by Vincent Yee
For a moment Minami paused. She didn’t even mention her father but at the same time, it was something she hadn’t spoken about.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a tough topic. I know a lot of families that had their fathers taken away and I figured since you didn’t mention him…”
“It’s okay, really,” Minami assured him as she looked up at him. She really wanted to tell someone. “He was taken sometime in December, like many other men in the town. And we only received one letter from him so far. He’s somewhere in North Dakota.”
There was another silence between the two as Minami shifted her weight again.
“I don’t even know where that is,” said Hiroshi as Minami looked at him with worry in her eyes. “And I’m sure your father doesn’t know either, but he’d rather be anywhere but there.”
Minami let out a soft laugh and concurred, “I’m sure you’re right. He would rather be here.”
“Eating SPAM,” said Hiroshi in a dry tone.
For another moment, Minami and Hiroshi shared a laugh. If her father had known that they were eating SPAM every day, he might consider staying put. She hadn’t had time to think about her father, how he was, what he was thinking. She wasn’t even sure if he knew that they had been relocated and wasn’t sure if the U.S. Army would be doing anything to reunite the men with the families they’ve broken up.
“Why don’t you let me fill up my pail and then I’ll help you bring it back to your barrack?”
“I’d like that,” said Minami.
Hiroshi grinned and moved his pail into place and began to work the pump. Minami moved to the corner of the building and leaned up against it. He was working the stubborn pump and though his arm worked the pump effortlessly, there was some slight strain visible on his face.
Hiroshi didn’t want to admit it, but working the pump the day before had actually made his arm a little sore. When he saw her working hopelessly against the pump, he wanted to step in and help her. It was a great opportunity for an introduction, he thought and maybe he could meet someone new on the remote prison camp that deprived them of all the conveniences of civilization. But he found himself totally smitten by Minami’s feminine charm, and the beauty of her eyes mesmerized him. He wanted to give all appearances that he had everything under control. He felt somewhat self-conscious that the strain on his face would betray him.
Hiroshi was in good shape. He was a farmer, like his father. They had worked a small farm in Southern California before the U.S. Army rounded them up. It was hard work, but it was the life he was destined to live out. Working out in the fields tanned his skin, giving him a more athletic look.
Minami watched the final spurt of water fill the pail as Hiroshi straightened up and let out a breath of exaggerated exasperation. Hiroshi was just glad he was done because his arm was starting to give out. But he believed that he was able to hide the pulsating soreness of his arm from Minami. He wiped the slight sweat from his brow and let out a smile. Minami chuckled at Hiroshi’s display of chivalrous bravado. He stepped over the filled pail and leaned up against the corner of the barrack. Minami shifted her body slightly, as there was less than a foot between her and Hiroshi. She could hear the slight laboring of his breathing and feel the hotness of it. For a moment, shielded slightly from the overhanging roof, stood simply a man and a woman who found each other’s new acquaintance in the unlikeliest of all places.
“So I guess you need help getting this back to your barrack,” offered Hiroshi.
“Sure,” said Minami with a smile.
Hiroshi leaned away from the barrack’s corner and glancing backward, stepped over his pail and soon had a pail of water in each hand. He stood at full height and then gestured to Minami who had stepped away from the wall as well.
“Barrack number 15, you lead the way,” said Hiroshi.
Minami led the way walking alongside him. She had her arms loosely crossed about her chest with her head slightly bowed hiding a smile. It was nice having a conversation with someone other than her family. Hiroshi was courteous and he seemed like a well-mannered young man. His parents had brought him up well, she thought.
“So are you planning on doing this every morning?” asked Hiroshi.
“Probably. My mother thought it was a good idea to always have some water around. It’s not like we have running water, you know.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. Mother told me the bathrooms were disgusting,” stated Hiroshi.
Minami let out a little laugh in agreement. “I think all the women were shocked with the bathrooms.”
“Yeah, well being a man and all, we’re somewhat more casual about things.”
“Men have it easy,” replied Minami.
“Yeah, well some men are too casual about things and don’t really clean up after themselves, if you know what I mean.”
“That’s gross,” said Minami. “I really don’t need to hear about men and bathrooms.”
Hiroshi let out a low laugh and agreed with Minami and changed the subject. “So what are your sisters like?”
“Why? Are you interested in one of them?” joked Minami. She knew that Hiroshi was only asking an innocent question but she wanted to make him squirm.
Hiroshi was a bit taken aback by the accusation and immediately responded, “Oh no, I was just asking what your family was like.”
“Oh are you sure?” pressed Minami as she spun around to face him and walked backwards.
“Your sister couldn’t be more than eighteen years old, I don’t have any interest of that sort,” replied Hiroshi.
Minami spun around and walked a few steps ahead of Hiroshi with her chin up in exaggerated smugness. She felt a little more confident and wanted to tease Hiroshi. It wasn’t often she could flirt with someone who just performed some task of manual labor for her. It was also Minami’s first time flirting, and she realized that she was both enjoying it and unexpectedly good at it.
“But I do know what I do like and she can’t pump water for the life of her,” replied Hiroshi.
Minami turned her head, gave Hiroshi a smile and a wink. She waited for him to catch up before they continued their walk. They reached the back of Minami’s barrack and turned right to walk down its length. At the doorstep, Minami stepped up onto the first step and turned to meet Hiroshi.
“Well here it is, barrack number 15, my new address,” said Minami as she glanced at the barrack’s number above the door.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” as Hiroshi looked down the rows of barracks in the direction of his own. He shuffled about for a moment and looked down at each of the pails with a moment of hesitation, raised the one in his right hand. Minami grasped the steel handle and steadily took it away from him.
“Thank you again. I really do appreciate it,” said Minami.
“It’s no problem,” replied Hiroshi. “Same time tomorrow?”
Minami laughed, “Sure, same time tomorrow. Maybe I’ll see you at breakfast?”
“Maybe, my mom wasn’t feeling well so I carried food back for my parents.”
“Oh, I hope she’s feeling better,” replied Minami. She was disappointed in his answer but understood.
“She’ll feel better soon. It’s this awful food that’s being served. It really didn’t settle well with her,” said Hiroshi. “But I’ll see you tomorrow morning if I don’t see you later today.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon,” said Minami with a smile.
“Okay then, bye now,” said Hiroshi.
Minami eased onto her toes, offered a quick wave and said bye as she watched Hiroshi walk away down the rows of barracks. She stood there on the steps watching Hiroshi until he finally turned right and disappeared from view.
“How long does it take to get a pail of water?” asked Minami’s mother from behind her.
Minami was startled. She didn’t notice that the door had opened, and her mother was standing in the doorframe looking at her with some annoyance. Minami turned, started up the steps a
nd started telling her mother about how the water pump was difficult again as the door closed behind them.
The days wore on in the camp with the same routine every single day. As people got settled in and got to know their neighbors, a sense of community started to take hold. The sense of isolation started to melt away as they befriended their unit neighbors and then people from barracks close by. The mess hall offered a place for easy congregation and introduction.
The white soldiers who manned the mess hall were soon replaced by Japanese Americans. As the prison camp started to fill to capacity, it was ordered that each block needed to provide its own cooks. Some were relieved that the replacement of the white cooks would mean a menu that was more to the liking of the Japanese American palate. But it became obviously clear that the ingredients were still the same, and not too many people were trained to cook for hundreds of people, three times a day. But some of the cooks adapted making some mess halls better than others in terms of food being offered. Mess-hall-hopping became a usual thing when one family would whisper that the food in one mess hall was better than another.
Minami’s mother preferred to keep the family together and kept them in their assigned mess hall. The cooks weren’t that bad, though they weren’t that great either. They were doing their best with the ingredients that they were offered. At least the rice was cooked better.
The bathrooms got worse. They weren’t built to handle the volume of people. People waited impatiently to use the bathrooms. The bathrooms were the first to overflow, as drainage was poor. The entire area around the bathrooms was odorous and Minami felt sorry for those families whose barrack was near the foul smell. Hot water became infrequent. Many people had to shower with icy cold water, which became a test of will and spirit.
Additional surplus pea coats, army boots, surplus fabric, blankets, mess kits, and even sewing machines were trucked in by the U.S. Army. They weren’t the most fashionable items, but everyone knew survival was more important than how one looked. A team of volunteers took up the sewing duties and started to use their skills to fashion some decent attire. Much of the clothing was for men and had to be altered for the women.
Despite the minimalist way of life, the Japanese Americans made do with what they had. For Minami, each morning she and Hiroshi would meet at the water pump and exchange new stories and laughs. Minami really enjoyed his company, and there was a soothing sense to his companionship. Seeing him for a few minutes a day, bumping into him at the mess hall offered her something to break the monotony of the prison camp. There was nowhere to go and she couldn’t fathom how Hiroshi would even ask her out, if that were even a possibility. It wasn’t like he could ask her to go out for a movie and a dinner or take a drive down the highway along the California coastline. She found herself regretting that she had thrown away much of her makeup.
One afternoon, Minami was walking with Miho back to the barrack when someone hollered out her name. She and Miho spun around but saw no one when the voice came again from above. Minami looked up to see Hiroshi and another man on the roof doing some work. The other man didn’t take notice as he began hammering away but Hiroshi looked down at her with a big smile and waved to her. Minami smiled back and waved to him. Then Miho gave her a suspicious look, and Minami suddenly walked on. When Miho looked back a Hiroshi, Minami pulled her forcibly away.
One morning in March, Minami left her family’s barrack with her empty pail to meet Hiroshi. It was a warmer morning but still chilly. He had gotten into the habit of getting to the water pump before her and it always gave her a smile to see him waiting for her. As she passed the third row of barracks she was startled by a voice.
“Up early aren’t we?”
Minami looked in the direction of the voice and saw the soldier who had made her feel uneasy before, leaning up against one of the barracks. He was smoking and he just simply looked at her. He then looked down at his boots, took another drag on the cigarette and then flung the cigarette away in front of him. He then exhaled the smoke from his flaring nostrils and repeated his question, “I said, up early aren’t we?”
Minami didn’t know what to say. She didn’t like him. For the most part, the soldiers on the base didn’t really converse with the Japanese American prisoners. The attitude from the soldiers was dismissive, and they seemed to want nothing to do with the Japanese Americans. In reality, the Japanese Americans outnumbered the soldiers by the hundreds if not the thousands. But the soldiers had the guns. A mutual distrust grew between the Japanese Americans and the white soldiers, which was expected. But what this soldier wanted with Minami she did not know and frankly she would have preferred it if he left her alone. She just looked back at him until she answered him.
“I’m just getting some water so I’ll be going now,” said Minami.
“You should learn to be more obedient if you know what’s best for you.”
Minami was unnerved by his veiled threat and didn’t know what he meant. She didn’t like the feel of the situation and was becoming uncomfortable with each passing second. There was plainly something awful in his tone. She decided that it would be best to ignore him, as Hiroshi would only be a couple of barracks away. She turned away from the soldier and resumed walking away when she heard him utter a few words.
“You’ll come around you dumb Jap bitch.”
The words struck deeply into Minami as she walked away. Her situation was already dire and with those words, her situation was now cruel. It was made cruel by a man she didn’t even know who denigrated her because of her ethnicity. It wasn’t her choice to be in this situation but because she was Japanese, her choice was made for her. But then again, she didn’t ask to be Japanese either. She didn’t ask for any of it and now her life was being robbed away from her without any choice in the matter. Her very being, her life was all caught up in an unfair game of manipulation and deceit.
She turned around unnervingly and he was gone without a trace. He must have walked down the length of the barrack and turned off quickly. It was the second time she had encountered him and she was wearier of the soldier who seemed to make her life more uncomfortable with his veiled threats. What did he mean by saying, “If you know what’s best for you?”
She resumed walking more briskly. She didn’t feel comfortable being alone at that moment and focused on getting to the water pump, which was in plain sight but there was no Hiroshi. Her heart skipped a beat and she just hoped that he’d be there soon when suddenly someone rushed up from behind and she screamed.
“Whoa! It’s only me, Minami,” said Hiroshi as he stepped back from a startled Minami.
Minami dropped the pail, her hand raced to her chest as she caught her breath. Hiroshi stepped forward, offered his hand when she slapped it away. “Don’t ever do that again!” admonished Minami. There was a glare of anger yet also a glint of relief. Minami was glad to see him but didn’t expect him to surprise her from behind.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” said Hiroshi.
Minami’s breathing returned to normal and her startled state ebbed away. She wanted to brush it off and not alert Hiroshi to anything that may be wrong. “It’s okay, you just startled me.”
Hiroshi reached down, picked up her pail and brushed off the sand that had clung to the side and part of the rim. He used his shirt to give it a good wipe down and then straightened up.
“Are you okay? You seemed a bit distracted when I saw you coming down.”
Minami reassured him that she was fine, but she was lying. She wasn’t fine. The words from the soldier really bothered her. At least when the townspeople at home threatened her, she could run away. But she couldn’t run away this time.
“Really, I’m fine, Hiroshi,” she said as she looked into his eyes. She wanted to offer firmness to her words but at the same time, she wanted to find comfort in his eyes, which she did. He looked back into her wondrous eyes that sometimes seemed to swallow his entire soul.
“Okay. I’ll start pumping
the water,” said Hiroshi as he walked over to the water pump. “You know, I think I better start pumping the water with my left arm, my right arm is getting bigger from this daily workout.”
Minami couldn’t help but laugh at the image of Hiroshi’s right arm being Herculean larger than his left. Hiroshi set about getting to work. Despite his own suggestion, he started the pump with his right arm. Minami looked on in silence until Hiroshi broke the silence.
“Hey, you know this is going to sound odd but if you could get away tonight, say after dinner, I’d like to bring you somewhere,” said Hiroshi.
Minami was confused. “Bring me where?” she thought. “We’re in the middle of a desert, you really can’t bring me anywhere.”
Hiroshi chuckled. “Well I know that, but I found a place that I’d like to take you to.”
“Where?” asked Minami. Her curiosity was definitely piqued.
“That’s a secret for now,” said Hiroshi slyly.
“What, you’re going to bring me to the mess hall?”
“No.”
“The laundry?”
“No.”
“Oh I know, you’re going to bring me to the bathroom?”
“Hey, if you’re going to be mean about it I just won’t bring you,” said Hiroshi teasingly.
Minami backed off her sarcastic retorts and then grabbed his left arm. She wanted to know and was strangely excited by his request to go on some unknown excursion. “I’m sorry, I do want to go with you.”
Hiroshi looked down at her beautiful eyes and with her girlish grin, found that he couldn’t refuse her.
“After dinner tonight, I’ll meet you around the corner of your barrack and I’ll take you to the place,” said Hiroshi.
Minami nodded in an approving manner and accepted Hiroshi’s invitation. “Was this a date?” she asked herself. She wasn’t sure. For all this time, she thought she was flirting with the water boy. But he just asked her to go somewhere, when they were in the middle of nowhere. But she decided to trust him and let him surprise her however remote that possibility seemed.
After dinner, Minami and her family returned to their barrack. Yuka was playing with Yoshi while Miho was reading some magazines that the U.S. Army had supplied. Many of them were already outdated by about a month, but it was the only news from the outside world that they could get. Mrs. Ito was laying out the clothes for the next day. Minami found herself in an awkward situation. Since coming to the prison camp with the family, she had not spent one evening without her family and that night she had a secret rendezvous with a young man whom she thought may have taking a liking to her. She wasn’t sure what excuse to give to her mother about leaving the barrack at such an hour.