“This is Tora-san…” I started to explain.
Officer O’Malley looked around at all of us. “I have to say that if New York City had more dedicated, brave citizens such as yerselves, sure and t’would be a better place! I’m not sayin’ yez should be takin’ the law into yer own hands mind, but, well….’tis a brave thing yez did any roads.”
Ben smiled at that.
Ring said he’d write about this in his newspaper column, it would make headlines but Ruth told him, “Ix nay, ix nay - let’s keep it quiet, OK?”
Ben nodded. “If this gets out it will ruin our case…you can let us handle things from here - if you don’t mind, officer, this is a Federal case? These kids and these fine people just happened to stumble into it, along with the harebrained scheme of trying to get Ruth to throw the game.” Ben said very brazen.
“Sure and that’s as dirty a scheme as I ever heard,” Officer O’Malley said. “Any roads, if Babe here wants to keep it quiet and not press any charges against these gangsters?”
Ruth nodded.
“And seein’ as how this is a Federal case, the force won’t be interfering, Mr. Ness, is it?”
Ben nodded. “Thank you officer - you’re a credit to the force.”
O’Malley said they would go and simply file a report that it was a false alarm - just some kids. “Come along boys.” The police left with a friendly wave.
So that’s why the world never heard of this incident, I thought to myself. Did we cause it or interfere? Surely Tora-san wasn’t here, or did this ‘already’ happen just like it did, that we had always been here back in time. Something to wonder about!
Jonathan started laughing. “Mr. Siegel….”
“Ben… it’s Ben, OK?”
“What if they asked for your badge?”
Ben smiled, shrugged and said that the trick was to look ’em in the eye and believe it yourself. Self-confidence was the key to success!
Ruth told us and Pat’s gang that they could come to the game for free as his guests. He took down our names and asked how he should write Tora-san’s name when Tora-san waved his hand in front of his face to say we that were mistaken and apologized and slowly explained that Tora, which means ‘Tiger’ was how all his friends called him but his real name was Genda Minoru.
‘Genda?’ I thought to myself, pilot trainee, the right age, it fits! I thought he looked familiar. This was the man who as Commander Genda would be instrumental in planning and carrying out the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, 14 years in the future!!!
“What’s wrong, Lito?” Jonathan asked.
“Nothing, nothing,” I told him.
I thought to myself, here was a historical crossroads if ever there was one! There was an even chance that he could have been killed when Abe’s shot just missed him as he attacked him. If we hadn’t have been there, would any of this have happened at all? If he had died, would history have been different? Would there have been an attack on Pearl Harbor? Would we have entered the Second World War at all? If we didn’t, would Hitler have won? Was it possible that the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor actually helped defeat Hitler by ensuring our entry into the war and make us a world power second to none? Anyway, after the war, Genda was a respected former enemy and a great friend to the United States while serving as a leader of the post-war Japanese Air Self-Defense force.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, are you alright?” Dottie asked kindly.
“I’m fine…” I comforted myself with the thought that we are here only to observe and learn, and not to interfere with history, which could have disastrous consequences. “No, I’m fine.”
It was well after one in the morning. We all shook hands with Ben, Harpo couldn’t resist his leg-over- handshake stunt that had Ben laughing.
“Are you going to hurt Mr. Abe?” Lauren asked Ben.
“No, little girl, since you asked, I’ll give him a second chance, a fresh start…I mean, where would we be without fresh starts?” he said kindly, his anger cooled considerably.
Abe and his boys looked relieved.
“We’ll just forget that this ever happened, won’t we Abe?”
“Sure thing, Ben, anything you say.” Abe said.
“I don’t have to tell you what would happen… if we have to come back… do I?” Ben said calmly. Abe nodded rapidly.
“Sure, sure.”
“We’re businessmen now, see? No more of the rough stuff…those days are over.” Ben said. Ben turned to Cagney. “Say, you sure you’re not with the mob in some way?”
“Nah,” Cagney said, “Just a dancer on Broadway.”
“You’re a pretty tough egg.” Ben said admiringly.
“Just my bringin’ up in Yorkville, see?” Cagney replied.
“You should think about the movies,” Ben said. “I’d like to see somebody like you playing one of us.”
“Gee, thanks pal,” Cagney said. “Maybe I will, not a bad idea…but with silent flickers? I don’t see it…”
“Sound is right around the corner,” I chimed in. “You oughta consider it seriously.”
He grinned a big wide grin, scratching his chin, “Maybe I will….not a bad idea…”
“Lito, I saw him in the movies…” Jonathan said, but I shushed him before Cagney heard it.
Our taxi was waiting just down the street in the dark and we all piled in - eight adults and two kids jammed the taxi along with our case of ‘Olive Oil,’ compliments of Ben Siegel.
“You really need somebody to keep an eye on you, Babe.” Dottie said.
“Yeah…guess so…say can you drop me at the Roosevelt Hotel?” Ruth replied.
“Nothing doing! You’ve had enough fun for one night - home James!” Dottie admonished. “Honestly! Men!!” she said with disgust.
“Can’t live with them, can’t live without ‘em!” I said with a smile.
Dottie looked at me coldly. “Speak for yourself.”
“Were those were for-real gangsters?” Jonathan asked.
“They sure were. Man alive, you could have really gotten hurt. I should punish you…”
Harpo made a face at me, shaking his head then smiling.
“Ok, OK, a fresh start, right?” I said.
Harpo smiled.
“But don’t EVER take a chance like that again! I’m responsible for you!” I admonished.
“Bugsy Siegel…” Jonathan mused, smiling - he sure got angry!”
“Bugsy, he hated that name. Ben Siegel is the muscle for Rothstein, Meyer Lansky and ‘Lucky’ Luciano,” I explained. “They make a ton of money thanks to Prohibition and will probably become a very powerful organization.”
“You can say that again,” Cagney said smiling. “Prohibition’s the worst law ever passed, just about everybody ignores it, even the police are corrupted by it, making people lose respect for the law, and the mob rich!”
Benchley and Dottie looked at each other. “I’m sorry, but a stupid law like that doesn’t deserve any respect,” Dottie said. “Slavery used to be legal, that didn’t make it right.”
Benchley observed that he and Dottie did their part - Prohibition got as little respect as possible.
Everyone chuckled at that.
The taxi dropped me, the kids and Genda-san off at the hotel. We waved goodbye as the rest of the posse went to make sure that Ruth got home safe and sound. Genda-san saw us to the door and said goodbye, thanking Lauren and Jonathan for their bravery. He told Jonathan that he was an honorary Ninja now, and Ninjas, like the Samurai of old, practiced patience, meditation and hard work as well as martial arts. Above all, concentration on doing things well was the most important thing a Ninja could learn. He was a pursuit (fighter) pilot and as such, never, ever drank alcohol.
“Excellence in all things is the way of the Ninja!” Genda-san told Jonathan with a smile.
He pressed his card on me, which I politely studied, it was all pre-war Japanese and hard to read. He insisted that if we found ourselves in Japan to be sure to drop in on him at Kure Naval Base or the Etajima naval academy -
