Sachi
September 25, 1942
Sachi had to find Sam before Mama and Nobu found her. “Sam!” She called over and over as she searched the crowd of people that milled around like wind-up dolls. “Sam, where are you?”
She caught a glimpse of Mama talking to Nobu and hid behind a man reading a newspaper. Her mouth went dry and a chill ran down the back of her neck. Her heart pounded like it wanted to escape from her body and stay at Santa Anita. Where was he? He knew they were leaving today.
“There you are.”
Sam. Her heart fluttered at the sound of his voice. She was surprised by the lump in her throat when she turned to see him smiling at her. She would miss the way he laughed at her silly jokes.
“Sam,” she said, biting her lip. “I was afraid I wouldn’t find you before we have to leave.”
“But I found you.” His hand reached for hers. “Come with me.”
She didn’t think her heart could beat harder than when she thought Mama and Nobu would catch her and take her away, but now it did. Sam had never tried to hold her hand before.
“Let’s go to our hiding place,” he said.
“But …” She didn’t want to say it. “I heard them call our number. It’s time to get on the bus.”
“Just for one minute.”
They might never see each other again. The bus—the world that conspired to keep them apart—could wait one minute.
He took her to the shade behind the mess hall. The shade where every day for four months they’d hidden from the world and talked about everything. The place where she’d shared secrets with Sam, every secret except what Mama thought about his father being a butcher. It was here that she learned his favorite food—cheeseburgers. Where she told him about the worst day of her life—when she found out Papa was dead. Where she watched him as he talked, and wondered what he would look like when he grew up. Where she blushed when he called her a “silly girl” for being afraid of a beetle that had scurried over her foot. So many memories she would never forget.
“This place won’t be the same without you, Sachi.”
She stared at the ground so he wouldn’t see her cry. “I wish you were going to Arkansas,” she whispered.
“I’ll write to you. I promise.”
“And I’ll write back. Every day.”
He leaned over and searched her face. “Are you crying?”
She spun away and wiped her eyes. “No.”
“Don’t try to deny it, silly girl. I see where your tears fell in the dirt.”
With a pouty frown, she hid the smile his “silly girl” prompted and gave him a gentle shove. “So what. I’m sad, okay? Aren’t you sad?”
Putting his hands in his pockets, he smiled. “Yeah. But boys don’t cry.” He turned to the mess hall and began to flick off paint from the peeling wall. “Think they’ll ever paint these buildings?”
Sachi moved to his side. “Sam?”
He looked at her as a tear fell to his cheek. “I don’t want you to go,” he whispered, before pulling her toward him for a hug.
An awkward second passed before she also wrapped her arms around him. She’d never been hugged by a boy before. Well, at least not a boy that wasn’t her brother. And this was different. Sam’s arms held her on the outside, but on the inside, something warm and wonderful wrapped around her heart.
“Do you think we’ll ever see each other again?” she asked.
“I hope—”
“Sachi! We’ve been looking all over for you!” Nobu’s words brought the real world crashing back.
She pushed Sam away.
Nobu grabbed her arm. “Didn’t you hear them call us? Come on! It’s time to get on the bus.”
She resisted Nobu’s tug, but knew it was useless. No amount of time would have been enough to say goodbye. As he pulled her away, she turned to wave.
Sam wiped his face with his sleeve.
When they reached the bus, Mama pushed her up the steps. “Hurry and find a seat. All of these people have been waiting for you.”
She sat in a window seat and pressed her face against the glass, searching for Sam. There he was, standing under her window.
“Goodbye,” she cried.
The engine revved and the bus jerked forward. She turned to watch Sam and listened for his voice through the rumble of the engine, until she could no longer hear him.
In the cloud of dust the bus left behind, she watched him wave and read his lips.
“Sayonara, Sachi.”