.16.

“Aaagggh!” he screamed as he brought his hands up to his face and the wad of gum dropped to the ground.

Before anybody could even react, Sam punched him in the stomach and he groaned loudly, exhaling a burst of air. As he doubled over in pain, Sam brought his knee up and connected with the guy’s face. He collapsed into a crumbled heap on the ground, blood spilling from his nose and mouth.

“Who’s next?” Sam screamed as he bounced forward, his fists held high in front of him.

All three of them backed away. They looked shocked — and scared.

“What’s wrong, don’t you want to make the chinks go away?” he yelled. Sam jumped toward one of them, making him stumble back out of the way.

“Come on,” Sam said as he grabbed me by the arm. “We’re leaving.”

They moved out of our way as Sam dragged me past. I expected one of them to lunge out or do something, but instead they made more space for us.

As Sam released his grip on me, I realized that we’d drawn a crowd. I’d been so focused on our four attackers that I hadn’t looked beyond them. There must have been at least two dozen people who had stopped and were staring. Now all the eyes on the street were on us.

“Don’t look back, just keep walking,” Sam said.

“But —”

“And shut up,” he said, cutting me off. “Save your breath, you’re going to need it.”

What did he mean by that? We quickly passed by stores, cutting through people on the sidewalk. I felt like there were eyes burning into our backs.

Rather than going straight at the lights, we turned to the left. I was relieved when we made the turn because we were now out of view.

“Why are we going this way?”

“To get out of sight faster. Come on!” Sam said, and began running.

I started to sprint. Sam, as always, was moving faster than I could. He disappeared down the first side street — the street we’d traveled partway before heading to the main road. At least I understood what he was doing. I dug down deeper and made the street a dozen seconds after him. I was relieved to see that he’d started to walk. I stopped when I reached his side.

“I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t follow us,”

Sam explained. “We couldn’t very well go back under the fence with them watching.”

“I guess not. Do you think that guy’s okay?” I asked.

“Don’t know, don’t care. I didn’t start anything … just finished it. So what do you think? Was I right when I said I can handle myself?”

“No question about that; you cleaned his clock.”

“Yeah, I did. Would have taken the others if they’d been stupid enough to try me. How about you?”

“How about me what?”

“Are you any good with your fists?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Have you had to very often?” Sam asked.

“A few times,” I answered. Of course, that included play fights and arguing with my sisters. I hadn’t actually ever been in a fist fight. Words usually worked.

“I wasn’t sure about you. You looked like you were just going to walk away after he shoved you.”

I felt myself flush. He was wrong, though. I wasn’t just going to walk away — I was prepared to run.

“I thought it was better to get away — you know, not cause a scene,” I said.

“It wasn’t us who caused the scene,” Sam said. “It was them when they stopped us and then shoved you.”

“But it wouldn’t be them that got in trouble if the police came. It would have been smarter to just try —”

“I’m tired of smart!” Sam snapped, interrupting me.

“And I’m tired of people pushing me around. Aren’t you tired of it?” he demanded.

“Of course, it’s just that what —”

“That’s the thing I just can’t get over at that camp,”

Sam said, interrupting me again. “It’s almost like nobody cares. They make us leave our homes, put a fence around us, make us live in stalls, and nobody does anything.

Everybody just bows their heads, smiles and goes along with it. Like last night in the men’s barracks. Why did everybody, hundreds and hundreds of men, just stand there and watch while a few policemen took somebody away?”

“What do you think they should have done?” I asked.

“I don’t know … maybe stop them … maybe something, anything, instead of just standing there like cattle.

Maybe that’s it. It’s okay for them to make us live like cattle because that’s how we’re acting, like dumb, stupid cows being herded around.”

“People have done some things.”

“Like what?” Sam demanded.

“Well … I heard they sent somebody to talk to the government, and people met with the commander of the camp to complain about things.”

“That’s right. Talk. That’s all they do is talk. Talk, talk, talk!”

“What do you think we’re supposed to do instead of talking?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Refuse to do things, disobey the orders, argue or fight with them! Maybe punch somebody right in the nose!”

“Like that would help.”

“It helped today. If I hadn’t stepped in they would have pounded us.”

“You don’t know that. They might have just let us walk away.”

“Crawl away, you mean. They might have just let us crawl away. I’m telling you, I’d rather have to be carried out fighting and screaming and kicking than crawl off like some dog with my tail between my legs! You know, the only people in that whole camp who are doing anything more than just talking are those old people.”

“What old people?” I questioned.

“The ones this morning who aren’t eating. It seems like a pretty stupid way to fight back, but at least they’re doing something — more than the rest of us are doing!”

Before I could answer, I heard a car engine roaring up the street behind us. We both turned in time to see two cars racing toward us. One squealed to a stop, its front wheels bouncing up onto the sidewalk a few houses past us. The second skidded to a stop behind us. Suddenly all four doors of the first car flew open. Five men scrambled out. A shudder shook my whole body as I recognized one boy, now holding a blood-stained towel to his face. It was the guy Sam had knocked down, and he’d come with more friends. There was no question what they wanted.

I heard the sound of car doors slamming and turned around to the car that was behind us. Another four men got out of it and started toward us. We were trapped!

“This way!” Sam screamed as he grabbed me by the arm.

His scream unfroze me, and I ran along beside him up the driveway of the house. We shot past the building and into the backyard. Behind me I could hear yelling and swearing and footsteps charging up the drive after us.

Driven by fear, I was able to stay with Sam, and we both hit the fence at the end of the yard at the same time and were over in a single bound. We’d traveled no more than two dozen steps when I heard the metal fence groaning under the weight of our pursuers. We scrambled across the grass, hitting the gravel drive of the next house at a dead run. Running past the second house, I caught a glimpse of a surprised woman staring at us out of the side window. Once we hit the street, Sam grabbed me by the arm again and aimed me along the sidewalk. I chanced a glance behind me — they weren’t there. Then the first guy broke free from behind the house, followed by another and another! They were still coming, and I felt a surge of fear push me to run faster.

Side by side, we ran along the sidewalk, cars whizzing by. Up ahead I could see the park, the fence surrounding it and the baseball diamond in the distance behind it. If only we could get to the fence, we’d be safe — or, at least, get to the part of the fence where the hole was. That was still a long way off.

“We’re losing ’em!” Sam said.

I looked back. He was right! They were way back and looked like they were slowing down. There was no way I was going to slow down until I was under the fence and halfway across the park.

“Cross over,” Sam yelled as he darted onto the street.

Blindly I followed behind him through a gap in the traffic. We skipped forward around a truck and kept on moving. Again I looked back. There were five of them.

They were strung out over a long distance, some crossing the street, others still on the far side and one already on the same side as us. It didn’t matter how many there were, though — they weren’t going to catch us. Hopefully we could pull away even farther, so they wouldn’t notice us going under the fence. If they did see us, would they be crazy enough to come in after us?

“Geez!” Sam screamed as a car raced by and bumped up onto the sidewalk, squealing to a stop and blocking our way. We skidded to a stop as the doors of the car opened and three guys jumped out. I already felt like somebody had punched me in the stomach. I swiveled my head to see our pursuers had closed in and the first was almost on top of us. He slowed down and the next two caught up to him.

I struggled to catch my breath. My pulse was racing.

Desperately I looked around for a way out. We couldn’t get over the fence. The strands of barbed wire on top of it would rip us to shreds. There was no way over it. Behind it, in the distance, the baseball game was going on … why couldn’t I have been there? The only way was the street … we had to dodge the cars. I took a step toward the street, but Sam put a hand on my shoulder.

“Nope,” he said, shaking his head. “We’re not running any farther.”

“But … but … we can’t fight them … we can’t win,”

I stammered.

“We can’t win, but we’re going to fight them. Get rid of this,” Sam said as he pulled the “I Am Chinese” button off my shirt and then took off his and stuffed them both in his pocket.

“Cover my back and I’ll cover yours.”

They came forward slowly. They knew there was no place to go. There were eight of them, three blocking one side, and five the other. We retreated until the fence was right at our backs.

“Payback time, chinks!” yelled one of them, the one who’d started it all. He threw the bloody towel to the ground.

“Yeah, you’re both going to get a beating!” called out another.

“Does it always take eight whites to take on a couple of chinks?” Sam screamed back.

For a split second they hesitated, as if they were thinking over what Sam had just yelled. Could it somehow …?

“Get ’em!”

They charged at us! I swung my fist wildly, connecting with the first man’s face with a thud. Almost immediately I was knocked backwards. I bounced into the fence, lost my balance and fell to the ground. I screamed as I felt a searing pain shoot through my side and then absorbed another shot to the head. Another blow bit into my side — I was down and being kicked! I tried to scramble to my feet, but I was smashed hard back to the ground. I rolled up into a ball and tried to cover my head with my hands and arms.

Over top of everything I heard the sound of the metal fence being smashed, and there was yelling … in Japanese … but why … and who? I tried to look, feeling the sting of another blow, and another, and through teared-up eyes I caught the blurry outline of somebody scaling the fence … why would they climb the fence? My eyes fell shut … I felt like I was sinking into the ground … even the blows stopped hurting … why was everybody yelling so much?

I strained to open my eyes. There were people, it seemed like dozens of people, screaming and yelling and swearing and punching … why were they punching each other? Sam couldn’t be fighting them all … I suddenly felt myself being pulled up by powerful hands. Why didn’t they just leave me alone? I stumbled and staggered, unable to stand. I was held on both sides.

“It okay, Tadashi.”

“Sam?” I asked. I tried to focus, but I couldn’t.

“Toshio.”

“Toshio?” I asked in amazement. I looked over. He was holding me up under one arm. “But how …”

“The fence. We climb fence.”

I tried to look around. My head was spinning, and my stomach lurched violently as I turned. There were men and boys, Japanese, standing all around us. There were ten or twelve or twenty or … I don’t know how many of them there were. The whites were gone. Their car was gone. Where was Sam?

“Sam!” I yelled out.

“Here, I’m here,” he said.

I turned around and was shocked by what I saw. The whole side of his face was covered in blood, as well as his shirt, which was ripped and practically torn right off his body.

“Now that was a fight!” Sam said. He was beaming, a smile breaking through the blood.

“Your face … you’re hurt.”

He grabbed the tattered remains of his shirt and wiped off some of the blood. More flowed freely from his mouth and nose. He spat and a mouthful of bright red blood stained the ground.

“I’ve had worse,” he said. “Are you okay?”

My whole body either hurt or felt numb and I still thought I might throw up.

“I’m okay,” I said, realizing that my jaw hurt when I answered.

“Did you see them run?” Sam asked.

“I didn’t see anything, nothing.”

“It was like in one of those cowboy movies, you know, where the calvary comes charging over the hill, except this time it was over the fence!” Sam stopped and spat out more bloody saliva.

“But how did they get over the fence?” I asked.

I turned around and saw the answer. There were blankets strewn over the top of the fence, covering up the barbed wire. For the first time, I noticed that there were lots of people standing on the other side of the fence. I guessed that everybody who was either playing or watching the baseball game was now on one side of the fence or the other. As I stood there watching, a couple of men started to scale the fence to get back inside the park.

“Hurry,” Toshio said. “Have to get back.”

I knew he was right. Maybe two boys slipping under a fence wouldn’t be noticed by the passing cars, but a brawl involving this many people couldn’t help but draw attention. Had one of the passing cars stopped at the main gate, or pulled over to a telephone booth and called the police … I knew what would happen if we were found outside the park.

“Let’s go,” I said. I took a tentative step and winced in pain. I brought my hand up to my side. The whole right side of my chest hurt — the place where I’d been kicked repeatedly. I tried to take a deep breath, but a stabbing pain, like something digging into my lungs, stopped me.

I grasped the fence with my hands. I looked up at the top and my head felt whoozy. I didn’t know if I could scale it.

“Climb,” Toshio said as he stood at my side.

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Climb, now!” he barked.

That sounded more like the Toshio I knew, always giving people orders. Sam was already halfway up, and others were dropping to the ground on the other side.

“Please … have to … please … Tadpole,” Toshio said.

I didn’t know what surprised me more, his gentle tone of voice or him calling me by my nickname. Nobody but my sisters and Jed ever did that.

“I’ll try.”

I reached up and wrapped my fingers around the coils of the fence. I dug in the toe of one shoe and heaved myself up. Pain shot down my right side. I grimaced, but held on.

“Hurry up!” called out voices from the other side of the fence.

“There isn’t much time!”

“Come on, climb!” called out a third.

I used my right hand to hold on while I reached up with my left. I pulled myself up. It didn’t hurt nearly as much using that arm. Grabbing the fence securely with that hand, I very slowly lifted my right hand. Rather than a shooting pain, it was only a dull ache. I repeated the same thing, again and again, limping up the fence.

There were two men perched on the top of the fence, the blanket beneath them, and they reached down and pulled me up. I had to bite down hard and clench my teeth to avoid screaming out in pain. My feet slipped down the fence, and for a split second they slid as I tried unsuccessfully to get my toes into the fence. One toe and then the other dug in. Lowering myself was better, not nearly as painful.

I looked up and saw Toshio reach the top. He was the last one over … he’d stayed behind with me … why had he done that … why had he even come over in the first place to help me and Sam? There couldn’t be anybody in this whole park he liked less than the two of us.

The men at the top grabbed the blankets and tore them off the barbed wire. The bundled blankets fell to the ground and the men scampered down the fence, reaching the bottom at the same instant I touched down.

An older gentleman was barking out orders in Japanese. He was yelling for everybody to get back into the bleachers to watch the game, and for the players to start the game. Quickly the crowd followed his instructions. I understood what he was doing. He wanted everything to look normal if soldiers or police came. So people could say, “Fight? What fight? We’re watching baseball … are you sure there was a fight? Oh no, we didn’t see anything … you must be mistaken.”

The old man stopped me. “Doctor see you, and you,” he said, pointing first at me and then at Sam. “And you, and you and you,” he said, aiming his finger at three others who were also cut and bleeding. “All go to infirmary to see doctor … Japanese doctor.”

I hadn’t been to the infirmary, but I’d heard that there were two doctors and some nurses, all Japanese living in the park, who were caring for people. I didn’t want to see any doctor, but maybe I should. Either way, we needed to get away. If soldiers were on the way, it would be hard to hide the fact that we’d been in a brawl.

“Go, different ways … not all together,” the old man ordered.

That made sense. We shouldn’t walk through the park like some sort of parade. He sent the three injured men off. Two of them headed in the completely wrong direction.

“Can you walk?” Sam asked.

I nodded my head. “I can walk … slowly.”

We’d started to walk away when I noticed that while almost everybody had moved away, Toshio was lingering behind.

“Hold on a minute,” I said to Sam.

I limped over to Toshio’s side. “Thanks for helping,” I said.

He nodded his head.

I wanted to say something more, ask him why … why did he come to help me and Sam, and, maybe even more, why did he help me over the fence after the fighting was all done? If he just wanted a good fight, and that seemed like Toshio, what did staying with me have to do with any of that?

“Japanese help Japanese,” Toshio said quietly, answering my unspoken question.

“Thanks … I mean it.”

“Go before soldiers come,” he said, then turned and walked away toward the baseball game, which had already restarted.