Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury Read Free Book Online Page B

Herbie?”
    A long pause.
    “We all right,” she said. “What about you? Are you eating? Do you have enough—”
    “Ma, I'm fine, but what about Pop? Is he home?”
    That silence again.
    “Ma?”
    “He went down Immigration, day after those planes came. He…he turn himself in.”
    “
Why,
Ma? What did he do?”
    “You know him, so stubborn when he get some idea.”
    “What idea, Ma?”
    “He went down there because he was ashamed for what Japan did.…It hurt him, Eddy.”
    “Where's he now?”
    “Nobody knows. He didn't come back yet.”
    “But that was almost a week ago.”
    “Lot of men got arrested.”
    “Where's Herbie?”
    “Home. He's okay.”
    “What about Bunichi? Where's he?”
    “I don't know.”
    “But why would they keep Pop? He didn't do anything. They can't just hold him for… for
what
?”
    She didn't answer.
    “Ma. How you going live? How you going get money?”
    “We have savings.”
    The cigar box. College money. Everything Pop had saved. “Listen, Ma. The army pays me thirty dollars a month, remember? I send you that.”
    “ 'S okay, Eddy. We have friends—the Higashis, the Hamamotos. And Herbie working part-time. They need lot of help down the harbor right now, fixing boats. Don't worry about us. You just stay safe, Eddy.”
    “Nothing going happen to me, Ma.”
    I listened to her breathing.
    We were running out of things to say. I could hear Mrs. Higashi in the background, calling her cat.
    “Ma, if Pop comes home tell him to call Schofield and leave a message, okay? I want to know the minute he gets back, or else I going keep worrying about him. If Pop won't call, tell Herbie. Okay, Ma? Will you do that?”
    “I tell Herbie to call you.”
    “Good. And you call me too if you need something, okay? Anything. I'll get it if I can. You promise to call me?”
    She fumbled with the phone, a raspy sound, like she was rubbing her hand over the mouthpiece.
    “Ma,” I said. “Everything going be fine.”
    She said nothing.
    Then: “You… you need me send you something? You need…” Her voice trailed off.
    I closed my eyes and leaned into the phone booth. Got to be so hard on her—me gone, Pop gone. Lucky Herbie was still there, and lucky he was getting big now, and stronger.
    “I have everything I need, Ma.”
    “Eddy?”
    “Yeah?”
    “What we going do?”
    Words stuck in my throat. Just like they always did for Pop. I should never have joined the army. I should be home.
    “Me and Herbie,” I said, searching for an answer. “Ma…we going find a way to hold everything together if they don't let Pop go. Don't worry. We going come out okay.”
    There was a long silence.
    “Ma?”
    Mrs. Higashi came on the phone. “Eddy? I help your mama now. She's overcome. I take care of her, don't you worry, she going be fine.”
    She hung up.
    I stood holding the receiver, then slowly set it on the hook.

Three days later, I got a message to call home. I ran up to the PX and dialed the Higashis. When Herbie finally came on the line, the front of my shirt was dark with sweat.
    “Ma said to call when we knew about Pop,” he said.
    “Where is he, Herbie? Is he okay?”
    “He's home. The FBI arrested lot of guys—Shinto and Buddhist priests, language-school teachers, even fishermen. But not Pop. They kept him at Immigration for a while, asking questions. They searched his shop, too. But they let him go because they need him for help fix small boats.”
    “So Pop's all right?”
    “Same old grumbly self. Just like Sharky. You should have seen the FBI guys trying to walk around that dog. Was funny.”
    I took a deep breath and leaned against the phone booth. Pop was home.
    “Where's Bunichi, Herbie? Ma didn't know.”
    “He's around, because they need him, too.”
    That was a relief.
    “Guess what?” Herbie went on. “They had these guards down at Kewalo, and they put one of them on every Japanese boat. They had big iron picks and were supposed to smash a hole in the bottom