Read Online Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley - Free Book Online

lounging about, their uniform collars askew and their hats tipped back.
    â€œHey!” one of them called when he saw me. “What do you think?”
    â€œI’m headed for the bath,” I said. “What? No school today?”
    The student and two of his friends came over and stood on the street with me, their faces bright. I had rarely seen them at the dormitory, but they knew I was from America.
    â€œHe doesn’t know,” the student said. “How could he not know?”
    They all shook their heads. “We are at war with America!” they said. “We are all going into the army. We are finished with school forever!”
    With Jimmy’s wedding on my mind I hadn’t thought of politics in a while. I knew there was tension between the two countries, but war was ridiculous. The United States was so much bigger, so much stronger.
    â€œWar?” I asked. “Who told you? You’re joking.”
    â€œYou have been to the United States,” one of them said. “You speak English. You could be our spy.”
    â€œYes,” said another. “You must go to that country and tell us
what they say. There aren’t many people who can speak both languages.”
    The students laughed at the prospect, but then got caught up in the logistics of it and while they were working it out I slipped away.
    My God, war. I’d been getting some mail from home; Uncle had written that my mother and father were having trouble on the farm, were in need of their son’s help, but no one had ever mentioned war. What would happen to all of them? I had to get home. I turned off the street that led to the bath and headed for Kazuko’s. I would leave tomorrow, but what would Jimmy do now that he was married? There were so many unanswered questions. War was something we had with the Germans, not with the Japanese. War was to be fought against a country’s enemies, not against its friends, and America and Japan had always been friends. Surely the students must have been mistaken. It was a tease. Something to keep me from asking why they weren’t in school.
    I hurried along the street and saw everyone now as hurrying too. It was no joke. I stopped at the bulletin board by the farmer’s bank, then ran past it once I’d recognized the word for war once again. Now it was easy to read for it was written thickly, not in the paper’s usual print, but by hand, its bold brush strokes sending chills through me, its very size making me admit that it was probably true, there was war between the United States and Japan.
    My cat had been staying at Kazuko’s house since the wedding. I’d told them that it was a gift but they’d said that if cats cannot be owned then they cannot be given. When I entered their garden I saw the cat standing coolly at the base of the old fig tree that they had. I could hear other voices so I knocked lightly then coughed once and Kazuko slid back the door.
    â€œOh, what will we do?” she said, taking my arm and pulling me inside. “Jimmy is so upset. What will we do? What will happen to all of us?”

    Even during a crisis you’d think she’d know better than to stand so close. The look of her there in front of me, her naked hand holding mine. I was coming undone so I quickly said, “We’re going to be spies, Jimmy and I. We’re going to be double agents.”
    From the living room I could hear the sound of sobs so I quieted, removing my shoes, and stood as tall as I could beside Kazuko on the tan tatami. Inside the room there were teacups everywhere, half empty and strewn about. Kazuko’s mother was crying, her grandfather was remembering the Russian war with photographs placed on the tables and taped around the walls, and Ike was smiling.
    When Kazuko’s mother saw me she stepped into the kitchen for a clean cup. Jimmy was sitting silently in the corner.
    â€œTell me, Teddy,” the grandfather