Jamie spent a couple of minutes examining the house. There were a number of pictures of Suzy’s father, along with a couple of her as a thin and serious-looking child, and the house exuded a fairly masculine air.
“Dad bought this place after the divorce. I only moved back a few months ago. I graduated from Stanford last June and always thought my dad would move back here and take possession. Then, after he was killed, I didn’t have the heart or courage to change anything.” She laughed softly. “However, I had already moved into the larger bedroom and taken over the big bed. My stuff is in his closet. Even before Pearl Harbor, I didn’t think he’d mind if I took it over.”
“I like it. What will you do with it when you leave to serve your country?”
Congress was on the verge of approving women in both the navy and the army. With Nimitz’s endorsement, Suzy was a virtual shoo-in for officers’ school or even a direct commission in what would be called the WAVES, the Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service. She thought someone had strained hard to make the acronym work for the navy.
But it was a sore point insofar as Jamie’s request for a transfer to a combat command had again been denied.
“I’ll probably rent it out. Do you think you’d be interested?”
Jamie thought that he might. It would beat the hell out of the bachelors’ quarters he shared with several dozen close friends.
“Yeah, since I’m not going anyplace, I might just take you up on it.”
She reached over and took his hand. “Jamie, you know they can’t send you out. You may be the last of the Pennsylvania’s crew, and they can’t risk you. You’ll be promoted, and you still have a great career if you want to stay in the navy when the war’s over, but you know you won’t see any more combat in this war.”
Jamie knew it, but he didn’t have to like it. Everything she said was correct. He’d been informed that his promotion to lieutenant commander would come down any day. They both thought it was overdue and probably delayed because of uncertainty regarding his role with the doomed battleship. Privately, Jamie thought the four pissed-off admirals who’d traveled to see him had stonewalled it for as long as they could.
“Don’t feel bad,” she said and squeezed his hand. “Whatever happens, I won’t be getting shot at either. With a little luck, I’ll be back in San Diego doing what I’ve been doing, only wearing a uniform.”
“That’s important to you, isn’t it? The uniform.”
“Because of my father, yes.”
“And that’s why you like me, right? Because I look so good in a sailor suit?”
Suzy laughed and squeezed his hand harder. “Who says I like you?”
“Don’t you?”
“Of course,” she said with a smile. “And it doesn’t bother me at all that you won’t be in combat. You’ve seen more than enough of it. I don’t want you hurt.”
Jamie was delighted. Even though he knew she was fond of him, it was the first time she’d said it. He wondered if the fact that they were just about finished with the second bottle of wine had anything to do with it.
He reached for her, and she came toward him on the floor. He kissed her very gently, and she didn’t respond. God, he thought, have I misjudged? “I guess I shouldn’t have done that.”
She shook her head and smiled. “I don’t know why, but you surprised me. Try again.”
He did as directed. This time her lips parted and she melded into him. She slid across his lap and kissed him back. To his delight, her tongue was exploring his as eagerly as he was hers.
This time Suzy was wearing a one-piece bathing suit. They parted, and Jamie slid the straps off her shoulders and pulled it down to her waist. Her breasts were small, but he thought them indescribably lovely. He caressed them, then kissed her nipples until they hardened while she ran her hands over his buttocks and held the erection that strained against his swimsuit. She wriggled to help him as he slid her suit over her hips and down her legs. Then she undressed him and they caressed each other as they lay on the carpet.
She was lithe and small, and he thought he had seen no one more beautiful as he ran his hands, lips, and tongue over her body. He wanted to take her right there, but Suzy got to her feet.
“Not on the floor,” she said and giggled. She pulled him into the bedroom, and they fell onto the bed. She wrapped her slender legs around him and drew him onto her and into her. They both groaned and climaxed quickly. It was too soon, but they knew they had all night to get it perfect.
The next morning, they made love for the third time. Then they took a bath and did it again. They would be late for work but didn’t much care.
“Remember what I said about you renting this place?” she asked. They were still naked and back in bed.
“Of course.”
“Well, why don’t you move in now? You can sort of get used to it while I’m still here. You can even save on your laundry bill, since we won’t be wearing much in the way of clothes.”
Jamie thought that was a marvelous idea with one concern. “But what about your neighbors? What’ll they think?”
“Screw the neighbors,” she said firmly. She sat up so that her breasts hung almost into his face. “Let ‘em think what they want. Besides, don’t they know there’s a war on?”
Akira Kaga’s right leg had been amputated just above the knee. It was a challenge to walk with crutches, but he was the kind to rise to challenges, and he had become surprisingly mobile in only a short time.
With his father driving, and accompanied by two kempetei, he began speaking to groups of civilians throughout Oahu. The majority of the people he addressed were Japanese, although a few Hawaiians did attend. He never saw a white face in the crowds.
Akira and his father worked hard on what he would say and precisely how he would say it. He wanted the underlying meaning thoroughly comprehended by the Japanese of Hawaii. The two kempetei men weren’t particularly subtle, and, besides, they were kept drunk by friends of Toyoza Kaga.
Akira told his listeners that the Japanese soldier was brave and resilient, traits that were essential when fighting in China, where there were no supplies and less in the way of medical care, facts that required them to loot the enemy and local civilians.
He saw surprise on their faces. No supplies? No medicine? Why couldn’t Japan take care of her fighting men? Many of his audiences had donated money to help Japan defeat China, their long-standing enemy. Where had it gone?
Akira then told them of the tens of thousands who’d died fighting the Chinese and how the Chinese kept on coming. Japan would persevere, he said, no matter how many Japanese had to die to accomplish it, and no matter how many more years it would take. Japan, he said, would ultimately conquer vast China, a land that was as large as a mighty ocean and in which the Chinese were forever retreating. It might take a hundred years of agony, but Japan would prevail.
He saw a stirring in the crowd. In effect, he had told them that the war between Japan and China would never end. They had not been informed of the scope of the casualties, and this too shocked them. Heavy casualties, no supplies, no medicine, and no end in sight to the killing? Japanese soldiers reduced to looters and beggars? This was not the stuff of glory.
Akira responded to the accusations of atrocities committed by the Japanese in China. They were not true, he said, although it was sometimes necessary to take food from the peasants since the Japanese army didn’t have enough for itself. He said it was sometimes necessary to punish uncooperative Chinese by destroying their property or even executing them. He added that a Chinese woman should feel honored to be taken by a Japanese soldier, even if she initially resisted. As his eyes traveled the crowd, Akira noticed a number of people preparing to leave, their heads down in shame.