The Persimmon Tree (65 page)

Anna spent the next three weeks reading books and, at night, strolling in the small garden. She thought of the little
becak
owner constantly, and often found herself in tears, for she was certain that she was responsible for his death. But why? Had they tortured him and found out about the box? It seemed the only explanation. Who had beheaded him? The
katana
is an officer’s weapon and only the officers are trained in the manner of a beheading. Was it Lieutenant Ito or Colonel Takahashi himself? These questions occupied her mind until she felt she would go insane.

Anna had been encouraged to sleep on a futon by
Korin-san
and was discovering that she much preferred it to the leather couch. Each night she would prepare it and place the Clipper butterfly box, the ashtray and the silver cigarette case beside her. The crystal ashtray, when its six pieces were fitted together, appeared undamaged. If she touched the butterfly at the centre carefully, the ashtray would remain intact. Anna knew it was silly but she saw both these objects as talismans. Each night she’d kiss the Clipper box and touch the butterfly. ‘I love you, Nicholas,’ she’d say, adding, ‘Sleep well wherever you are, my darling.’ Then she would touch the silver cigarette case. ‘I will be like the heartwood,
Konoe-san
,’ she would say.

Anna’s healthy young body was healing fast and Lieutenant Ito came twice a week to check her progress. She was growing increasingly concerned over the impending visit of Colonel Takahashi. On the sixth occasion the lieutenant had arrived with the four silk kimonos Konoe Akira had caused the Mayor of the Squashed Hat to make for her. Handing them to Izumi, he’d instructed, ‘The first time she must wear the yellow one and must be prepared in the same way as before with the yellow flower in her hair.’

‘When will that be,
Ito-san
?’ Izumi asked politely.

‘When it is going to happen you will be given three hours’ notice,’ he replied. ‘A suitable futon must be placed in the room and you will bring tea, that is all.’

Korin-san
had not been able to help her, as Izumi had suggested she might, in preparing for the visit of Colonel Takahashi. ‘
Anna-san
, if he has a perversion then I don’t know about it. He has never come here nor even requested my services at his home.’

‘Then he will simply rape me,’ Anna replied, frightened.

‘He is
kempeitai
and anything is possible, but he is also a senior officer. He will not, I think, want to rape you; that would cause him loss of face. Unless rape is his perversion, he will want your compliance,
Anna-san
.’

‘He cannot have it! I will never agree!’ Anna cried.

Korin-san
smiled. ‘I think we have discussed this before, have we not?’

‘I will mark myself, cut my face, then he will not have what he wants.’

Korin-san
seemed to be thinking. ‘If you mark yourself the
kempeitai
will ensure you have a horrible death,
Anna-san
. My advice would be the same as before. Kill yourself now while you may. It will be much the better way.
Izumi-san
and I will share our deaths with you. In Lieutenant Ito’s eyes and those of the
colonel-san
, it will mean we have failed to watch over you and we will forfeit our lives. We are both old women and so it doesn’t matter; our lives are over and I don’t think we will ever see Japan again. But it would be a shame to destroy your young life. The entrance to the pearl is very resilient and not easily damaged. Soon enough your maidenhood will be taken. You cannot hold on to it forever. Perhaps it is time to be practical? To face life as it is?’

‘Oh,
Korin-san
, I am pledged to another. It is a gift
only
he must have. I do not want to return to him as damaged goods!’ Anna did not want to tell her that, in her mind, she believed she would survive as long as she remained a virgin. She knew that this was an irrational thought but she had become fixated on the idea.

Korin-san
sighed. ‘
Anna-san
, there are thirty comfort women here in the
okiya
;
all are beautiful. I am sure they too were pledged to another. If this war ever ends they will be damaged goods, not just a few times to one man, but many times over to many, many men. In the soldier’s
okiya
some of the young comfort women who are not blessed with extreme beauty sometimes have to take thirty soldiers a day on their futon. You were fortunate to have had
Konoe-san
, who required other ways. But if
Takahashi-san
is not perverted and you please him, there are worse fates than the taking of the pearl. It will not be difficult for you to satisfy him if you try. The
kinbaku
ropes are only one way and if this way is not his, then I have taught you erotic massage and will show you other ways as well. If you don’t please him you will certainly die. This is not a man like
Konoe-san
with a quick temper and a good heart; this one is rotten inside — he is a killer and will not tolerate disobedience.’

‘But how can I accept willingly someone who may have killed Til? How can I welcome him to my futon?’ Anna asked. ‘I do not have the ability to smile and be compliant, to massage his vile body, to have the arms around me that may have gripped the
katana
that beheaded Til! How must I perform some of the other things you have taught me, when I know he has murdered a beautiful man whose only crime was that he knew me — that we were friends?’

‘If you wish to live you will find a way. By killing your friend, that is the first lesson
Takahashi-san
is giving you in submission, in making sure you acquiesce to his demands, submit to his will,’
Korin-san
explained. ‘The world is a hard place,
Anna-san
. It does not exist for any woman’s convenience. The man’s will comes first. But to survive is the victory, that is the triumph of the heart. Submission means you keep your life — he keeps his pride and his manhood; your heart remains your own — whereas resistance is inevitable death. Japanese men like the
colonel-san
cannot allow themselves to be defeated by a woman’s refusal. He will know that you were
Konoe-san
’s mistress. He will also certainly know that the pearl remains intact. Now that he is the colonel he will want to demonstrate that what
Konoe-san
could not do, he can. In his mind this will make him the superior man.’

‘But how would he know about Colonel
Konoe-san
and me?’ Anna asked ingenuously.

Korin-san
gave Anna a wry smile.
‘It was not a relationship that was a very well-kept secret. He is
kempeitai
and they always have spies. No one is safe from them.’ She grinned. ‘They could have used me, or Izumi, or both as they are doing now, but at the time they may have been afraid we would alert
Konoe-san
as he was the commander and our loyalty was to him.’

‘But… but how would he know that I remain a virgin? Who would tell him?’

‘It’s not so hard to work out. It was Yasuko, the mayor’s wife! She would tell her husband and that snivelling little rat would go running to Colonel Takahashi in order to ingratiate himself with the new commander.’

‘But she was my
friend
!’ Anna protested.

‘Ah, that is not our way. A Japanese woman’s first loyalty is to her husband. He would have asked her and she would have been obliged to tell him everything. Did she not say her husband volunteered her services as housekeeper to
Konoe-san
? What better way to know what’s going on in the colonel’s private life, eh? I’ll say this for the little bastard — he’s a survivor. You could take a few lessons from him,
Anna-san
!’ She looked sternly at her. ‘I mean it. You don’t have to snivel and you don’t have to beg, but you
must
be compliant.’

‘
Korin-san
, I am not a geisha, I have never been with a man!’ Anna cried. ‘I can’t, I simply can’t!’ She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye with her forefinger.

Korin-san
ignored Anna’s protests. ‘
Anna-san
, listen to me, please! Give the
colonel-san
what he wants! I have shown you how this might be done physically. But you must also get into his head. Flatter him. Congratulate him on his appointment to commander. As you massage his body remark that it is a warrior’s body, that at another time he would have been a samurai, you are certain of this. Then ask him to turn onto his back. If you have massaged him as you have been taught, he will have a fine stand. Do not put your hand around it but tap it very softly with the tips of your fingers from the top to the bottom and back. “Look how strong the divine sword is,
Takahashi-san
!” you will giggle. Then look suddenly shy and modest and ask in a soft voice if you may confide in him. Then when he says you may, as he most certainly will, then tell him he is a man far above Konoe
Akira-san
, the vile pervert who liked
kinbaku
and was incapable of pleasing a woman like the
real
man in front of you. Tell him that you had always hoped for a real man and not one who on the outside was powerful but on the inside a weakling who couldn’t get it up. Tell him how you have waited for a man like him to accept the precious pearl. That you have kept it intact for the very best there is.’

‘But
Korin-san
, surely he will not believe all this silly flattery? He is a colonel and a commander and also
kempeitai
. He will know it is all lies!’ Anna protested.

The seventh
okami-san
gave Anna a wry grin. ‘He is a man. He will believe you. When a man has an erection it is his penis that does most of his thinking.’

‘
I have always strived to succeed. My family is not descended

from samurai, but how can that count for anything?

That pervert Konoe comes from a noble family

and he is afraid to wield the samurai sword.
’

Kempeitai
Colonel Takahashi

The Nest of the Swallows, August 1945

ANNA’S LIFE CONTINUED, EVERY
day more fearful than the last. Each morning she awakened not knowing whether it would bring a visit from Lieutenant Ito and with it his decision that she was finally ready. It was the waiting that created the fearfulness and she had taken to weeping and shaking involuntarily; her nerves were beginning to affect her badly. She had fallen into a deep depression.

On July the 27th Lieutenant Ito arrived on a routine visit and found her in such a state that he was furious and called the two
okami-san
to task. ‘She is now perfect physically, even the bruises have gone, but he who will be coming will not accept her the way she is!’ he shouted. ‘She is a nervous wreck! You will use the glycerine bullets three times a day for the next seven days, then I shall return. Then, if she is not of a proper temperament, you will be made to suffer; your lives and hers will not be spared. Do you understand?’

On the evening after Lieutenant Ito had visited, the seventh
okami-san
spoke to Anna. ‘The lieutenant is not pleased,
Anna-san
. Your behaviour is not as he wishes for Colonel
Takahashi-san
. We have been instructed to give you a sedative.’

‘What is it?’ Anna asked suspiciously.

‘It is something we use when a young comfort woman is upset, a little glycerine suppository that goes up your bottom. You won’t even feel it.’

‘It’s not morphine?’ Anna asked fearfully.

‘No, not morphine, that would not be good; that is for pain and will have a bad result, a stupefying effect. This is simply something to calm you. If you continue the way you are going, you will certainly be killed pointlessly. Izumi and me also. The lieutenant has said so and we believe him. You will have the glycerine for one week and then you will decide if you are calm enough and do not need it any longer.’

‘I will decide?’ Anna asked, realising that it added another week of protection from Colonel Takahashi, but she was still suspicious. ‘
Korin-san
, I am not sure,’ Anna protested. ‘Is it the Sublime Fourth Experience?
Konoe-san
warned me never to partake of it.’

‘No, no, there is no needle in the vein. If we did that we would anger Colonel
Takahashi-san
by making marks on your arm.
Anna-san
, please, Izumi and I have agreed we cannot disobey that
yarichin
, that male slut. We do not want to use the two Korean discipline women. We care about you too much to put you through a needless indignity they would greatly enjoy performing. They are dreadful women who take pleasure in inflicting pain. It is, after all, only something that will calm you. You have become too nervous; your temperament has been damaged and we’re afraid that
Takahashi-san
will harm you if you are not what he expects.’

‘
Korin-san
, I do not think I can ever be what he expects, no matter what!’ Anna cried. ‘He,
Takahashi-san
, caused my friend’s death by decapitation! How can I put this to the back of my mind?’

‘
Anna-san
, we have spoken about this before, we have spoken about when there are no choices left, only one action we didn’t choose. There is the wisdom of Hongzhi Zhengjue, who lived eight hundred years ago. I will share it with you:

Withdraw now from the pounding and weaving of your ingrained ideas.

If you want to be rid of this invisible turmoil, you must sit through it and

let go of everything. Attain fulfilment and illuminate thoroughly.

Light and shadow altogether forgotten.

Drop off your own skin, and the sense-dusts will be fully purified.

The eye then readily discerns the brightness.

An hour later Anna received her first glycerine suppository that contained heroin mixed with amphetamine. She had no knowledge of heroin, other than administering it by injection into Konoe Akira’s arm as the Fourth Sublime Experience,
and she didn’t know that heroin can be absorbed in the system in several ways — a glycerine suppository was just one way of doing so.

Almost immediately she felt better and soon the full euphoric effect of the two combined drugs began to take hold. Her mind was calmed, her depression non-existent. She felt exuberant, wonderfully calm and, even though she knew she was captive, she felt strangely in control for the first time since she had come to the Nest of the Swallows.

Anna well knew the effect of heroin, and had often observed it as she had waited beside Konoe Akira after injecting him. What follows is a euphoric stupor, a drowsiness that often lasts two hours where the user sits still, feeling contented but incapable of much activity. It was during this time that she would snatch a bit of sleep herself on those occasions when she had been required to stay later than usual. Once this nodding-off stage passed, the colonel used to be in a heightened state of mind and his conversation would be at its sparkling best.

As Anna experienced none of these symptoms — except the last one where she felt wonderful, all her cares forsaken — she believed the suppositories did not contain the drug that Konoe Akira had warned her not to touch. She didn’t know that this was because amphetamine combines well with heroin to eliminate the first stage, ‘the nods’, as it is often described, and takes the user directly to a heightened sense of wellbeing, mental sharpness and enhanced creativity, as well as feeling highly aroused.

‘I think this calming glycerine works well,’ Anna laughed some time later. ‘I feel I have achieved what the honourable writer of the eight-hundred-year-old poem says.’ Quoting a part of the last line she still remembered, she said,
‘My eye
then readily discerns the brightness.
I thank you,
Korin-san
.’

The retired geisha turned away so that Anna didn’t see her sudden tears. But Anna was feeling too good to notice, too high and self-involved. ‘Please,
please
take me into the garden,’ she cried excitedly. ‘Let me see the stars. It is almost August and the dry will soon be over. I’m sure they will be brighter tonight; they always are just before the rains come.’

A week later Lieutenant Ito visited and declared himself much happier with Anna’s temperament and ordered the suppositories to be continued three times each day for at least another week. This was a combination of drugs the
kempeitai
used a great deal to soften up suspects they needed to interrogate but for practical purposes were not in a position to maim, torture or kill. It would almost certainly mean Anna would become a heroin addict.

The seventh
okami-san
, suspecting that Anna was rapidly becoming dependent on the effects of the glycerine suppository, asked her, ‘
Anna-san
, do you want to continue the glycerine?’

‘Yes,
Korin-san
,’ she replied quickly. ‘I feel sure it helps me to remain calm.’

Late in the afternoon on the 12th of August the call from Lieutenant Ito came that Anna was to receive no heroin for two days. She had already complained to
Korin-san
that she had developed constipation. ‘It is the glycerine,’
Korin-san
announced, ‘it sometimes has this effect on some of the comfort women. Perhaps we must stop the suppositories?’

‘No!’ Anna burst out, alarmed. ‘No, it is not too bad.’ The following morning Izumi explained that Anna would not be receiving glycerine suppositories for the next two days, that she could not be allowed to remain constipated. ‘Please,
Izumi-san
, I must have them, I have grown accustomed to being calm. The constipation is nothing,’ Anna begged.

‘Ah, but it will become a great pain and your stomach will swell up, we cannot allow it. Lieutenant Ito will be angry,
Anna-san
, and, as well, you will suffer greatly from this blockage,’ she said in an understanding but firm voice. ‘I regret it is the only way.’

Anna began to experience heroin and amphetamine withdrawal within fourteen hours. She endured a sleepless night and the following day (the 14th of August) she found almost unendurable, and she repeatedly begged to be given the glycerine suppositories. Late in the afternoon Lieutenant Ito arrived at the Nest of the Swallows and Izumi was told to prepare Anna for the arrival, at 7 p.m. sharp, of Colonel Takahashi. It was the first time his name had been mentioned, although Lieutenant Ito was aware that the two
okami-san
would have known all the time.

If I appear to be using the tedium of dates in telling Anna’s story, you must forgive me. At the time this was happening in the Nest of the Swallows, a great deal was changing in the conduct of the Pacific War. On August the 6th (the 7th in Java), the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and while this news may have been picked up by those who could listen to Allied broadcasts (where it was described as ‘an atomic device’), the Japanese who were fighting in the Pacific received no mention of the event in their own radio broadcasts which came directly from Tokyo, nor did they receive advice from official sources in Japan.

Colonel Takahashi, if he had been monitoring Allied radio broadcasts, would not have taken them seriously, assuming it was simply propaganda, tit for tat. The American bombings of the cities of Japan had become routine and it was hardly news to someone like Colonel Takahashi to hear of more Allied bombings. The Japanese radio broadcasts were considered to be pure propaganda by the Allies, and there is no reason to suppose that the Japanese colonel did not feel the same about Allied radio broadcasts. The bomb on Nagasaki on the 9th (the 10th in Java) was met with the same lack of official confirmation from Japan, and therefore would have once again been treated with indifference by the commander.

The visit to the Nest of the Swallows on the 14th would have had little, if any, significance to Colonel Takahashi. Such was the propaganda to its own troops — Japanese victory over the Allies was a continuing message in daily news bulletins from Japan — that he would have assumed it was war as usual in the Pacific region.

On the 14th of August at precisely 7 p.m., a large black American car drove through the open boom gate without stopping, the guards having been previously alerted to allow it through. It was dark and they would have been unable to identify the passenger. The car drove to the rear of the Nest of the Swallows to be met there by the seventh
okami-san
.

The driver jumped from the car and opened the back door, saluting as the colonel stepped out. The seventh
okami-san
bowed deeply as the ex-
kempeitai
captain, now colonel and commander of Tjilatjap, returned her greeting with an impatient bow and no more than a jerk of his head, accompanied by ‘
Hai!
’ He stood for a moment and seemed to be thinking, then he removed his
katana
and sidearm and handed the sword and revolver to the driver. ‘Lead me to the gate, then leave me. I have the keys. Is everything prepared?’

‘Yes, it is how Lieutenant
Ito-san
has instructed, honourable Colonel
Takahashi-san
,’ the seventh
okami-san
replied, bowing deeply.

‘The woman is ready, no suppositories?’ he asked as she led him around the corner of the large mansion.

‘Yes,
Colonel-san
, as was requested.’

‘She has been without two days?’ he persisted.

‘Yes, honourable Colonel
Takahashi-san
, nothing since the day before yesterday.’

The Japanese colonel grunted. They reached the gate moments later. ‘You will not be needed again until I depart. You will watch for my car. Do not under any circumstances enter to attend to the woman until I leave,’ he instructed.

The seventh
okami-san
bowed again. ‘I understand, honourable
Takahashi-san
.’

Anna had been made to wear the yellow kimono,
tabi
socks and sandals. Her face remained without make-up, as Lieutenant Ito had instructed that she was not to be painted in the manner of a geisha but was to appear in precisely the way she had always done for the previous commander.

Waiting alone since late afternoon, Anna was suffering acutely from heroin withdrawal. Her nose wouldn’t stop running and that caused her to sniffle. She was also very afraid. It was still sufficiently light for her to see the garden gate open and Colonel Takahashi turn to lock it again and start to walk down the path, his jackboots gleaming in the soft evening light. Shortly afterwards she heard the rattle of the key in the door. Anna waited until it opened, then bowed deeply. ‘Welcome,
Colonel-san
,’ she said softly, her heart thumping.