The Purple Heart (21 page)

“I’ll see you in the
morning then. Oh and Hiroshi, thank you,” Minami said as she turned away.

The next morning, Hiroshi
woke up bright and early, even though he had a restless night. He was still
numb from the previous night’s events. Even though Minami had reassured him
that she wasn’t angry with him, an immense sense of guilt weighed on him. Guilt
was not a common emotion for Hiroshi, but then he’d never kicked his
girlfriend’s father out the window before either.

With tools and a ladder in
hand, Hiroshi found himself second-guessing his intentions. He had promised
that he would fix the window, but he hoped that that would be the only thing he
needed to fix. Anything can change after a night’s sleep. Perhaps Minami would
react differently than when she left him the night before. But he soldiered
onward and decided that he would deal with whatever situation may present
itself.

Hiroshi quietly arrived at
the back of the barrack. In the morning light, the entire area looked worse
than it did in the moonlight, and it shook Hiroshi’s confidence even more. On
the ground were glass and shards of wood that converged around the spot where
Mr. Ito had landed. He looked up at the window and saw the jagged splinters of
wood and glass protruding out of the frame. A blanket was hung up against the window.
Only silence could be heard from inside the barrack. Minami and her family were
either still sleeping or they had already gone to breakfast. He was relieved
that he didn’t have to see Minami yet.

He carefully placed the
bucket of tools by the wall and propped up the ladder against the window. With
a pair of work gloves, he began gathering the remnants of the window into a
pile. He was making steady progress when a welcoming voice broke the morning
silence.

“Good morning Mr. Fix-It
man,” called out Minami.

Hiroshi straightened up.
Minami had appeared from underneath the blanket with her chin resting in the
cup of her hands, propped up by her elbows along the windowsill. She was
smiling at him, admiring him from afar. “Good morning,” replied Hiroshi cautiously.
“How long have you been there?”

Minami tilted her head and
her eyes upward to the right and responded, “Mmm…not too long.” She then
brought her head back down and focused her eyes on Hiroshi as she grinned at
him.

Hiroshi looked down for a
moment as the guilt continued to gnaw at him. But he deduced that Minami wasn’t
mad, or at least he hoped she wasn’t.

“You know, Hiroshi, you’re
full of surprises,” said Minami.

Hiroshi looked up at Minami
and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Mmm… well when I first met
you, you were like the water boy, then you were this rooftop astrologer, then
you became this incredible baseball player, then you were this karate master,
and ultimately my hero.” Minami then glanced down at Hiroshi with her wondrous
eyes and looked up as if pulling words out of the sky. “Then you’re also a
carpenter… Mmm… I might even say you’re some unconventional psychiatrist who
has an interesting way of curing his patients by kicking them out of a window.”

That’s when the unbearable
sense of guilt finally took its toll as Hiroshi burst out in an apologetic
tone. “About last night, I’m so sorry. I’m so really am sorry. I don’t know
what came over me…”

“Hiroshi,” Minami said
sharply catching Hiroshi’s attention.

Hiroshi’s ears perked up
along with an apologetic expression as Minami motioned with her right index
finger to climb up the ladder. Hiroshi took a few steps forward and hoped that
it wouldn’t be some humorous joke at his expense where she would push the
ladder over once he reached the top.

“Minami…” said Hiroshi as
Minami quickly placed her finger to her lips beckoning him to be quiet. Hiroshi
reached the top and was inches away from her face. She smiled at him and she
whispered, “Ready?”

Hiroshi was convinced that
she would push the ladder back, so he braced himself and whispered back, “Ready
for what?”

With a smile, she extended
her left arm underneath the blanket that draped behind her and gently pulled it
back. Hiroshi had to focus his eyes to the barrack’s darkness, as he wasn’t
sure what he was supposed to be seeing. Then he saw Minami’s parents sleeping.

Hiroshi looked back at
Minami bewildered and shook his head. “I don’t get it,” he said.

Minami then let the blanket
fall gently back into place and shook her head in disappointment. “Men! You’ll
never get it,” she said.

Hiroshi stared at Minami
blankly, but then Minami placed a quick kiss on his lips and leaned back.

“He’s holding her. He
hasn’t held my mother since he’s come back. But after last night, he’s held her
all night. I think both of my parents are smiling too,” whispered Minami as a sense
of happiness was reflected back in her eyes. “It’s so cute.”

Hiroshi smiled after
finally understanding. He wished Mr. Ito all the best and perhaps, he could
finally rejoin the family as the man he once was. Whatever demons he still had
with him, he could now find the will to defeat them.

In a low voice, Mr. Ito
called out to Minami from behind the blanket. Minami’s eyes darted to her left
and then centered back onto Hiroshi. “That’s my Dad. I better get back,” said
Minami as she began to pull away.

Hiroshi placed his hand on
Minami’s and held it on the windowsill. Minami glanced back at Hiroshi as he
asked, “When will I see you today?”

Minami offered a playful
smile and responded, “Don’t be silly. You still have to help me get water.”
Minami leaned in and placed another quick kiss on Hiroshi’s lips and gently
pulled away and disappeared behind the blanket.

A sense of utter relief
came over Hiroshi. A great big smile spread over his face. He grabbed the sides
of the ladder, placed his feet alongside it and slid down. He clapped his
hands, removed his gloves and threw them into the bucket. He gently kicked a
few of the last remnants into the pile until Minami appeared at the corner. He
walked over to Minami, who took his hand into hers and they stared into one
another for a moment. Minami leaned up and gently kissed Hiroshi as they walked
to the water pump.

After breakfast, Hiroshi
had returned to the broken window and made quick work of the area. He removed
all of the last remaining shards of glass and splinters from the empty window
frame. Hiroshi had just fetched his hammer and climbed back up when he found
Mr. Ito standing in the window frame. Mr. Ito was wearing black pants and a
somewhat wrinkled white dress shirt that was untucked. He had his arms crossed
but looked appreciatively down at Hiroshi.

“Good morning, Mr. Ito,”
said Hiroshi in a cautious tone.

“Good morning to you too
Hiroshi,” said Mr. Ito in a low and casual tone. He looked forward, inhaled
deeply and outstretched his arms. He then spoke, “It’s not ocean air, but it’s
a better day than yesterday and a pretty nice morning.”

“I agree with you, Mr.
Ito.” There was a hint of nervousness in Hiroshi’s tone. He had never spoken to
Mr. Ito in a conversation, and he was the father of the woman whom he had grown
to love and care for. Hiroshi wanted to make a good impression on him but he
couldn’t help remembering that he was also the man he kicked out of the window.
He was simply hoping that Mr. Ito’s response would be the same as Minami’s.

“Let me help you with
that,” offered Mr. Ito as he gripped the window.

“It’s okay, Mr. Ito, I can
take…”

“It wasn’t a request
Hiroshi,” Mr. Ito said sternly.

Hiroshi nodded and replied,
“No, I guess it wasn’t.”

The two men worked together
in silence. Mr. Ito held the window in place while Hiroshi used the hammer to
pull out the nails. They traded roles when Hiroshi couldn’t reach the nails at
the very top. Mr. Ito removed the last nail, and Hiroshi gathered up the nails
that were placed on the windowsill into one hand and held them out. Mr. Ito
took the nails and placed them alongside the other nails on the floor. Together
they jiggled free the window out of the opening.

“I’ll lower it down to
you,” said Mr. Ito.

“Will do,” said Hiroshi as
he carefully gripped the broken window and climbed back down the ladder. He set
the broken window against the wall.

“Come back up for the
nails, Hiroshi,” said Mr. Ito.

Hiroshi climbed back up the
ladder and Mr. Ito carefully tumbled the nails into Hiroshi’s hand. Hiroshi
dropped the nails into the white bucket below.

“I have more for you,
Hiroshi,” said Mr. Ito, as he leaned out the window.

Hiroshi diligently climbed
back up the ladder and reached the top when Mr. Ito handed him a glass jar with
a green metal twist lid. Hiroshi took the jar into his hands and looked at it.
“What is it?” he asked.

Mr. Ito knelt back down
with his elbow on the window opening and gently flicked the side of the glass
jar with his fingertip, jiggling the contents momentarily. He stared at it for
another moment before responding. “That, Hiroshi, is poison. Well, not really.
It’s sake, and that’s what’s been destroying me. I want you to throw this one
away for me.”

Hiroshi smiled and was
moved by the trust that Mr. Ito suddenly confided in him. He pulled the jar
away from Mr. Ito. “Sure thing. I’ll throw it…”

But before Hiroshi could
finish his sentence, Mr. Ito produced a similar jar filled with sake. He placed
it on the bottom of the window opening and before Hiroshi could even speak
again, he brought up another and then another until four jars sat on the bottom
of the window opening. Mr. Ito just gave Hiroshi a serious stare until he looked
up.

“Don’t tell Mrs. Ito, but I
kept them hidden under her side of the bed,” said Mr. Ito.

Hiroshi had to laugh. Mr.
Ito chuckled as well, then he looked at Hiroshi square in the face with such
seriousness that Hiroshi couldn’t do anything but give him his full attention.

“I’m trusting you with this
secret. You helped me to see yesterday. Today you can stop me from poisoning
myself. I owe it…” Mr. Ito paused. “I owe it to my family.”

Hiroshi nodded with a
newfound respect for Mr. Ito and a silent understanding between the two was
formed. Just then a startled look came over Mr. Ito’s face as a distant voice
came from behind him in the barrack. “Dad, I’m back!”

Mr. Ito looked back in
alarm at Hiroshi, “Quick, it’s Minami!”

Hiroshi didn’t hesitate and
quickly slid back down the ladder and motioned to Mr. Ito to toss him the jars.
Mr. Ito quickly tossed them one by one toward Hiroshi, who caught each one
effortlessly. The last jar dropped out of his hands just when Minami appeared
from the blanket partition to see her father straightening up.

“Good morning Minami,” said
Mr. Ito.

“We’re all washed up, Mom
and the others are close behind but I wanted to see how Hiroshi… wow!” Minami
turned to look at the empty window opening, leaned out and saw Hiroshi busily
working below. “Wow, you already removed the broken window?” she hollered down
to Hiroshi.

Hiroshi smiled back and
said, “Your father helped.”

“Oh, he did?” Minami turned
to her father, “Thanks Dad, but you shouldn’t overexert yourself.”

“I’m fine, just getting to
know Hiroshi a little better. A little male bonding,” said Mr. Ito as he
brought his two clenched fists together and shook them vigorously.

“That’s really nice,” said
Minami in a pleased tone.

Both men looked at each
other and nodded in agreement when Minami suggested, “I’ll be right down to
help you, Hiroshi.”

“No!” stammered both men in
unison.

Minami was taken aback by
the sudden simultaneous response. Mr. Ito quickly and reassuringly placed his
hands along his daughter’s arms, distracting her from the window and gently
said, “What we mean is that Hiroshi is the only one with the gloves and we
don’t want you to get cut by the broken glass or splinters. Isn’t that right,
Hiroshi?” Both Mr. Ito and Minami looked down at Hiroshi, who nervously raised
his gloved hands at them and shook them with a big grin on his face.

The rest of the family then
entered the room and Mr. Ito directed Minami’s attention to them. “Let’s not
bother Hiroshi. He has a lot of
trash
to throw away.”

“Okay,” said Minami.
“Hiroshi, I’ll see you at lunch!” she hollered back before leaving.

Mr. Ito peered over his
shoulders as he glimpsed Hiroshi quickly and stealthily gathering up the
incriminating jars of sake into his arms as Hiroshi yelled back, “Okay, I’ll
see you at lunch!” Then he scurried away.

* * *

That night during dinner,
Mr. Ito took a really hard look at his children, admiring everything about
them. His oldest daughter Minami had matured into a beautiful young woman and
had taken much after her mother. Though he would have preferred it otherwise,
she had developed a sense of independence that he unexpectedly grew to think of
fondly. Miho was also maturing, and she too would be a lovely young woman. She
was a little more self-centered than Minami, but after being on the prison
camp, she had come to value the smaller things in life. Yuka was the awkward
one, a little shy and more sheepish. He appreciated Yuka’s attention to the
family, but wished she could break out of her shell and be more excited about
life. But she was still young. Yoshi, on the other hand, was the family’s
source of excitement. His good nature and sometimes-whimsical outbursts were
always entertaining. He would always manage to break the tedium in the family’s
daily routine and he had the uncanny ability to do so at just the right time.
He will grow up to be a strong man, thought Mr. Ito.