When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park

Author:Linda Sue Park [Park, Linda Sue]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

18. Tae-yul

Sun-hee meets me at the gate when I come home. She tells me what happened in the schoolyard. As usual I'm tired from the work at the airstrip. I only half-listen—until she mentions Hee-won's name.

Hee-won. Sometimes she comes to fetch Jung-shin at our house. She's my age, and really pretty. I feel my face growing a little warm.

Sun-hee doesn't seem to notice. Good. She whispers, "The principal took one look at her and sent her back to her place in line." No one is around to hear us, but I can tell she's afraid even so. "He told Buntaro-san to pick someone else."

I think for a moment. Then I say, "They have no brother."

"No brother—" She stops. Thinking instead of asking.

I choose my next words carefully. "Their father must feel that there's no one but himself to watch out for his family."

"But does that mean—do you think he could be—" She swallows. Like me, she can't say it. Can't say the words chin-il-pa.

Suddenly, I pound the gate, cursing under my breath. "Damn! Damn the Japanese and this stinking war!"

Her mouth opens, then closes again. But there's still shock in her eyes.

It's wrong to scare her even more. I try to speak calmly. "It won't be easy for Jung-shin, wondering if people might guess the truth," I say. "You should be kind to her. Just be careful of—of what you say when you're with her."

She nods but still looks scared. I don't know what else to say.

Later I hear that those girls weren't even allowed to go home and say goodbye to their families. They were taken by truck straight to the train station. After that probably a train to the coast, and a boat to Japan.

And then what? A factory somewhere, sewing uniforms?

Maybe.

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