed her.

  “It will be hard to convince the kids at school about that,” Eddie said.

  “I know,” Miyoko said. “They call me a Jap, but I am not the enemy. They need to know me, not just the way I look.”

  They had arrived at the hotel, but Laura held back from climbing the stairs. It would be hard to talk frankly with Mama and Mrs. Wakamutsu around, and Laura wanted to know more about Miyoko. The girl fascinated her in an odd way.

  “We want to know you, but it’s hard to look past your yellow skin and slanted eyes,” Laura said honestly.

  “Then I feel sorry for you,” Miyoko said. “You are blind.”

  First she’d been called a traitor by Yvonne, and now Miyoko had called her bl
ind. They were both wrong.

  Laura stomped up the stairs. She rushed to the apartment, which looked even worse than yesterday. Boxes were opened and half unpacked. Laura glanced at the table where her great-great-grandmother’s wooden clock had set. It was gone, and in its place stood a gnarled miniature tree, maybe a foot tall, in a flat green planter. It looked like it belonged in an enchanted forest with its thick trunk and spreading branches.

  “Where’s the clock?” Laura asked no one in particular, although Kiyoshi, Gary, and Ginny were in the living room. They’d obviously just returned from school, too.

  “I don’t know,” Ginny said. “What is this beautiful tree?”

  “Bonsai,” Kiyoshi said. “It is Miyoko’s. Her father inherited it from his grandfather, who inherited it from his father and his father before him. It is very old.”

  “Then it is Miyoko’s father’s tree,” Laura said.

  “Yes, but he is at war.” Then Kiyoshi added matter-of-factly, “He will not return.”

  “Why not? Is he missing in action?” Laura knew in her heart that Neil Palmer wouldn’t return, but he had not been officially declared dead—just missing in action because the navy didn’t know what had happened to him.

  “No. But when a soldier goes off to war, he does not expect to return.”

  “Yes, he does,” Laura said. “Bruce is coming back.”

  Kiyoshi shrugged. “A soldier fights to his death. It is the honorable thing to do.”

  Laura had no reply. She got a drink and then went to the office to relieve her mother and Mrs. Wakamutsu, who were in the office.

  “We need to work here a bit longer,” Mama said. “Then I must make a few more calls for the March of Dimes. Why don’t you and Miyoko walk down to the drugstore and get something special to drink? You can show her the neighborhood.” She handed Laura some change. “Laura, I’d like you to be kind to Miyoko. She needs a friend.”

  Laura nodded. Now what could she do? She went in search of Miyoko and found her in the girls’ bedroom. She sat primly on her cot holding Shadow, Sachiko’s cat, which Margie had adopted when the Wakamutsus were forced to leave for the relocation center. Miyoko petted it with loving strokes.