Attack on Pearl Harbor Page 4

  “They said he shouldn’t be teaching Japanese language in America.” Jimmy swallowed hard. “They took him … I don’t know where. Somewhere to answer more questions.”

  “Don’t worry,” Mr. Yamada said. “He’ll be all right. This is America. There are laws to protect citizens. For now, we should get your leg looked at, so —”

  “What is your name?” someone shouted. Three soldiers in uniform stood in the street. One of them pointed at Paul’s father. “You! What is your name?”

  Paul’s father held his hands in front of him and slowly walked down the porch steps to the street. “My name is Iku Yamada.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Helping my son’s friend. He needs to see a doctor.” Mr. Yamada pointed to Jimmy, but the soldiers kept asking questions.

  “Are you a citizen of the United States?” a soldier asked.

  “Yes, I was born here on Oahu,” Mr. Yamada said.

  The soldiers looked at one another. “You will have to come with us.” They took his arm and started to lead him away.

  “Papa!” Paul cried out. His heart filled with rage. How could this be happening? After everything they’d been through already this morning? “He’s done nothing wrong! Why are you taking him away?”

  The soldiers didn’t answer.

  “Take Jimmy to the hospital and find Helen!” Mr. Yamada called. “And then go straight home. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He tried to smile, but Paul heard the fear in his voice as the soldiers led him away.

  Paul wanted to chase after them. He wanted to cling to his father and never let go. But he had to be strong. A Captain America kind of strong. For his father, and for Jimmy and Ben.

  “Can you walk?” Paul asked Jimmy, who was leaning against a neighbor’s truck, still coughing.

  “I think so.” He took a few limping steps. “But I don’t want to leave.”

  “You have to see a doctor,” Grace said.

  “I know.” Jimmy coughed again and looked up at the smoke pouring from what was left of his family’s house. “What if my father comes back?”

  “He’ll wait for you,” Paul promised. He could see the worry in his friend’s eyes. He felt it, too. And he felt the quiet weight of the question Jimmy hadn’t asked. What if their fathers didn’t come back at all?

  Paul and Grace lifted the cart handles and started out. Jimmy limped along, holding the edge of the cart to steady himself. Every block felt like a mile. The whole sky was black with smoke, as if the sun might never shine again.

  And the planes were still coming. Every time a new formation buzzed overhead, Paul’s heart jumped into his throat and he held his breath. Every time they passed over, he let it out.

  Even though he couldn’t see the bombs falling, he couldn’t help thinking about where they might be landing. Paul didn’t know where his father was being taken, but he said a quiet prayer for his safety, and for the rest of their family. Would the Japanese target the hospital where Helen was working? Would his mother and grandmother be safe at home?

  “Hold on.” After the planes had gone, Grace dropped the cart. She’d been checking on Ben every so often and making him drink a little water. This time, she couldn’t get him to take any. She shook her head, and they continued down the street.

  Jimmy’s house wasn’t the only one that had been damaged. Paul and Grace wheeled the cart past three more that had been hit. Smoking debris littered the empty streets. Paul couldn’t believe this was the same neighborhood that had been so lively and friendly just the day before, with everyone starting to get ready for the holidays. Paul’s family always walked from house to house on New Year’s Day to celebrate. In the days leading up to the holiday, all the neighbors would gather together to make mochi, steaming the sweet rice and pounding it into treats for the celebration. It was supposed to be a joyful time of beginnings. Now everyone was talking about war. Would they even celebrate this year? It felt as if the clouds of black smoke had swallowed up all of his family’s traditions.

  But Paul couldn’t think about that. They had to get Ben and Jimmy to the hospital. Helen would be there. She would be safe, and she would help. Then they would go home, and Papa would be waiting with Mama and Obaachan. They would all be safe, and they would be together, and then … well, then they could face whatever was coming.

  Finally, they reached the hospital. The whole block swarmed with people. Some ran crying through the streets. Some pushed wounded people in carts like the one that held Ben. Some held up their loved ones, calling out for help. Doctors and nurses hurried everywhere, trying to bring in the patients who needed help the most. But Helen was nowhere to be found.

  “Should we just go in?” Grace suddenly sounded nervous. Paul understood. After the way the soldiers had treated his father, Paul was afraid to ask anyone for help. But he nodded. They’d come all this way, and Ben seemed to be slipping away. His breathing was shallow and fast, and the color had drained from his face.

  “Excuse me!” Paul said, pushing the cart forward. “We have an injured sailor who needs help!” He waved and kept shouting until a hospital worker came over. The man took one look at Ben and waved to two other men for help. They lifted Ben from the cart, loaded him onto a stretcher, and hurried him inside. Paul and Grace didn’t even get to say good-bye.

  A kind-looking nurse stepped up to them. “Are you hurt?” she asked. “Or looking for someone?”

  “My friend’s leg is hurt,” Paul said, and pointed to Jimmy, who was slumped on the steps. Another nurse was already talking to him, rolling up his pant leg to look at his injury. Paul looked more closely. “That’s Jimmy’s mother!” He looked up at the first nurse. “He’s all right, miss. And so are we. But thank you.”

  “We need to find our sister,” Grace said. “Helen Yamada.”

  “I can help you with that,” the nurse said, and led them inside.

  Find? Ranger’s ears perked up, and he followed them into the hospital.

  Paul thought about telling the dog no — it was a hospital, after all — but he’d been with them all this time. Without the dog, they never would have found Ben. Without the dog, Jimmy might never have made it out of his house. And the hospital was so busy that no one seemed to notice, anyway.

  The nurse led them down a hallway and stopped beside a door. “Wait here,” she said, and stepped inside.

  Paul and Grace stood with Ranger in the crowded hall. It was filled with patients on stretchers and wheelchairs. Some of them wore uniforms like Ben’s. But none of the uniforms were white anymore. They were wet and black with oil, or worse, stained with blood.

  Paul still couldn’t believe everything that had happened. And now they’d probably be at war. War! Would there be more attacks? Would people blame his family and other Japanese Americans for the bombings? It made him sick to think about, so he reached down and gave the wet dog a pat on the head.

  Ranger leaned into Paul’s hand. He’d left his first aid kit in the cart outside. He couldn’t go home. Not yet. Paul and Grace were alone and afraid, and they needed him. Paul kept patting Ranger’s head. Grace slumped down the wall, sat beside him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. They stayed that way for a long time until the nurse came back.

  “I think your sister is in this unit,” the nurse said, opening the door.

  “There she is!” Paul’s heart flooded with relief.

  Helen stood in the middle of a busy room crowded with patients. Her hands held a pile of bandages and her face was full of concern. When she looked up, her mouth dropped open. “Paul! Grace!” She ran to them and pulled them into a hug. “Where have you been? Why are you out? What are you doing here? Are you all right?”

  “We’re fine,” Paul said. Helen held her siblings back from her for a moment and looked them over. When she was satisfied that Paul was telling the truth, she pulled them into her arms again and took a deep breath. “It’s been awful here. There are so many sailors wounded, and so many who didn’t make it.
We’re trying to help as many as we can.”

  “We helped a sailor, too!” Grace said. “We found him in the harbor and brought him here and — that’s him!” She pointed past Helen. A nurse was wheeling Ben across the room in a wheelchair. Just as Grace started toward him, two soldiers appeared in the door of the room.

  “Helen Yamada?” one of them boomed.

  Paul’s stomach lurched into his throat. No, no, no, he thought. They couldn’t take Helen away, too. She was helping people! And she was all he and Grace had right now.

  “Yes?” Helen stepped forward. “That’s me.”

  One of the soldiers took her by the arm. “Please come with me.”

  No! Paul thought again as the soldier led Helen into the hallway. But then he heard her cry out with joy.

  “Papa!”

  Paul ran to the door. His father was there, holding on to Helen’s hands. When he saw Paul and Grace, he wrapped them up in his arms. “Thank goodness you made it,” he said. “Thank goodness my children are all right.”

  “What happened?” Paul asked him.

  “They took me to the police station for more questions,” Papa said. “Then they told me I was free to go.”

  “Did they let Mr. Abe go, too?” Grace asked.

  His smile faded. “Not yet, I’m afraid.”

  “Have you been home?” Paul asked. “Are Mama and Obaachan all right?”

  Their father nodded. “They are safe at home. And we need to get you there, too. Is Jimmy being treated?”

  Grace nodded. “His mother was here, and she’s with him. He’s all right. And the sailor we helped is here, too!”

  Paul was glad they’d found Ben. Now at least they’d have a chance to say good-bye before they left. “Can we go back and see him? Please?”

  His father nodded, so they went back into the patient room and found Ben in a wheelchair by the far wall. His face had been cleaned up a little, and he had a tube in his arm, giving him fluids. He already looked better. More alert. He saw Paul and Grace and motioned them over.

  Ben searched their faces. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t remember your names.”

  “Grace,” she said. “And my brother is Paul.”

  “Grace. And Paul.” Ben took a shaky breath and looked at them. “Thank you.” His voice broke, and he looked down at his hands. Paul saw that he was clutching a tattered card with writing on it. “If you hadn’t found me, there’s no way I would be alive now.”

  “It was the dog,” Paul said, and patted the side of his leg. Ranger trotted over and licked Ben’s hand.

  Ben stared at him. All that time he’d been drifting in and out of consciousness, he’d wondered if he had imagined it. But no, the shaggy golden dog was real. Here in the hospital. And now he remembered everything. How the dog had appeared on the ship just before the explosion. How it had paddled by his side in the water. How it wouldn’t let him give up. The dog had left him then, but now he understood that it had only gone to find help. The dog had found Paul and Grace, who brought Ben here.

  And now … now he was safe. He was going to be all right. He was hurt, but he would heal. He would get to go home. He’d get to see his mother again.

  Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares …

  He’d tell her how her poem had kept him from giving up.

  Ben leaned forward. He held Ranger’s head in his hands and brought his face close. “Thank you, dog,” he whispered. Tears streamed down his face. “Thank you.”

  “Who let the dog in here?” a doctor boomed. “This is a hospital, not an animal shelter!”

  “We’ll take him out,” Paul’s father said. He looked down at Ben. “We have to go now. But thank you for your service and your sacrifice today.”

  “Thank you for yours,” Ben said. He shook Paul’s and Grace’s hands, and they went to say good-bye to Helen, who was staying at the hospital to work an extra shift.

  Ranger started to walk away, but Ben said, “Wait, dog,” and patted his knee.

  Ranger came back.

  “Here … I want you to have this.” Ben tucked the worn paper he’d been holding under Ranger’s collar. “It’s something my mother gave me, to keep until I came home safe.” His eyes filled with tears. “I’m going home now, thanks to you, so I don’t need it anymore. You keep it, and remember me, all right?”

  “Get the dog out of here!” the doctor shouted again.

  Ranger nuzzled Ben’s hand one last time. Then he followed Paul and Grace and their father out of the room, down the hall, and outside.

  “We left the cart here somewhere.” Paul found it, tipped over at the side of the hospital steps. He righted it and pushed it down the sidewalk to where his father and Grace were waiting.

  “You coming, dog?” Paul said. He didn’t know if Captain America had a pet, but he was pretty sure that his parents would let this shaggy dog stay with them, at least for a while, after all he’d done to help today. “You can come home with us, you know.”

  Ranger trotted over to Paul and let him scratch his ear. Paul was a very good ear scratcher. But Ranger wasn’t coming. A humming sound caught his attention. It was coming from the grass where the cart had been.

  Ranger nuzzled Paul’s hand. He wagged his tail at Mr. Yamada and licked Grace’s fingers. He’d miss this kind family. They were together now, and safe. Soon, Ben would be well enough to go home. It was time for Ranger to go home, too.

  Ranger turned away and found his first aid kit where it had fallen from the cart. It was humming more loudly now. Ranger lowered his head and nuzzled the leather strap around his neck. Light spilled from the cracks in the old metal box, and it grew warm at his throat. The humming got louder and louder, until it drowned out all the hospital cries and street noise. The light grew so bright that Ranger had to close his eyes. He felt as if he were being squeezed through a hole in the sky.

  When the humming finally stopped, Ranger opened his eyes.

  And saw Luke in the mudroom, eating a Christmas cookie.

  Ranger lowered his head and let the old first aid kit drop onto his dog bed.

  “You’re missing cookies and carols!” Luke said. He held up a string of popcorn. “And we’re doing your favorite part of the decorations.”

  Luke patted Ranger on the head. Then he noticed the paper tucked under his collar. “Hey, what’s this?” Luke pulled out the worn card and started reading.

  “ ‘Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,’ ” he read. “Hey! This is a poem from that book Mom and Dad gave me when I was little!” He read on. “ ‘Droops on the little hands little gold head …’ ”

  “I know that one!” Sadie said as she danced into the room. “ ‘Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares! Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.’ ” She took a dramatic bow, and Luke laughed.

  Ranger nuzzled Luke’s fingers until Luke handed the paper back to him. “Here you go, boy. I don’t know where you found this, but it’s all yours.”

  Ranger took the poem in his teeth and walked to his dog bed. He pawed his blanket aside until he found the treasures he’d brought back from the other times the old first aid kit had sent him to help people. There was a folded-up paper with important words on it, from a different soldier on a faraway beach. There was a bright yellow feather from a girl who had needed Ranger’s help to escape from a burning city, and a funny-shaped leaf from the boy he’d met in a big arena full of lions and noise. Those children were all home now.

  Somehow, Ranger knew that Ben and Paul and Grace were safe, too. He dropped the poem paper onto his dog bed and pawed at his blanket until it was covered up.

  “Come see the tree, Ranger!” Sadie said, heading for the living room.

  “It’s all lit up now,” Luke said, “and there are cookies.”

  Ranger followed Luke and Sadie into the living room. Mom and Dad were on the couch with a plate of cookies in front of them on the table. Ranger curled up at their feet. Luke plopped down on the floor, cuddled up next to him, an
d reached for another cookie. He broke off a piece and gave it to Ranger. It was sugary and crumbly and good.

  Ranger looked at the twinkling lights and snuggled in beside Luke. He’d miss Ben’s gentle hand on his head, Paul’s quiet courage, and Grace’s kind voice. But his work was done. There were cookies to share. And he was so happy to be home.

  Ben Hansen and the Yamada family are fictional characters, but they were inspired by the stories of many real people who lived through the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The rumors of a possible attack that the characters heard really were swirling around Pearl Harbor in the days leading up to the bombings.

  World War II had actually started two years earlier. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, France and England declared war on Germany. In the spring of 1940, Germany sent troops into Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. In June, Italy jumped into the conflict, and joined Germany in declaring war on Britain and France.

  At the same time, Japan was also trying to expand its empire, invading areas of southeast Asia called Indochina and Indonesia. Japan signed an agreement called the Tripartite Pact, along with Italy and Germany. Those three countries promised that if any of them were attacked, the others would come to their defense.

  US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt was troubled by all of this. But he also understood that most Americans had no interest in joining the war.

  By early 1941, there were whispers that Japan might try to attack America at Pearl Harbor. That January, Navy Secretary Frank Knox sent a letter to Pearl Harbor command. “If war eventuates with Japan,” the letter read, “it is believed easily possible that hostilities would be initiated by a surprise attack upon the Fleet or the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.” The letter went on to suggest that those stationed there take every step to prepare for that possibility. They did that, but it wasn’t enough.

  On the night before the attack, there really was a Battle of Music with the ships’ bands. A little girl really did dance with a sailor to win the jitterbug contest that night. That ten-year-old girl was Patricia Campbell, and the sailor was seventeen-year-old Jack Evans from the USS Tennessee. Their jitterbug contest trophy is on display at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center.