The Purple Heart

by Vincent Yee

  Minami turned the corner in hopeful anticipation, saw nothing but the idle water pump and rows of barracks. For a moment, she lost her breath as reality set in. Hiroshi wasn’t there that morning. Her shoulders dropped, as did the pail.

  She gave out a loud sigh of disappointment. Then a hopeful thought came to her: Perhaps he was just running late. She turned around hoping to see him, but there was no one there. Again, rows of barracks simply stared back at her, the last one being hers. She then turned her head and looked down the path that she just came up from and nothing but barracks. She felt all alone, desolate and abandoned. She leaned up against the corner of the barrack and quietly began to sob, choking back on her own tears.

  “I guess you need help with that water pump?” came a voice from behind.

  Minami spun around as her eyes lit up upon hearing that familiar voice. Hiroshi was leaning up against the corner, just as she had imagined him, except that his T-shirt was untucked.

  Minami raced over to him as a flood of happiness consumed her very being. “Hiroshi!” she blurted out as her tears changed from ones of sadness to ones of utmost joy. She lunged at him as his eyes widened. As she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, Hiroshi placed his hands on her waist to try to hold her back, but he wasn’t prepared for her impulsive momentum. He tripped over backwards, and she fell on top of him. She smothered him with affectionate kisses, repeating his name over and over, when Hiroshi let out a gurgling noise. Minami brushed her hair back, hovered over Hiroshi, and saw his goldfish-like eyes. His contorted expression soon turned red like a lobster. He looked like he was choking.

  “Hiroshi… what’s wrong?” asked Minami in a confused tone.

  Hiroshi let out a gasp and inhaled, “I… can’t… breathe.”

  Minami, feeling alarmed, lifted herself off Hiroshi’s chest and straddled him. Hiroshi then coughed, let out a gasp, and inhaled deeply until finally, he let his arms flop to each side away from him. He lurched his head upward and spoke, “I guess you really missed me.”

  Minami smiled and wiped away the remaining tears from her face and playfully slapped him on the side of his torso. Hiroshi winced and brought his hands to where Minami had slapped him.

  “You’re hurt!” exclaimed Minami.

  “It’s okay, really I…”

  “No, you’re hurt. Let me see!” demanded Minami as her maternal instinct took over.

  She tried to pull up his shirt, remembering the blows he had taken to his mid-section. Hiroshi tried to stop her by pushing back her hands but she firmly brushed them back and in a strident tone, "Let me see now!”

  Hiroshi pulled his hands back and put them up defensively. “Whoa, okay, whatever you say,” he said jokingly.

  Minami carefully pushed up Hiroshi’s shirt, revealing slight bruising on the left side of his torso. There was some swelling along his stomach and redness, probably from the impact of the punches. Minami’s sense of guilt came back as she saw the damage they had inflicted on Hiroshi. She touched one of the bruises, which made Hiroshi wince.

  “It’s not as bad as it looks,” Hiroshi said, trying to comfort Minami.

  “It’s all my fault, I should have ignored you and stopped them from punching you.”

  “All by your little self?” said Hiroshi as he eased himself up into an upright position so that he could see Minami’s face.

  “If I had to, I would have,” said Minami as she looked down in shame, diverting her eyes away from his. She felt as though she abandoned him just when he needed her. He was there for her when she was being attacked and saved her from a horrible nightmare that every woman dreaded.

  “Hey, hey…” Hiroshi said trying to get her attention. He gently lifted her chin with his finger so that he could see her eyes. There were tears in them and in that moment, Hiroshi realized how much she cared for him. He placed a kiss on her lips and could taste the saltiness from the tears that must have streamed down her face. She didn’t immediately kiss back, Hiroshi kissed her once more and she kissed back gently. She wanted to kiss him, and she leaned toward him and kissed him until they were trading soft kisses back and forth.

  Hiroshi pulled back and exhaled. He rubbed the left side of his torso with his right hand. Minami immediately lifted herself off Hiroshi and sat next to him. “I’m sorry,” she said, still feeling guilty.

  “Minami, you have nothing to be sorry about,” said Hiroshi. “There’s more…”

  “No, I let you down. You were there for me, you saved me, and when you needed me I couldn’t do anything to help you.”

  “Minami…” said Hiroshi before he was interrupted again.

  “I’m so sorry, do you forgive me?”

  Finally, out of frustration Hiroshi said in a stern tone, “Minami! If you let me finish, there’s more to the story from last night.”

  Minami fell silent and looked up at Hiroshi. There was such warmth coming from his eyes as he sat upright with his legs stretched out in front of him. Hiroshi took another deep breath that filled his broad chest and then exhaled. He leaned over and placed another kiss on Minami’s lips to console her as he started his story.

  “When you started walking away, I realized what the general meant by taking one for the team. He was caught in an awkward position. He couldn’t compromise his authority with his men around him, especially when we’re fighting the Japanese overseas. He knew what Kiddache had done and would deal with him later. That is, if he didn’t bleed to death on the way to the infirmary. But he couldn’t let me, a Japanese, get away with assaulting one of his men, even though I didn’t do anything wrong. So that’s when he ordered the other two soldiers to rough me up a little bit, to serve as a reminder that the U.S. Army was in charge and that he would not tolerate his men being beaten up the way I did with Kiddache.”

  Hiroshi inhaled another long breath and then exhaled slowly. He continued on with his story. “But what the general didn’t realize was that the two soldiers who walked toward me were Eddie and Gordy. They both came over to me with their serious faces and all. Eddie grabbed me from behind and held my arms firmly but not roughly. Then big Gordy stepped in front of me as the general stepped off to the side to watch. Before the first punch, Gordy looked me in the face and he winked. Then I knew everything was going to be okay. He landed a punch to my torso, which he faked by pulling back so it wasn’t much of a punch. But I had to do my part and make it look real. But when I saw you coming back, I had to shoot you that look and tell you to go back because it would have just prolonged the situation.”

  “I took about five punches while that son of a bitch Kiddache laughed, but the general gave him a look that shut him up real quick. After the fifth punch, I was lying on the ground, pretending to have the wind knocked out of me. The general walked over and crouched down and he said to me, ‘You took one for the team today. Do you understand me?’ I looked up into the general’s eyes, and I said I understood. He then straightened up, ordered Eddie and Gordy back into the jeep. He then asked if I would be fine getting back to my barrack, and I faked a cough and said yes. The general then got back into the jeep and drove away.”

  “So it wasn’t real?” asked Minami as Hiroshi nodded his head. In an incredulous tone, Minami restated her question, “So you weren’t hurt at all?”

  “Well, not really. Even though Gordy pulled back his punches, the guy doesn’t know his own strength.” Hiroshi struggled with a laugh. “So Gordy did bang me up a bit. I’d hate to meet that guy on the battlefield.”

  For a moment, Minami was in disbelief. All the feelings that she had earlier were all misdirected. She felt almost betrayed but she realized she had genuine feelings of concern and would never want to see Hiroshi hurt in any way. It would just devastate her. But she was still a bit upset. Although it wasn’t Hiroshi’s fault, she punched him on the arm to vent her frustration.

  “Ow,” said Hiroshi. “What was that for?”

  “Just because,” said Minami resignedly.

  Hiro
shi then pulled himself closer to Minami. She turned to face him and there was concern on his face and he asked, “How about you? Are you okay?”

  Minami almost didn’t want to talk about it. For the most part she was okay, but she wanted to forget the entire situation because it disgusted her to think about it. Hiroshi caressed Minami’s left cheek, which she responded to by moving into his caress. She wanted to feel his fingers along her face.

  “Did he hurt you?” asked Hiroshi.

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” said Minami. A smile crept across her face, “You saved me.”

  “I wish I was there sooner to stop him,” said Hiroshi.

  Minami looked at Hiroshi, who had an expression of utmost concern on his face. She could tell he was worried about her and maybe there was even a hint of guilt there. But Minami would never forget him rescuing her. She knew that he would never let anything hurt her. She leaned over and placed a kiss on his lips and touched his cheek with her hand and said, “You’re my hero.”

  Hiroshi’s cheeks reddened. He smiled to try to stem it, but it was too late. He shook back his head and gave out a chuckle. He turned back to Minami and spoke once again, “So why were you so late? I got to the mess hall, propped up the ladder and even climbed on top and spread out the blanket. I waited like five minutes for you so I decided to walk to your barrack hoping to meet you halfway. By the time I had arrived at your barrack, your mother told me she hadn’t seen you since dinner. So that’s when I headed back to the mess hall and saw you being attacked.”

  Hiroshi clenched his fists at the memory of seeing Minami being attacked. He had never felt such ferocity well up in him so suddenly; he felt lucky that he had gotten back to the mess hall just in time to stop Kiddache. He couldn’t even bear to think what Minami would have endured had he shown up just a few seconds later.

  Minami listened to his story and in her mind put together the pieces of the puzzle leading up to the previous night’s attack on her. “It was my fault,” offered Minami. “When I got back to the barrack, I had to dig out my jacket, and then I saw your ball and thought it would be…” Minami’s expression abruptly turned to one of shock.

  “What is it?” asked Hiroshi as she watched Minami search the pockets of her jacket. They turned up nothing and she looked up anxiously at Hiroshi and all she could say was, “Your ball!”

  “My ball?” asked a confused Hiroshi.

  “Oh my God. It’s why I was late,” said Minami as she got up. “We have to find your ball!”

  Before Hiroshi could protest or get Minami to explain, she pulled him up. Before Hiroshi was even balanced on his own two feet, Minami had grabbed his left hand and began dragging him off. Along the way, she explained that when she had gotten back to her barrack, she saw the ball lying on her table. She thought it would be nice to have him autograph it for her.

  Hiroshi was flattered by her gesture, but felt she didn’t need to rush back to the mess hall to look for the ball. But Minami was determined. If someone else found it, it would be lost forever. It was the home run ball that won the game, and it was irreplaceable.

  Minami and Hiroshi finally arrived at the mess hall. The ladder was still propped up against the wall. Everything was how it had been the night before. There was noise coming from inside the mess hall as the morning cooks had already arrived to prepare the morning’s breakfast. Minami started to worry that someone who didn’t know any better might have already picked up the ball.

  Minami propped Hiroshi up against the wall and then went looking for the ball. She brushed away her hair and bit her lip as she scanned the area. Where could that ball be? She thought. Thinking that it may have rolled underneath the mess hall, she crouched down and crawled underneath the mess hall.

  Hiroshi was quite amused to watch Minami scurrying underneath the mess hall with such determination. Then she cried out happily as she backed out from the crawl space. Minami straightened up and with a beaming smile on her face, she held out the baseball for him to see.

  Hiroshi let out a chuckle, but even that hurt his sides. Minami rushed up to him and massaged the side of his torso gently. “Let’s go and get this taped up,” she said.

  Despite his bravado attempts to hide his discomfort, he agreed. She placed his arm over her shoulders and walked back with him to his barrack.

  Hiroshi’s parents had already left for breakfast, so Hiroshi and Minami were alone in the barrack. Hiroshi was the perfect patient. He allowed Minami to undress him, and held his arms over his head as Minami firmly wrapped his torso in a roll of cotton gauze. Hiroshi watched her quietly, appreciating every attentive moment she gave to him. As she sat next to him, she would lean over him and reach around for the other end of the gauze. He could feel her delicate fingertips every time they touched him. The scent from her silky black hair, which he found seductively intoxicating, drifted up into his nostrils. He selfishly thought to himself that he almost didn’t mind being hurt if Minami would extend this kind of care to him each time. When she finished, he let out a deep sigh and dropped his hands lazily into his lap. Minami then straddled his legs and made sure the wrap was to her satisfaction and looked at Hiroshi and asked, “Is that good?”

  Hiroshi slowly looked up and responded, “It feels great. How was it for you?”

  Minami looked at him, grinned and placed a kiss on his cheek. She pulled away, brushed back her hair, and sat alongside Hiroshi. She then pulled the ball out from her jacket’s pocket and held up the ball for Hiroshi to see. In a playful tone and with an adoring smile, she pleaded, “Mr. Home Run, would you sign my ball?”

  After Hiroshi proudly autographed the home run ball for his Number One fan, they held each other’s hands as they walked back to Minami’s barrack. As they walked back, they realized that she had also forgotten the water pail back at the water pump and took a detour to retrieve it.

  They were approaching Minami’s barrack, which was still in the next block, when a man appeared from the right and turned into their path. He was trudging slowly ahead of Hiroshi and Minami in a slow methodical fashion. He was carrying a suitcase and wearing a trench coat, which seemed odd for that warm summer day. The hair on the back of his head was grayish. It was almost as if he gotten dressed to leave the prison camp. Hiroshi and Minami didn’t pay him much attention as they slowly caught up to him. He turned every so often to look up at the barrack numbers until he finally stopped at Minami’s barrack and stared upwardly at it.

  Minami didn’t recognize him. He didn’t seem to be one of the tenants from her barrack, and after several months, she knew everyone. They were less than ten feet away when the man slowly turned his head and looked at Hiroshi, then Minami.

  His posture was slightly hunched over and his clothes were a bit too big for him. The skin around his eyes drooped and sagged. The stubble was uneven on his worn face. The charcoal gray hair was cut short. His face then began to tremble at the sight of Minami, who quickly squeezed Hiroshi’s hand and to her utter disbelief, blurted out, “Dad?”

  F O U R T E E N

  Minami’s father had indeed returned, but at the same time, he hadn’t. When he saw Minami that morning, he saw the face of one of his four children whom he had not seen in months. He hadn’t known when he would see them next, or if he would ever see them again. But when he saw Minami’s face, he was so overwhelmed with emotion that he crumbled to his knees onto the dry ground. Minami rushed to him with Hiroshi behind her, and she pulled her father against her shoulders. As she held him, he sobbed and choked uncontrollably onto her shoulders, mumbling her name over and over again. Minami had never seen her father so emotional. She found that she couldn’t hold back her emotions either, but her strength came through as she consoled him, holding him, rubbing his back gently.

  Hiroshi crouched beside them quietly, watching a father being united with his daughter. He wasn’t even sure if Minami’s father realized he was there. Hiroshi felt a little out of place being there, but he knelt by Minami, providing quiet support.
Minami’s father’s sobbing subsided as he pulled back from his daughter and looked into her face.

  Minami gazed into his face. He had aged considerably. His face looked weathered, and there were wrinkles where before there were none. But her father’s eyes glistened back, and she found swelling elation and relief in them. Minami had to wipe away her tears as her father looked at her, admiring her, remembering her.

  “Minami, I’ve missed you,” mumbled her father through the remnants of his choked back emotions.

  “I’ve missed you too, Dad,” said Minami with a smile.

  “Where’s your mother? Where are the others?” asked her father with a sense of urgency.

  “They’re probably at breakfast, I’ll go…”

  But then Hiroshi interrupted, “No, I’ll go get them.”

  Minami’s father turned to the voice of the young man whom he was totally oblivious to. Minami then realized that she had entirely forgotten about Hiroshi.

  “Dad, this is Hiroshi…”

  “Yoshi!” blurted out her father in surprise as he started to stand up.

  Both Hiroshi and Minami stood up with him when Minami realized that her father had strangely mistaken Hiroshi for Yoshi. She quickly interjected, “No Dad. Hiroshi. This is Hiroshi. Yoshi is with Mom.”

  Her father stared back at Hiroshi for a moment and then blinked in awe at the young man. Then he smiled in embarrassment. “For a moment there, I thought I was away for so long I missed my son growing up!”

  The three shared a laugh. At Hiroshi’s urging, Minami took her father inside and settled him into their unit while Hiroshi jaunted back to the mess hall to fetch Minami’s family. She helped her father slip off his jacket as his eyes cast about the small unit, from the wooden walls, to the exposed rafters and to the cobwebs hanging in the farthest corners. He noticed the four cots paired up on opposite sides of the space, the neatly stacked suitcases, the plastic-covered piles of clothing, and other items stacked against the wall.