The Purple Heart (38 page)

"She's pregnant,"
said Hiroshi, stunned.

Another moment passed as
Peter absorbed the news. "Are you sure?"

Hiroshi looked down at the
letter and read the last sentence of the letter out loud, "Hiroshi, I'm
pregnant." Hiroshi looked back up at Peter and stammered, "I think
she's pretty damn sure."

"Hiroshi, are you
okay? Most men would be happy if they found out that they were going to be a
father."

Hiroshi’s senses slowly
came back and he focused his gaze on Peter.

"Oh shit, I'm going to
be a father! I'm pregnant, no I mean she's pregnant. But oh my God, I'm here
and she's over there. Oh my God, and I'm going off to war…"

Peter reached over and
grabbed his friend's trembling shoulders, steadied him and brought his eyes
back to his.

"Hiroshi! It's okay,
it happens all the time. Women getting pregnant, they’re biologically
predisposed to become pregnant. You're just going to be a father like millions
of other men in America," said Peter as he smiled reassuringly.

Hiroshi calmed down. It
wasn't like him to react so emotionally but he never had a similar life
experience that he could compare this to. Though he’d seen a few of the horses
on his parents' farm give birth, this was something entirely different. Minami
was bearing his child, which was not something he’d expected yet.

"Besides, she's doing
all the work, not you," continued Peter with a chuckle.

Hiroshi laughed softly as
his senses returned. His shock suddenly gave way to a swelling sense of pride
and inner warmth he could not explain. The realization was that his beautiful
wife was pregnant and he would return home to a family.

"My God, I'm going to
be a father," said Hiroshi with a hint of joy.

"Congratulations,"
said Peter as he extended his hand to his friend. Hiroshi took his friend’s
hand and offered his thanks. Peter took one more look at Minami's picture and
then handed it back. "Well you know, you should write back. I'm sure she'd
want to hear how you were at a loss for words and almost keeled over in
shock."

"Hey now, that won't
be necessary. But you're right, I should write back immediately," said
Hiroshi as he reached into his footlocker for his notepad.

"Well, I'm going to
take a shower. Boy, I hope that when I get my letter from my girlfriend she
doesn't tell me she's pregnant. I'd be quite unhappy," said Peter as he
gathered his toiletries and bath towel.

"Wouldn't you be happy
if you were going to be a father as well?" asked Hiroshi.

"Sure but the thing
is, we haven't had sex yet," said Peter with a smirk.

Hiroshi burst out laughing
as Peter walked away.

Hiroshi took the chance to
read the letter once more and glanced down at Minami's picture. He gathered his
thoughts and began to write.

Dear Minami,

I
received your letter today and I can't tell you how excited I was to open it.
It was just such a good feeling to know that you wrote back. I have to admit, I
was not prepared to read the last sentence. You're really pregnant? I guess you
would know better than I.

But
just thinking about you being pregnant with our baby fills me with such an
unexpected sense of happiness, which I've never felt before. Though of course,
I've never been married before so my first time at such happiness would be with
you.

I
also feel so proud and right now, I wish I were there with you. I don't know
how I would have felt if you had told me on that day that you were pregnant.
Would I have stayed? I'm not sure, but I think I would have probably at least
hesitated.

But
then I think about the baby, I’m angry that you will be forced to give birth to
our baby behind barbed wire. Our baby deserves so much better than that. Then I
think that I should be here, not only to fight for our freedom but also for our
baby's freedom.

So
the more I think about it, I think my decision was right. I promise to fight my
hardest to come back to you and our baby. Did the doctor mention when the baby
will be due?

I'm
still somewhat in shock, but it's a good kind of shock. This really gives me
everything to fight for. I will be home soon to your awaiting arms and to our
baby. I miss you so dearly and thank you for the picture. I will look at it
every day.

Please
tell everyone I miss them and that I'm thinking about them. I hope to hear from
you soon and more news about your pregnancy. Please take care of yourself.

Lovingly
yours,

Hiroshi

Hiroshi spent the next few
months training vigorously alongside with his troops. He had made many friends
among the troops but his closest friends were Peter, Kenji, and reluctantly,
even Akira. Kenji always pumped up Hiroshi's reputation by retelling the story
of Hiroshi's baseball game, which had earned him the nickname “Home Run.” The
story of Hiroshi's combat drill with the drill sergeant and his two men gave
Kenji more ammunition to build up Hiroshi's reputation. Kenji felt great pride
being associated with Hiroshi, who had become his hero.

Akira, on the other hand,
was resentful of all the attention that Hiroshi had gotten. Each time their
company was passing another in opposing marching formation, Akira could feel
the stares of curiosity from the other men. The company came to be known as
Home Run's company, and he hated the fact that whenever he tried to gloat about
something he’d done, other soldiers asked, "You're in Home Run’s company,
aren't you?"

Akira did have a great deal
of respect for Hiroshi, but a dangerous resentment festered inside of him. He
and Hiroshi were equally matched physically, but that was the only similarity.
Akira was more outspoken and brash, while Hiroshi was more tempered and proper.
Since that day they had raced together, they kept their rivalry civil. Even
when Akira goaded Hiroshi, he didn't reciprocate. Hiroshi was Akira's only real
competition in the training camp, and Akira resented being in his shadow.

They endured a hot and
humid summer. But the adversity of the Mississippi summer weather only made the
men tougher. The gear that they were forced to carry during training became a
part of them instead of a burden. The obstacle course was no longer an obstacle
course. The troops were trained further in the use of weapons and their
maintenance, and Hiroshi and Akira had the fastest times both disassembling and
reassembling their rifles. Along with a few other select troops, Hiroshi and
Akira actually took over the combat training and many other white officers
eagerly became students.

Though the training was
rigorous, it was becoming a routine and the troops were getting restless. Many
troops had been dispatched early to replenish the fallen troops of the 100
^th
Battalion, who was fighting in the European Theater.

Hiroshi was a diligent
soldier. He performed admirably during training. He was also a role model for
the other men, since he bonded well with many of them. He was reluctantly
getting used to them calling him “Home Run.” He felt it was good to know the
men in his company, as they would be the men whom he would go into battle with.
They were going to be men he would be protecting, and he felt firmly that they
would protect him. In battle, they had to rely on their brothers in arms to
win.

When Hiroshi wasn't
training and hanging out with the troops, he was consumed in his letter-writing
campaign to Minami. He never considered himself to be a great writer, but he
found that he enjoyed writing to Minami. He knew for every letter that he
wrote, he would get one back from her. One letter would be exchanged roughly
every week between Hiroshi and Minami.

Every single week, he
learned more of Minami's pregnancy and her progress. She continually lamented
how she was getting big and felt grossly undesirable. But he reassured her that
if he could, he would run all the way back to the prison camp just to be with
her. It pained him that he was not there to support his wife, and the guilt
began to grow. But Minami had finally accepted his decision. She even said she
was proud of him. Whether or not she said it to alleviate the guilt in his
letters, Hiroshi would never know. But he knew she would have preferred to have
him by her side.

Hiroshi told Minami about
how he became known as “Home Run” all over again on the training base. He put
all the blame squarely on Kenji, but in his letters, he would tell her how
Kenji was also growing up. Kenji still joked around and made the troops laugh
at his animated and comical impressions of people, a skill he just discovered
he had. But in training, Kenji was extremely focused and serious. He performed
almost like a well-oiled machine. Still, he didn't have the real-world
experience to prepare him for the harshness of war, and that worried Hiroshi.

He mentioned how Peter had
become his best friend on the base and how much she would have liked him. Peter
was still on the quiet side and of his four closest friends, he was probably
the least confident about his skills as a soldier. Peter was probably also the
smartest in the group. He could recite the military handbook with ease, and he
followed all the military debriefings from the war. Despite his seemingly quiet
demeanor, Peter definitely did have his opinions. He was still naïve about how
the Japanese Americans were perceived, and truly believed that the white
officers saw them as equals. But that wall of naïveté had begun to crumble
away, one brick at a time. But he was a good friend to Hiroshi, and listened to
his stories and letters from back home. Hiroshi's only worry was whether or not
Peter could actually pull the trigger.

But when it came down to
Akira, Minami was the only person that Hiroshi could tell the truth to. There
was something about him that bothered Hiroshi tremendously. Though he mentioned
that he and Akira were quite equal physically and were the top-performing
soldiers in the company, he didn't get the right vibes from him. It wasn't that
he felt that Akira could not perform in battle. In fact Hiroshi had the utmost
faith that he would, and the Nazis should feel quite unlucky if they were to
meet him on the battlefield. But there was something else, another side to
Akira that he could not see, and it bothered Hiroshi. He just couldn't trust
Akira.

Hiroshi had just finished
lunch and was returning to his barrack, with Kenji following closely behind. As
he approached his bed, his eyes focused on a white envelope sticking out from underneath
his pillow. He just knew it was a letter from Minami. He quickened his pace,
bent over to pick up the letter and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Another letter?"
asked Kenji.

"Uh-huh,"
responded Hiroshi quietly as he began to open the letter.

"Boy, do you think she
gave birth yet? Miho said Minami's getting as big as a pumpkin," said
Kenji jokingly.

"I'm not sure. The
baby is already about a week late. Maybe it's refusing to be born and raised in
a prison," said Hiroshi jokingly as he unfolded the letter.

Hiroshi began to read when
his expression changed dramatically. Hiroshi leaped from his bed and shot his
right clenched fist into the air as he shouted, "Yes!"

Kenji looked over suddenly
and deduced that the letter brought the exciting news that Hiroshi had been
anxiously waiting for. He rushed up to Hiroshi and threw his arm over his
shoulders as he peered at the letter.

"She gave birth?"
said an excited Kenji.

"Yes! It's a
boy!" shouted an excited Hiroshi as he spun around and, to Kenji's surprise,
grabbed him in a bear hug and lifted him off the ground. Kenji felt like his
insides were being squeezed out like the contents of a toothpaste tube when
Hiroshi abruptly let go of him and he tumbled to the ground. Kenji wrapped his
arms around his waist to ease away Hiroshi’s vise-like grip but his own
excitement got the better of him. “Well, what else does it say?" he
blurted out with some difficulty.

Hiroshi sat back down on
the bed, and Kenji sat next to him. He felt so glad that he was sharing such a
great moment in Hiroshi's life and seeing another side to the man whom he saw
as his personal hero. Hiroshi started to read aloud the letter as quickly as he
could.

Dearest
Hiroshi,

I
am so happy to tell you that you have a baby boy! He is so handsome! He
definitely has your eyes. When I held him for the first time, I was so happy
and it wasn't only because I finally gave birth. But also, I felt that I was
holding a part of you in my very arms. When I look at him, I think of you.

Your
son came in at 8 pounds and 8 ounces. The doctor said he is healthy and judging
from his cries, he seems quite the demanding little baby. You won't believe how
large my breasts are right now. The nurses here have shown me how to
breast-feed and I must admit, it was a strange feeling at first having him suck
on my breast. I was so worried that I wouldn't be doing it right. But as I
watched him gently sucking the milk from my breast, I just wanted to hold him
forever and take care of him. I almost wished he would never grow up, but I
know he will.

I
miss you even more now, and I wish you were here. But I know you can't be, and
hopefully you'll be home soon before he grows up too fast. My father was able
to borrow a camera and once the pictures are developed, I’ll send pictures to
you!

Everyone
is so excited here. My parents, along with yours, are so happy that they are
grandparents now. Yoshi can't believe he's an uncle but I think he's looking
forward to our son growing up soon so that he can play with him. Yoshi is also
growing up himself.

I
can't wait for you to come home. I love you and miss you even more. Though we
went through some silly boy and girl names, I've given him the name that I
liked the most. I hope you will be home soon so that you can meet your son,
Ichiro.

Love
you,

Minami

Hiroshi was silent as he
finished reading the letter. His eyes slowly darted over a few select
sentences. Kenji could feel his sense of pride, and he threw his right arm over
Hiroshi's shoulders and shook him from side to side. "Congratulations,
Hiroshi!"

Hiroshi let out a smile and
looked over at his young smiling friend, his slightly crooked teeth gleaming
and his eyes beaming with happiness. Hiroshi patted Kenji's upper thigh and
then looked back at the letter.

"Don't tell Minami
that I read to you about her breasts, okay?" warned Hiroshi jokingly.

"Don’t worry, I won’t
mention Minami’s breasts.”

The two men were still
laughing when Akira and Peter happened upon them. "What's going on
here?" asked Akira.

Kenji jumped up and looked
at Akira and Peter. "Home Run is now a father!"

Akira and Peter looked at
Hiroshi as he got up to look at them.

"Congratulations!"
said Peter as he extended his hand, which Hiroshi shook vigorously.

"Yeah man,
congratulations. Is it a boy?" asked Akira as he extended his hand next.

Hiroshi smiled and said,
"Yes, it is and his name is Ichiro."

"Ah, a strong Japanese
name for a boy! Not something wimpy like…" Akira paused and then turned to
Peter, "Peter!"

Peter spun around and
playfully pushed Akira. Akira then put his fists up and started to horse around
with Peter. Kenji couldn't resist and joined in as well. Hiroshi watched his
friends jostling around. He then quietly sat back on the edge of his bed to
read the letter once more. When he read the letter about three times, he put it
aside and went into his footlocker to pull out a shoebox that contained all the
letters he had received from Minami and his family. He fingered through the
back and pulled out the photograph of Minami, looked back at her wondrous eyes
and felt like he was falling in love all over again. He carefully ran his
finger along her chin, wanting to touch her face once more. But now, she was so
much more, she was the mother of his child and he felt such a stronger
connection to her. He held the photograph tenderly in his hands, then gently
brought it up and laid a kiss on her lips. He carefully placed her photograph
back and placed the shoebox onto his bed. He pulled out his pad of paper and
pen and collected his excited thoughts.

Hiroshi looked up when he
heard Kenji yell. Akira was holding Peter upside down by the waist and shaking
him up and down. Kenji had actually thrown himself onto Akira’s back and was
covering Akira’s eyes with one arm and had the other around his neck. They were
all laughing. Hiroshi then went back and stared down at the blank piece of
paper and began to write.