Journey to Topaz (50th Anniversary Edition) by Yoshiko Uchida

Author:Yoshiko Uchida
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Heyday

9

A NEW RUMOR

Half asleep, Yuki heard the sounds of waking all around her and knew it was six thirty. The headcounter was making his rounds, pounding at each stall door until someone answered with the number of people inside.

“It’s a stupid idea,” Ken remarked when the headcount began. “No one’s going to try to escape.”

Yuki thought he was right. It did seem silly. After all, how far could anyone with a Japanese face get on the outside? Still, it was an order from someone, somewhere, and each morning they were roused at six thirty and had to be back in their stall for another headcount at six thirty in the evening as well. Since Ken slept closest to the door, it was his job to answer “Three” whenever the headcounter came.

This morning Yuki was wide awake, ready to call out to the headcounter if Ken were still asleep. Now that schools had opened, Yuki had to get up early. Even so, it was usually Emi who called to her first over the partition. “Are you ready, Yuki?” she would shout, and Yuki would answer, “In a minute, Emi. Give me one more minute.” It was a good thing it took only five minutes to walk to school.

Most classes were doubled up in barracks that were meant to be mess halls, the high school met in the grandstand by the parimutuel windows, supplies were short, and Nisei teachers were still being recruited from among the evacuees. In spite of all that, Yuki was glad to be back in school, for she was getting bored drifting about aimlessly all day. She liked her young Nisei teacher and, after a while, got used to the strangeness of being in a school where all the pupils were Japanese.

She had wakened early this morning after dreaming that Ken was gone. The good dreams about home vanished like smoke in a night sky, but the bad dreams seemed to linger on, hovering over her early waking hours like a reluctant vulture. Yuki shuddered and tried to brush away the loneliness left by the dream.

Ever since the night of the party, she had wanted to ask Ken whether he had applied for a scholarship, but he didn’t seem to want to discuss it with her. Now Yuki was afraid that everything was already settled and that he had made up his mind to go.

“Grandfather will look after you,” Emi said, trying to console Yuki.

But Yuki wasn’t so sure she wanted to be looked after by Mr. Kurihara. He might even try to talk Mother into going back to Japan someday.

“We have many friends in camp,” Mother reminded her. “And besides, Father may be home one of these days.” He had written that there would soon be hearings for all the men, and his Caucasian friends had written many affidavits of support for him.

Mother seemed pleased about Ken’s efforts to leave camp. “We must think of his future,” she explained. “We want him to be a fine doctor someday.

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