Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky by Sandra Dallas Read Free Book Online

would never return.

1943 | CHAPTER EIGHT
    MAKING FRIENDS with the ENEMY

    THE Boy Scouts from Ellis arrived just after class started. Their scoutmaster had visited the Tallgrass school the week before to make the arrangements for the scouts to attend class and eat lunch. His wife, Mrs. Glessner, was Tomi’s teacher, which was why the scouts were visiting Tomi’s class. She’d heard Mr. Glessner tell his wife that maybe if the children got to know each other, they’d realize they weren’t that different. He’d said they would develop a tolerance the adults didn’t have. Tomi asked Roy what “tolerance” meant, and he told her it meant respect and understanding. That made Tomi think about Mrs. Malkin, her Girl Scout leader at home. Mrs. Malkin didn’t have tolerance.
    The Boy Scouts marched into the room that morningand lined up against the wall. They were older than Tomi. Some wore their scout shirts. Others were dressed in regular clothes, and Tomi wondered if maybe they couldn’t afford to buy uniforms. She hadn’t thought about the Caucasians in Ellis being poor. Some of them might be as poor as the people in the camp.
    Tomi and the other students stood politely as their guests entered the room, and several of the Japanese boys offered their seats on the benches to the visitors. But the scouts seemed embarrassed and stayed where they were, a few putting a foot against the wall to steady themselves.
    “I think there is room on the benches for everyone if you crowd together,” Mrs. Glessner said. The students sat back down and pushed to the middle of the benches, while the scouts found seats at the end. The two groups took quick glances at each other.
    “Today, our history lesson is about the war in Europe,” Mrs. Glessner said. “Who can tell me why we declared war on Germany?”
    “Because the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor, and we don’t like them. They’re our enemy,” a Boy Scout muttered. Another scout snickered.
    Tomi felt the hair on her neck rise. The remark didn’thave anything to do with tolerance. Mr. Glessner was standing in the front of the room and said, “Dennis—”
    But Mrs. Glessner interrupted. “That’s not right. We declared war on the Japanese because they bombed Pearl Harbor, which is part of the United States, and the Germans are allies of the Japanese. ‘Allies’ means partners or friends. But that’s not the only reason we went to war with Germany.” She turned to Dennis. “And in this classroom, we use the word ‘Japanese.’ Calling someone a ‘Jap’ is as offensive as calling you a ‘Kraut’ because your father came from Germany.”
    “Hey, I’m an American,” Dennis said.
    “So are these students. We’re all Americans here. Now, who can answer the question?” When no one answered, Mrs. Glessner looked around the room. “Tomi, can you tell us why we Americans declared war on Germany?” She emphasized the word “we.”
    Tomi felt her face turn red, and she looked down at the table. Why did Mrs. Glessner have to call on her? She wasn’t the smartest one in the class. And she didn’t like people looking at her. Maybe it was because she had written a story in class once about being an American. She glanced at Dennis to make sure he was listening, then said,“ We Americans went to war against Germany because Germany invaded other countries. We Americans are defending our friends.”
    “Very good,” Mrs. Glessner said, then asked another question, but Tomi wasn’t listening. Instead, she was watching Dennis, who had dropped his head until it almost reached the table.
    Later, as she left the classroom to go to the dining hall for lunch, Tomi overheard Mrs. Glessner tell her husband, “I suppose I shouldn’t have talked about the war. Maybe that was too much for the kids.”
    Mr. Glessner said, “Perhaps it was a good thing to get it all out in the open. After all, the camp is starting to issue daily passes so the Japanese kids can go into town. If the town