Hawaii - James Michener [503]
NO ONE living in Hawaii escaped the effect of Pearl Harbor, and on the morning of December 8 practically no one could have even dimly foreseen the changes he would undergo. For example, gruff Hewlett Janders became to his surprise a full captain in the navy with control over harbor facilities. He wore an expensive khaki, some of the finest braid in the Pacific and ultimately a presidential citation for having kept the port cleared for war material.
John Whipple Hewlett's wife was caught on the mainland and had to stay there for three years. Nineteen, descendants of the old New Bedford sea captain, Rafer Hoxworth, saw service in uniform, including two girls who went into the WAVES. On the other hand, a total of nine female descendants of old Dr. John Whipple married military officers whom they happened to meet in Honolulu.
Of course, the most dramatic impact fell upon the Sakagawas, but I will save discussion of that till later, for it is important that everyone understand how this large family of Japanese aliens became, by virtue of the war, full-fledged Americans. It was ironic that years of pleading for citizenship had got the Japanese nowhere--good behavior availed them nothing--but as soon as the Japanese government destroyed Pearl Harbor and killed more than 4,000 men, everything the local Japanese had wanted was promptly given them; but as I said, I should like to postpone that ironic story for a while.
Apart from the Sakagawas, the impact of that dreadful day of bombing and defeat fell heaviest upon the sprawling Kee hui. Two days after the bombing had ended, Nyuk Tsin, then ninety-four, was taken on a tour of the city by her grandson, Hong Kong, and as she saw the confusion into which the white citizens of Honolulu had fallen, she perceived that the next half year was going to provide the Kee hui with a vital opportunity for material growth, and that if it failed this rare chance, the hui would have no further claim to consideration.
That night Nyuk Tsin summoned her sons and abler grandsons, and when her little house in Nuuanu was jammed, and the blackout curtains were in place, she said, "All over Honolulu the haoles are preparing to run away. Asia, do you think the Japanese are going to invade Hawaii?"
"No."
"Then why are the haoles running away?"
"They may have better information than I do," careful Asia replied.
"Will the Japanese airplanes come back?" Nyuk Tsin pressed.
"I hear our airfields at Wheeler and Hickam were destroyed," Asia reported, "but a navy officer at the restaurant said that even so, next time we would drive the enemy planes away."
Nyuk Tsin thought about this for some time and pressed her wrinkled old hands against her sunken cheeks, then passed them back along her almost vanished hair. "Hong Kong, do you think the Japanese will be back?"
"They may try, but I don't think they'll succeed."
"Do you think Honolulu is a safe place for us to gamble in?" Nyuk Tsin asked. "I mean, will the Japanese be kept out?"
"Yes," Asia said.
"Does it matter?" Hong Kong asked. He was forty-eight, a hard, honest man who had been taught by his father, Africa Kee the lawyer, all the tricks of survival. Having been refused a standard education at Punahou which would have softened his attitudes, he had acquired from his father a sure instinct for the jugular. As yet he was not well known in Hawaii, having been content to allow his popular uncles to stand before the community as ostensible leaders of the great Kee hui, but Nyuk Tsin, who ran the hui, knew that in Hong Kong she had a successor just as smart and diligent as herself. Therefore, when he asked, "Does it matter?" she listened.
"If Japan conquers Hawaii," Hong Kong pointed out, "we will all be executed as leading Chinese. So we don't have to worry about that. The F.B.I. won't allow us to escape to the mainland, so we don't have to worry about that, either. We've got to stay where we are, pray that the Japanese don't win, and work harder than ever before."
Nyuk Tsin listened, then dropped her thin hands