Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury

Author:Graham Salisbury [Salisbury, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-54852-8
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 1994-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

Messenger Birds

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! “Open up in there!” Bam! Bam! Bam!

The screen door rattled like it would fall off. I bolted up with a pounding heart, staring at the dark shadow of a man in the doorframe.

“Whatchoo want?” I heard Grampa say. He was coming out of the kitchen, Mama following him.

“Taro Nakaji … Does he live here?”

Six-thirty. Dark, wet morning. I staggered up as Grampa opened the door. “Please … come inside,” Mama said, bowing in the Japanese way.

“Taro Nakaji,” the man said without coming into the house. He was tall. A khaki uniform showed under his rainslicker. Army. A pistol was strapped to his belt. Two policemen in olive-brown uniforms, also wearing slickers, stood behind him on the porch. One of them was looking around the yard. A Hawaiian guy. Gray clouds moved in the sky beyond, the wind pushing them toward the sea.

“He fishing,” Mama said.

“Fishing?”

“Three days ago, he went. Come home tomorrow, or next day after that.”

The army man glanced around the front room. “You have a radio?”

Mama shook her head.

Kimi sneaked up and peeked around Mama’s legs.

“You mind if we look around?” the man asked.

“Please,” Mama said. “Look the house … please …”

Grampa stepped back and let them pass. He studied them closely. We waited in the front room while the three men searched the house in less than a minute. When they finished, the army guy went over to Grampa and said, “Someone reported that you kept messenger pigeons.… How long have you been sending messages to the enemy?”

Mama made a small gasping sound, then covered her mouth with her hand. Grampa scowled at the man.

“They’re not messenger birds,” I said. “They’re racing pigeons, and some other kinds.”

“Shhh, Tomi,” Mama said. “No talk like that to this man.”

The army man glared at me, like he was trying to keep what I looked like in his mind. I thought he was going to slug me. I looked at the floor.

The local guy came over and put his hand on my shoulder. “Listen, son. We’re just doing what we have to do. If there are enemy agents around here, we have to find them.… Do you understand that?”

“Yes … I do.”

“Good. So can you show us the pigeons?”

I nodded, still looking at the floor.

Grampa and I led them out into the yard. A fine light rain was falling. Lucky barked at the men and Grampa shushed her. Mama and Kimi watched from the porch.

The army man stopped at the wire clothesline and nodded to one of the policemen. Mama watched him cut the wire and loop it around his hand.

What was going on?

“Let’s go,” the army man said, waiting for me and Grampa.

We headed into the trees. The cold, muddy path pressed up between my toes. The air smelled clean again. No gunpowder. And the jackhammers from last night had stopped. When we got to the edge of the field, I pointed with my chin to the lofts. The army man glanced around the field, then strode over to the pigeons with the rest of us following silently.

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