Sunday morning after Chidori informed me that she didn’t think we should see each other any more, I was too miserable to get out of bed. Ma called me three times, but my body protested the idea of moving. My heart was broken into a hundred shards, like a stepped-on seashell.
Chidori was going to be at church. And it would be a torturous demoralization to sit through the entire service staring at her, knowing she didn’t want to even give us a chance. Inconsolably dejected, I moaned and rolled over onto my side.
‘Are you not well?’ my mother asked from my bedroom door. She let my Border collie Patch in so he would lick my face.
I could barely muster the motivation to pull the sheet over my head. Patch jumped up on the mattress, which normally Ma wouldn’t have allowed, but she knew his wiggling would force me to get up.
Ma sat on the edge of my bed and rubbed my back in the comforting way she used to when I was a young boy. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing. I’m fine.’ The truth was too painful to admit.
‘Hayden, darling, I’m your mother.’ She stood and pushed the drapes open to let the sunshine flood in through the window. ‘I can tell something is bothering you.’
It became obvious she wasn’t going to leave me be unless I told her, so I sat up with my back against the headboard. Patch rested his head on my lap and gazed up at me sympathetically with his one blue and one brown eye as I patted behind his ear. ‘Chidori doesn’t think we should spend time together any more.’
Mother’s eyebrow twitched subtly. ‘Well, surely that’s for the best.’
Tension crept across my chest and up my neck as she picked my Sunday clothes out of the wardrobe. She banished Patch from my room and then laid my suit out on the foot of my bed. The idea that she was not only not bothered by the development, but in fact seemed pleased was insulting. Her insensitivity rubbed me the wrong way. ‘There is nothing in the world I cherish more than my relationship with Chidori. How can not seeing each other be for the best?’
‘It’s just the way things are in these times of war. Japan has betrayed Canada. I know it’s difficult, but it can’t be helped. Get dressed, dear. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.’
‘You think I shouldn’t be friends with Chidori because she’s Japanese-Canadian, but you don’t mind that Pa works for Massey and her father. That’s hypocritical, don’t you think?’
She paused at the doorway, unfazed by my growing annoyance. ‘You’ll understand the difference when you get older.’
‘I’m old enough. I know who I want to spend my time with.’
With an air of indifference, she pinned her cloche hat to her hair and said, ‘You are at an age now where you should spend time with young women you could potentially have a future with. Marrying Chidori is certainly not an option.’
I swung my legs over the edge of the mattress to place my feet on the floor, then stood. ‘Why not?’
‘Don’t play naive, Hayden. War is serious and Japan is our enemy now.’
‘Only Japan? What about Germany and Italy? Joey’s Italian-Canadian. Do you think it’s for the best if I stop being friends with him too?’
‘You’re missing the point.’
‘Am I? Or is everyone else missing the point?’
Ma held up her white-gloved palms to indicate she wasn’t going to argue with me. ‘All I’m saying is there are plenty of suitable woman for you to marry and have children with who are not Japanese.’
‘Really? What makes them more suitable? Have they known me their entire lives and been right beside me for every important event that has ever happened? Will they laugh at my stupid sense of humour the way Chidori does? Did they earn awards for both music and academics like Chidori? Can they do everything from drive a tractor to bake an award-winning pie half as well as Chidori can? Are they beautiful enough to make everyone halt what they are doing when they walk into a room? Chidori is all those things and more. How could someone else possibly be more suitable simply because they aren’t of Japanese heritage?’
Mother’s eyelids dropped in a measured blink as she inhaled in an impatient way. ‘I just want what is best for you.’ She closed my door behind her when she left.
I knew what was best for me. My mother’s opposition fuelled my determination to get dressed, go to church, and do whatever it took to change Chidori’s mind. I wasn’t going to quit.
Eating breakfast wasn’t an option my stomach was comfortable with, which was fine since Ma rushed Rose and me out the door to Pop’s Ford Model A. It felt as if the island had grown in diameter overnight. Although it was the longest ten-minute drive I had ever experienced, when we pulled into the parking lot of St Mary Magdalene’s Church, I still wasn’t sure what to say to Chidori. The Setoguchis stood near the front steps, proper and sophisticated. The sight of Chidori in a dark navy dress and beret, looking as sorrowful as if she were attending a funeral made me choke on my own spit when I tried to swallow. Before I stepped out of the car, she disappeared inside.
Not wanting to cause a scene in front of the entire congregation, I sat at the back of the church with Joey and my sister as the reverend spoke.
After the service everyone filed back outside. Chidori’s family socialized near the parking lot, but she was nowhere in sight.
‘Hey.’ Joey stood beside me. ‘Did you read this?’ He handed me the newspaper folded open to an article on page five written by a member of Parliament. ‘This fella thinks Japanese Canadians should be stripped of their Canadian citizenship. He wants them sent back to Japan.’
‘That makes no sense. Does he mean the ones who are Japanese nationals?’
‘Nope.’ Joey shook his head and talked around the toothpick propped in the side of his mouth. ‘Everyone of Japanese race. The Canadian-born ones, too.’
‘What? Why?’ I scanned the strongly worded letter that incited bigotry.
Joey sat on a bench and squinted over at all the Japanese families from Mayne Island. ‘The MP claims that even if they were born in Canada their loyalties could still be with their ancestral homeland. He alleges it’s a threat to national security because they can spy for Japan.’
I finished the article. ‘This is ridiculous. Are they really suggesting that someone like Chidori is a threat to national security? And pardon me for saying, but if anyone with family ties to an enemy country is suspect, then they should be writing about Italian families like yours too.’
His eyebrows angled together as he nodded pensively. ‘They have arrested a few Italians and Germans back east for being politically involved in Fascism or Nazism or for allegedly spying.’
‘Are they threatening to deport you to Italy?’
‘No. You know sentiments against Japanese-Canadian industry has been brewing since long before the war. The government revoked and restricted fishing and logging licenses to the Japanese Canadians for years, just to stifle their earning potential. And it ain’t no secret that white greenhouse growers around these parts would be happy to get rid of their Japanese-Canadian competitors.’
‘They can’t get rid of an entire group of people because they work hard and are successful at what they do.’
He shrugged, not sure what else to say.
I swore under my breath. ‘Excuse me, Joey.’ I walked over and handed the paper to Chidori’s uncle. Because of Massey’s political knowledge, business sensibility, and natural leadership qualities, he was well-respected in the Japanese-Canadian community – both on Mayne Island and in Vancouver. He’d surely have an opinion. ‘Have you seen this?’
He nodded, but didn’t speak. Not exactly the strong opinion I had anticipated.
‘Chidori has never even set foot in Japan. The government can’t make her move to Japan, can they?’
Massey made the same powerless shrug Joey had made. ‘There’s a war going on, Hayden. I imagine the government can do whatever it chooses.’
A panicked feeling swirled around in my stomach. ‘That’s not right. She’s Canadian. This is her home.’
‘There isn’t anything we can do about it. The federal government invoked the War Measures Act.’
I shook my head, not following. ‘I don’t know what that means.’
Massey donned his fedora and coat, then explained, ‘The War Measures Act transfers the powers of Parliament to the governor in Council. It allows them to make emergency orders in the name of national security, then pass them without consulting with or informing Parliament.’
‘So a handful of politicians can do whatever they please?’
‘Basically.’ He scoffed. ‘Also known as the Mackenzie King government’s loophole to pass discriminatory policies and sell them to the masses as military strategy. Nobody will catch a clue until it’s too late.’
‘We have to say something.’
‘If a judge can’t stop them, neither can a citizen.’
‘It’s not right.’
He nodded to agree, but surprisingly wasn’t hot under the collar about it the way I was.
‘Are you coming, Hayden?’ Pop called from across the parking lot as Ma and Rose climbed into the Model A.
I searched the crowd and spotted Chidori talking to Donna Mae near the garden. ‘No. I’m going to walk,’ I called back, distracted.
Massey took the newspaper from me and wandered over to show it to a group of the other Japanese residents. I weaved through the crowd and stood where Chidori couldn’t avoid me. Her mother, who was dressed in a red suit and matching pillbox hat, bowed politely when she saw me, then gracefully walked away and slid into the front seat of their Cadillac. Her father and brothers were still talking with Massey and Mr Nagata, which gave me a moment with Chidori.
‘Chidori, would it be all right if I spoke with you?’
She nodded, tears brimming in her eyes.
‘Excuse us, Donna Mae.’ I said before I guided Chidori by the elbow to a spot near the roses where nobody could overhear our conversation.
She spoke first. ‘I am so incredibly sorry if I hurt you by changing my mind so abruptly. That certainly wasn’t my intention.’
‘Will you change it back?’
She covered her cheeks with her palms, pained by whatever multitude of thoughts were racing through her mind simultaneously. ‘I’m so confused, Hayden. My opinion keeps tossing back and forth. I don’t know the right thing to do. I was prepared to … but then I … have you read the article in the newspaper?’
‘Yes, but it’s only blustering. They can’t treat you like the enemy. You’re Canadian.’
‘What if it happens? What if I am arrested and sent away to Japan? If you and I spend time together now and get even closer …’ She paused and glanced at me. ‘There’s no point.’
‘Do you honestly believe that?’
‘In my head, yes.’ She tapped her temple and then placed her palm on her chest. ‘In my heart, no.’
‘Then listen to your heart.’
‘But if I do that and we are torn apart by circumstances outside our control, it will be much worse.’
‘We don’t know that’s going to happen. All we know for certain right now is that I want to be with you. If you want to be with me, too, then there is nothing else to worry about.’
‘Gah.’ She pressed the heels of her hands against the sides of her head with vice pressure. ‘This is all so overwhelming. I need more time to think’
‘No you don’t. Listen to your heart. Either you want to be with me or you don’t.’
‘It’s not that simple.’ Her voice cracked and she obviously didn’t want to start crying, so she spun to walk away. ‘I need you to respect that I’m conflicted, Hayden. Please don’t make this harder than it already is.’
I followed behind as she bee-lined towards the Cadillac. ‘I know what I want. I’m not the one who’s making it hard.’
She yanked the handle and swung the car door open. ‘I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hurt you. I just need space to think. It’s better to have no contact while I sort everything out,’ she said in a restrained voice before she slid into the back seat and shut the door.
Her father and brothers walked up and got in the car. She glanced at me briefly through the window before they drove away. Her cheeks were streaked with tears and the sight crushed my chest.