Silent Honor: A Novel by Danielle Steel

Author:Danielle Steel [Steel, Danielle]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2009-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

THEY WOKE up with the sun the next day, as the bugles blared, and went to stand on line at one of the camp’s eleven mess halls for breakfast. They had to use color-coded ID cards and eat in shifts, and the food looked anything but appealing. There was some kind of thin gruel, and fruit, and powdered eggs, and some stale rolls that tasted as though they’d been around since New Year’s. The food was edible, but barely, and all they ate was cereal. And afterward, they all went for a walk, and watched people trying to settle in and do what they had done the night before, shovel manure, sit on their suitcases, fill sacks with straw, and walk around and try to find familiar faces. They found some. Some teachers Tak had known, and a friend of Reiko’s. Ken discovered with relief that Peggy’s stall was just around the corner. It meant a lot to all of them to see people they knew. And Sally discovered two friends from her old school, and was thrilled to see them. Little Tami talked to anyone, and made friends among the children.

There was an atmosphere of determination evident everywhere, of trying to make the best of things, and a woman in the next row of stalls was planting seeds and determined to start a garden.

“I hope we won’t be here that long,” Reiko said nervously. They had still heard nothing about when they were going to move on, but Reiko couldn’t imagine planting anything, or trying to put down roots here. This was just a matter of survival and existence.

She went to check out the infirmary that afternoon, and it was pretty grim. There were already a number of people there, mostly with stomachaches and dysentery. Two of the nurses told her to be careful of the food, a lot of things were spoiled, and to watch out for the water. And she passed it on to the others when she got back to them. She had promised to go back to the infirmary in the morning and help them.

The mud in the stall was almost dry by that afternoon, and Ken and Hiroko spread straw on it, and then moved their mattresses and valises in. It was clean now, they knew, and yet everything still smelled of horses.

And just as they finished putting their few belongings into the stall, Peter came, and Hiroko’s face lit up like a sunburst. He told Tak whatever news there was from the university, and he had brought some chocolate bars and some cookies and fruit for them. He hadn’t been sure how much the guards would let him bring in, and he was anxious not to annoy them. Tami reached for the chocolates immediately, and Sally gratefully took an apple and thanked him.

He sat with them for quite a while, and Hiroko stayed at the stall with him, while the others went to line up for dinner. She insisted she wasn’t hungry, and she made do with one of his chocolate bars, and some cookies.

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