Chet and the Prisoners - 17

Chet

May 1

Toya was so kind as to make me a birthday card, in Japanese writing. Inside was a beautifully painted bookmark with a Haiku on it. One of the more recent Japanese interns apparently writes these pithy sayings, which have to have a certain number of syllables. It is considered a very clever type of poetry. My book mark says:

The
daytime moon
following a bus—
summer journey. En route to Bis

I have no idea what it means or why he chose it. But it was nice of him
to think of me.

Toyo has asked me to suggest a dentist to him. I have given him the name of my friend Mylo Priske who I know is an excellent dentist, but he is a big man and rather full of his own importance. I hope Toyo won't be frightened of him. I have known Mylo since we arrived in Bismarck as we both belong to the organization called the Knights of Columbus – which is a Catholic Men's Group. It always amazes me that he has such a beautiful wife, when he is really not at all what I would call handsome. And he sort of bullies and undermines her. She is worth much more credit than he gives her. I think they have four children, and have a house in the expensive part of town, although they also have a ranch in the country. Ann doesn't like him at all, but I do. She would never invite them around to our house for a meal because she would think our place would suffer so badly in contrast to theirs. And with the pregnancy she is tired all the time, so I don't blame her really. I will ask him not to charge Toyo too much and to be nice to him as a favor to me.

Talking about having people to dinner, we have been invited to Dr. Orr's house. His wife Doris is someone I knew vaguely when I went to Jamestown College. She is a couple years older than me. Her maiden name was Curry. They have a son, and Doris is a teacher, as Ann was, so they at least have that in common.

May 4

Toyo has invited me to go along to see the various competitions that the Japanese are holding tomorrow. I will see if I can get a break in the middle of the work for fifteen minutes or so, and just put in an appearance and make sure he knows that I was there.

Toyo

4 May

Another day of emptiness faces me. There is nothing to do to while away the hours. I watched Japanese sumo practice. I wrote more letters.

5 May

At 10:00 AM, I shopped. I wrote some letters. An outdoor track and field meet was held with events as apple/spoon race. 75-yard run in pairs with feet bound together, 100-yard dash, and ball throwing. Each area of the camp was represented by 15 contestants. I placed first in one of these events and won a penny candy bar and some Bull Durham. Chet managed to come for a few minutes during his break, and he came over to ask me how I was doing. I was proud to be able to tell him I had won one. Later, an amateur variety show was held outdoors, but strong winds caused the termination of outdoor performances. I watched a movie Rainbow on the River and then retired at 9:00 PM.

I got a letter from my wife. She is depressed and says: “I keep wondering if today is the day when they are going to come and kill us.”

She also tells me that at night searchlights sweep the streets. She finds it hard to sleep.

Residents are banned from possessing any literature printed in Japanese.

She does go to theater groups, knitting classes, and goes to the performances of a choir, a band and a string quartet. She tells me the camp had more than 70 softball teams.