Hiroshima Bomb Money by Terry Watada

Author:Terry Watada
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literary Fiction; Japanese Canadian Diaspora; Japan; Japanese Internment; World War II; WWII; Hiroshima; Atomic Bomb; Family Saga
Publisher: NeWest Press
Published: 2024-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

Gunjin Chokuyu

Duty is heavier than a mountain;

Death is lighter than a feather.

26. December 1940

When Hideki was released yet again from medical care, he was not fully recovered. He walked slowly and with a slight stoop. Four broken ribs nagged at him; fractures and contusions stayed unhealed. Again, the staff were very friendly, compassionate, even funny.

“We’ll have to provide your own room,” a nurse quipped. “Or put in a revolving door!”

He couldn’t laugh as pain would stab at him.

The day before he left, an army captain appeared bedside. Captain Inouye Shinobu was a career officer; he was a tall man, with such distinctive features as shining eyes and strong jawline. His body was well-sculpted and strong. Hideki thought women would think him handsome.

“Private Akamatsu. I hope you are feeling well, or at least, better.”

“Y…y…yes,” he stuttered. “Sir.”

“I want to assure you, the men who assaulted you are being pursued and will be captured and punished.”

“Thank…you.”

“I have a few questions, however. Feel up to answering?”

“Hai.”

“What were you doing there?”

He thought for a moment and then let the truth out. What was the point hiding anything? “I was looking for a girl…actually, her name.”

“A girl in that neighbourhood?”

“Not for what you’re thinking,” he said quickly.

The captain stood up straight, insulted perhaps.

“No, I was there with my friend for a girl who was arrested and executed—”

“Stop right there,” ordered the captain. “I’m sorry, such information shall remain unsaid. Do you understand?”

Hideki nodded.

“I see then, nothing more needs to be said.”

“What happened to my friend, Private Tsujiyama?”

“I’m afraid he was killed,” he said and paused. “That’s why it is imperative that we find the perpetrators.”

Another friend dead? Hideki squeezed his eyes shut before asking, “Why didn’t they kill me?”

“Nearly did. I think it was a matter of killing one and punishing the other…as a kind of warning. Can you tell me who they were?”

“The Axe Men,” Hideki said.

“No, that’s impossible. They were eliminated shortly after the Snake River Incident. And that was in Shanghai. Quite a distance from here.”

Double Snake River, Hideki corrected to himself. So, these men were not the Axe Gang. Who were they then?

Capt. Inouye turned on his heels to leave, but he stopped when Hideki called to him. “Sir, can you tell me what happened to my senninbari? I wore it that night.”

“I don’t know, it’s probably with your belongings. Ask the nurse.”

***

After Hideki left to resume his duties, his face drooped with fatigue and depression; his pained back curved with some indistinct burden. Not embarrassment over his height.

It was not a happy reunion. No one really talked to him or even acknowledged his absence. His friends or those he chummed around with were no more. Hideki kept to himself and shied away from any conversation that may have come up. He couldn’t sleep.

One night, he bolted from his bed and started yelling to no one in particular.

“It’s my responsibility. I’m to blame…”

He flailed about, ignoring his own body pain, and pulling up blankets, throwing them to the floor. Whatever possessions he came across, he grabbed them too and smashed them against the wall.

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