The Purple Heart (8 page)

“Minami,” whispered her
mother. Minami didn’t answer. “Minami,” whispered her mother again.

“Yes?” replied Minami from
under her breath.

“Look up at me,” asked her
mother.

Minami hesitated but looked
up at her mother. She met her mother’s eyes that were unusually serene. Her
mother then tilted her eyes down, toward Yoshi who was poking at the uneaten SPAM
and nudged him.

“SPAM sucks!” said Yoshi in
a disgruntled voice.

It was the distraction that
Minami needed and her frustration melted into laughter as her sisters and
mother joined in. Together, the family shared in a laugh despite their ordeal.
Yoshi’s childish remark brought back one fact: That they were all still
together. No matter what happened, their spirit would not be broken. Minami
looked at her mother with a smile and with a look, said thank you. Her mother
winked in acknowledgment. How her mother did it, she did not know. Minami
admired her mother for her perseverance and strength.

When they walked back to
the barrack later that night, the temperature had dropped considerably and they
crossed their arms to keep warm. They entered their unit and prepared for bed.
After changing into some warm sleeping clothes, Yoshi crawled into bed with his
mother who held him close. The three sisters shared the other two beds that had
been pushed together. Miho took the side nearest the partition and Yuka was in
the middle. The blanket could barely cover the three of them so they had also taken
whatever coats they had to cover themselves. Minami took the extra precaution
to put on a thick pair of socks, turned off the light in their unit and hopped
into bed. Everyone wished everyone good night, as odd as that may have been.

The moonlight cast a soft
gray light into the room through the windows, and for a moment, the room was at
peace. There was still some rumbling from the other families in the barrack,
but for the most part, many people just wanted to sleep. Minami slid underneath
the one blanket and coats. She gently nudged her back up against Yuka, who
brushed up against her sister. It had been forever since she cuddled up with
them and took a nap together. There was a sense of security, a sense of
closeness that she hadn’t felt in such a long time and maybe, in unknown and
seemingly dire times as these, the feeling of family closeness is the comfort
that someone just needs in order to survive.

She was sure Miho had also
cuddled up next to Yuka, providing Yuka with all the warmth she needed for the
night. There was definitely some advantage to being the youngest sister,
thought Minami with some amusement. A smile crept over her face as she gazed
out through the window. She could partially make out a watchtower, but it was
the translucent light that stroked the night. It wasn’t a pitch-black night but
rather, it was a shimmering mixture of black oil softened by the luminescent
white swirls emanating from the moon. It wasn’t the bleakest of nights and
perhaps there was hope in the situation yet. With that thought, Minami’s eyes
closed as she quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, Yoshi
awoke first, which in turn woke up his mother. It was still relatively early
and with nowhere to go, there was no need to wake up early. Yoshi jumped onto
his sisters’ bed. They squealed as he rolled on top of them. The three girls
were tightly cuddled underneath the warmth of the blanket and the coats. Miho sat
up, grabbed Yoshi by the waist, and tossed him on top of Yuka, who squealed as
Miho tickled Yoshi as he laughed playfully. Minami leaned up and rubbed her
eyes. She saw her mother at the foot of the bed, looking at them with
amusement. It had been a long time since she had seen her kids play like that. Minami
herself was already a young woman, but she probably still looked like she was
still in high school at times.

There was still a chill in
the air as the sun had started its daily rise to heat up the desert
surroundings. Minami planted her feet down and straightened up to release some
tautness in her back. Yoshi was able to escape from Miho’s ticklish grasp as he
raced to the foot of the bed to be picked up by his mother. Everyone had awakened,
and there was only one thought: bathroom.

Minami could only imagine
what the bathrooms were like, from what she saw of the workmanship on the
barracks. Some other families stirred, but many were still asleep. The Itos
quietly tiptoed down the barrack. As Minami had predicted, the family in the
first unit had their beds covered in sand that resembled sand dunes. They
gently opened the door and stepped outside. The entire compound looked more
like a ghost town at such an early hour. There were a few people milling
aimlessly about. In the morning light, Minami could see her environment more
clearly. It seemed the prison camp was plucked down in the middle of some
desert with mountains in the distance. But Minami would never be able to reach
those mountains; the fence topped off with barbed wire would certainly prevent
that.

Minami’s mother stopped a
couple of soldiers and inquired about the bathrooms and was steered in the
right direction. Each block had an assigned bathroom, she was told. When they
reached the bathroom, one was for men and the other for women. Minami’s mother
said she would take care of Yoshi, and that she would meet them back at the
women’s bathroom. Minami and her sisters ventured into the bathroom with some
trepidation. As their eyes focused in the dim light, they saw that in the
center were twelve toilets, six toilets back to back. Along the walls were wide
troughs with cold and hot water spigots running atop. Toward the back, was the
shower area, which was merely a large tiled room with shower spigots running
along the top. But the stunned look on their faces came from the realization
that there was no privacy. There were no partitions whatsoever between the
toilets. Minami didn’t know about white people, but Japanese people were very
particular about their modesty. There were a couple of women already on the
toilets who looked up with embarrassment and quickly turned away to finish what
they were already doing. Minami looked at her sisters, who were equally stunned.
Even though they were family and had no problem sharing a bed together, sharing
a private experience such as using the toilet definitely flew in the face of
all family traditions. Their mother walked in behind them. “Oya!” she
exclaimed. The Japanese word for “oh my” slipped out before she could even ask
how her daughters were doing.

The family again sat
together in the corner of the mess hall for breakfast. The family ate silently
and picked at their breakfast, which was toast and some canned fruit that oozed
a sugary glaze. After breakfast, they headed back to their barrack and finally
found it after a couple of wrong turns. They arrived just in time, as the wind
had picked up and had started to blow sand into their faces. As they walked in,
the stubborn grains of sand, enemies that numbered in the millions, covered the
floorboards. The other families were already at work starting to cover up the
gaps in the floorboards and walls.

They gathered together in
the middle of their unit as their mother doled out responsibilities. Her first
directive was to seal up the remaining gaps. The second was to clean up their
space and start organizing their belongings. Thirdly, she wanted to find more
blankets and something to cover the windows. With the orders given, the family
went to work.

Miho went out to look for
more construction material and anything that could adhere or fasten. Yuka and
Yoshi went about cleaning up the floor and using nothing more than their hands,
managed to brush the sand through the gaps in the floorboards. Minami went with
her mother to locate additional blankets. They had roamed the entire compound
when they found a short line of people outside the supply building, which was
doling out more blankets, along with some standard military mess kits, water
pails, and a few other comforts of home. At the mess hall, they were able to
scavenge some flattened cardboard boxes and empty tin cans. They found a
half-filled bottle of glue and an unused paintbrush that was left on one side
of a barrack along with other building materials. Discreetly and quickly, they
took another roll of tarpaper and scurried off before anyone could see their
haul.

Upon their return, Miho
immediately took the glue to adhere the tarpaper to the wall. Yuka took the
brush to use as a little broom. Minami’s mother, along with Yoshi, went ahead
to organize their personal belongings. Minami went ahead to divide up the
blankets, placing one on each bed. She then started covering up the windows.
The sheets of paper from her notebook fit perfectly in the panes of glass.
Though the sun’s rays could still shine through them, at least it would prevent
any peering eyes from seeing in.

Lunch was only a brief
respite in the day. It consisted of bread, more rice, and canned sausage.
Eating was losing its appeal altogether. Work on the unit continued through the
day as the sun began to scorch the prison camp. The barracks simply baked from
the heat but the baked stench from the bathroom was unbearable. Many people had
to rush outside because they couldn’t endure the odor of roasting excrement.
For some, the smell was so intolerable, they vomited their lunch onto the
ground around the entrance, creating an even more forbidding welcome.

By early evening, their living
space was as neatly laid out as they could make it. The blankets were draped
nicely over the beds, with white pillows on top. There was no sand on the floor,
and all the visible gaps in the floorboards and walls were covered up. The
windows were covered in blue-lined white paper, and the window jambs were
covered with additional tarpaper. Though the space was definitely more
hospitable, Minami couldn’t help but think that it was still all a façade to
hide the truth: They were still prisoners.

Minami’s family gathered
together in the mess hall for another unappetizing meal and reluctantly ate
their rice drenched in applesauce, along with overcooked carrots and more SPAM.
Minami wondered whether or not this was another form of torture, depriving the
Japanese of food that they were used to. Minami played with her food. Although
she didn’t have an appetite, she still ate. After dinner, Minami’s family
walked back to their barrack. Not all the lights along the barracks were
working, and those that did conjured darkly draped shadows along the route
home. Yoshi was excited as he raced off a few feet ahead of the family with
Yuka and Miho playing with him from behind. Minami walked with her mother. They
were almost at their barrack when Minami broke the silence.

“Do you think everything
will be okay?” asked Minami.

“Mmm…we’ll do our best,”
replied her mother.

There was another pause
until Minami finally asked the lingering question.

“Do you think Dad will find
us?”

Her mother didn’t answer
immediately and her pace slowed a bit until she simply said, “He will find us.”

Minami took some solace in
her mother’s words and continued to walk beside her. They turned the corner to
their barrack when Yoshi leapt from the steps, startling Minami.

She quickly grabbed Yoshi
around his waist and tickled him despite his childish squeals before releasing
him. Yoshi raced up the steps and his mother walked in after him, urging him
onward with pats on his behind. Minami slowly walked up the steps, then turned
around to look out. She was facing the back of the barrack directly in front of
her. A few of the overhead lights flickered. Her eyes panned to the left where
she could barely make out the chain-linked fence some one hundred feet away and
the few guard towers along it. She was about to head inside when she noticed a
reddish burning light that suddenly appeared and then disappeared somewhere
between her and the fence. She thought she saw movement and squinted to see if
she could make it out. There was nothing, just the shadows playing tricks with
her eyes she told herself.

Minami heard her mother
call her name, and she stepped back into the barracks. As she turned, a pair of
eyes in the shadows took in her slender frame, which was accentuated by the
light bulb that lit up the doorway. The dark pair of eyes watched her until she
disappeared into the barrack and the door closed behind her. He slowly let out
a breath of smoke and brought the cigarette from behind his right leg to his
mouth for another drag. The cigarette end lit up in a reddish swirl before he
brought it back down to the side of his leg. He let out another stream of smoke
and flicked the cigarette away. Then he extinguished the cigarette with his
boot and walked into the shadows.

The warm glow of the
morning sun woke up Minami as her eyes fluttered opened. Everyone else was
still asleep except her mother, who was rummaging through the suitcases. She
quietly changed, which she did apprehensively since she felt she still lacked any
semblance of privacy. After pulling on a long sleeved shirt, she glanced down
at her sleeping sisters.

Minami ran the tips of her
fingers along her face and felt a layer of grime. She felt a bit of disgust at
feeling unclean and what she really wanted was to rinse her face and bathe in a
hot bath. But there was no running water in the barrack. She then walked over
to her mother.

“Is there anything that I
can help you with?” whispered Minami.

“We’ll have to do more
cleaning. There’s still more sand. I’ll let everyone else sleep in a little
longer before we wash up for breakfast.”

When her mother mentioned
about washing up, Minami thought it would be nice to get some water and bring
it back. “I’ll go get some water for us, Mom. We can use it to wash up or whenever
we need it for anything.”

Her mother looked up and
said, “Good idea. I think I saw a water pump behind one of the barracks. Take
that pail with you and make sure you rinse it out first.”

Minami nodded and scanned
the corner of the room where they had stored miscellaneous items until her eyes
came upon the water pail. She picked up the pail by its handle, put on her coat
and made her way to the partition. It was a tawdry site, as bundles of
strangers were forced to sleep together in a barrack they never wanted to come
to. Some of the units had their blankets up as partitions, others had not
bothered yet as they probably needed the blankets more for warmth than privacy.
Minami quietly made her way down the center of the barrack, trying to not
betray anyone’s privacy by keeping her head down and her eyes focused ahead.
She reached the door and slowly pulled it open as it creaked loudly. She
slipped out into the morning sun.

The air was brisk, but the
sky was clear. She turned right and walked along the length of the barrack. At
the end, she looked left and saw what seemed like endless rows of barracks. She
walked past each row and looked for the water pump that her mother had
mentioned. She had passed about five rows of barracks until she finally spotted
a grayish metal pipe coming out of the ground and set against one of the
barracks. There was a spout at one end and a handle at the other. It was the
water pump.

Minami placed the pail
underneath the spout. The spout and handle were parallel to the barrack. She
grabbed the handle and tried to pull the handle upward and it didn’t move. With
both hands around the handle, it still didn’t budge. She relaxed for a moment
and tried to yank the handle upward. That only shook the pipe coming out of the
ground but the handle held fast. With determination, she used all of her might
to grudgingly move the handle upward and then with equal determination, pushed
the handle downward. But there was no water.

She brought her hands to
her knees and hunched over to catch her breath. She was dismayed at how hard it
was to work the handle. Maybe the handle was stiff because it was never used
before or the intense heat of the desert fused the metal parts together. Any
excuse would satisfy her as long as she didn’t have to admit that she was
actually in worse shape than she thought.

Her eyes looked up at the
handle and from that hunched position she had an idea. She placed her shoulder
underneath the handle and in an upward motion, the handle moved and then using
her entire body weight, she pushed the handle downward. The pump grumbled from
beneath the ground and she repeated the entire awkward motion as the pipe
started to shake until finally, brown colored water spurted out. Minami froze
at the sight of the brown water. It was disgusting.

After a quick rest, she
tried again as more brown water spurted out. Each spurt was clearer than the
last. The pail was finally full of misty brown water. Minami breathed heavily
while she leaned over. She looked at the pail, as the surface of the brown
water reflected the blurred vision of her silhouette and the rippling outline
of the sun overhead. She was fixated as it reflected the blurred future of her
situation. She was in quiet thought when it was disturbed by a shadow that cast
itself over the surface of the water.

Minami turned her head
upward and saw someone standing above her. She couldn’t make him out as the sun
was behind him, shadowing his figure, but it was certainly a man. She quickly
raised herself up and stood before him. He was several inches taller than she
was and had a strong frame. His jeans were a bit scruffy and ended in a pair of
brown boots, but his white T-shirt was spotless. He had a squared off face with
a slight chin. His black hair was thick and brushed back but it was his eyes
that caught Minami’s attention. His firm brown eyes were piercing but there was
something calm about them. Minami couldn’t explain it but she was caught off
guard by his sudden presence and felt almost embarrassed. He just looked down
at her pail until he broke the silence.

“Can I help you with that?”
he asked.

Minami quickly looked down
and turned her head in the direction of the water pump. She quickly and
self-consciously brought her hand to her face, as if to cover the oily grime
that was there. She was at a loss for words and only managed to say, “The water
is brown.”

“I can see that,” he
responded.

Of course it’s brown, she
thought. Why did she have to say something so obvious? Minami just looked up
into his face and said, “I think it’s hopeless.”

At that moment, his face
turned from a stern expression and into a friendly one where he managed a mild
grin. Minami unexpectedly found herself at ease at that moment as she smiled.

“Well if you’ll step aside,
I’ll give it a try,” he said as placed his own pail down.

Minami stepped aside as he
grabbed the handle with his right hand.

“The handle is really
stiff, you should really use both of your…” but Minami stopped in mid-sentence
as the muscles in his right arm tensed up and moved the handle smoothly in an
upward arced fashion. He then brought the handle down again in an even faster
motion and the spurt of water was stronger that time. He repeated the motion
again and his muscles just tensed up even more. Minami was captivated, which
surprised her. He repeated the entire motion about five times until the last
spurt of water was clear. He reached down with his other equally muscular arm,
emptied Minami’s pail, and placed it back under the spout. He repeated the
motion with the handle letting out another spurt of water, which he used to
rinse the pail and finally placed it back under the spout as he began to pump
out the water.

“This is probably a new
well,” he said. “So the handle is probably a bit stiff, and no one really took
the time to pump out the sediment that probably collected at the bottom,” he
explained with his back to Minami. Minami could only utter a few “uh-huhs” as
she watched him work. His white T-shirt was a bit tight and she could plainly
see the muscles of his back working in unison to free the water from the pump.
“And once you get the handle working and the sediment cleared, you don’t need
to use that funny upward and downward motion of your body to pump out the
water.”

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.