Sachi
December 23, 1941
Leaves swirling around
Fall to the ground and lie in
Eternal slumber
Sachi sat in front of the Christmas tree and studied the package wrapped in silver paper, mesmerized by the lights of the tree reflecting off of it. If Mama thought she had hidden it, she was wrong. Sachi had found it covered up by other colorful packages the very day her mother placed it there. And she knew by the shape of the box, it was a doll like her friend Kate’s!
Papa walked into the living room. “Sachi-chan, do you want to walk to the park with me?”
She jumped up. Finally! After two weeks of begging Papa to take her to the park. “Now?”
“Yes, now. Get your coat.”
She ran to the hallway closet and grabbed her coat and scarf.
He called from the front door, “We’re leaving now, Sumiko. See you soon.”
A gust of cold wind struck Sachi’s face as she stepped outside, and she pulled her scarf over her nose. At the edge of the yard, she turned to say goodbye. Mama stood in the doorway, wringing a dish towel until it was as tight as her face.
“See you in a little while,” Sachi said, then caught up to Papa. She took his hand, so warm wrapped around hers. But the cold stung her cheeks and made her eyes water.
Wispy clouds floated across the gray sky like the incense smoke that had drifted from their altar, while leaves skipped across manicured yards of white stucco houses, racing to stay ahead of Sachi.
She tugged at her father’s arm. “Look, Papa. The swirling leaves. Over there.”
“They are dancing for us,” he replied.
She let go of his hand and spun around and around. She stopped, dizzy, and smiled. “I don’t mind this kind of dancing.”
As the world stopped spinning, she noticed a car slow down as it passed. The driver stared at them.
Papa took her hand. “Let’s go.”
She skipped to keep up and wondered why Papa was walking so fast.
When they arrived at the park, Sachi ran ahead to the swing set. Empty seats swayed in the wind like unruly ghosts. She grabbed one and sat in it, then pushed her feet against the ground. Back and forth. Back and forth. Too slow! She wanted to swing higher and faster.
“Papa, come push me!”
Obliging, he walked to Sachi, grabbed the swing, and pushed.
“Higher, Papa! Higher!” Her ponytail flew up, and her stomach tickled. She felt Papa’s hand on her back, pushing. Higher and higher.
He grabbed the chains on either side of her and slowed her. “We should go now,” he said.
“Just a little longer,” she pleaded. She jumped from the swing and ran to the slide before he could say no, then climbed the ladder to the top and waved. Sliding down, cold metal stung the back of her legs, but she jumped up and ran to the ladder again, trying to beat Papa’s next call to leave. As she climbed each step, she waved at the paper boy who rode by on his bicycle, and laughed at the little dog who tried to keep up.
She wasn’t going to wait for permission before climbing the ladder again. “Just one more time, Papa.” Perched at the top, she turned to wave.
Papa was not alone. Three boys surrounded him, pushing and hitting as he tried to protect himself.
Panic surged through her and she almost lost her balance. She grabbed the slide rail.
Why are they hitting him?
She screamed. “Stop! Papa!”
But the boys kept bullying, yelling ugly things like the kids at school.
The fat boy with brown hair threw Papa to the ground like a rag doll, kicked him in the stomach, then tossed his cigarette at Papa.
Papa’s gaze found Sachi. He drew his finger to his mouth. Shhh.
The tallest boy, his blond hair greased back, spat at Papa. “Enemy Jap!” He kicked her father in the face.
Sachi squeezed her eyes shut.
The two Caucasian—hakujin—boys stepped aside, and a colored boy—kokujin—walked to where her father lay. Kokujin leaned over to say something to Papa and stood over him for a minute.
Maybe he was going to stop.
No!
He plunged his foot into Papa’s stomach. The other two boys patted Kokujin on the back, laughing.
How could they laugh? Once, she kicked a dog because it was chasing her. But even with a dog, when it yelped and ran away, she didn’t laugh.
Her father was moaning, but Sachi couldn’t understand what he was saying. She watched, confused, her heart beating hard like it wanted to crawl through her tightening throat. Every part of her body urged her to slide down, run to help Papa. But he told her to be quiet. Still, how could she sit and watch them hurt him? Tears burned her eyes but turned cold on her cheeks. She couldn’t breathe.
Cars drove past. Someone must have seen what was happening. Why didn’t they stop to help?
The boys kept kicking, chanting, “Dirty Jap!”
Papa covered his head with his hands and curled his body.
She could no longer obey. It didn’t matter that Papa told her to stay and be quiet. Didn’t matter that there were three boys bigger than she was. She’d kick. She’d bite. She’d scratch. Anything to help Papa. At last, she pushed herself down the slide. Her scream erupted. “Stop it! Stop!”
As she ran toward them, the colored boy looked at her. Hazel eyes.
He turned to the other two. Was he trying to pull them away? It didn’t matter. They kept kicking and yelling. Over and over and over.
The colored boy with hazel eyes ran away.
Papa’s body uncurled, motionless.
She ran harder than she’d ever run before, but couldn’t get there fast enough.
“That’ll teach you a lesson,” said the blond. Cigarette smoke puffed from his mouth. “Now get on back to Japan and tell your enemy brothers to leave us alone.” He kicked Papa again.
Leave him alone leave him alone please leave him alone. The words pounded in Sachi’s head even faster than she ran.
The boys stepped away and slapped each other on the back, the way Nobu’s teammates did when they’d won a game.
Almost there. Almost there. They turned and glared at her—the big, blond bully, cigarette hanging from his mouth, and the fat, ugly one with stringy, brown hair and freckles all over his face.
Someone was screaming. She turned to see through a blur of tears. He was running from across the street. Nobu!
“What have you done?” her brother cried. “Joe? Terrence? How could you do this to my father?”
The colored boy looked back as he ran, stopped for a moment, then took off again, stumbling in his haste. The two hakujin boys dashed away, like cockroaches at the flick of a light.
Sachi dropped to Papa’s side before Nobu reached them. She held his head in her lap and wiped the blood from his face. “Papa, wake up. Papa!”