The Persimmon Tree

by Bryce Courtenay

  The retired geisha turned away so that Anna didn’t see her sudden tears. But Anna was feeling too good to notice, too high and self-involved. ‘Please, please take me into the garden,’ she cried excitedly. ‘Let me see the stars. It is almost August and the dry will soon be over. I’m sure they will be brighter tonight; they always are just before the rains come.’

  A week later Lieutenant Ito visited and declared himself much happier with Anna’s temperament and ordered the suppositories to be continued three times each day for at least another week. This was a combination of drugs the kempeitai used a great deal to soften up suspects they needed to interrogate but for practical purposes were not in a position to maim, torture or kill. It would almost certainly mean Anna would become a heroin addict.

  The seventh okami-san, suspecting that Anna was rapidly becoming dependent on the effects of the glycerine suppository, asked her, ‘Anna-san, do you want to continue the glycerine?’

  ‘Yes, Korin-san,’ she replied quickly. ‘I feel sure it helps me to remain calm.’

  Late in the afternoon on the 12th of August the call from Lieutenant Ito came that Anna was to receive no heroin for two days. She had already complained to Korin-san that she had developed constipation. ‘It is the glycerine,’ Korin-san announced, ‘it sometimes has this effect on some of the comfort women. Perhaps we must stop the suppositories?’

  ‘No!’ Anna burst out, alarmed. ‘No, it is not too bad.’ The following morning Izumi explained that Anna would not be receiving glycerine suppositories for the next two days, that she could not be allowed to remain constipated. ‘Please, Izumi-san, I must have them, I have grown accustomed to being calm. The constipation is nothing,’ Anna begged.

  ‘Ah, but it will become a great pain and your stomach will swell up, we cannot allow it. Lieutenant Ito will be angry, Anna-san, and, as well, you will suffer greatly from this blockage,’ she said in an understanding but firm voice. ‘I regret it is the only way.’

  Anna began to experience heroin and amphetamine withdrawal within fourteen hours. She endured a sleepless night and the following day (the 14th of August) she found almost unendurable, and she repeatedly begged to be given the glycerine suppositories. Late in the afternoon Lieutenant Ito arrived at the Nest of the Swallows and Izumi was told to prepare Anna for the arrival, at 7 p.m. sharp, of Colonel Takahashi. It was the first time his name had been mentioned, although Lieutenant Ito was aware that the two okami-san would have known all the time.

  If I appear to be using the tedium of dates in telling Anna’s story, you must forgive me. At the time this was happening in the Nest of the Swallows, a great deal was changing in the conduct of the Pacific War. On August the 6th (the 7th in Java), the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and while this news may have been picked up by those who could listen to Allied broadcasts (where it was described as ‘an atomic device’), the Japanese who were fighting in the Pacific received no mention of the event in their own radio broadcasts which came directly from Tokyo, nor did they receive advice from official sources in Japan.

  Colonel Takahashi, if he had been monitoring Allied radio broadcasts, would not have taken them seriously, assuming it was simply propaganda, tit for tat. The American bombings of the cities of Japan had become routine and it was hardly news to someone like Colonel Takahashi to hear of more Allied bombings. The Japanese radio broadcasts were considered to be pure propaganda by the Allies, and there is no reason to suppose that the Japanese colonel did not feel the same about Allied radio broadcasts. The bomb on Nagasaki on the 9th (the 10th in Java) was met with the same lack of official confirmation from Japan, and therefore would have once again been treated with indifference by the commander.

  The visit to the Nest of the Swallows on the 14th would have had little, if any, significance to Colonel Takahashi. Such was the propaganda to its own troops — Japanese victory over the Allies was a continuing message in daily news bulletins from Japan — that he would have assumed it was war as usual in the Pacific region.

  On the 14th of August at precisely 7 p.m., a large black American car drove through the open boom gate without stopping, the guards having been previously alerted to allow it through. It was dark and they would have been unable to identify the passenger. The car drove to the rear of the Nest of the Swallows to be met there by the seventh okami-san.

  The driver jumped from the car and opened the back door, saluting as the colonel stepped out. The seventh okami-san bowed deeply as the ex-kempeitai captain, now colonel and commander of Tjilatjap, returned her greeting with an impatient bow and no more than a jerk of his head, accompanied by ‘Hai!’ He stood for a moment and seemed to be thinking, then he removed his katana and sidearm and handed the sword and revolver to the driver. ‘Lead me to the gate, then leave me. I have the keys. Is everything prepared?’

  ‘Yes, it is how Lieutenant Ito-san has instructed, honourable Colonel Takahashi-san,’ the seventh okami-san replied, bowing deeply.

  ‘The woman is ready, no suppositories?’ he asked as she led him around the corner of the large mansion.

  ‘Yes, Colonel-san, as was requested.’

  ‘She has been without two days?’ he persisted.

  ‘Yes, honourable Colonel Takahashi-san, nothing since the day before yesterday.’

  The Japanese colonel grunted. They reached the gate moments later. ‘You will not be needed again until I depart. You will watch for my car. Do not under any circumstances enter to attend to the woman until I leave,’ he instructed.

  The seventh okami-san bowed again. ‘I understand, honourable Takahashi-san.’

  Anna had been made to wear the yellow kimono, tabi socks and sandals. Her face remained without make-up, as Lieutenant Ito had instructed that she was not to be painted in the manner of a geisha but was to appear in precisely the way she had always done for the previous commander.

  Waiting alone since late afternoon, Anna was suffering acutely from heroin withdrawal. Her nose wouldn’t stop running and that caused her to sniffle. She was also very afraid. It was still sufficiently light for her to see the garden gate open and Colonel Takahashi turn to lock it again and start to walk down the path, his jackboots gleaming in the soft evening light. Shortly afterwards she heard the rattle of the key in the door. Anna waited until it opened, then bowed deeply. ‘Welcome, Colonel-san,’ she said softly, her heart thumping.

  The Japanese commander completed the task of locking the door before turning, first putting the key back in his trouser pocket. He bowed by jerking his head in the same cursory and impatient manner he had done with the seventh okami-san, and uttered ‘Hai!’ His expression remained unchanged as he walked to the left of Anna towards the desk and proceeded to sit in the swivel chair behind it.

  Anna turned to face him. ‘Shall I pour tea, honourable Colonel-san?’ she asked.

  ‘No!’ he barked. ‘There is no tea ceremony yet! Stand there!’ He pointed to the opposite side of the desk. Anna moved silently to stand where he indicated. ‘Undress!’ he commanded.

  Anna looked momentarily confused. ‘Colonel-san, now, here?’ she asked.

  ‘Take off your kimono, I want you naked!’ he barked. ‘Then stand to attention in front of me! You will obey!’ he snapped again.

  Anna proceeded to undress, too frightened and distraught from the drug withdrawal to protest. First she removed her sandals and tabi and began to undo her obi, a complicated matter as her hands were shaking almost uncontrollably as she unwound the intricately tied high waistband belt. The kimono clung to her body and she tugged at it so that the silk fell loosely away, then pulling her arms free she allowed the yellow garment to fall to her ankles and she stepped out of it. Now wearing only the hadajuban and underneath it her cotton drawers, she turned her back on the Japanese colonel and removed the last garments.

  ‘Turn around! Face me!’ Takahashi demanded. ‘You will never again turn your back on me!’ An
na turned with her hands cupped over her groin. ‘I said stand to attention!’ he ordered. ‘Take your hands away. Have you not seen how a soldier stands to attention?’

  Anna removed her hands and, blushing deeply, placed them to her side and brought her feet together. She felt totally vulnerable and humiliated but knew if she started to sob it would be what he expected – desired. She started to shake from the craving that mixed with her fear; adrenalin pumped through her system, heightening her misery, but she was determined not to allow him to see the utter sense of shame and degradation he caused her to feel.

  The Japanese colonel rose from the desk and walked to where she stood. ‘Two steps back!’ he snapped. Anna complied and he stood in front of her, peering at her closely, examining her cheekbones, her thigh where she had been bruised, then her knees. He brushed his hand briefly over her pubic hair as if he was testing its quality as well. ‘Perfect,’ he said at last. Then turning, he went back to his seat behind the desk. ‘Two paces forward!’ he demanded. Anna stepped the two paces towards him, holding herself rigid, her hands to the side. ‘It is correct that the pearl remains intact?’ Takahashi asked. Anna made no answer. ‘Are you a virgin?’ he demanded, raising his voice.

  ‘Yes, Colonel-san,’ Anna replied, her voice only slightly above a whisper.

  ‘And you are a heroin addict, no?’

  ‘No, Colonel-san.’

  ‘Have you not been given suppositories for more than two weeks and are now without them for two days?’

  ‘Yes, Colonel-san,’ Anna said tremulously.

  His voice changed suddenly and took on a conciliatory tone. ‘How do you feel, Anna? Now, at this moment?’

  ‘Frightened, Colonel-san.’

  ‘And in need of a suppository?’

  ‘Yes, Colonel-san,’ Anna said in a trembling voice.

  ‘The suppositories contain heroin and amphetamines, pure heroin and methamphetamine crystals. You are now a total addict,’ he replied calmly.

  Despite her condition, Anna was shocked. ‘I did not know this, Colonel-san!’

  The Japanese colonel reached into the pocket of his military tunic and produced a small, plainly wrapped package Anna recognised instantly. It contained two glycerine suppositories. He placed it on the desk. Then, retaining his sympathetic attitude, he pointed to the package and asked, ‘Will you willingly give me the gift of the pearl in return for this?’

  Anna could hear her brain screaming. The sensation she felt was as if there was a pair of small, long-nailed hands trapped within her head, desperately scratching and clawing to get out of her skull by crawling through her eyes. Yes! Yes! Please, yes! every fibre of her being called out desperately. Relief from her craving was an arm’s length away. But somehow she clung on to her sanity. ‘No, not willingly!’ she said. ‘You have the power to take it. But I will not give it willingly, Colonel-san.’

  The Japanese colonel laughed, pointing to the small package. ‘Then I regret there will be no more of this. No more, you understand? That is until you agree to willingly give me what you would willingly have given Konoe-san if he had not been a rope pervert.’

  Anna felt she would break into sobs at any moment, but fought back the need to cry, to beg for the package. ‘Colonel Konoe-san never asked me and I would not have surrendered to him willingly, Colonel-san.’

  The colonel rose from behind the desk and walked a few steps to the side of Anna. He seemed to be thinking; his head was bowed and his hands behind his back. Then turning, he said, ‘The mixture you have been given in the suppositories is very pure and when you are forced into a prolonged withdrawal, in no more than three weeks you will almost certainly be dead.’ He turned to face Anna and shrugged. ‘You must make up your own mind, Anna. I am not an animal. I will not rape you. I carry no weapon to threaten you. You may choose to die in agony as a virgin. Or live and be supplied with all the glycerine suppositories your addiction requires.’

  Anna remained silent, head bowed, shamed by her nakedness as she looked down over her small breasts and pudenda to her feet. The Japanese officer returned to his former seat, leaning back nonchalantly, his hands folded and resting on his chest. Korin-san’s words echoed in her head: ‘Anna-san, you cannot hold on to it forever. Perhaps it is time to be practical? To face life as it is?’ Anna took a deep breath, making up her mind, perhaps even saving her life. ‘I will be compliant, Colonel-san, and come to you willingly and please you greatly if you tell me one thing I need to know.’

  ‘What is it, Anna?’ he asked, smiling. ‘What is it you wish to know?’

  ‘Why was Til beheaded?’

  ‘Til?’

  ‘The becak owner.’

  ‘Oh, him. Well, that is simple enough to answer. I required you to be brought here and to know that you no longer enjoyed the privilege of patronage that that pervert, Konoe Akira, allowed you. It was the simplest and most efficient way to demonstrate that it was all over for you and that you were destined for the Nest of the Swallows.’

  ‘You beheaded a man to tell me it was all over?’ Anna asked, too shocked to add the respectful appendage of Colonel-san.

  ‘Konoe made me promise you would be safe and not molested. I am a man of my word, even if he is a pervert and a coward. The kempeitai were told that you must not be marked or injured; that they must not lay a finger on you. The beheading was to ensure your cooperation, to intimidate you. It is common practice.’ The Japanese colonel chuckled. ‘But it didn’t work as I had hoped. You attacked and severely wounded four of the five kempeitai escorts and one of my best sergeants.’ He leaned back even further. ‘Very impressive! In my mind you became worthy of my personal attention. The Second Vase, perfect in every respect and a virgin, also has the courage of a lioness.’ He clapped his hands. ‘Admirable! Irresistible!’

  Anna realised that Yasuko, the mayor’s wife, had been listening to the lunch conversations. ‘Did you personally behead him, Colonel-san?’ she asked, glancing up at him momentarily.

  ‘Who? Oh, the becak driver. Yes, of course, it is an honourable and noble function and not a task to be given to a subordinate. I am not like that pervert with the ropes, who would hand this customary and privileged duty of a commanding officer to someone else, as if afraid of a little blood,’ he scoffed.

  Anna was silent, looking down at her feet, the image of Til’s head on a bamboo spike outside the front gate recalled starkly. She had always known that she was the sole cause of Til’s death, but now it had been confirmed. Nevertheless, her mind seemed to be screaming He is dead — you must save your own life! The package lay so close she could reach out and touch it.

  Anna bowed deeply, her eyes downcast. ‘Welcome to my futon, Colonel-san.’ She looked up and into his eyes. ‘I have saved the pearl for a real man who has courage and honour and is not afraid to use the noble katana.’ She saw in his expression and the slow nod of his head that Korin-san had been right; his ego accepted her compliment and then her compliance, as if she had given the latter willingly.

  Takahashi now leaned forward, a simian-like grin spread across his face. ‘Excellent!’ he exclaimed.

  ‘Perhaps you will allow me to begin with a massage, Colonel-san? It will relax and prepare you,’ Anna said.

  ‘Then it is willingly done and the pearl is mine?’ the commander asked, seeking a final confirmation.

  Anna forced herself to smile, remembering Korin-san’s advice. ‘It is an honour, Colonel Takahashi-san,’ she said in a low voice, bowing as she spoke.

  The Japanese officer leaned further forward and pushed the suppository over to Anna, who forced herself not to snatch at it. ‘This will calm you,’ he said, smiling in a most benign manner, immensely pleased with himself.

  Anna reached out, hoping the colonel would not insist she open the package and insert the suppository in front of him. ‘I must go to the bathroom now, please, Colonel-san?’


  ‘Of course, I will prepare myself for your massage. I am informed that you are well trained.’

  Anna knew that Yasuko had been aware that in order to please Konoe Akira she had received training by the seventh okami-san not only in kinbaku, but also in erotic massage and other concubinary technique. ‘I will do my best for you, Colonel-san. I apologise that I do not possess the skills of a geisha,’ she said in a self-deprecating manner.

  ‘I will let you know,’ Takahashi said, grinning. ‘If you do a good job I will give you another suppository packet before I leave; more than one perhaps,’ he promised.

  Several minutes later Anna returned from the bathroom. Her blue eyes sparkled as she walked with dignity across the room, as if oblivious to her state of nudity, and over to the other end of the large study. There was a specially prepared futon, two cushions and a low table with the tea setting.

  Despite her desperation and the pains of withdrawal, she had previously tucked the butterfly ashtray and the Clipper box under the futon in a place where they wouldn’t be discovered by a body lying supine. Her life, she knew, had reached an end point. They were talismans, the only source of luck she still possessed; they were all she had left to believe in. While Anna had prepared herself to be raped, she nevertheless thought to have the strange comfort of these two objects with her. She knew that hiding the two most precious things she possessed under the futon was a pointless gesture, even a childish thing to do, but it was one she impulsively felt was representative of a gentler past she would never see again. Kept near her, they would be a part of her until the end came.

  The Japanese colonel, completely undressed, sat on the futon, his knees up against his chest and his hands between his legs so they concealed his private parts. Without his uniform he looked suddenly vulnerable; to the line made by his short-sleeved tunic and open collar, his arms and neck were a darker colour from exposure to the tropical sun.

  It was the same vulnerability Anna had seen on Konoe Akira’s face, and she was surprised to see it again in the eyes of the brute seated in front of her. Other than her drunken, and later ailing, father, this was only the second male she had seen totally naked. The heroin and amphetamine that were now reaching her brain were working wonders. She felt strong and totally in possession of her wits, surprised to find that the naked body of the Japanese commander seated in front of her, his hands cupped about his scrotum, no longer frightened her.