Different Days

by Vicki Berger Erwin

  Rosie shivered in cold fear. “They could really take you away again?”

  “I would hope not, but yes, I could be interned again, like before, like your Mama and Papa.”

  At that thought, Rosie grew cold. And, she realized, her aunt was right. They couldn’t do anything that might damage their already risky position.

  Rosie ran out of the room and threw herself across the bed. Internment was wrong, and confusing, and scary. She hated the war. She hated these different days.

  Chapter 30

  The two days until January 11th—her birthday and their visit to Sand Island—seemed an eternity. It had been almost five weeks since she’d seen Mama and the waiting was excruciating. E-X-C-R-U-C-I-A-T-I-N-G. Words from her spelling list still popped into her mind.

  When the morning finally came, she washed her hair and asked Aunt Etta to please braid it. She had washed and pressed the dress Leilani had given her and it fit perfectly. Rosie squeezed her feet into her too-small shoes.

  Freddie was so excited about seeing Mama, neither Rosie nor her aunt could settle him down enough to convince him to change his clothes. When it came time to run for the bus they were taking to the dock, he still looked like he’d just climbed out of bed.

  At the dock, Rosie followed Aunt Etta onto a small launch driven by a soldier. Freddie moved until he was as close to the military man as he could sit and started asking questions. The launch was crowded with family members of internees. No one spoke to anyone else and most didn’t even look at one another. The thing that she did notice was that they didn’t look any different than she looked, or most of the people she met on the street looked. And yet, each one must be hiding the same big secret she was. Were they as afraid as she was? What if once she reached the camp, she would be made to stay? One minute she wanted the boat to go faster and the next she wasn’t sure she wanted to arrive on the island at all.

  As they walked across a field of white coral, Rosie heard what sounded like a chorus of crying. She held tightly to Aunt Etta’s hand while Freddie ran ahead, waited for them, and then ran ahead again. What was the sound?

  As soon as the camp came into sight, she knew. Women, many Japanese and fewer haole, stood behind the tall barbed wire fences with their arms poked through the wire, crying and calling for their family members. It was such an eerie sound, it gave Rosie a creepy feeling. The guard towers looming over them contributed to the feeling.

  A woman wearing a guard uniform met them at the entrance and led the group to a large dining hall filled with tables and benches. Mama appeared as if by magic, her arms held wide. Rosie ran to her and leaned in, her mother’s arm pulling her tightly against her. There were no words.

  Even when Mama let go and pushed Rosie away to look at her better, she said, Rosie couldn’t say anything. She stared and stared, making sure it was still her same mama. It was.

  “You’ve grown! Your hair is longer and you are so tanned!” Mama marveled.

  “I’ve grown too. And we live near the beach so we play outside all the time. I’m learning to be a soldier!” Freddie did all the talking. “And how to surf and how to play the ukulele.”

  Mama stroked Freddie’s hair, smoothing it and making it lay down. “Yes, you have grown, too!” She pulled him close and kissed him all over his face.

  “Mama! Soldiers don’t let their mamas kiss them like that!” He wiped his face.

  Rosie laughed. “He plays army so much, he will be a general before this war is over.”

  Mama shook her head. “I hope it doesn’t last that long!”

  Rosie took a quick look around the room. People sat in tight knots, talking, kissing, holding hands and sometimes simply staring at one another. She felt a stab of fear when her gaze landed on the guards standing at each doorway, their eyes moving back and forth over the internees and their visitors. The windows were all painted over, making it dark inside the room, but the space around Mama looked brighter than anyplace else in the room. Aunt Etta had taken off to greet some of the women she had met when she was interned at Fort Armstrong.

  “Do you sleep in here?” Freddie asked.

  “In a barracks,” Mama answered. “Some people sleep in tents.”

  “Where’s Papa? I thought we would see Papa,” Freddie said, his eyes suddenly filling with tears.

  “Papa is in a different camp. I hope he will return soon,” Mama said, her voice ragged.

  “Can you come home with us?” Freddie asked, grasping her hand.

  “Not today, my brave soldier,” Mama said. “Let us talk of cheerier things. Rosie, I have a surprise for you! I will be right back.” She smiled broadly and hurried away.

  Rosie didn’t want to let her go for even a minute. She watched until Mama disappeared behind a door, then kept her eyes glued to that door waiting for her mama to come back.

  She caught her breath when the door opened. Mama carried a beautifully decorated cake with candles blazing. People turned as she walked past and soon someone started singing, “Happy birthday to you …”

  Rosie barely heard, all her attention on the cake. There was a birthday cake for her!

  “I hope it’s chocolate,” Freddie said. “Make a wish! Blow out the candles!”

  Rosie closed her eyes and wished for what she knew could not happen—that Mama return home with them. She opened her eyes and blew. One candle remained ablaze. Freddie blew it out for her.

  “You won’t believe who baked this cake for you,” Mama said as she set it down on the table. A large woman, wearing a white apron and a tall chef’s hat had followed Mama, carrying a knife and a stack of plates.

  Mama grabbed the woman’s arm and pulled her toward Rosie. “This is Elisabeta and she is the pastry chef at the Grand Waikiki Hotel.”

  “Ja, they think I will add poison to all the food we serve the generals so they lock me up here where I cook for all my friends,” Elisabeta said with a laugh.

  Some of the other women joined in the laughter although Mama’s smile seemed forced.

  “Thank you for the cake. It’s beautiful,” said Rosie. The cake was frosted in swirls of white and decorated with flowers in many bright colors. She almost hated to see it cut into but her mouth watered with anticipation of the sweetness.

  Elisabeta cut into the cake and gave Rosie the first piece.

  “Me next,” Freddie pushed forward, “I’m the birthday girl’s favorite brother.”

  Everyone laughed at Freddie as he took his cake and sat beside Rosie.

  Mama sat across from them and stared while they ate. “Don’t you want a piece?” Rosie asked.

  Mama shook her head. “I eat Elisabeta’s food all the time. So, you can see it’s not that bad. And I want to hear all about you. What about your new house?”

  Rosie let Freddie describe the house and he made it sound much better than she would have.

  “We have a nice neighbor,” said Rosie. “I watch her daughters for her in the mornings. They’re twins.”

  “Ah! Here comes Etta! Is she taking good care of you?” Mama asked as Etta joined them on the bench.

  “She’s the best!” said Rosie.

  “Are you having a good birthday?” Aunt Etta asked.

  “The best,” said Rosie. She wished she could take a piece of the cake to Kam. She couldn’t wait to tell him who had baked her birthday cake.

  “Look, they are putting out sandwiches. Freddie, Rosie, would you go grab a few of them before they are all gone?” Mama pointed toward a table with trays of sandwiches lined up. People were already helping themselves.

  “I’ll go. One, two, three, four. Right?” said Freddie.

  “Rosie, go with him,” Mama said.

  Rosie didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to waste even one minute of her time with Mama. Besides, she was full of cake. She walked slowly away.

  “I heard from Mr. Smith, the man handling our property,” Rosie heard Mama say. Rosie walked even more slowly, listening hard.

  “He wants to s
ell our Diamond Head property, says he can’t pay the taxes and it may be foreclosed upon. Would you check into it for me, please? I’ve written to the loan company to inform them we don’t want to sell,” Mama said.

  “Mr. Smith told us he couldn’t give us an allowance because all the money is going toward paying the cost of keeping the property,” Aunt Etta said, her face reddening. “He’s given us nothing! And he said we couldn’t live in the Diamond Head house because he’d rented it. The taxes couldn’t be that much!”

  “I wish I knew what was going on,” said Mama.

  Rosie knew. Mr. Smith was robbing them of everything! If she told Mama, it would ruin their entire visit, not to mention how angry Aunt Etta would be to find out that they’d spied on Mr. Smith.

  “Ham sandwiches!” Freddie ran down the aisle holding them in the air.

  “How wonderful!” Mama said.

  “They are so good,” said Freddie, talking with his mouth full.

  Rosie ate hers slowly. She hadn’t had ham since they left Aunt Yvonne’s and it tasted delicious.

  When Freddie had finished, Mama handed him her sandwich. “I eat all the time,” she said. “You can have it.”

  Rosie didn’t believe her for a minute. Mama was thinner than she’d ever been.

  Aunt Etta held hers out to Rosie.

  “I’m full,” said Rosie, patting her stomach, knowing that Aunt Etta hadn’t eaten much lately either.

  “Rosie is learning the hula,” said Freddie.

  “You are?” Mama looked like she didn’t believe it.

  “That’s Iolana’s job, hula dancer. And the girls are really good at dancing, too. They thought I was Hawaiian and that it was a shame I didn’t know the hula,” Rosie said. “And I’m learning to quilt. Kealani, who worked for Aunt Yvonne, started teaching me, but I’m working by myself on the quilt square she gave me.”

  “I wish I had my quilting to work on!” Mama said. “I hope Mr. Smith has all of our things stored in a safe place. It worries me.”

  And it should, thought Rosie, still not willing to ruin their time together by saying anything of what she’d seen spying on Mr. Smith.

  “Rosie is bringing in extra money babysitting. It has been a great help. She is a great help,” Aunt Etta said.

  Rosie sat up a little taller, warmed by her aunt’s words.

  The rest of the visit passed quickly, too quickly, and Rosie found herself back on the launch crossing the water before she knew it. She waved and waved until her arm hurt and Sand Island had vanished in the distance.

  Despite the barbed wire and the rows of tents, the darkened windows in the mess hall and the guards, Sand Island was beautiful, Rosie decided, if only because Mama was there.

  Chapter 31

  School finally resumed in mid-January. So many of the buildings had been taken over for use by the military that the remaining buildings were overcrowded and students attended in shifts. Rosie and Freddie drew the afternoon shift.

  Rosie was glad because she could still take care of Daisy and Merigold. Aunt Etta had insisted from the beginning that she keep a quarter of every dollar she earned. She said Rosie could save it, spend it, or if she was very, very hungry, eat it. Rosie had saved every single penny. When she heard that school would start, she spent every penny on a new dress.

  Rosie and Kam chose seats near one another in their new classroom.

  “Were there this many kids in your class before?” Rosie asked as she looked at the desks crowded together in the classroom. She was so close to Kam and the girls in front of and behind her that she felt like she had to press her arms against her sides to keep from spreading into their space.

  “Nope,” said Kam. “And there are a lot of people here I’ve never seen before.”

  A young Hawaiian woman rushed into the room and stood behind the teacher’s desk. She gripped the wooden chair tightly and smiled at the class. “I’m Miss Akana and I will be your teacher.” She took a deep breath.

  Rosie wondered if she had ever taught before, she seemed so nervous. Her hair was in a messy bun at the back of her head and she wore a navy blue skirt and jacket with white trim. She had to be hot in a jacket. Rosie was sweating in her sleeveless dress and bare feet. Miss Akana also wore high-heeled shoes. Rosie’s teacher at her old school had never looked this nice.

  Miss Akana called the roll, struggling with the Japanese names.

  “Call ’em all Tojo,” a boy’s voice said from the back of the room.

  Miss Akana looked up and around quickly. “Who said that?”

  The room fell silent.

  Rosie braced for what the other students might say when Miss Akana called her very German name.

  “In this classroom, we will respect one another,” the teacher said firmly and continued calling the roll by first name only. It didn’t change knowing which kids were Japanese, but Rosie was relieved not to have her secret revealed. She liked this teacher.

  At recess, Kam joined a game of baseball and Rosie stood by as a group of girls jumped rope. She wished Betty was here to play with but she went to a nearby Catholic school.

  “You want a turn?” a girl she thought was named Apikalia asked her.

  As Rosie shook her head, one of the Japanese girls answered, “I do.”

  “Catch the next bomber back to Japan,” Apikalia said.

  The Japanese girl backed up a few steps and swiped at her eyes. She turned and Rosie touched her arm. “Don’t pay any attention to her,” she said. “We’ll find our own jumprope.”

  The girl tried to smile. “I’m Haruko,” she said.

  “Rosie.”

  “You’d better watch what you say around the Japs,” Apikalia yelled at Rosie’s back. “Open trap make happy Jap.”

  “Don’t pay any attention to them,” Rosie called to Haruko, who was walking swiftly away.

  Before Rosie could catch up to her, the bell rang and Haruko ran to the schoolhouse door.

  Kam caught up with Rosie and as he always did, punched her in the arm. “You didn’t make any friends today,” he said in a whisper.

  Rosie glanced over her shoulder at Apikalia and the group of Hawaiian girls standing together staring in her direction. Apikalia glared at her.

  “I did make a friend. Haruko,” Rosie said.

  “She will help you fit in,” Kam said with a sniff.

  Rosie walked away from him and took her seat, surprised at Kam’s words. He’d never seemed prejudiced against her, a German, but his lack of prejudice didn’t seem to extend to Japanese. She opened a book and stared at the page in front of her but saw nothing. She hated what the war had done to her family, taking Mama and Papa away, labeling them enemy aliens when they’d done nothing wrong—just because they were German. Yet, it had to be worse to be Japanese. Haruko and the other Japanese kids were judged on the way they looked. She glanced at Kam talking and laughing with the boy seated on his other side. At least no one in school but him knew about her family. She was determined to keep it that way and equally determined to make sure she didn’t reject Haruko just because she was Japanese.

  When Rosie finished her math assignment, she pulled out her journal and wrote, There is a mix of kids at this new school. The Hawaiian kids say mean things to the Japanese and I bet they would say mean things to me if they knew my parents were German and interned.

  “Rosie?” Miss Akana stopped beside her desk.

  Rosie looked up and shut her journal.

  “Are you writing in a journal?” the teacher asked.

  Rosie nodded, hoping she wouldn’t take it away.

  “It’s a good thing to record your thoughts about what is happening these days,” Miss Akana said with a smile. “By the way, your spelling test was 100 percent correct.”

  Spelling. Rosie had almost forgotten about the spelling bee she had so looked forward to at her former school. “Miss Akana, do you think this school will be taking part in the All-Island spelling championship?”

  Miss Akana l
ooked thoughtful. “I’m not sure I know about that.”

  “At my other school, I was one of the finalists—” Rosie spoke quickly, “in the spelling bee. I mean, I’m sure this school has already picked their finalists, too, but maybe …”

  “So she’s a Jap lover and a spelling champion,” Rosie heard someone, Apikalia she suspected, whisper loudly. “La-dee-da!”

  “I will check into it and if there is to be a spelling bee, I’m sure we can make adjustments to who participates,” Miss Akana said.

  Rosie sat back, feeling excited about the spelling bee again. At least the possibility. She might become a champion yet.

  Chapter 32

  “George is stopping by this evening,” Aunt Etta said after they had eaten supper and Rosie was settled at the kitchen table doing homework.

  “He’s been really busy, hasn’t he?” Rosie said. “You want me to take my things in the bedroom and finish?”

  “He is busy, and no, you don’t have to go in the other room,” her aunt said as the screen door screeched open.

  “Aloha!” George stepped inside. Aunt Etta greeted him with a kiss. “We need to oil those hinges!”

  “The squeaking will give us notice if any Japs try to invade our house,” Aunt Etta teased.

  “Newspapers,” George said, throwing a pile on the sofa. He sprawled in the orange easy chair and it also creaked miserably. “Guess they won’t invade this chair either.”

  Aunt Etta sat on the arm of the chair, leaning against him.

  “I asked about doing a feature story on Sand Island and the editor said no, a firm no. He said no one should even know what is going on there,” George said, his head back and eyes closed. “I don’t know what else to do. Now, I hear that on the mainland all Japanese who live in areas that have been designated military zones will be relocated inland because of the threat they pose.”

  “Here in Hawaii too?” Rosie asked.

  “We rely too heavily on Japanese labor here in Hawaii,” George said, “or that’s what they say. That’s also why they aren’t relocating the Germans on the mainland. Or that’s what I’m told.”