by Vincent Yee
Minami’s admiration of his form came to an abrupt stop as she instinctively grinned in a playful manner and stammered, “Hey wait! How long were you watching me?”
He turned his head toward her, gave a smile and said, “I caught the last half of your efforts, but I wasn’t going to stop you from your funny routine.”
Feeling a bit embarrassed and feeling her cheeks flushed she said aloud, “It’s not polite to watch a girl without her knowing.”
There was a moment of silence as he pumped out the last spurt of water that reached the rim of the pail. He turned around and faced Minami who was unconsciously playing with the ends of her hair. He could only admire how pretty she was. Her beautiful serene eyes and her facial features caught his attention when she first turned around to face him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stare or poke fun at you. I’m still a bit down with all this relocation business,” he offered to Minami.
Minami looked at him and their shared fate gave way to a mutual understanding. He was in the same boat she was, someone that had a Japanese face who was forced into this prison camp. But for some reason, she felt a bit of satisfaction when he said “I’m sorry.” Yet deep down inside, she kind of liked the fact that he was looking at her.
“It’s okay. I’m sure it was fun to watch,” responded Minami. She was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable and looked down at the pail.
He saw her looking down at the pail and said, “Oh, your water. Let me get that for you.”
He turned around, pulled the pail’s handle effortlessly upward and turned back to Minami who reached out for it with both of her hands. “Do you need help bringing this back to your barrack” he asked?
Minami took the pail and she wanted to say yes but found herself saying, “No, that’s okay. I can handle it.”
No? Minami thought to herself? Why did she decline his offer? She couldn’t change her mind or she would look like a fool. She felt somewhat embarrassed and simply wanted to leave. “I’m okay, thank you so much for helping me,” she said as she turned her back to him and began walking back to her barrack.
“Hiroshi,” Minami heard him say. She turned around as the water splashed about in the pail. She looked at his strong frame as the sun shone upon him. There was something definitely very handsome about him, she thought. “What?” she asked.
“My name is Hiroshi,” he said in a firm voice followed by a grin.
Minami felt her cheeks turning red. “Oh, it’s nice to meet you Hiroshi, and thank you again,” as she turned away from him.
“And your name would be?” he hollered back.
How could I forget? What was wrong with me and why am I acting so silly? thought Minami. She composed herself, turned around with a smile, and said, “Minami. My name is Minami.”
Hiroshi smiled back and simply said, “It’s nice to meet you, Minami.”
Minami spun around again not noticing the splashes of water spilling over the rim of the pail that drenched the parched sandy ground. She walked about five steps before biting her lip again and decided to look back. Her head turned in a curious manner only to see him staring back at her. She quickly spun her head around and looked onward but she couldn’t hide her smile. “He’s looking at me,” thought Minami as she briskly walked back to her barrack as she shook her head acknowledging her own embarrassment that he had caught her looking back at him.
When Minami returned, both Miho and Yuka were organizing their clothes. Yoshi was playing on the bed with a few toys that her mother had brought along. Minami’s mother was busily sweeping the sand off the floor when she looked up. But her expression turned to one of bewilderment when she saw the pail was only two-thirds full. She looked at Minami, who looked down and noticed to her own embarrassment the not-so-full pail as well. “It was a new pump, the water was very difficult to pump out,” Minami said in her defense.
Minami’s mother muttered something under her breath and carefully took the pail away and called over the rest of her children. She offered each one a washcloth, which she dipped into the pail of water to gently clean their faces. Minami took a cloth and wiped her face. She watched with amusement as her mother held Yoshi’s head by the chin as she wiped his face.
Minami looked down at the cloth to see hints of dirt, which made her feel disgusted with herself that Hiroshi could have seen her in such a disheveled state. But then she looked up at the window and thought to herself, “I’m in a desert, for goodness sake.” She shook her head from side to side bemusing her sense of vanity in the unlikeliest of places while entertaining the notion that she found herself possibly attracted to someone. But the one thought that continually came back was whether or not she would see Hiroshi again and when.
The Itos proceeded to breakfast, along with many other families who were getting used to the meal schedule. Breakfast was at 8 A.M., lunch at 12 P.M., and dinner at 5 P.M. It was their daily schedule for the immediate future. After finding a table in the corner, Minami’s mother ran through a list of chores that she needed everyone to do, and there were quiet nods of assent from everyone. But when her mother asked Minami to handle the laundry, there was simply silence. Minami was looking past her sisters into the crowd of people filling the mess hall. Minami’s mother had to jab her gently on the side to jar her to attention.
“Huh?” Minami responded.
“I need you to take care of the laundry each week,” said Minami’s mother.
“Oh sure, I’ll take care of it,” she replied.
Minami turned away from her mother, and as she looked up, she caught Hiroshi looking at her. He was about five rows away. He was a bit taller than everyone else, which made him stand out from the crowd. There was an older couple in front of him; she could only guess that they were his parents. He looked at her and then offered a smile. Minami was somewhat surprised by his smile and bashfully looked down and chewed her breakfast slowly. Though she didn’t want to be obvious, her curiosity got the best of her. She looked up. He was no longer visible and she assumed that he was seated somewhere among the sea of hungry people. She continued to scan the area. As a man bent his head down to eat, Hiroshi’s face suddenly came into view. He was looking straight at her with his friendly eyes, piercing through her discreet attempts to not make it obvious that she was looking for him. She was taken by surprise again and froze for a moment when he broke the tense moment with a smile. But instead of looking away, she instinctively offered a bashful smile and then looked back down at her breakfast. For a moment, she was distracted from her dreary situation.
After breakfast, Minami and her family walked back to their barrack. Minami didn’t look for Hiroshi on her way out, as that would have made it too obvious to him. They shielded their faces as best as they could against the annoying sand and were relieved to be back in their barrack. They shook the sand from their bodies and looked disdainfully at it lying on the ground. Miho and Yuka continued trying to find the elusive gaps and holes in the walls and floor. Mrs. Ito and Yoshi went ahead and continued cleaning the unit. Minami left to find the laundry facilities.
The sandstorm had subsided. There were a few families milling about. Minami still wasn’t sure where she was in the prison camp and it didn’t help that all the barracks were so much alike that it was easy to get lost.
Minami walked down the path back to where the bathrooms were, thinking the U.S. Army would build any facilities that were in need of water near one another. Her assumption was right. The back of the laundry building itself was directly facing the bathrooms and it was just recently finished. It was sandwiched in between the bathrooms and the mess hall. Minami walked around to the front of it and walked up the three wooden steps into the building to inspect it. It was dark. No one was inside just yet. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she could make out troughs along the wall that were lined with water spigots. There was a stack of washing racks in one corner and several unopened brown boxes that Minami believed carried detergent.
Minami�
��s quiet focus was disturbed by a voice coming from behind her, “Find what you need?”
Minami spun around to see a man’s silhouette in the doorway. With the sun’s light in back of him, he was merely a shadow without any discernible features. Minami shielded her eyes momentarily and walked a bit off to the side and noticed that it was a soldier in his mid-twenties. He was of medium athletic build, with short dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and wearing a tan colored soldier’s uniform.
“I was just looking for the laundry,” said Minami as she looked down.
“Well you’ve found it,” replied the soldier. He just stared at Minami. There was something cold about his response but Minami couldn’t place it, as if there was something hidden behind his tone. But it was his stare that started to make Minami feel uncomfortable. He didn’t seem to be simply looking at Minami but rather through her and it was just one of those stares that made any woman feel uncomfortable.
“I need to get going now,” responded Minami feeling the need to leave. Being in a dark building with a man whom she didn’t know, especially one of the white soldiers, felt wrong. She walked toward the doorway and before she could exit, the soldier blocked her way with his arm by placing his palm against the doorjamb.
Minami took a sudden step back and she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck tingle. She looked up at him and he offered a smile that wasn’t very genuine. He looked her up and down, and then fixed his stare on Minami’s eyes.
“This whole ordeal must be really tough for you,” he said before pausing. “It might be good to make a few friends you know since things can get unexpectedly worse.”
Minami felt unnerved and was not prepared for the fingertips of his other hand reaching up toward her cheek. She immediately flinched away as his fingertips touched her left cheek and her expression turned to one of shock and dismay. In that instant, she ducked underneath his arm and scrambled down the three steps onto the parched ground. She crossed her arms to warm herself up and did not look back as she turned right toward her barrack.
She didn’t like him. That was the only thought she had. She didn’t appreciate being approached in that manner, and his suggestion simply made her feel disgusting. She hoped that she would never see him again.
The soldier leaned up against the doorjamb, with one foot crossed over the other as he watched her. He lifted the flap of his left breast pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. A cigarette slid into his other hand, which he brought to his mouth. He placed the pack of cigarettes back into his pocket and took out a book of matches from his pant pocket. He lit the cigarette, with his hands cupped to shield the match from the wind. The withering match was flung onto the ground and he took a puff from the cigarette. He removed the cigarette from his mouth and brought it down to the right side of his leg as he let out a stream of smoke from his mouth.
N I N E
For the remainder of the day, Minami’s mind was rattled. Her morning started off great if not a bit embarrassingly, with her meeting Hiroshi, but turned decidedly worse with the apparent unwanted attention of the soldier.
Lunch and dinner had passed. Minami found that she kept a hopeful eye out for Hiroshi but she didn’t see him. She also kept a wary eye out for the soldier, but he didn’t make a second appearance that day either. Soon enough, night was upon them and the Itos readied for sleep. However, in the darkness, every single little noise, especially the ones from outside, startled Minami until sleep finally took hold amidst her unsettled thoughts.
The next morning, Minami and her mother were the first to wake up. She was a bit more hopeful that morning, as her slight smile had indicated. She might see Hiroshi and she’ll be more prepared. She wiped down her face with whatever remaining water was left in the pail. She brushed her hair and tied it back in a ponytail so it didn’t look disheveled like the previous morning.
“Are we getting ready for some special occasion this morning?” asked Minami’s mother.
Minami looked over and realized her getting a bit more dressed for the morning chores did look odd. “Oh no, I just haven’t brushed my hair in such a long time, it was finally time to do it,” Minami replied casually.
Her mother gave her daughter a suspicious look and then dismissed it as she went back to her chores. “We need more string to hang up our towels,” she said.
Minami acknowledged with an, “Uh-huh” and made a mental note to look for string.
Minami quickly picked up the empty pail and quietly headed out to fetch more water with the hopes that maybe she’ll see Hiroshi again. As she neared the barrack, she casually looked down the rows of barracks and saw a few people milling about but no Hiroshi. She let out another disappointed sigh and then finally arrived. Maybe Hiroshi didn’t need to fetch water every single day. Maybe their encounter was simply by chance. Maybe he got relocated to some other barrack, which may explain why she didn’t see him at lunch or dinner the day before. Minami quickly dismissed her random thoughts and placed the pail underneath the pump, grasped the handle of the water pump when a voice spoke to her from behind.
“Can I help you with that?”
Minami spun around and saw Hiroshi standing behind her. He stood there with the sun behind him giving his frame an almost iridescent glow. He had the pail from the day before in his right hand. There was a slight smile on his face.
“It’s not nice to sneak up on a girl from behind, you know,” Minami said coyly as she looked up into his warm brown eyes.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I hope you’ll forgive me?” asked Hiroshi.
With a smile Minami responded, “Maybe. It’s nice to see you again.” She couldn’t stop the words that came out of her mouth. She didn’t even know him and she already told him it was nice to see him again? What was she thinking?
“It’s nice to see you too,” replied Hiroshi. “Why don’t I help with that water pump and you can think about forgiving me?”
Minami was glad he shifted the topic of conversation to save her the embarrassment and she stepped aside to let him work the water pump. Instead of standing behind him like the day before, she stood next to him, a couple of feet away so that she could see his profile. He had a more chiseled face and a well-defined jawbone that gave him a rugged look. He combed back his thick black hair neatly and it had a slight sheen to it in the morning sun. But it was his smile that brought out his warm charm.
He positioned the pail and began to work the pump effortlessly. The first few spurts were brown and he rinsed out the pail and pumped out a few more spurts of water until it was clear and repositioned it. He then began to pump out the water.
“I’m in barrack number 5,” said Hiroshi.
“Oh, 15,” replied Minami.
“That’s the corner barrack. You’re lucky. You have more privacy. But at least we have the unit on the end.”
“Me too!” replied Minami. “We just finished covering up all the holes in the walls and the floor.”
“I’m still trying to finish that up. The sand, it just gets into everything.”
“That’s true. My sisters did most of the work. I’ve been looking around for things that we can use.”
“Were those your sisters sitting with you yesterday? And the little guy, your brother?”
Minami shifted her weight for a moment remembering that he caught her looking for him as she shied away. She felt a slight warming sensation on her cheeks as she looked down at the pail, which was two-thirds full. “Those are my sisters, Miho and Yuka, and my little brother, Yoshi. My mother was sitting next to me. How about you?”
Hiroshi cranked out another spurt of water that splashed into the pail filling it to the rim. What didn’t make it into the pail spilled over the rim and created a wet ring around the base of the pail.
“It’s just me and my parents,” said Hiroshi. “I don’t have any brothers or sisters. I did have a dog, but we couldn’t bring him so I gave him away to one of our neighbors.”
“Oh, what k
ind of dog is he?” asked Minami with a smile. She could see Hiroshi being the dog type.
Hiroshi’s eyes lit up as he straightened up. “He’s some mixed breed, found him as a stray actually. He’s a shaggy black and white dog but he’s as friendly as can be. Wasn’t much of a barker but loved to run. We always used to play catch together, the best outfielder I ever had, to be honest.”
Minami watched Hiroshi talk about his dog in the most excited manner and she actually liked it. For a moment, she found herself at ease, something she hadn’t been able to feel in the last few months. His storytelling brought out his boyish charm and there was always something comforting in a man extolling the heroics of his canine companion. Her family never had any pets. The closest thing to a pet the family ever had were the fishes that were in their last breaths being brought home for dinner by their father.
“Lefty was his name,” said Hiroshi.
“Lefty?” asked Minami. “That’s an odd name for a dog. Did he scratch with his left hand or something?”
“Paw, left paw actually,” Hiroshi said jokingly. “But really, I have a tendency to usually hit into left field and Lefty would always be there, so the name stuck,” said Hiroshi.
Minami looked a bit stupefied and finally broached the question, “Left field, are you referring to baseball?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know a thing about baseball? The greatest game in America!” asked Hiroshi with excitement.
Minami laughed at him poking fun at her ignorance and she smiled as she looked up at him. “No, I don’t know much about it. I’m not really a sports fan.”
“Well we’ll have to change that soon enough,” said Hiroshi with a grin on his face.
“Maybe,” offered Minami.
“So how about your father?” asked Hiroshi.