Dear People of the World (formerly Dear Americans)

Please read from Introduction to Chapter 4.

Sounds of footsteps were heard. Several of the soldiers were running. Then sound of breaking a door was heard. Big muscular guys wearing uniforms and metal jackets and holding rifles appeared in the room. They were U.S. Marine rescue team.

“Everyone, face down on the floor. Don’t make a move” yellowed Marines.

The Iraqi guys made moves to hold their weapons. One U.S. marine guy pointed his rifle at Kashim.

“Don’t shoot. They won’t hurt us.” Fernando shouted and came in front of the Marine.

For the marine guy, Fernando wearing Muslim cloth, who spoke in Mexican accent looked like one of Iraqi insurgents.

“You, Al Qaeda, terrorist!” The Marine guy shouted back and shot at Fernando.

Fernando fell down on the floor. The blood oozed out from his chest. Fernando died.

The Marines noticed other three Americans sat still and several Iraqi guys making moves on the floor.

Kashim and some of the other guys took the guns. The Marines aimed their rifles at the Iraqi guys.

Suddenly, “Don’t shoot them” screamed Loretta.

She stood up and put her body between the marines and the Iraqis. She was looking at the Marines face to face. Behind her back, the Iraqi guys aiming their hand guns at the Marines.  

Right after her screaming, she heard bang, bang, two shots. She felt the strong pain and found herself falling down losing consciousness. She got shots. The bullets got through her body. She felt the bullets came from front, not from back.

She said to herself “This is the last moment of my life.”

  Loretta woke up. She was sleeping on the bed. She found herself alive. She also found herself in the hospital room alone. Her body got several tubes inserted. The respirator was on her mouth. Seemed like she got surgery.

She moved her hand. Looked like that was the only movable part of her body. She found nurse call button. She pressed that by her thumb. Then she took the respirator off her face.

Sounds of the running steps were heard. She got frightened. The soldiers were coming. She could not make move except her right hand.

The door of the room was opened. Following a nurse woman, familiar face showed up.

“Daddy” She wanted to shout but could not raise the voice. Her throat got totally numbed.

“Loretta, you woke up. Great! We’ve been so worried about you” said Loretta’s father, Timothy Bolton, the president of HOX TV, Bolton family’s broadcasting company, and Bolton Industry Corp.

“We are now in secured Green Zone. We’ve already arranged transfer back to the U.S. Don’t worry. After all, you proved yourself hero of our country.”

“Hero?” she could not understand the meaning of that word. She knew she never was because she defended the Iraqi insurgents which the U.S. army call “Terrorists.”

She wondered what happened after she was shot at that site. What happened to the Iraqis and other people? She remembered Fernando died. He was killed by the Marines. Where were Kevin and John? Were they safe?  

“Why don’t you have something to eat? You haven’t had any for a few days” said Timothy to the nurse.

“I will make a call to our home in L.A. and make announcement that our hero daughter Loretta woke up and still alive to the public.” Loretta wanted to respond but only what she could do was dropping tears from her eyes. Timothy understood the situation and then kissed his daughter’s cheek.

“I love you, Sweetie. I will be back in a minute.”

Timothy left the room. Loretta became alone in the room. She found TV screen in front of her bed and remote on the right side of her bed. She picked up the remote and switched on. HOX news channel was aired.

“Our Hero, Loretta got out of critical condition after she was being shot by Iraqi terrorists two days ago. Although she is still in coma, she is in the process of recovering and transferred back to her homeland soon.” A famous anchorman, Jim O’Really spoke.

“What is going on?” she shouted in her mind.

“Let me speak with Mr. Kevin Graham, the president of New Age Technology. He was captive with Loretta at the terrorists’ house. Thank you for joining.”

Kevin showed up on the screen and responded. “Thank you, Jim.”

“Kevin, what do you want to say to Loretta when she recovers?”

“Well, all I want to say is “Thank you for saving my life. You are America ’s Greatest Hero. She really was. She stood in front of the terrorists and got shot down by them. She blocked the bullets from me and even Marine rescuers. It was right after Fernando was shot by the terrorists. Then after she was shot, the Marines killed all of the Al Qaeda terrorists. We were saved. The things wouldn’t  have worked that way without Loretta’s brave action.” Kevin said smiling.

“Oh, you really have to thank her all your life. She was a very brave woman. She was not just good singer or actress” said O’Really inspirationally.

That is not true, Loretta shouted in her mind.

“Hey, wait a minute! Great news came. Loretta recovered from coma condition. She is awake and able to speak. Here is a message from her. “Dear American People, I apologize for making anti-America statement for the Al Qaeda although I was threatened to do so. Now I am freed thanks to the Marines and the U.S. government. I thank all of you for what I am now. God bless America !” Oh, what a wonderful woman she is! We are all proud of her.”

She could not resist seeing O’Really’s face. He was like puppet. Being told to say what her family wants to tell the public, not his opinion. O’Really continued.

“The United States government is considering awarding Loretta with a medal for what she did.  Meanwhile, John McCaine, U.S. ground force soldier was charged with treason for not making good efforts to guard Loretta and Kevin while escorting them to the base. He even became corporative with the terrorists. He was like Micheal Moore. Now we will continue the interview with Kevin after these messages” and then screen turned to be commercial.

The commercial for corporate mainframe security software started. After 10 seconds, logo and copy of the sponsor company appeared “New Age Technology Inc, Most reliable System in the World.”

Kevin, such knavish! He made up all of this with her family. But not for Loretta but for his own good.  

Loretta changed the channel. It was MTV airing pop song video clip. The song was John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to change.”

“Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood

So we keep waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change

It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting

And when you trust your television

What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information, They can bend it all they want

It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
(waiting)
Waiting on the world to change”

She was impressed by the song. She realized the world she was living was all illusion. She realized how she was being spoiled and ignorant.

THE END!

This story is copywrighted by Masagata, Don't steal or copy it. Thanks for reading.

Please read from Introduction through Chapter 3.

Kevin stayed away from computer desk and went back to the floor. The four Americans and three Iraqi men sat on the floor face to face. The three men held machine gun and hand guns with them. A leader of the Iraqi men, Kashim held the machine gun but suddenly placed it on the floor. He then spoke to other 2 guys to put the guns down on the floor.

“Hey, guys, you will be saved. We never want to kill any of you, especially a woman. That is against Koran teaching” said Kashim looking at Loretta.

“Is that so? I thought Islam despised women. Women have to wear scarves to cover her hairs and faces. Women are not allowed to disobey her husbands. That is what Koran says” Loretta said to Kashim. 

“This isn’t all true. In Koran, women’s independence is recognized. Islam prophet, Muhammad’s wife was a business woman. Koran clearly rules a wife can receive certain portion of the couple’s asset after the divorce. We do take care of the women’s rights. You, westerners misunderstand us. There are a lot of working women in Iraq and other Islam world” Kashim replied in confidence.

Then Kevin said to Kashim. “But you attacked us and some of your people attacked our people using their own bodies. That is what you call “Jihad”, isn’t it. Your religion defends violence and that drives Muslims to do terrorist attacks all over the world.”

“Jihad means restraining ourselves, not to attack others. Islam values peace. Islam literary means “Peace”” Kashim replied. “In your own interpretation, isn’t it. As far as I know, a lot of suicide bombers justified their crazy acts in the name of Jihad. I don’t believe your words” said Kevin.

Kashim said nothing to Kevin’s remark and the silence kept for a while.

“Our religion, Christianity does defend violence. That is why we are in a war, isn’t it” said John to break a silence.

“What do you mean? Does Christian bible have something like “jihad”?” asked Kevin.

“Yes, it does. Read Matthew Chapter 10, Verse 34 to 39, I come not to bring peace but to bring a sword. Evangelicals who support our president say this war is holly war. In fact, Iraq had no weapons of mass-destruction and no link with Al Queda. The government knew that but went into this stupid war and involved a poor guy like me in the turmoil.” John said with anger.

“Hey, we overthrew Saddam Hussein and freed Iraqi people. Hussein had oppressed Iraqi people” Kevin said to John and Kashim.

“Freed us? You are wrong. You just messed our land. Yes. Hussein was a brutal dictator but at least he provided us order. When Hussein was gone, we were happy at first because we could never spoke ill of Hussein. There was no freedom of speech. We felt free and even appreciated your military. But later we realized the things got worse. After Hussein’s regime, a lot of different clans started to fight one another. Your military never tried to restrain order. Only Hussein could maintain the order by his dictatorship. Now there is no order but only anarchism prevails. You invaded us because your country wanted the oil in our land. Not to provide us democracy” said Kashim with anger, glaring at Kevin.

“Who is this baby?” Loretta said holding a picture frame and looking at the photo in it. It was a photo of a crippled baby with a respirator on her face. She found it on the low table near her. She was shocked to see the photo.

“She was my daughter. She died a few months ago. She had only one arm and one lung. She couldn’t breathe well. She died a few months after she was born. After she died, my wife died because of the tumor. A lot of people suffered from cancers in this country. You know why? It is because of depleted uranium weapons your military dumped our land” Kashim said with tears.

“What is Depleted Uranium?” asked Loretta. She never heard of anything like that in her life.

“That is the weapon using highly concentrated nuclear wastes. That works. It can easily burn anything and anybody into charcoal in a second. Very deadly and cost effective weapon. That is what our military says. They never disclose side-effect of this weapon. After they were used, high level of radiation was scattered in the surrounding areas where the weapons were hit. When human bodies absorbed the radiation, it would cause cancers and leukemia. For pregnant women, defective babies can result. Our media never want to report anything about it. I, myself knew nothing like that until I came here. Well, I guess I am affected already” said John.

“You are already affected?” asked Kevin.

“Yeah, you may be as well. As long as you are here, you are in danger of DU exposure. Well, even if I could come back home, I wouldn’t be saved. I have no medical insurance. I cannot afford that. I can go to free military hospital but I will have to wait for months to see a doctor” said John.

“Speaking of a doctor, when my father was hit by a truck on the farm, he was never treated at the hospital. He was rejected by the hospital because he was illegal immigrant. He died on the road with no medicine. They just dumped him like trash” Fernando spoke with tears.

  “We are like disposal weapons for this corrupt war. War for the rich people like you, two” said John glaring at Kevin and Loretta.

“Why are you taking on us? We are all Americans” said Kevin.

“It seems there are two fronts in this war. A front in Iraq . The other one in the U.S. We are at the civil war. Your people start the stupid war and only the poor like us are just sent to the battle fields. Now we are together here. I am very lucky to die with you, two.” said John with fierce anger.   

Two Americans and the other two Americans started to look at each other like the two pairs fighting match on the ring. Kashim and his comrades were just surprised to see this strange phenomenon. Kashim learned Americans were the victims of the war, too.

“Hey, please calm down. You will be saved. Let’s stop fighting each other. I will release all of you after the thing will work” said Kashim.

Da, da, da, suddenly big sounds were heard to the house they were in. The house was shaken by the big sounds. It was sounds of propellers. The propellers of a helicopter.

“Yes, we will be saved. The thing worked” said Kevin smiling.

John, suddenly figured out what Kevin meant. John seized Kevin by his collar.

“You tricked them. You called military to come and get us.”

Go on to the Last Chapter. One more chapter than expected!

Please read Introduction and Chapter 1 first.

“When I was in high school, a few months after my dad was laid off, I received a call from the military recruiter. At first I ignored but he called me a hundred times. Every time he phoned me, he said that he had a good thing to tell me, the army needs a quality man like me and I can get a great benefit from the army. Finally I gave in. He picked me up and took me to the military recruitment center. He was tall, muscular nice guy and described how wonderful my future would be if I join the army. I said to him that I wanted to go to the college. Then he told me I can go to the college if I join the army. The military can help me pay the tuition. I knew my parents cannot afford the tuition for college. So I decided to join the army.”

“But you were deceived?” said Kevin.

“Yeah, I was. Actually the military had scholarship for young soldiers. After 4 months of training I applied for the scholarship and found out that I was deceived. In order to get the scholarship, you have to pay 1,300 bucks as deposit. That was impossible. My monthly salary was only 700 bucks, how come I can save such amount of money. Then I was dispatched to Iraq .” John said sadly.

“You never wanted to come to Iraq , did you” said Kevin.

“Never, I did not even know where Iraq was. I’ve seen some news reports about soldiers in Iraq , who receive high praise for fighting to liberate Iraqi from tyranny like Saddam Hussein. But I realized Americans were not welcomed here. Recently I learned a recruiter found me in the list my high school gave to the military. The list of kids from impoverished family like mine. They knew students like me cannot afford college tuition and took mean advantage of our necessity.”

“Well, John, your case is better” said Fernando. John, Kevin and Loretta looked at him.

Fernando started to talk in Spanish accent.

“I absolutely had no choice but to join the army. I came from Mexico with my family. As you imagine, we were illegal immigrants who crossed the border. At first we were dependent on my father’s salary from the farms. 3 bucks an hour. But he was killed by an accident. Then my mom, little sister and I were left behind. We became homeless. We moved to homeless facility where rats were running around. I cannot go to school and worked for restaurant as dish washer at low wages. We were hungry for days without anything to eat. One day a military recruiter called my cell. I was terrified if immigration officer asked military to pick me and my family up and deport us to Mexico . In Mexico , the situation was much worse. My family had no job and lived in rubble without clean water and electricity. That is why we crossed the border illegally. But the call was a very good news for me. He told me if I could join the army, I can get a U.S. citizenship. I was really glad.”

“Weren’t you afraid to go to the battlefield?” said Loretta.

“As I told you, I had no choice. This is like conscription for the poor. Poverty draft. You, two had nothing to worry about for your future. We have no future unless we join the army.” Fernando replied.

The silence deafened for a while.   

“Well, then I have to kill you one by one and show the scene on TV” said an Iraqi man.

“Wait, I will. I can do that” Loretta shouted. Three guys looked at her being surprised.

“Hey, are you sure? Your dad would be angry if you do that” said Kevin.

“But if I would, they can never leave us. I am a daughter of the most important person in America. My father can let our government do whatever they can to save us.”

Loretta made up her mind. She thought she could prove herself that she was not just spoiled child by speaking to the U.S. government on TV.

Go on to Chapter 3.

Sorry, I skipped Short Novel 2: The city where my heart is, even before going on to the 2nd chapter. I just could not come up with the ideas of how to develop the story although I made up how to begin.   

I will get back to the story when I made up the full plot.   

Meanwhile, I am presenting an interesting and shocking story to you, Americans.

This one is short, too. Actually shorter than other short novels, 3 to 4 chapter long. It will be written in easy style, like fairly tale. It may become kind of comedy and parody.

The story is fiction but based on the facts that are rarely reported on the mainstream media.

The facts came from two books written by 2 Japanese women. One is Ms. Yumi Kobayashi's and the other is Ms. Mika Tsutsumi's. Please read the related posts.

The story took place in Baghdad, Iraq. 4 Americans were captive by Iraqi insurgents somewhere in Baghdad. Each of them represents American society.

One of them was Loretta, 24. She was from the very rich family, Boltons. Going back for 4 generations from Loretta, George Bolton established the family's wealth by finding an oil mine in Texas, late 19th century. Starting with the oil business, they ran resort hotels, military equipment company, and broadcasting corporations. She lived in Beverly Hills with her parents. She became a celebrity woman after she made a debut in her family's TV show. She had been criticized that she was too much spotlighted using her family's name and power. So she wanted to prove herself how she was brave and independent. Then she went to Baghdad to be in a show to entertain the soldiers.

Next was Kevin, 27. He was born in the rich family, too but not as rich as Loretta's. His father was a lawyer and mother was a physician. He, himself made a fortune by computer software business. He studied business in Harvard. He, himself prided himself as self-made millionaire. He manages his own computer software company in Silicon Valley. He came to Baghdad to distribute and inspect his company's brand new software for the military in Baghdad. His company and Loretta's family company were doing business together for the military.  

Third was John, 19. He was born in Michigan from a father who had worked for the auto-maker and a mother who worked as a secretary in a small company. But when Kevin was 17 and in high school. His father was laid-off. His parents cannot provide tuition for the college. So he decided to join the army to go to the college.

Last guy was Fernando, 17. His family were actually illegal immigrants. Fernado and his parents and a sister crossed the border from Mexico to California when he was 11. His father worked in farms at lower wages than minimum wage set by law. But his father later died by the accident. His mother, sister and Fernando had no place to work and live. They became penniless and homeless. They lived in a homeless facility. Fernando decided to join the army in exchange for the U.S. citizenship.

John and Fernando were in the squad to guard Loretta and Kevin heading towards the military base. But the squad was attacked. Some of the military personnels were killed but they were luckily saved and captured by the Iraqi insurgents.

They were taken to the house and sit on the floor face to face.

The insurgents demanded them to speak on the videotape they shoot. Speak to their government to beg them to withdraw the troops from Iraq immediately. If not, they would be killed.

Go on to Chapter 1.

The stoy is copyrighted by this blog's manager, me, Masagata.  

The second short novel after "The flight to Tokyo"

Marrying man remembers his past love in San Francisco.

Ken Kanzaki, 30 year-old man left the movie theater with his fiancé, Naomi. They were getting married next month.

“That was great movie” said Naomi. Ken wasn’t impressed by the movie. It was a boring love romance with a lot of cliche.

Naomi was 28 year-old beautiful woman. She was going to be his wife. Ken met her in arranged marriage meeting, so called “Omiai” in Japan . She was a daughter of a big automaker president, who was a biggest client for his family’s company. After the Omiai, they soon got along with each other. Then they started to love each other. Although their encounter was arranged by their parents, they were very sure love between them was real.

They were walking on the corridor inside the shopping mall. Naomi found a jigsaw puzzle shop. She liked it very much. They got into the shop.

There were many kinds of jigsaw puzzles inside the shop. Famous paintings, animals, and famous sceneries. Ken was not interested in jigsaw puzzles at all. He did not understand why his fiancé liked such a thing so much. But as soon as he saw one jigsaw puzzle pasted on the wall. He stopped and looked at it for a while.

“View of San Francisco , why are you looking at? Oh, that is where you used to live” said Naomi. What he was looking at was the view of San Francisco City , which contained Golden Gate Bridge , and buildings on the hill.

Ken graduated from the university there 7 years ago. He started his college days 11 years ago when he was 19.

“That is your favorite city, isn’t it” said Naomi. “Yes. That was a very beautiful city and I had great memories” responded Ken.

The most memorable one was what happened 10 years ago, when he was 20 and sophomore student.

Ken was remembering it.

10 years ago, Ken was a student at San Francisco Pacific University . He was one of hundreds of foreign students there. He was taking a Philosophy course as one of G.E. in spring semester. It was his second year in the U.S. Why he chose the university in the U.S. was because his father wanted him to do so. His father ran the trading company and wanted Ken to succeed it in the future. His father wanted Ken to have international experience because he would have to deal with foreign clients in the business. Ken just followed his father’s wish. He did not mind studying in America . English was his favorite and best subject. He liked Hollywood movies, too.

After a year and half since he arrived in San Francisco , he got used to living in the city. He made friends with Americans and foreign students. He even got an American girlfriend. She was blonde and blue eyed glamorous girl named Jane. Relationship between the two lasted half a year. Ken broke up with her a few months ago. Ken just recently recovered from the heartbreaking.

“Why do we love each other? Let’s think about it” said the instructor. His name was Craig Jordan. The students called him “Craig.” He was a man in early 30’s with blonde and blue eyes. He was a very handsome and liked by many female students.

One girl said to him “it is because we have to reproduce offspring.”

“Yes, you are right. Love may be just a tool to make a descendant to succeed humankind. Maybe it is just our animal instinct” said Craig with confidence. A lot of girls were looking at him smiling. Seemed like some of them wanted him to make love with them.

Ken laughed and kept laughing. He could not stop laughing.

Craig Jordan looked at Ken and said “What is so funny?”

Ken answered “That doesn’t make sense. If that is the reason we love, how do you explain why two men or women are loving each other?”

“You mean, gays and lesbians?”

“Yes, they can’t make a child. Why do they love, Mr. Jordan ?”

“Well, this is very interesting question. You are from Japan , aren’t you. Gay culture here in this city should look very strange to you.”

“No, it doesn’t” said Ken with confidence.

“That is a surprise. I heard Japan is very conservative society. Maybe because recent gay liberation movement came to your society and affected your people.”

“I am saying our country has traditionally tolerated gay culture and that proves the idea that a love is just for reproduction doesn’t make sense.”

The class became silent for a moment. Then Craig said to Ken.

“That is interesting. Why don’t you make a briefing for that? As you know, this course requires each student to make a briefing in class after midterm exam. I assign you to do this topic” said Craig smiling.

To be continued to Chapter 2.

Updates the story irregularly.

This novel is copyrighted by the author of this blog, Masagata.

A story of a B-29 bomber pilot who time-travels from the war-time Tokyo to present-time.

Please read from Chapter 1 to Chapter 6 first.

The texts are on Japanese blog. Please find English paragraphs on this site.

 Thank you.

A story of a B-29 bomber pilot who time-travels from the war-time Tokyo to present-time.

Please read from Chapter 1 to Chapter 5 first.

　Jim and Sayuri were taking a taxi to get to where his sister, Katie was. Sayuri had been worried that how Katie would respond to Jim’s appearing. It has been 60 years since Katie parted from her brother. How would she believe that Jim was real brother who she had believed being dead. In fact, no one could believe Jim time-slipped and he was still 21 year-old man.

 Jim suddenly said “Stop, please.” The taxi stopped on the street near sidewalk. Then Jim said to Sayuri, “Is that store selling dolls?”

Sayuri looked at where he pointed by finger. She could see the show window that displayed several dolls on the shelf. The sign of the store said “Akasaka Ningyo-ya (Doll shop).”

“Yes, it is doll store. Why?” said Sayuri.

“Well, I want to go there and buy a doll for my sister. Can we go?”

Sayuri couldn’t understand what he was up to but said “Yes, let’s go.”

They went out of taxi. Sayuri asked the driver to wait for 10 minutes. They went inside of the store.

 There were lots of kinds of dolls displayed in the store. Western antique dolls, Chinese dolls, Japanese traditional dolls with kimonos. Hundreds of dolls to choose. She asked Jim what kind of doll his sister would like. She just teased him because she knew his sister was too old to like a doll. But in Jim’s memory, Katie was 10 year-old girl. Jim looked very serious looking for a doll.

“I am searching for a particular one.” After a while, Jim shouted “Oh, there it is. I found one.”

Sayuri was surprised that it was Japanese dolls wearing bright yellow kimono. Sayuri paid the money for a doll and they went back to the taxi.

After 10 minutes, they reached the U.S. embassy. They got out of a taxi. Nancy was waiting at the entrance.

“Thank you, Nancy .”

“My pleasure, Sayuri. The ambassador is waiting for you, two” said Nancy .

Nancy took them to the ambassador’s office. Actually, she was not the ambassador any more.

Kathleen Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to Japan was packing her things. Tomorrow she would be flying back to the U.S. Kathleen Bolton heard the knock on the door by Nancy .

“You can come in” said Kathleen. Nancy opened the door.

Jim and Sayuri entered the office. Jim looked at Kathleen. They both looked shocked. Jim was shocked to see Kathleen looking like his grand mother he knew. Jim had already seen her at the Civic Hall. But at this moment he was seeing her in much closer distance. Kathleen was shocked to see her brother who was supposed to be dead 60 years ago looking just like she remembered.

“Nice to see you again, the ambassador. As Nancy told you and it should be hard to believe this is your brother, James Austin.” Sayuri said very nervously.

“So you are the one who claims to be my dead brother.” Kathleen said smiling.

“Are you really Katie? Kathleen Austin? You really survived from the sickness” Jim asked.

“Yes, I am. Austin is my maiden name. I was married to a man named George Bolton later. He died 10 years ago. Yes, I was survived because I was the only hope for my parents since my brother died. I went through many surgeries to survive. That is common knowledge. What are you after? Is this some kind of joke? Do you want some money? Yes, everyone knows I am a widow of a very rich man. I do have so much assets. But you should be more clever to deceive me.”

The way Kathleen talked sounds accusable. That was what Sayuri expected.

“I know you would be surprised. I am the one more surprised. I still could not believe I time-slipped to 60 years later. But it is true. I do not know how to prove it. Well, why don’t you ask me any question only you and I could share? I know a lot about you and our family.”

Kathleen then said, “Actually, I am too busy to play such a silly game but since you came over here and resembles my brother so well. You seem to talk the same way as my dead brother as far as I remember. Alright. What is your favorite tune, which we always listened to?”

“Glenn Miller’s In the Mood” Jim answered.

“Correct, next is who was your girlfriend you date with when you were in high school? What was her name? I met that girl several times at home. She was a beautiful girl with brown hair.”

“Her name was Dorothy Jackson. But I broke up with her before joining the army. She already dated with other guy.”

The question and answer time went on for 20 minutes. The ambassador asked questions related her brother’s personal matters, her parents, relatives, neighbors and herself which he might know. All the answers he gave her seemed correct. But the ambassador still looked suspicious.

 “Well, you know so much about my brother, me and my family. Some of the things were I did not even remember. But I still cannot help thinking about you being imposter. You can do complete research for me. If you are after big money, you would want to do that. You can even get a plastic surgery. But this is too strange if you impersonate my dead brother and tried to look as young as he was at the time of his death. Making up such a fairy tale. You know I am not that stupid. I graduated from Harvard University and then worked for State Department for decades. I am now 70 year old lady. You should know you cannot make me believe such a Hollywood kind of fantasy. Why are you doing this?”

For a while, there was a silence among 3 people in the office. But Jim said to Kathleen.

“Kathleen, do you still have a Clara?”

“Clara? What are you talking about?” Kathleen wondered.

“A doll I bought for you before leaving home.”

“Yes, a doll, Clara. Yes. I still have it right here.”

Kathleen pointed to a doll in the glass case set on the side board. There was a doll of little girl. Typical western doll but it got tainted after 60 years of the time. The clothes Clara was wearing faded. No one could tell what it looked like when it was made.

“You know about Clara. Well, I talked about this doll’s story with some people. You might hear from them. It is a doll I kept because it was precious gift from Jim. Last gift from him. One time for many years I put it in the attic to forget about him. But since I was appointed to live in Tokyo where Jim died, I brought it here. Why do you want to talk about it?”

“Do you remember what we promised before I left home? I bought a present for you. Clara’s sister.”

“Clara’s sister. Yes, I remember Jim promised to bring Clara’s sister with him if he would come back home alive. You also heard that story from someone” said Kathleen without surprise.

“You and I should remember what should Clara’s sister wearing” said Jim looking Kathleen seriously.

“Yes. So what? Is that what you brought?” Kathleen looked annoyed.

“Katie, please open it. This is Clara’s sister, only I could choose what you want.”

Jim handed the box wrapped with “Akasaka doll shop” logo paper. Kathleen took it saying nothing.

She then opened the box and saw the doll wearing kimono.

“Oh my god. This is the doll I asked Jim to buy. You know it. Only he could know that. You are my brother, Jim.”

To be continued to Last Chapter.

A story of a B-29 bomber pilot who time-travels from the war-time Tokyo to present-time.

Please read Chapter 1 to Chapter 4 first.

Sayuri laughed. “Hey, Jim, don’t tease me or are you out of your mind?”

She laughed not to take his words seriously to become ill.

“I am not teasing you. I am serious and telling you the truth, which you cannot believe.” Jim’s voice sounded very serious.

“You are right. How can I believe you? If you were the pilot of that time, you would be very old man. That air raid happened 60 years ago.”

“To me, just yesterday” said Jim.

Sayuri stopped laughing and said, “Jim, you should go back to the hospital and get counseling for mental disorder. You got problem by that fire. I want to help you.” Sayuri was so worried about Jim’s condition.

She thought she was obligated to do so for the savor of her life.

“I don’t need counseling. I am not sick. I am not going to be with you any way. I killed your people in that air raid and I do not regret that. You know what. Your army bombed Chinese cities killing so many innocent civilians. They also bombed our soldiers in Pearl Harbor without warning. That is why we showed no mercy to your people. That is the truth, too. I have to go.”

Jim’s voice was strong and disimpassioned.

“Where are you going?”

“Good bye.” Jim just ran away.

Sayuri stood silently for a while. She was confused by Jim’s words. Jim did not look psychopath. But his story was beyond normal commonsense.

Then she thought Jim still lost his memory and he might get some kind of paranoia by that fire mixing fictional story with real incidents. Unfortunately what he mixed with was her Grandma’s story and some stories from ex-pilot of B-29 bomber which he saw on TV when he was in US.

Was there any way she could help him? The first thing to do was to know who he really was.

She first tried to call burned apartment’s landlord to ask who the new dweller was. He should know but she could only get voice message from his telephone. She gave up.

She then came up with her American friend who was working in U.S. embassy. Her name was Nancy . She was an officer in the embassy. She just talked with Nancy in the civic hall before the ceremony started. She might be able to help find who he was.

But Sayuri had no clue to tell her. The only information she could give Nancy was his appearance and his name, Jim or James Austin which might not be true.

She wondered if she could find some clues in the rubbles of burned apartment house. She then went there.

Sayuri was looking for something in the site. It was getting dark. She had to hurry.

But things there were totally burned down. Nothing remained normal figure. She also wanted to find something that belonged to her. But she was disappointed. All the things in her apartment unit were totally burned down. Her clothes, her books, photo albums. Even a scratch of them was never found. She decided to get away. She did not want to remember what she lost.

A young Caucasian man was standing in front of her. He was standing there with his luggage. He looked like a traveler.

“Konnichiwa, hello, do you speak English?” said a young man.

“Yes. What can I help you?”

“My name is Charlie. I am a student from U.S. I am now looking for an apartment I am going to live. My agent arranged that. I’ve got an address and map to get there. I can’t find it. Is this address correct?”

Charlie showed her a memo with address and map.

She then said, “Yes. This is where you are. But I am very sorry to tell you. The apartment you were going to live was burned down by the fire incident last night.”

“What? Burned down? Oh no!”

Charlie got surprised and looked the site. Burned rubbles were around.

Sayuri suddenly had something to come up with Charlie.

“Are you American who was supposed to arrive here last night?”

“Yes, I am. But the flight was delayed by the storm over there. I cannot believe that. The apartment was burned down. I was lucky I was late. But how am I supposed to do? I have no place to live now.”

Charlie said and then Sayuri lent him her cell phone to call his friend in Tokyo .

Charlie talked with his friend for a few minutes. Then Charlie got away to go to his friend’s place.

Sayuri dialed her cell phone to call her friend, Nancy.

“Hello, Nancy , I’ve got something to ask you. I want you to find a man. He is American man named James Austin. He identified himself as B-29 bomber pilot in U.S. Air Force, 314 aircraft wing which existed 60 years ago.”

It was late at night. Only the street lamps shined where he was sitting.

He was sitting on the bench in a small park. Nobody except him was there. He had no way to go actually. He had no relatives or friends in Japan . 60 years have passed. He had no idea of how his American family and friends he knew were doing. He was alone in foreign country which was supposed to the enemy line for him.

“Jim, I’ve been looking for you. I know you had no place to go, so I guessed you should be around here. I am glad to see you again. Now I can help you.”

It was Sayuri who stood in front of him.

Jim laughed and said, “Did you find a way to help a psychopath?”

“You don’t have to worry. I found who you really are. You are what you told me, James Austin.”

Sayuri looked serious and confident.

“Now you are teasing me to get along with me. You can’t prove who I am.”

Jim thought Sayuri might be too kind to get along with his unbelievable story.

“Yes, I can. I checked the record of your story. There was a man named James Austin in U.S. Air Force, 314 aircraft wing which existed 60 years ago, which bombed the city of Tokyo. Here is a photograph of you” said Sayuri handing him a black-white photocopy of pilots gathering in the airbase.

Among several young pilots, James Austin was in it. Jim remembered when the picture was taken. It was a few months ago in Guam .

“How did you get that?”

“My friend in embassy helped. She called the Air force. They checked the old record and sent this photo with your identity record to us.”

Jim was surprised and then again got confused.

He then again thought maybe he was getting back to normal life from this wonderland. Or had it been a psychological test for POW done to him?

Jim asked Sayuri to make sure she was acting normal.

“You found who I am. Then what am I now in 2005?”

“You are recorded as killed in action in 60 years ago in Tokyo during the air raid. Your plane was hit by antiaircraft artillery. You and your crews were all dead although their bodies were never found. Actually you’ve been missing since that day.”

Sayuri talked very seriously. Jim realized she was serious and normal, not teasing and not testing.

“Wow, that is just what I experienced. I want to know what happened to my family. They were told I was dead. Now what are they doing? Are they still alive?”

“I checked that, too. Sorry to tell you that your parents were both dead. Your father died 40 years ago. You mother died 35 years ago.”

“Oh, no. No one left.”

“Yes, there is.”

“What? Who? No one should live so long. Even if I had lived from that day, I would be over 80. No one in my family could live…, oh god, she was alive.”

“Yes, your sister.”

“Oh my god. She was still alive. I thought she could not survive because she was very weak and sick.”

“So she might prove you really exist” said Sayuri seeing Jim’s face looking so happy.

Jim was really happy to know his sister Katie still live. That meant she got over her illness.

“I want to see her, again. I have to go back to America .”

“One more surprise to you, Jim. You do not have to go back to US to see her again. She is here in Tokyo . In fact, you’ve already met her.”

To be continued to Chapter 6.

A story of a B-29 bomber pilot who time-travels from the war-time Tokyo to present-time.

Please read Chapter 1 to Chapter 3 first.

Sayuri worried about Jim’s reaction. She thought she shouldn’t have told the story about Grandma. After lunch Jim went to the bathroom to take a shower. After cleaning up his body and he wore the clothes, and got out of the bathroom.

He saw Sayuri and Grandma leaving the house. Jim said to Sayuri “Where are you going?”

“We are attending the ceremony. But we will come back here by the evening. You should rest in my room.”

Jim asked “what kind of ceremony are you attending?”

“Well, This may not be what you like. The ceremony for 60^th commemoration of Tokyo Air raids. Grandma and I will be on the stage. Grandma talks and I will interpret what she says for the American attendees including the U.S. ambassador.”

“I’d like to go, can I?” Jim was curious.

Sayuri took Jim and Grandma to the civic hall by car. She drove. Jim sat on the front passenger’s seat. Grandma sat on backseat. They remained silence in the car.

There were almost 100 people in the hall. The attendees wore formal suits. There were some Americans including an old lady who was the U.S. ambassador. Jim avoided American crowd.

At the beginning, on the stage, speaker said something in Japanese and Sayuri interpreted.

“Please stand in silence in remembrance of the victims of Great Tokyo air raids.”

The attendees all stood up and kept silence. Jim did that.

After the moment of silence, the U.S. ambassador came up on the stage to make a brief statement. She was in black funeral suits. Her hair was white. She looked like over 70 years old.

“Good afternoon, my name is Kathleen Bolton. I am the U.S. ambassador to Japan . The invitation to this ceremony is very meaningful to me because I lost my family member in the war. The war ended 60 years ago. The U.S. and Japan have been close allies since the war ended. However the pain of loss still remained. We all share the grievance and we all share the hope for peace. Today is my last day as the ambassador. This ceremony should be the one I can never forget. Thank you.”

It was really brief statement, Jim thought. She seemed like she could not get into this issue because of her position.

Next was the talk by the survivor of the Air raid. Sayuri’s Grandma showed up on the stage. Jim was thrilled to hear the story. 

At first, Grandma explained herself. She was only 8 at that time. She lost her mother and brother in the raid. Then she started to talk about that night.

“I remember it was windy and very cold. Very cold even inside the house because we did not have fuel to use stove. We were afraid because we hear sirens and sounds of airplanes coming to the city. Then that night, the planes came. We heard the siren of the warning and went outside.

My brother who was only a baby was carried by my mother. We ran and ran. The sky turned red. Everywhere was fire. We were surrounded by the fire. The fire expanded by the wind and swallowed the people running. It was so dangerous not just by the fire. The boards, glasses, were flying in the air and bumped to the people.

My brother cried. The fire sparks were inside his mouth. My mother tried to take them out. I saw people burning and screaming in front of me. We ran into the river and reached the bridge over the river. But the bridge wasn’t the safe place. The heat was so hot that we could not stand. The fire even stretched to the bridge and the bridge was crowded by the evacuees. My mother told me to jump off the bridge to the river.

There was no way out. She had to hold my brother. She could not dive into the river. I did not want to but I had no choice. My mother looked so sad. I still remember her face. I realized that I have to say goodbye to her and my brother forever and then jumped. The river was so cold contrary to the air. I was drowned at first but later saved by the boat floating in the river. I was saved. Since that night I’ve never heard from my mother and brother. That means they never survived.

After the war, my father came back from the battle field, he was saddened by the loss of his family but glad I was alive.”

Grandma’s eyes were filled with tears. Sayuri seemed so sad but just doing her job as an interpreter. Some of the attendees started to cry. The ambassador looked serious but just normal. The ceremony ended after the closing statement for the peace.

Jim was surprised there were no antagonistic words in it. Because 60 years have passed, and Americans were invited to the ceremony, for Jim it was yesterday memory.   

Jim got out of the hall and walked to stay away.

“Jim, where are you going?” It was Sayuri’s voice behind him. He looked back.

“Let’s go back home” said Sayuri.

“I can’t.”

“Why not? The ceremony was finished. Is there any problem, again?” Sayuri looked worried.

“I cannot stay with you, especially with your Grandma.” Jim said that seriously.

“What? Hey, you don’t have to worry about her. She said she was sorry for being rude to you. She had been so nervous speaking out in public. Now she is fine. She says she wants to apologize to you and express gratitude to you for saving my life. In fact her experience has nothing to do with you. You are young American of today.”

“No, it is not your Grandma’s fault. I just cannot be with you. I’ll tell you. I do not suffer amnesia. I have my memories.”

“You recovered your memory. That is good to hear.”

Sayuri looked happy.

“I never lost memory. I lied. I lied because I was afraid.”

“What are you afraid of?”

Her face turned serious.

“Because if I tell who I really am, I thought I would be killed by your people.”

Sayuri could not understand what his words mean. She began to think Jim might be a psychopath, not a patient of amnesia.

“I do not understand you. Who are you, really?”

“I am James Austin, who belongs to the U.S. Air Force, 314 aircraft wing. The wing that bombed Tokyo at the night your Grandma lost her loved ones.”

A story of a B-29 bomber pilot who time-travels from the war-time Tokyo to present-time.

Please read Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 first.

Sayuri recognized Jim’s face looking very shocked. She wondered if there was any news that shocked him so much. Actually he didn’t read any of articles. All he saw on the paper was the date of issue.

Jim then said, “Hey, is this some kind of joke? Are you teasing me or kind of psychological test for POW?”

“What are you talking about? Have I done anything wrong?” said Sayuri.

She did not know POW stands for prisoners of war.

“Yes, you are. You are doing a wrong thing. I can’t stand for that.” Jim said.

And he just ran, ran to get out of the hospital. He just thought he had to. He found the entrance of the hospital and rushed into it. The door opened automatically but he did not care about that.  As soon as he got out of the hospital, and saw the view outside, he just stopped his feet.

He could not believe what he was seeing. The hospital was located on the riverside. The river name should be the Sumida River according to the map for air raid he saw. That was not what surprised him. What surprised him was the other side of the river. There were several very tall buildings. Like skyscrapers in New York . He remembered when he went to New York in high school days. He remembered what he saw from the riverside of Hudson River . The view was magnificent. This was not exactly the same as that but kind of similar. He was never informed Tokyo had such tall buildings. In his knowledge, they never had such sophisticated technology.

“Hey, what are you doing? Why are you running away? I cannot understand you.”

Sayuri came up to him.

“Are we in Tokyo , now?” Jim asked.

“Yes, we are in Tokyo . I understand how you are confused, you might have lost your memory of how you came to Japan .” Sayuri thought Jim was acting very strange because of amnesia.

“What date and what year is it today?”

“Today is March 10, 2005”

“2005” Jim just realized that he was in Tokyo but not in 1945, 2005. But if so, he should be now 81 years old. He should look very old thus he could not run like he just did.

The car came up to where Jim and Sayuri are. A driver in a car called on Sayuri. Sayuri responded and talked with a man for a while. Then Sayuri said to Jim.

“Jim, here is my brother, Ken.”

Ken smiled and said, “haro, Jim-san.”

“Why don’t we get in? We are going to my family’s house.”

Jim and Sayuri got in the car. Jim kept silence while driving. Sayuri and Ken talked each other in the language he could not understand. Jim was surprised Ken never touched the car’s engine gear while driving. It was kind of automatic gear system.

After 10 minutes drive, the car stopped at a house. They got out of a car. Jim was guided to a house by Sayuri. Jim was told to take off his shoes to get on the floor and he did. The house was smaller than that he was living in Connecticut . The ceiling was lower.

Sayuri introduced Jim to her family. Ken, Ken’s wife, Keiko, Sayuri’s mother, and Sayuri’s grand mother. Sayuri explained to them how Jim saved her in the fire.