Whispers of a New Dawn (23 page)

Nate spoke up. “Will there be other offers, do you think?”

Jude glanced at his son. “From Tokyo? I hope so. Cooler heads sometimes prevail.”

“What will it take?”

“From where America stands? Complete withdrawal from China. Nothing less.”

“Will we get it?”

“I don’t know.”

Ruth stood up. “Let’s try and keep things lighthearted, shall we? It
is
Thanksgiving Day.” She began gathering up plates and Becky rose to help her. “Who wants dessert?”

Manuku raised a hand. “Shoofly pie, please, Miss Ruth.”

“Hang on to your extra fork then.”

Nate turned to Raven and whispered, “Do you think they will land an army here like they did in China?”

Raven shook his head. “I’m no expert, but if they land troops anywhere it will probably be in the Philippines. We have a big base there.”

“You’re positive they wouldn’t come here?”

“Not positive. But Hawaii’s pretty isolated and doesn’t have the resources they need. There’s really nothing they want. The Philippines have iron, copper, and nickel as well as good anchorage, and they’re a lot closer to Japan.”

Nate’s face was pale. “Would they send you there? Or my sister? Or father?”

“No. Your dad isn’t in the military anymore. And your sister never was. They’re not going anywhere.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t know. They might move planes and pilots to the US base there if things get worse with Japan.”

“They’re not getting any better. Excuse me.”

Nate got up from the table and left the patio. His father noticed. And Becky, who was serving pie. She set down a plate and came toward Raven.

“What’s up with my brother?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. He seems pretty worried about the Japanese invading Hawaii.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That there’s nothing here. They’d be more likely to put an army in the Philippines. Then he got anxious about you or me or your dad being posted there. I reminded him that you and your father were not in the military and couldn’t be sent anywhere. But it didn’t seem to calm him down.”

“Come with me a minute.”

They left Ruth chatting with Manuku and the pilots hovering around Hani and Kalino while Flapjack and Jude sat with Harrison and Goff. Nate was sitting on a bench under a cluster of tall palms about a hundred yards from the house. Becky took Raven’s hand.

“I’m worried about him. Instead of getting better he’s been getting worse since we moved to Hawaii.”

Raven watched Nate put his head in his hands. “I’m no Army shrink but I can see what’s eating him. He’s afraid of getting caught up in another Nanking. Or those he loves getting caught up in one. So whether the Japanese land troops here or in Manila Bay or anywhere in the world it doesn’t matter—it puts fear in his gut. He’s even treating me like family, worked up I’ll get shipped to the Philippines or somewhere else in harm’s way.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Neither do I, Beck. But you and I have both bottled things up that
took the heart out of us. He’s doing the same thing. Nanking is chewing on his soul like a worm.” He began to walk toward Nate. “Let’s try.”

He sat beside Nate. “Is it okay if I park myself here?”

Nate looked at him with large blank eyes. “It doesn’t matter. They could show up at any time.”

“Nate. I couldn’t fly well for the longest time. Did you know about that?”

“Sure. I know something about it.”

“There had been an air accident. My little brother was killed. I blamed myself. Swore I’d never do stunt flying again. Which meant I could never do combat flying.”

Nate clasped his hands together so hard they turned white. “Yeah.”

“So it was your sister, Nate. She helped me. Just by giving me a safe place to talk and get it off my chest. It wasn’t an overnight cure, but it started the ball rolling. I’m shaking the fear of stunt flying, Nate. They’re not going to kick me out of the Army Air Forces after all. I’m getting out from under it.”

“That’s good.”

Becky knelt by her brother and put a hand on his arm. “You know about Moses. I don’t have to tell you how his death devastated me.”

“It devastated all of us.”

“I know. But he was going to be my husband, Nate.”

Nate said nothing.

“I swore I’d never love another man. Never. It made me a holy terror. And when I started having feelings for Christian I was frightened. Frightened of breaking my vow. Frightened I wouldn’t be capable of having any sort of intimate relationship with him, that I wouldn’t know how to talk or listen or show him that I cared.”

“So? You’re doing that now.”

“Bit by bit. Only because I told him about the man I loved and lost. Only because I let go of Moses and let him be in heaven while I went about trying to live on earth. Only because Ruth talked to me about it and Bishop Zook. Only because I prayed to be free of what happened that day in Pennsylvania.”

“What is it you want me to do?”

Raven leaned back. “We kept the stuff that hurt us and ate at us right inside.” He put a fist over his stomach. “It made us sicker and sicker. Like holding in poison instead of spitting it out.”

“You think I’m doing that?”

Becky rubbed Nate’s arm. “He talked about his brother’s death. I talked about Moses’ death. Maybe you can talk about the death of the people you tried to save in Nanking.”

Nate’s face contorted and turned blood-red. “It was thousands. Hundreds of thousands. Every day the Japanese bayoneted and raped and buried people alive. Every day they shot. Every day they beheaded. One day two officers had a contest to see who could decapitate the most people without replacing their sword. One officer killed a hundred and eight, the other a hundred and five. They laughed about it and drank
sake
. The Japanese newspapers treated it like a baseball game:
The two officers went into extra innings
.” Nate gripped the front of Raven’s uniform. “It wasn’t just your brother.” He looked wildly at Becky. “It wasn’t just Moses. It was thousands of babies every week. Thousands of women. Thousands of men. Children. Grandmothers. Grandfathers.” He grabbed Becky’s hand and squeezed it until her bones cracked. She winced but did not pull away. “Every day I was covered in blood and gore from head to foot. Do you know what that’s like? Head to foot.”

“Tell us,” she said.

“You can’t handle it. Go back to your Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Tell us.”

“I can’t…it puts the faces back in my head…”

“The faces are there anyway, aren’t they, Nate?” asked Raven. “Eating? Sleeping? Don’t they always come to you? My kid brother always came to me. Falling out of the plane. Looking at me with those dark eyes of his. And my father would show up—angry, yelling, hitting me with his fist, telling me I killed him.”

Nate put his head into Raven’s chest and began to weep, his hands grasping for Raven’s shoulders. “I hid as many as I could. They found them. Pulled them out of the closets and basements. Shoved bayonets down their throats. Again and again. I prayed…but they killed again and again—”

“They didn’t kill them all.” Becky put her hands on his back. “You saved children. You saved families.”

“We couldn’t stop them. There weren’t enough of us. The Chinese didn’t have enough planes. They didn’t have enough tanks. They couldn’t fight. They had nothing left.”

“We’ll fight them, Nate,” Raven said. “I promise. If they come to the islands. We’ll use all our planes and all our ships. We’ll do it here. We’ll do it in the Philippines. Everywhere we have to.”

“They’ll overwhelm us.”

“No.”

“God knows they’ll overwhelm us.”

“Then God knows we won’t give up. We’ll keep on fighting back with rocks we dig out of the earth with our fingernails.”

“It’s no good. It’s no good.”

His weeping intensified. Raven and Becky put their arms around him. She glanced back at the house and saw her father standing at the doors of the
lanai
. He was alone.

“If I could lie down.” They were barely able to make out what Nate was saying. His voice was suddenly weak.

Becky stood up. “There’s a hammock right over here.” She helped Raven get her brother to his feet and shuffle the few steps to where the hammock was slung between two trees. They laid him down in it, balancing him, careful to make sure he didn’t suddenly roll out. He seemed to fall asleep within moments. Raven sat down with his back to one of the palm trees.

“It’ll take more talk,” he said. “A lot more talk.”

Becky looked down at her brother. “I know that. But it’s a start, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Raven gazed up through the palm fronds at the blue November sky. “The old man was smart. He wouldn’t hit me anywhere others could see. Nothing on the face or hands or neck. But under my clothes, that’s where the bruises were. All in different stages of healing. Fresh ones were purple and black. Not so fresh and they had more of a red tinge. Yellow and green? Healing pretty good.”

“I’m sorry, Christian.”

“Funny. He didn’t care where he hit Mom. Didn’t care if people saw her black eyes or broken nose or swollen cheeks. But for me it was all under my shirt and pants.”

She knelt and put her arms around him. “You mean a great deal to me. Not many men would talk to another man the way you spoke with my brother.”

“The wounded helping the wounded.”

She snuggled up next to him. “Put your arm around me.” He did. “Tighter.” He did that as well. “Pray for me, please, will you? Not just for me. For Nate.”

“I’m not a big one for praying out loud in front of an audience.”

“It doesn’t have to be long. And I’m not an audience. I’m your woman.”

“Are you?”

“I am.”

“I like the
muumuu
on you. The color of the dress goes with your eyes. And the white flowers on the dress go with your teeth.”

“My teeth?” She closed her eyes and leaned her head on his shoulder. “You nut. How’s Nate?”

“Breathing deep and slow.”

“Thank you, God. Now pray a bit, please, Christian.”

The sound of male voices raised in song suddenly came down to then from the house.

Eternal Father, strong to save
.

Whose arm hath bound the restless wave
,

Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep

Its own appointed limits keep
;

Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee
,

For those in peril on the sea!

“That’s Dad’s favorite hymn,” Becky said, her eyes still closed. “He always gets us to sing it at Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter.”

“That’s about sailors, though.”

“They added another verse or two to the hymnbook last year. Just wait.”

O Spirit, whom the Father sent

To spread abroad the firmament
,

O Wind of heaven, by thy might

Save all who dare the eagle’s flight
,

And keep them by thy watchful care

From every peril in the air
.

Raven closed his own eyes. “I’ve never heard that before. I like it.”

Becky hummed the tune. “
Save all who dare the eagle’s flight, and keep them by thy watchful care from every peril in the air
.”

“God.” Raven began his prayer. “You know what Nate’s been through. Clean and bandage his wounds. You know what Beck’s been through—please do the same for her. I like to fly, Lord, but I’d rather not fly to kill. So please bring our world to a place of peace. That won’t happen overnight in places like China or Europe or Russia. So until that time of peace defend the nations. And give the nations the means and the will to save the innocent. In the name of Jesus.”

Becky was asleep, her fingers curling around his as her breathing deepened. He took in the scent of her hair, a wonderful mixture of heat and perfume and skin, kissed her on the top of her head, and let her rest. She murmured something over and over again but he could not make it out. The men’s voices drifted down from the house a final time.

O Trinity of love and power
,

Our brethren shield in danger’s hour
;

From rock and tempest, fire and foe
,

Protect them whereso’er they go
,

Thus evermore shall rise to thee

Glad praise from air and land and sea
.

E
IGHTEEN

B
ecky rolled over on her back behind the sand dune and bushes.

“I’m cold.”

Raven was toweling himself off. “How can you be cold in Hawaii?”

“The sun went behind a cloud.”

He looked up. “It’s a small cloud.”