Kazuko: My suitcase is heavy with emergency food supplies

(glass jars of peanut butter) as I prepare for my train trip to Niigata where I will meet Kazuko and her father. From there we are going to travel north to Kujiranami on the Sea of Japan for a vacation. Like a little boy I am armed with "Please help me I am lost" type of notes Teruko has prepared for me. I am thinking might be the notes say "Thank you for helping this stupid American find his way to Niigata."

The journey proved to be uneventful. We rushed across few flat areas, strained to climb mountains and like a huge snake slithered down the other side. I am amazed at the wilderness areas we pass through.

At major stops to load and unload passengers I buy a bowl of osoba from the osoba vendor. "Osoba osoba he sings out." Osoba is a soup made with noodles in a thin broth with chopped vegetables. It is delicious and filling. The soup is served in a bowl with chop sticks. On top of the soup is a small disk shaped slab of compressed fish meal. I avoid eating that. The bowl must be returned to the vendor.

The large sign tells me in English 'NIIGATA' so I am quite sure I have arrived at my destination. I see Kazuko. She is smiling and waving excitedly. Beside her the father seems less enthusiastic but nevertheless seems pleased to see me again. He greets me with a slight bow. Kazuko and I do not touch,it would be very impolite. With out further discourse we board our train going north.

The hotel room we take is separated into two rooms only by a curtain. Father takes one side Kazuko and I the other. WE take our evening meal in the room and retire for the night. Kazuko and I are very quiet as we renew our friendship. She has gained weight, she has become shy and very nervous. I hold her tight to me all night long.

One morning we are the only people laying on the sandy beach. The black rocks rise ominously from the Sea of Japan. The water too appears black as it swirls up and down at the base of the rocks as if a creature breathing. I think of Dragon's Teeth and I think of H.P. Lovecraft and I think I will not go exploring in that uninviting water. My fins and mask remain unused beside the blanket we are laying on.

I can tell by her expressions and sighs that Kazuko is not a beach person. Anyway it is far to cold to be laying on the beach, we do not stay long. Instead we retire to the hotel and do indoor things. Her father has returned to Niigata so we are alone. The magic time here with my Kazuko flies by. The ten days has passed. I return Kazuko to Niigata and I catch the train back to Yokosuka. My suitcase is lighter my heart is heavier. Kazuko faces several more months of treatments.

180

I understand from reading that many Japamese were so afflicted

and soldiers too

You of course have read all of 'Kazuko' so you know. For others it is not clear at all exactly what is going on. Also this story is still in process and will be enlarged upon as I continue working at it.

The short piece preceding this is:

Big fat maggots are crawling on the macadam street by the stacked wooden buckets of human waste. No mater how careful one steps sooner or later a maggot will die under foot while emitting a loud crunch. It is not until I look up that I see Kazuko and her sister Teruko near the top of the hill waiting my arrival. They look very sad and concerned; their gentle faces looking up at me. As best they can explain Kazuko is very sick. I learn she has Tuberculosis very common in Japan following the deprivations of world war two.

Kazuko is to enter a hospital (sanitarium) in her home city of Niigata. By coincidence I too have news. I have orders to return to Mine Warfare School in Yorktown, Virginia. No time is wasted in rushing Kazuko off to the hospital. We say tearful goodbyes at the train station. We promise to write each other. Teruko and I walk the long distance back to the house. There we visit a little while. It is decided Teruko will keep the house and I will send money to help.

And I am off to Amerika as we sailors have come to call it. I have been in the east a little over a year. My shipmate W.J. Little and I together are off to school. We ride a troop ship across the Pacific following the northern curve. It is a fast trip, something of a record we are told. We are processed at Bremerton and sent on to Yorktown. Having a few days travel time left I fly to Cleveland and catch a Greyhound bus to my home town.

INTERLUDE

180

over the years I have read many of your stories

and I love them==one and all