House of the Red Fish
Page 19
I breathed deep and turned away.
Fumi came hurrying back, with the sailor carrying two rickety wooden chairs. She must know everyone on this island, I thought.
“Suzy,” she called. “Go home the solja boys. They take good care of you.”
Suzy waved her off. “Don’t worry, Aunty. I’ll be fine.”
Fumi glanced at the sailor, hooking her thumb at Suzy. “You watch out her, ah?”
The sailor nodded.
Fumi turned to Ben and Calvin. “You … big boys. Take me and this chairs to the boat.”
Calvin grinned and took the chairs, handed them to Ben, who waded out, then swam them to the Taiyo Maru. Mose took them aboard and set them up on the deck.
Calvin went back to shore.
“Okay, old lady. Your turn.”
“Who you calling old lady?”
Calvin tipped his head to the side, quick-thinking. “I said that? I never said that.” Fumi rapped his head with her knuckles, making Calvin grin.
She sat between Ben and Calvin, who stood shoulder to shoulder. They swam her out and lifted her aboard, soaked to her waist.
“No worry about the compressor and the pontoons,” Calvin said to me. “We take um home. Talk later, ah?”
“Yeah,” I squeaked. I reached down to shake his hand.
Calvin reached up and shook, then slapped the gunnel. “Take her home, skippa.”
Me, Billy, Mose, and Rico climbed over onto Herbie’s small sampan.
“Rico,” I said. “Go up the bow, lead the way. You paid the most for this.”
Rico saluted and crabbed his way forward to stand on the bow, like Sanji used to. He turned back and grinned.
“Look at that fool,” Mose said.
“If he’s a fool, then I want to be one too,” I said.
“Yeah.”
Herbie powered forward, easing the boat away, heading toward the ocean and Kewalo Basin.
I turned and stood with my hands on my hips, looking back at Fumi and Grampa Joji sitting side by side in those rickety chairs, facing into the breeze. The katana lay across Ojii-chan’s knees, his face expressionless. If I didn’t know him I’d have thought he was angry. But that cranky look was just his way of looking peaceful. He was content. Even with the bent katana.
I frowned. How many more battles stood between me and the day Papa would finally come home? And what about Grampa Joji? Would he stay strong? And then there was Keet Wilson. Who could get us kicked out of our home.
I closed my eyes. So much trouble I had caused for my family. Was all this worth it? Papa?
When I opened my eyes Ojii-chan was staring at me, as if he’d been reading my mind. His scowl and unwavering eyes said, No matter what comes, boy, we going be all right.
I waved.
Fumi waved back, smiling. Ojii-chan managed to lift his chin.
Herbie laughed. “Your grampa, he’s tough.”
“The toughest guy I know,” I said.
Herbie nodded. “No worry, ah? We can bring that boat back to life.”
“We just did, Herbie … we just did.”
Grampa shooed us on with his wrinkled skeleton hand, waving us out toward the sea.
“We going, old man,” I called. “Confonnit!”
GLOSSARY
BMTC—Businessmen’s Military Training Corps
MP—military police
VVV—Varsity Victory Volunteers
HAWAIIAN
hanabatas—boogers (Hawaiian pidgin)
haole—foreigner; Caucasian; white person
Imua!—Onward! Charge!
mu’umu’u—loose-fitting Hawaiian dress
okole—rear end
Shaka sign—hand sign meaning “take it easy,” “thanks,” “how’s it?”
JAPANESE
Anohito wa okane motterukara.—She’s getting rich.
butsudan—Buddhist altar
Fumi wa kimae ga iihito nandakara.—Fumi is a nice lady.
furoshiki—cloth wrapper
Gaman.—Endure, persevere.
hato poppo—pigeons
Hinamatsuri—Girls’ Festival (also called Dolls’ Festival)
Irasshaimase.—Please come in.
katana—samurai sword
Kessite akirameruna.—Don’t ever give up.
“Kimigayo”—national anthem of Japan
koi-nobori—a carp streamer
Meueno hitoni mukatte nanda sonotaidowa!—Show some respect when you talk to an older person!
Mon dai nai.—No problem.
musubi—rice ball
Ojima shimashita.—Sorry to have intruded.
onna hitorito kikai ichidai ka—one girl, one machine
Shooshoo omachi kudasai.—Please wait a moment.
Tango-no-Sekku—Boys’ Festival
tatami mat—a mat made from grasses
udon—noodle soup
GRAHAM SALISBURY‘s family has lived in the Hawaiian Islands since the early 1800s. He grew up on Oahu and Hawaii and graduated from California State University. He received an MFA from Vermont College of Norwich University, where he was a member of the founding faculty of the MFA program in writing for children. He lives with his family in Portland, Oregon.
Graham Salisbury’s books have garnered many prizes. Blue Skin of the Sea won the Bank Street Child Study Association Award and the Oregon Book Award; Under the Blood-Red Sun won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, the Oregon Book Award, Hawaii’s Nene Award, and the California Young Reader Medal; Shark Bait won the Oregon Book Award and a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor; Lord of the Deep won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for fiction. Jungle Dogs was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and Island Boyz: Stories was a Booklist Editors’ Choice. His most recent book was Eyes of the Emperor, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and an ALA Notable Book.
Graham Salisbury has been a recipient of the John Unterecker Award for Fiction and the PEN/Norma Klein Award.
1. Graham Salisbury starts House of the Red Fish with a scene from Tomi’s life before his father was arrested. Why do you think the author does this? What is the difference between the life that Tomi leads now and his life before the arrest?
2. Tomi has a deep sentimental attachment to his father’s boat, the Taiyo Maru. Raising it is a tough job, but once he sets his mind on it, he can think of little else. Do you think he’s right to risk so much to save the boat?
3. Tomi knows that if Papa had been home, he would have told Tomi not to fight Keet Wilson or anyone who is hostile to the Japanese and Japanese American citizens of Hawaii. Papa would have said, “Don’t shame the family. Be helpful, be generous, be accepting” (page 15). But Tomi sees Grampa Joji, who’s over seventy, as a fighter. What do you think of Papa’s and Grampa Joji’s different attitudes toward fighting? Do you think Tomi fights back against Keet Wilson in an honorable way?
4. Tomi buries his katana, or samurai sword, so that it won’t be taken away. Later he discovers that Keet Wilson has stolen it. If your family was threatened, what possession would you try to save? Is Tomi right to sneak into Keet’s room and try to get the katana back? Do you think Tomi’s mother is right in not allowing him to take the katana?
5. Mr. Ramos helps Tomi find out the laws that pertain to raising the boat. Why do you think Mr. Ramos helps Tomi? Was Rico right to tell Mr. Ramos about their project?
6. Mr. Wilson seems to trust Tomi’s mother, but on pages 171 and 172 he says that Tomi’s grandfather should have been left in jail and that Tomi’s family is “an annoyance and, frankly, a worry to everyone around here.” Can you understand Mr. Wilson’s prejudice? Do you think he’s justified in worrying?
7. Keet Wilson tries to sabotage Tomi’s mission to bring up the boat. Why does he do this? Why does he care so much about what Tomi does and disagree with Tomi’s plan for Papa’s boat? Why do you think Keet chooses Tomi to bully?
8. What do you think of the end of the book? Will Tomi’s father be proud of him?
To read Graham Salisbury’s answers
to these questions, visit his Web site:
www.grahamsalisbury.com
Q: What inspired you to write this story? Why does Tomi appeal to you as a protagonist?
A: Tomi appeals to me most in the context of his family and friends. I love the whole lot of them, how they blend, how they fit together. Tomi himself, however, appeals to me because he’s a fighter. I like that. Maybe I see something in him that I would hope to see in myself, were I in his shoes. I just like his dogged determination and refusal to give in or give up. Elmore Leonard wrote a book called Valdez Is Coming. It’s one of my all-time favorite books. Valdez is a man who is relentless in the pursuit of justice. Nothing can stop him, even the risk of death. It is this same pursuit of justice that drives Tomi. Never, never, never give up. I like that.
Q: In two of your other books, Under the Blood-Red Sun and Eyes of the Emperor, you’ve also written about Japanese Americans living in Hawaii and the prejudice they face during World War II. Why do this era and setting hold such appeal for you as a writer?
A: The story of the American of Japanese ancestry, in Hawaii and on the mainland, is a powerful one. The story of how one group, especially one so loyal to the American way of life, could be so wrongfully treated tells of some basic fear that lives in the American psyche. We are a good people. We are generous and forgiving. Yet we own some kind of deep-rooted fear that has, at times, ripped the goodness and generosity right out of our hearts. Having grown up in the islands, I know somewhat of the Japanese living there. I know that as a whole they are as good and generous and accepting as any other decent American. When I look at what our government did to them in World War II, and how they, the JAs, fought to prove their loyalty to that very same government, I am impressed. Actually, I am impressed and fascinated. Would I have had such courage? Would you?
Q: What was the most difficult part of writing this book?
A: The first draft. First drafts are always the toughest part of any book for me. That’s because I am making something out of nothing. But the one item of writing craft that I know with certainty is this: I can fix it. I love revision, thank heaven. Revision is where I can sit back and live the story a bit, sort of climb into it and explore it on deeper levels. But that first draft is a bear, a grizzly. No, Bigfoot.
Q: What will happen to Tomi and his friends and family next?
A: I sort of have to wait and see what will happen to them. I have a general idea of what I would like to see happen, but stories have a way of telling themselves once I get into them, no matter how tightly I plot and plan. The characters and events sometimes surprise me, which I love. Surprise is the element of writing that most fascinates me … and keeps me at this rather difficult (and oh so rewarding) occupation.
Q: What do you like best about being a writer?
A: Just as I stated above: I love the magic that happens when I am working (the surprises that come out of nowhere). Hand in hand with writing surprises is the absolute thrill of discovering a new story that would be stunning to tell. Eyes of the Emperor was one of those thrills, those stories. When I first discovered it (in a three-page essay written by one of the Cat Island men, Raymond Nosaka), it grabbed me and shook me and said You have to tell this story! Now, that’s exciting stuff.
Q: Tell us about your writing habits.
A: I am a morning person. I do my best work before 10 a.m. I get up at 4:45 every weekday. I work best when I am away from my e-mail (which is so much easier than working!). So before I go to my studio (a 900-square-foot cabana built on a pier out over a lake), I go to any one of several favorite coffee shops and work there. Sometimes I write first drafts in longhand and revise on my Mac. Sometimes I do it all on my laptop. I work in coffee shops because I like the white noise of other people bustling about. I try my best to write every day except weekends, which I reserve for my family. Discipline is a key element. I am not a genius. I am a trudger. I make it happen. There is no other way.
Q: Do you eat snacks while you write?
A: No. I get too deep down into my imagination to think about snacks (but I do drink one cup of coffee a day— a twelve-ounce Americano with a tad of nonfat milk stirred in). When I surface, I’m usually famished and ready to hit the gym. I eat lunch after the gym, and sometimes in the hot months get a Jamba Juice (Orange Dream Machine) or iced green tea as I head back to work.
Q: Do you listen to music while writing?
A: Never—if I’m writing at my cabana. I may listen to very soft, very calm instrumental music while revising, but never when involved in a first draft. The one exception to this took place when I was writing the first draft of a short story called “Angel-Baby,” when I listened to Houston Person’s luxurious rendering of “But Beautiful” (on his CD called My Romance). You will see why if you read that story (it’s in my short story collection Island Boyz). However, when I write in coffee shops, there is always music. White noise to me. After I have finished a book and am celebrating, I crank the radio in my car and listen to something that rocks!
Q: How much research do you have to do before writing a book? Where do you do it?
A: It all depends on the project. For the war books, research is key. I want my facts to be as accurate as possible. I do my best research in the same place I do my best writing—in coffee shops, except when I need to ply the Net (I don’t do coffee shop hot spots, because I want to keep the Net out of that workspace). If I need to search the Internet, I go to my cabana and work there. I also have access to a research professional when the research demands an expertise I don’t have. She lives in Idaho and is wonderful. But the best kind of research I can do (if possible) is primary research, where I interview people who were actually present during whatever piece of history I am writing about. That is a thrill!
Q: Do you ever get writer’s block?
A: I get lazy, I get stuck, I dink around—but I never get writer’s block. Writer’s block to me is one thing and one thing only: procrastination. I try to keep moving ahead, even if I hate what I’m producing. You see, I have learned something valuable over my years of writing: whatever drivel I produce, I can make it better. I work hard. Most of the time.
Q: As a writer, what is your greatest fear? Your greatest obstacle?
A: As a writer I have few fears. However, I do have a good deal of self-doubt. Am I really good enough to continue writing stories of value for young readers? So far, I believe I am (any writer has to have that self-belief to succeed). I guess if I have a fear at all, it would be the fear of losing that confidence. Yeah, that would be it.
Q: How much rewriting and revising do you do?
A: A lot! Over and over and over until I think it sings. Then I send it to my editor and she sends it back saying, “You can do better.” And she’s always right. I can, and do. God bless good editors, and I have one of the best ever. Revise, revise, revise. It will shower you with sparkling diamonds every time.
Eyes of the Emperor
Graham Salisbury
978-0-440-22956-8
Eddy Okubo lies about his age and joins the army in
his hometown, Honolulu, only weeks before the
Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Suddenly, Americans see
him as the enemy. Even the U.S. Army doubts the
loyalty of Japanese American enlisted men.
Then Eddy and a small band of Japanese American
soldiers are sent on a secret mission to a small island.
They are given a special job, one that only they can do.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963
Christopher Paul Curtis
978-0-440-41412-4
Nine-year-old Kenny lives with his middle-class black
family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. When
Kenny’s thirteen-year-old brother, Byron, gets to be
too much trouble, they head south to Birmingham to
visit Grandma, the one person who can shape him up.
Grandma’s church is bombed.
Before We Were Free
Julia Alvarez
978-0-440-23784-6
Under a dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in
1960, young Anita lives through a fight for freedom
that changes her world forever.
Cuba 15
Nancy Osa
978-0-385-73233-8
Violet Paz’s upcoming quinceañero, a girl’s
traditional fifteenth-birthday coming-of-age ceremony,
awakens her interest in her Cuban roots—and sparks
a fire of conflicting feelings about Cuba
within her family.
Counting Stars • David Almond • 978-0-440-41826-9
With stories that shimmer and vibrate in the bright heat of memory, David Almond creates a glowing mosaic of his life growing up in a large, loving Catholic family in northeastern England.
Heaven Eyes • David Almond • 978-0-440-22910-0
Erin Law and her friends in the orphanage are labeled Damaged Children. They run away one night, traveling downriver on a raft. What they find on their journey is stranger than you can imagine.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants • Ann Brashares
978-0-385-73058-7
Over a few bags of cheese puffs, four girls decide to form a sisterhood and take the vow of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The next morning, they say goodbye. And then the journey of the Pants, and the most memorable summer of their lives, begin.
A Great and Terrible Beauty • Libba Bray
978-0-385-73231-4
Sixteen-year-old Gemma Doyle is sent to the Spence Academy in London after tragedy strikes her family in India. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma finds her reception a chilly one. But at Spence, Gemma’s power to attract the supernatural unfolds; she becomes entangled with the school’s most powerful girls and discovers her mother’s connection to a shadowy group called the Order. A curl-up-under-the-covers Victorian gothic.