Cherry Blossom Baseball (23 page)

Her mother usually held back on her conversation until her father put down his chopsticks, but this time she spoke just as he filled his mouth. “You need to go with him.”

“With who?”

“Antonio,” she said, “when he shows his box to the furniture store owner.”

“He doesn't need me, he's a big boy.” Sam scowled and resumed eating.

“He will need help carrying it,” Michiko said. “And your little box would fit inside.”

Her father put his chopsticks down. “Leave Mr. Downey?”

“There will be plenty of men looking for work now that the war is over,” Eiko said. She walked to him and placed her hand over his. “You gave up baseball for your family; don't give up woodworking. You know you love that more than planting bulbs.”

Sam brushed her hand away, his eyes only half-rising from the table. Then he stood and headed for the door.

“Someone who stands behind a wall can see nothing else,” Eiko said to his back.

But he did not respond.

That night, Tony knocked on Michiko's bedroom window. She wrapped her tiny
tansu
in a towel and passed it out to him.

The next morning, when Mr. Palumbo helped Tony carry his treasure box to the Greyhound bus stop, Tony and Michiko exchanged a secret smile.

“So my dad says,” Billy said, “why would I want to sell my farm? It's been in my family for generations.” He wound up for a pitch and threw the battered baseball that the coach had given them toward Michiko. “Do you know what Mr. Leahey says?”

Michiko shook her head as she caught the ball.

Billy put his hands on his hips. “Leahey says my father will end up owning the only farm for miles, because everyone else is taking advantage of the war being over, selling up, and moving on with their lives.” He caught the return ball, and the two of them took steps back.

“What did your dad say?”

Billy broke into a huge smile. “That's good, I'll have lots of business,” but he didn't throw the ball as the two swerved their heads to see to who was coming down the lane.

A man in a brown uniform, with khaki puttees topping his highly polished boots, bicycled toward them in the middle of the afternoon. Under his large, peaked cap, a pencil stuck out from behind his ear. He leaned his bike against the maple tree and headed for Mr. Downey's front door. There he held out a flimsy yellow envelope. Michiko watched what happened next. She had seen the Western Union man deliver telegrams before, and it usually was bad news.

To her surprise, Mr. Downey stepped out and accompanied the man to their front door. “Eiko?” he called out as the man waited at his side.

Michiko and Billy ran to see what was going on.

“It's a telegram,” her mother said. “For your father.”

“Who is it from?” Billy asked.

“Good news or bad, it will be shared after dinner,” Eiko said, propping it up front of the sugar bowl.

Later, Michiko stood beside her father as he sliced the telegram open with a kitchen knife and read aloud.

Got job (stop)

Offer for my teacher too(stop)

Tony(stop)

Still holding the knife, Sam sank back into his chair. “I can't go till the end of the season.”

“And I can't leave until the end of the baseball season,” Michiko chimed in. She put her arm around her mother's waist. “I could stay and take care of Father. This time, you could go ahead and get everything settled.”

Her mother rose from the table and picked up Hannah. “Surely Sadie would be able to find us a place in Toronto,” she said.

“I don't even know where this place is,” Sam muttered as he stuffed the telegram back into its envelope.

“I do,” Michiko called out as she raced to her bedroom. She pulled the worn, folded advertisement from her little blue box.
Why didn't I notice that before?
she wondered.
The box is the same colour as Eddie's eyes
. She could use it for his letters when they moved to Toronto.

T
he
names of the Japanese families are changed, but the people involved in Michiko's story are quite real. My mother-in-law, Eiko Kitagawa Maruno, allowed me to explore her life through personal photographs and memories. To better understand the family's experience in the internment camp of New Denver, my husband and I travelled through the Kootenay Mountains to the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre.

Special thanks goes to Eiko's very good friend, Pat Adachi, whose father took her to all the Japanese baseball games, where she happily munched peanuts. Her published books,
Asahi Legends
and
The Road to the Pinnacle
, about the famed Asahi baseball teams, provided me with valuable information. These British Columbia teams are now honoured in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Canadian Army Language School opened in Vancouver, British Columbia, in August 1943. The British Army needed men who could speak Japanese for service in Burma. Thirty-one Nisei swore allegiance to the King and enlisted in the Canadian Army. They were all sent to No. 20 Basic Infantry Training Camp at Brantford, Ontario. The Nisei were kept together as a platoon in B Company.

Early in 1945, Canada began to prepare a special force for the invasion of Japan, and Major Aiso visited the first Nisei group in basic training in Brantford to administer language tests to fifty-two recruits. From Brantford they went to Vancouver to attend the Canadian Army Japanese Language School. They were able to graduate from the twelve-month course in eight weeks, promoted to the rank of sergeant, and went overseas as members of the Canadian Intelligence Corps. By the time they reached the British Intelligence Corps in India, the war was over, but they were needed for clean-up work. Roy Ito's book,
We Went to War
, and the reports of Lt. W.H. Agnew, were valuable resources.

Pete Gray was not a publicity stunt. Named MVP in 1944, he batted .333, with 68 stolen bases.

The article about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball told the story of the Rockford Peaches, Fort Wayne Girls Club, South Bend Blue Sox, Kenosha Comets, Grand Rapids Chicks, Racine Belles, Anastasia Batikis, Annabelle Lee, Faye Dancer, Mary “Bonnie” Baker, and others. It appeared on page 63 of the sports section in
Life
magazine on June 4, 1945. I let Michiko read it two months earlier for the purpose of this novel; one bit of artistic license.

The Kellogg's Rice Krispies Marshmallow Treats recipe, first advertised in 1940, became a popular food for mailing to service people abroad.

It wasn't until January 2, 1945, that Canadian citizens of the Japanese race were freed from all federal or army supervision and allowed to go back to their homes. Having travelled so far from Vancouver, my husband's family did not consider returning, making Ontario their permanent home.

On September 22, 1988, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney attempted to right the wrongs of the internment with a formal apology and compensation for losses. His government also funded the Canadian Race Relations Foundation to ensure this would not happen again in our democratic country.

I am grateful to Sylvia McConnell for accepting my first manuscript,
When the Cherry Blossoms Fell,
which began The Cherry Blossom Series, and Allister Thompson with the editing process. Thanks also go to the team at Dundurn Press.

Sylvia McNicoll welcomed me to her writing group when I first moved to Burlington. Twice a month, Sylvia, Gisela Sherman, Amy Corbin, Claire Carver-Dias, Deborah Serravalle, Jim Bennett, Rory and Janice D'Eon, Chelsey Rainford, Steve Donnelly, and Sue Williams met. Thank you for running the bases with me.

To Stan, David, Erin, and Phil, I thank you for your never-ending support.

Japanese vocabulary in order of appearance in the story