Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky (16 page)
Read Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky Online
Authors: Sandra Dallas
On the day he turned eighteen, Roy told Pop he was going into the army.
“No!” Pop exclaimed. “No son of mine is risking his life to fight for America. You do not have my permission. I forbid it!” He hit the floor so hard with his cane that it left a dent in the wood.
“It’s too late, Pop. I already signed up.”
“I did not agree.”
“You don’t have to,” Roy said. “I’m eighteen. I can sign up on my own.”
“You go against my wishes?”
Roy sighed. “Look, Pop. There isn’t much choice. I can sign up, or I can refuse. And if I refuse, I’ll be arrested. Then I’d have to go to prison like you did.”
“At least it would be for a reason. I was there just because I am Japanese.”
“Come on, Pop.”
Pop put up his hand. “Look at your mother. She is crying. Did you think of her?”
Roy looked miserable, and Tomi wondered if he was
sorry now that he had enlisted. “I can’t help it. It’s too late.”
Pop stood and hobbled to the window. “This is what this country has done to us. It has split our family apart. And now you want to fight for it?” Pop shook his head and stared out the window.
Tomi came up beside Pop and took his hand, and when she looked into his face, she saw tears.
She didn’t hate America the way Pop did, but she didn’t like it very much.
THE
family saw Roy off at the Tallgrass gate. He grinned and waved. The Itanos waved back, even Pop, but he looked grim. Only Mom smiled, as she handed Roy a paper sack with his lunch in it. She had asked one of the cooks to make Roy’s favorite Japanese food for the bus ride.
“Where’s Hiro?” Roy asked, as the young men started to board the bus. He looked around at the people gathered at the gate. Hiro had been with them, but he’d disappeared. Tomi craned her neck to see over the crowd, and then she spotted Hiro running from the barracks. “Gangway,” he yelled as he pushed through the crowd. He rushed up to Roy and said, “I almost forgot. Hold out your hand.” When Roy did, Hiro dropped something into it.
“Your flag pin!” Roy said. Hiro had won the red, white,
and blue flag pin in the paper drive at school.
“It’s my favorite thing. It will keep you safe,” Hiro said.
For a moment, Tomi thought Roy would cry, but he didn’t. Instead, he attached the pin to his shirt and said, “Thanks, soldier.” He saluted Hiro. Hiro saluted back, then grinned and said, “Whatcha know, Joe?”
Pop didn’t say anything against the army then or even about the flag. He just stared as Roy climbed aboard the bus with the other enlistees.
The bus started up, then pulled out of the gate. A guard shut the gate, and people went back to the barracks, but not the Itanos. They stayed until the bus disappeared, stayed until the dust settled back onto the dirt road.
Tomi lagged behind her family as they walked back to their apartment. She kicked at the dirt with the toe of her shoe. The wind came up. It seemed the wind always blew at Tallgrass. Tomi rubbed her eye to get out a piece of grit that had blown into it. She wished she were back in California, walking through the strawberry fields, the early-morning light shining on the green leaves, the mud
squishing up through her bare toes. At Tallgrass, the light was harsh and made her squint.
Ruth was outside her barracks waiting when Tomi walked by. “You want to play?”
“Play what?” Tomi asked.
Ruth shrugged. There wasn’t much to do at Tallgrass. They could play hopscotch or jacks, but Tomi was tired of those games. “I wish we had a swimming pool,” Ruth said.
“Yeah, why would the government build us a pool? We’re just Japanese internees. Who cares about us?” Tomi asked.
“You’ve been in a bad mood ever since your dad came here,” Ruth said.
“Wouldn’t you be if your father had been treated the way mine was?”
Ruth shrugged. “The war’s going to be over before long. You should look ahead.”
“At what?”
“You’re no fun, Tomi. Maybe I’ll play with somebody else.”
“Go ahead,” Tomi told her.
Ruth turned to go, then stopped. “I know why you’re upset. It’s about your brother joining the army, isn’t it?
I’m sorry, but I bet he turns out to be a real hero.” When Tomi didn’t respond, Ruth added, “I’ll miss the dances. Nobody’s as good as Roy and the Royals.”
At that, Tomi smiled a little. “Come on, let’s get a pass and go into Ellis. Roy gave me a dime. I’ll treat you to an ice-cream cone.”
The drugstore was crowded when the two girls walked in, and they had to wait in line. As Tomi was making up her mind whether to order chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla ice cream, Dennis came up to her.
“I was afraid I’d have to go all the way out to Tallgrass to give you this money,” Dennis said, digging into his pocket and taking out two dollar bills and several coins along with a handful of ticket stubs with names written on them. “I sold all the raffle tickets you gave me. The word’s out that the ladies at Tallgrass are real good sewers. Everybody wants a chance to win the quilt.” He turned to another boy. “They’re selling tickets on a quilt to raise money for the war effort.”
“Which side is it going to?” the boy asked and snickered.
“Hey, that’s not nice,” Dennis told him, glancing at Tomi. In the past, Tomi would have put the boy in his place, but now she didn’t care. When Tomi failed to reply, Dennis asked the boy, “Haven’t you heard of the 442nd infantry? They’re the bravest soldiers out there, and a lot of them came out of Tallgrass.”
“Can’t you take a joke?” the boy asked. He turned to Tomi. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Who cares?” Tomi replied.
Dennis said, “I bet I can sell more tickets if you have them. I ran out.”
Tomi shook her head. “I’m not selling tickets anymore. Why should I try to raise money for the war effort when the government treats us like we’re the enemy?” She took the money and the ticket stubs from Dennis and put them into her pocket. “I’ll give all this to Mom, but I’m not bringing you any more tickets.”
FOURTH
of July was a big day at Tallgrass. In fact, it wasn’t much different from the celebrations in Ellis or back in California. Children decorated bike and wagons wheels with red, white, and blue crepe paper in the spokes. Grown-ups waved American flags or attached them to their hats. They wore red, white, and blue shirts and dresses. A few women put on their blue-and-white kimonos, because the Fourth of July was a special occasion.
A marching band made up of musicians at Tallgrass had been practicing patriotic songs for weeks. The boy who had ranked highest in the high school graduating class carried the American flag. The highest-ranking girl held the Colorado flag.
The parade began at noon. The two flag bearers led it.
Next came the band playing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Men who were lined up along the street took off their hats when they heard the national anthem. People put their hands over their hearts as the flag passed. Behind the band was a truck of Japanese boys who were leaving for the army the next day. Children pulled the wagons they had decorated, some with small kids riding in them. Then came the camp’s Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and to everyone’s surprise, there were scouts from Ellis marching with them. Among them was Dennis as well as Betty Joyce. She was the girl from the hardware store whose father had been so mean when Tomi sold raffle tickets.
Farmers pulled wagons displaying the vegetables they had grown at Tallgrass. One man had set up a Japanese garden in a cart. Everyone clapped as the floats went by, but they clapped hardest for two Tallgrass soldiers who had been wounded and then discharged. They were riding in a car, and boys ran beside them and saluted.
Everyone agreed it was the finest parade they had ever seen. When it was over, they crowded around the tables for lunch. Then a master of ceremonies called for attention. He was standing on a wooden stage made for the event. It had stairs on both sides of it. He announced the
winners of the best float and of the flower-arranging contest. Then came the drawing for the Tallgrass Sky quilt.
Mom and Mrs. Hayashi had hung the quilt from a pole at the back of the stage. It was even more beautiful than Tomi had expected. There were long strips of blue with a tiny piece of red hidden among them. The silver thread shone in the sun like diamonds. Tomi had never seen anything like it. Still, she wished the women had not made a red, white, and blue quilt. It was too American.
