And It has Come to War

Chapter Three

I certainly couldn’t go home, so the Army placed me in a hotel room with other women my age until the next train. Here I met Katherine Wilcox, a brunette, Angela Simmons and Rebecca Williams, both blonds. None of us knew it, but they were all going to be clerks while I, not a military recruit, was headed to a special language school to test my ability fully. With nothing to do after dinner and a thin one at that, we sat around chatting about anything and everything. My complete inexperience with boys was a source of constant amusement for them, though my overly strict parents were not. Katherine and Angela were city girls, if you could call Cody a city that was. Rebecca though had grown up on a ranch and admitted that Cody ‘had too many people in it.’ Months later I would remember those words as I wandered the shops in San Francisco with my freshly minted Army supplied ‘minder,’ wondering what Rebecca would have said about that city.

We stayed together for the train ride until we reached Cheyenne, then my three new friends found themselves shuffled off to a train headed for Fort Benning, Ohio. When I tried to follow them a Lieutenant stopped me, asking for my travel papers. This was when I started realizing that I was somehow different from my new friends. It wasn’t until I had turned over my papers that I realized that he had spoken in Japanese, and I had automatically replied in the same language.

“You will be boarding another train Miss Laster” he explained in a mix of good Japanese and excellent English. “I am Lieutenant Parker, here is my identification.” He held out a military identification card for me to read and I tried, I really tried to stand at attention. “Good start Miss” Parker said with a smile on his lips. “A bit... Japanese though, and as you are not a recruit you do not need to act like one. I will be your escort so as we travel I will explain to you what you will be doing.”

“Boot camp?” I asked, Sergeant Williams had explained boot camp to me while we waiting on this, that or the other Doctor, “Twelve weeks of hell, followed by more training. It never stops.” “Where will I train Sir.”

“You are not military Miss Laster, you are a special Civilian Instructor. Reason? If we actually could enlist you, your two inches to short for the regulations, you would end up in Washington interpreting for fat useless politicians, or worse on some base doing millwork and nothing else. Still if you desire, I’ll be happy to give you some basic training, such as when talking to an officer it is Yes Sir, no Sir. Enlisted and NCO’s are referred to by their rank, sometimes by their last name. Its why we wear these badges” he pointed at the name tag pinned to his uniform. “Now, lets get something to eat, then find a quiet place to talk. You young lady, are very, very important.”

As we walked it dawned upon me that Parker had used only a few words of English, apparently not only had he been testing me, I had passed. If I hadn’t I was certain that I would have been sent home to a waiting shallow grave.

We ended up in a small restaurant near the train station, I looked at the menu and visibly shuddered, I still had the three dollars that mother had given me, was that a lifetime ago? But these prices. When the waitress arrived I ordered a small salad and water, Lieutenant Parker looked at me and frowned. “Miss Laster we cannot win a war on rabbit food and water” he told me. “Now order a filling meal, it may be tomorrow before we eat again.”

“I can’t sir” I admitted. “I only have three dollars and it has to last until we arrive and I find work for pay Sir.” I could see the shock on the waitresses’s face, then something hard crossed Parkers face as well.

“I will be paying for our food until we reach our destination Miss Laster” he explained. “How does a burger and fries sound?”

“A what?” I asked in a hesitant voice, he was after all frightening me now.

“What is your favorite food Miss” he asked in a softer voice.

“For traveling, Onigiri, rice balls sir” I explained. “But for a nice sit down meal, Yakizakana or Oden is wonderful, especially in Winter.”

Looking up at the waitress Lieutenant Parker gave the now confused woman a winning smile, I had been speaking Japanese after all. “My companion will have the fried fish, she knows it as Yakizakana. Bring her a burger, fries and ketchup as well. I think that it is time to introduce the young lady to real American food.”

“Is..Is she Japanese Lieutenant” the woman asked. There was actual fear in her voice I noted with wonder.

“No Mrs. Vikki” he answered, having noted her own name tag and wedding ring. Unfortunately her name tag had her first name, not her last. “She is a Japanese raised American, and if what I have been told is true she is one of those who is going to help us win this war.”

I found the Yakizakana tasted oddly, not bad but there was the wrong kind of sauce and the fish was odd. Parker explained to me that it was catfish, a type of fish I had never eaten. The burger though, there was no way anyone was going to eat that thing with traditional hashi, chopsticks. It took me quite a while and two cloth napkins to get through it, the fries though were delicious. By the time I was done I had eaten twice the amount I did at home and my stomach was simply stretched to the limit, so much so that I feared releasing my belt, lest it burst.

“Full?” Parker asked gently, having completed his own meal.

“Domo arigatou, to bursting Honorable Rikugun Chu-I” I answered, I was delighted to be able to speak the language that I considered native to me. “My thanks.” Carefully I began stacking the empty dishes, to make cleanup easier for the waitress. It was not a Japanese custom, but a habit that I had fallen into for an unknown reason. As I did so my companion watched with some amusement.

“When you are at the mess hall Miss Laster, you simply clean off your tray of trash and set it on rollers, others are assigned to do the rest. Kitchen Patrol, or KP as it is called, is something that every enlisted man, and woman goes through. Now we best walk back to the station, our train is due in less than two hours so where did you leave your luggage.”

I stood, slowly, felt something settle in my stomach then tried my best, and failed to cover the resulting belch. Completely embarrassed my face turned red but the Lieutenant simply laughed loudly. “You ate to fast” he explained, “Now lets go get your luggage.”

Without a word I lifted my purse, it was after all the only thing that I had.

“You are joking” Parker gasped. “Your clothing, things...”

“My father disowned me, when he heard me speaking Japanese at the recruiting center Sir” I explained, waiting for him to stand. “What you see sir, is all I own, and the purse is a loan from my middle sister that I must send back to her as soon as I can.”

I sort of think that the man sitting before me seriously wanted to kill someone at those words. Slowly he stood, having seen that look on my brother Paul’s face before I backed up, frightened. Then as quickly as that anger came it faded, “Come on Miss Laster, we have to buy you certain things before that train gets here.” He walked past me then and I felt a cold, cold breeze come from him. All I could do was follow, wait as he paid the ticket then follow him outside. He had asked the cashier a question that I hadn’t quite heard, so when he turned away from the station I became more frightened, until we abruptly entered a small shop that catered only to women. Again he spoke to a woman, she looked at me, nodded then walked over to me.

“Come with me dear, your boyfriend is buying you a few things.” She took my hand gently and tugged me towards the back of the store. As she led me away I caught a glance of the waiting officer, his face was again red, but for a different reason.