officers’ club.
In different times, such a party would have been unseemly or in bad taste, but the fact of the war made for new values. “Enjoy life while you can” was the new motto. The Japanese navy and army could be just over the horizon.
Regardless, the Lexington would be departing and, with it, Missy Wilson’s husband. The Pennsylvania was just about ready to head east to California, and Jamie Priest would be on her. Thus, the get-together was as much a going-away party as it was a wake, and one that could not be delayed for a more traditional time. That it brought a brief period of normalcy and happiness was not lost on anyone either. War was on the horizon, on everyone’s minds, and the evidence of it lay in charred abundance around Oahu.
With all the ships departing, it looked like the entire navy was bailing out and leaving the army on its own. It was disturbing and, according to Jake’s own sources, very true.
Jamie had brought a local girl named Sally. She was a little loud and had gotten drunk quickly, which caused Jamie some embarrassment. A Father Monroe was there, and he seemed to think that Jake’s Polish last name made him a fellow Catholic. Jake was too polite to refute this assumption. Although he had been baptized and confirmed a Catholic, it had been a long time since he’d been in a church for other than a wedding or a funeral.
However, Father Monroe had brought some excellent sacramental wine that, when chilled, went well over ice and eaten with hamburger. He’d also brought some of the older children from the school for poor native Hawaiians that he ran, where Alexa taught. Jake thought it was an interesting and unexpected perspective on Alexa. He also thought that one of the girls, a fourteen-year-old named Kami Ogawa, was an absolute stunner who would soon be breaking all the young male hearts in Hawaii if she wasn’t doing so already. The girl looked Hawaiian, Japanese, and God knew what else, and she and Alexa seemed to be good friends.
“Comfy?” Alexa asked as she sat down in the folding chair beside him. She was dressed in a sleeveless blouse that was drawn in a knot just below her breasts and a flowered skirt that stopped well before her knees. In any place other than Hawaii, it would have been inappropriate. In Hawaii, it was delightful. She had marvelously athletic legs, and he had a hard time not staring at them. They were lightly tanned, as was the small expanse of bare midriff that appeared above her waist.
“Everything’s just perfect,” he answered.
“This is the smartest thing I’ve ever done,” she said as she swept an arm to encompass the gathering. For a minute Jake thought she was drunk, but the look in her eyes told him different. She was excited and pleased; a little brittle perhaps, but otherwise under control, and he admired her inner strength.
“There may never be another chance for something like this,” she said. “Everyone’s leaving but you. Both Missy and I are trying to get on a plane or ship back to the States, where it’ll be safer.”
“Good idea,” Jake said.
If the islands were a war zone, then civilians should be out of it. But he would miss his new friends and the chance of seeing Alexa Sanderson again. God, he thought, how could I even think that? Tim was just dead and Alexa was wealthy and so much more sophisticated than he, which meant he could never be more than a casual friend to her. It was nice that she considered him part of her military and Hawaiian family, but she would move on with her life and so would he.
“Where’s home?” Jake asked.
“Virginia. A horse farm about fifty miles outside Washington. We used to go to town on weekend trips to see how our money was being spent. Can you believe they’re actually talking about deducting income tax from people’s pay? Tim’s family came from Massachusetts. When this is over, he’ll be sent back and reburied there, along with his ancestors. Where’s home for you?”
Jake laughed. “Anywhere and everywhere. My parents went where the jobs were. Sometimes we worked farms, and sometimes the mines. I was born in Pennsylvania and spent a few years in West Virginia. I think we gave new meaning to the word poor. We were so broke we didn’t even notice when the Depression hit. If you have nothing to lose, nobody can take it from you.”
Alexa was puzzled. “But you went to West Point?”
“That’s right. And counting academy time, I’ve been in the army for twenty-two years.”
Alexa did the mental math. “But that would make you older than Tim thought.”
“Alexa, I enlisted when I was fourteen.”
“Fourteen? You were just a child!”
“At fourteen I weighed a hundred and seventy pounds and ate more than anyone could afford to feed me. My father had died in a mine accident, and my mother had tuberculosis. She’d been sent to a sanitarium, so I had the choice of enlisting, running away, or working in the mines. A friend of mine was an army recruiter, and he made a few discreet mistakes on my application to get me in. After that, I found that military life fit me. More important, I found that I could play football and played for several posts before someone decided that maybe I could play for the academy, where they were always short of big, dumb linemen. I was tutored, strings were pulled, and I wound up at West Point. I don’t think anyone thought I’d actually graduate, but I did, and now I’m an officer and a gentleman, although one who’s without connections, family, or influence.”
This was something Alexa understood quite well. Tim’s family had been navy for generations, and, with her uncle as a New Deal Democrat from Ohio who’d arrived in Washington in 1933 with Roosevelt, Tim’s future had been assured. Connections and ability were an unbeatable combination, and factors she and Tim had taken for granted.
Alexa was visibly impressed with what Jake had made of himself. “Good for you,” she said warmly. “And now you’re a captain. And won’t the war give you further opportunities for advancement, even without influence?”
Jake sighed. “I had hoped so, but I may have screwed up badly. You see, I wrote an honest report that got General Short and some others really teed off at me.”
Alexa was incredulous. “How could honesty get you in trouble?”
“Simple. About a month before the attack, Short asked my boss, Lieutenant Colonel Fielder, for a study on the likelihood of the Japanese on Oahu attempting to sabotage our war effort by doing things such as blowing up our airplanes on the ground. Since I speak a little Japanese and have contacts in the community, I got the assignment. When I submitted a report saying that sabotage was extremely unlikely, I was informed that it wasn’t what General Short, or his chief of staff, Colonel Phillips, were after. They wanted a report saying that sabotage would occur, not an analysis that it wouldn’t. They were afraid of the Japs on Hawaii and wanted to justify their plans, which were to bunch all the planes together to prevent sabotage. Later, when the Jap air force destroyed them, they wanted some evidence that they’d acted in good faith on an analysis from their intelligence department. Unfortunately, my already submitted report said just the opposite.”
“In other words, they wanted to save their skins.”
“Right. And I would have been the scapegoat. No way I could win this one.”
Alexa had to admit he was right. She’d heard of such things before. She decided to change the subject. “How well do you speak Japanese?”
“I won’t hurt myself, or get something awful in a restaurant. Actually, I seem to have a bit of a flair for languages. I speak some Spanish and a little French as well. I got into the habit of immersing myself in the culture of wherever I was stationed, and that sort of led to my getting involved in military intelligence.”
Interesting, Alexa thought. The big bear of a man really was deeper than she had first thought. “I am very glad you came today,” she told him.
“Me too,” Jake said and grinned. “Although the circumstances aren’t all that pleasant, this is one of the nicest holidays I’ve ever had. Uh, you said you and Missy were leaving here. Any idea when?”
Alexa shrugged. “Actually, nobody knows. All the outgoing planes are reserved for the wounded and important military people, and there are no ships available for civilians, not even dependents. While it could happen very shortly, I’ll probably be here for the next several months, perhaps longer.”
Jake nodded and sipped his wine. His emotions were mixed. On the one hand, he was delighted that Alexa Sanderson would be around for a while, but, on the other hand, he was concerned about what might occur should the Japs make a move toward Oahu. He was getting information about the things the Japs were doing to civilians in Hong Kong and elsewhere. The thought that barbarism could descend on the people of Hawaii was both chilling and terrifying.
