Whispers of a New Dawn (45 page)

Ruth stopped stirring the waves with her foot and waded through the surf to Becky, taking her niece in her arms and hugging her. Despite the cold wetness of the dress Becky tightened her arms around her aunt’s back.

“War.” Ruth sighed. “I am sorry for war. The Amish are right to oppose it. That’s another reason I’m returning to Lancaster County.”

“You remember Bishop Zook’s letter. He said some Christians were called to defend.”

“
Ja
. Well, it is not my calling, my dear Rebecca. But I will always be praying for you and Christian and Nate. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing. My prayers will be constant. I’m just sorry you’ll be without your brother or your husband.”

She linked her arm through her niece’s and they began to walk along the beach. “I’m so naïve, Becky. For the first week everyone worried about an invasion. So when it didn’t come I thought,
There will be peace quickly
. But then the Japanese attacked so many places and I realized there would be no peace, only more killing.”

“I didn’t think there could be peace, Aunt Ruth, not after the attack. I just had a hard time believing the whole thing had really happened. That so many of our friends were gone. Even that I was married to Christian. So I would drive down to the harbor and stare at the wrecks of the fleet. Or stand on the runway at Wheeler and look at the burnt-out fighters. Go to the army cemetery and look at the graves of Wizard and Shooter and Juggler. I would stand and wait for Christian at the road to the Married Officers’ Quarters, sure he wouldn’t come, sure I had dreamed it all up.”

Ruth nodded. “I go over and over the day in my mind, wanting to change how it ended, wanting my mind to give me different images than the ones I’ve held for almost two weeks. I wish so badly to see Manuku smiling at me with red carnations in his hand. But it’s no use. I can only give the day to God and try to forgive.”

“People in America don’t talk about forgiveness, Aunt Ruth.”

“The Amish do. I can hear them as if they were walking beside us right now—quoting Scripture, telling us to bless our enemy, to do good to him, to turn the other cheek.”

“I can hear them too.”

“So I need to put my voice with theirs. It’s not for everybody to do this, perhaps. But it is for me to do this. To do this and never leave Paradise again. One day the Japanese will be our friends again, I hope. And the Germans and Italians. I want to be part of that spirit, Becky. Not the other.”

Becky stopped walking. “But the Japanese are attacking people. And killing them. All over the world. Just like they’ve done in Manchuria and China. So are the Italians and the Germans. You make it sound so easy. As if it is just a spat at the dinner table. People are being murdered, Aunt Ruth. Children are being murdered. The Japanese and Germans are not full of remorse. They’re not sorry for Nanking or Leningrad or Pearl Harbor.”

“It doesn’t matter what they do or don’t do. It only matters what we do, what I do, how I pray, how I bless.”

“Of course it matters what they do. Do you think if I’d shouted out of my cockpit, ‘I forgive you!’ the Japanese pilot would have stopped
from killing Kalino? That if Dave Goff had stood on the deck of the
Arizona
and cried, ‘I bless you!’ the dive bombers would have gone back to their carriers and never blown up the ship and murdered a thousand men? If it matters what we do, it matters what they do too.”

“Your husband is an army pilot—”

Becky’s face darkened with blood. “I don’t care if he’s a used-car salesman. Nate was in China long before I met Christian Scott Raven. He prayed, he begged, he turned the other cheek. And they bayoneted and decapitated women and children anyway. Someone has to defend. Someone has to be there between the prayer for peace and when peace finally shows up. I’m not saying that because Christian’s a fighter pilot. I’m saying it because I don’t want to see a million people slaughtered while everyone else is standing by waiting for peace to come.”

“A million will be slaughtered anyway, my dear. War always takes life. It’s always greedy for more souls. War doesn’t stop the killing.”

Becky’s voice dropped. “I know that. There will be a lot more killed before peace comes. I could lose my own husband. But one thing won’t happen, Aunt Ruth. The murderers won’t get away with it. The warlords aren’t going to kill the innocent anymore without answering for what they do. It’s judgment day.”

Becky’s eyes had gone a cold green. Ruth stared at her, her mouth partly open.

“Rebecca. It is not for us to judge.”

“God is the judge, yes. But the instruments of his judgment will not be surrender and massacre. They’ll be resistance.”

“My dear. My dear.” Ruth stretched out her arms. “Resistance will bring its own evils and fill its own graves.”

Becky was stiff. “I know that too. Terrible things happen all around. But the child will know it’s remembered. It will know that while you wait safe and warm in Pennsylvania for peace to come, others will defend its life. My husband and others will bless the child. They’ll bless the child, Aunt Ruth, by fighting to keep it alive.” She suddenly winced and covered her face with her hands. “I didn’t want to quarrel. I didn’t want to be harsh. You are going away forever and I’m saying such cruel things—”

“Hush, hush, you are as much a bundle of emotions as I am.” Ruth gathered her into her arms again. “I feel anger too. And if I let myself go there would be hatred. But I’ve been Amish all my life. The Spirit of God will not permit it. All the teaching and the prayers have become a forest of oaks inside me and the forest cannot be uprooted.”

“I don’t want to hate…but I see Manuku and Kalino and Wizard—sharp ends cut into me—black edges—it’s as if I had swallowed bits of broken glass—”

“So it may feel that way for some time. But pray for the peace to come. Not just all around you. Pray for what’s inside. Just as you prayed for it when you grieved over Moses. Seek it again.”

“I want you to stay. Until the war is done and Christian is safe. Until all that can be saved are safe.”

“I have to go for the sake of my own soul, Becky. If I remained with you I would eventually become a shell as the war dragged on—all wars last too long. But if I go to my people in Pennsylvania I will have something to give you. I will have heart if I live among them and their worship of God. My words will have strength. So I can bless you.”

They stayed on the beach long after the sun was gone. The stars burned in the sea and over their heads. There was no moon. Ruth’s dress dried, and they sat together on the sand, side by side, talking very little.

The next morning the family went down to the dock in Honolulu Harbor and Ruth boarded the liner for San Francisco. Nate lugged her suitcases up the gangway after her. She stood at the railing in her dark dress and prayer
kapp
. Along with hundreds of others she looked down at the upturned faces.

“God be with you!” called Lyyndaya.

“And also with you, sister!” Ruth responded.

“There will be a time we all meet again in Pennsylvania. There will be.”

Ruth smiled. “The sooner the better.”

The gangway was hauled up and secured. The mooring lines were cast off. The ship’s whistle blew, cutting its way through the warm
Hawaiian air. The tall vessel moved away from the dock toward the open sea.

Ruth lifted her hand. “Lyyndaya, Jude, Nate, Rebecca—
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace
.”

F
ORTY
-O
NE

C
aptain Whetstone?”

“Mm?”

“It’s quarter to twelve, sir,” said Skinny.

“All right. Thank you.”

Jude straightened his tie in the mirror a final time and walked into the dining room of his home in full dress uniform. The others quietly watched him come. He went to the head of the table, where there was an empty chair. To his left sat Lyyndaya, Billy Skipp and his wife, Nancy, Whistler, Skinny, and Harrison. To his right were his son, Nate, his daughter, Becky, and her husband, Christian, as well as Lockjaw and Batman. All the men, including Nate, were in Army Air Forces uniform. The exception was Harrison, who wore Coast Guard whites. Every uniform was immaculate.

“We gathered tonight to remember,” Jude said. “I know that for some it’s a time to let off steam. To celebrate being alive and being with friends and family. Believe me, I understand that. It’s been a black month for America and the world. Everything is falling to pieces in front of our eyes. The Nazis and the Japanese are conquering and destroying whatever they want and no one can stop them. For a lot of servicemen this will be their last New Year’s with their families for years.”

He didn’t speak the words
or forever
, but he felt them, and he knew everyone in the room felt them too. Lyyndaya dropped her head. Jude paused to place a hand gently on her shoulder.

“In the first war I put on this uniform because I was forced to. Now I put it on because I choose to. You all know my background and that of my wife. What you don’t know is that when we came to Hawaii to help Flapjack and Colonel Skipp we closed the door to our Amish community in Pennsylvania. To them we had joined ranks with the military and were continuing to fly aircraft in defiance of Amish beliefs and customs. We cannot return. Weeks ago my wife and I made up our minds that we would not even if we could. Our place is to train and to bless the young men who serve and their families. We feel that is our calling from God.

“And now, all of us here have agreed to come together tonight, at the end of 1941 and the beginning of 1942, to remember those we have lost as well as brace ourselves for what lies ahead. Wars may be won without hate, but not without sacrifice.” He paused. “We have empty chairs among us.”

“Manuku,” said Becky. One of the empty chairs was beside her and Christian.

“Dave.” Harrison kept his eyes straight ahead.

“Juggler,” said Batman.

Whistler put a hand on the back of a chair on his right. “Shooter.”

Lockjaw’s voice was quieter than it had ever been. There was an empty chair on either side of him. “Wizard. Kalino.”

Billy Skipp stood up. “Flapjack Peterson. A good friend and fellow pilot who flew with Jude and me in the first war. I’m not an expert at offering prayers to the Almighty, but I would like to do that now regardless.”

Everyone pushed back their chairs and got to their feet to join Skipp and Jude.

“Eternal Father, strong to save,” Skipp began. “Have mercy on those we’ve lost as only you can have mercy. Give strength to those of us who remain as only you can give strength. Bind our hearts to your purpose—when it’s a time for war, help us to wage it swiftly and justly—when it’s a time for peace, help us to seek that peace and embrace it with all our might. In the air, on land, at sea, when in harm’s way, be with us, Lord, and do not forsake us. In Christ’s name. Amen.”

“Amen,” said Jude. “Your prayers sound okay to me, Billy.” He
checked his watch. “We have only a couple of minutes. Let’s stay on our feet.” He smiled. “Most of you have never seen me in a uniform before. When I enlisted they gave me my rank of captain back. I hope to be qualified on the P-40 in January. I won’t be a frontline pilot. But I hope to help the young men who are sent our way become ones.”

He put his hands in his pockets. “My Amish friends would turn their backs on me if they saw me dressed like this. I could argue I was in a position to make a difference, to train young men in such a way that most of them could be assured of returning home. But the Amish know that our planes shoot down other planes.
Thou shalt not kill
. I am breaking the commandment.” Jude shook his head. “What I do is not an easy thing to do. What Lyyndaya does at my side is not an easy thing either. What all of you will be asked to do over the next few years will never be easy. But at least one of our Amish friends understands this. Some are called to lay down their arms, he says. Some are called to pick them up. You have to decide what your calling is. At this table we have made up our minds. We defend until peace comes.”

He looked at his wife. “The trick is to do it without hate. Our friends have been killed. Somehow I must defend others against the Japanese and still be prepared to embrace the Japanese when the end has come. How is that done? Lyyndaya helped me do it twenty years ago with the Germans. Now she’ll have to help me do it all over again.” He glanced at his watch a second time. “It’s midnight. God bless Manuku, Kalino, Shooter, and Wizard. God bless Flapjack, Juggler, and Dave. God bless you all.”

Jude kissed his wife and then turned and shook his son’s hand and gave him a hug. People laughed and began hugging and kissing right around the table. Becky, Nancy, and Lyyndaya went to the kitchen and came back with platters of food and pitchers of fruit punch and a pot of coffee. Christian grabbed a handful of grapes before Becky took his arm and drew him outside.

He smiled. “Wow.” The darkness gleamed with silver as a moon that was almost full moved over the ocean and the jungle. “The whole island’s under a blackout, your mom has the blackout curtains drawn, you can’t see a thing at Pearl, yet Hawaii is lit up like it’s Christmas.”

Becky smiled at the shining night. “It’s like the full moon at the beach. Before everything changed.”