The Enemy Pearl

Lesson-4

The Enemy

By Pearl S. Buck

The Enemy Introduction

It is the Second World War. An American POW is washed ashore in a critical condition and found on the doorstep of a Japanese doctor. Should he save him as a doctor or surrender him to the Army as a patriot? The storey takes place during World War II. A Japanese doctor finds an American prisoner of war on his doorstep. He is torn between saving the wounded man, as a doctor, and handing over the enemy to the army, as a Japanese.

The Enemy Summary

The Enemy is a storey set in Japan during World War II. In this storey, an injured American army soldier washes up on the beach near the home of Dr. Sadao Hoki, a Japanese surgeon. Despite having lived in America and working in a modern profession, Dr Sadao's family lives a traditional Japanese lifestyle.

Dr Sadao is torn between leaving the American man to die, throwing him back into the sea, handing him over to the army, and saving his life. He reluctantly decides to take him home and save his life. His family life is disrupted by the presence of an enemy. His wife is opposed to him operating on and caring for the soldier. The servants of the house object to the idea and leave their master. Dr. Sadao, on the other hand, shelters him, operates on him, and saves his life.

He tells the storey to a general in the Japanese military because he is afraid of being accused of sheltering an enemy. The general assists Dr. Sadao and offers to have the man killed by hired killers. However, the killing does not take place, and after three nights of waiting, Dr. Sadao considers killing the American himself. He arranges for a boat to move the man to a nearby island. He provides him with necessities such as food and clothing in order for him to survive until he finds a Korean fishing boat that can rescue him. Dr. Sadao is confused as to why he saved the life of an enemy.

The Enemy Lesson Explanation

Dr Sadao Hoki’s house was built on a spot of the Japanese coast where as a little boy he had often played. The low, square stone house was set upon rocks well above a narrow beach that was outlined with bent pines. As a boy Sadao had climbed the pines, supporting himself on his bare feet, as he had seen men do in the South Seas when they climbed for coconuts. His father had taken him often to the islands of those seas, and never had he failed to say to the little brave boy at his side, ‘‘Those islands yonder, they are the steppingstones to the future for Japan.’’

‘‘Where shall we step from them?’’ Sadao had asked seriously.

‘‘Who knows?’’ his father had answered. ‘‘Who can limit our future? It depends on what we make it.’’

• Yonder: at some distance in the direction pointed at

The author introduces the story's main character, Dr. SadaoHoki. Dr. Sadao's house was situated on Japan's coast. He had lived there since he was a child. The house was made of stone and had a low height. It was built on a rocky beach with a boundary line made of pine trees that were slanted to one side. Dr. Sadao used to climb the pine trees as a child. During his trips to the South Seas, he observed men doing so in order to obtain coconuts from the trees. He would frequently accompany his father to the South Seas islands. His father would point to the islands and say that they were the stepping stones to Japan's future. Dr. Sadao would ask him, childishly, where they could go from those islands. His father would respond that it was unknown because it was dependent on the future. The future was limitless. It was up to humanity to shape its own future.

Sadao had taken this into his mind as he did everything his father said, his father who never joked or played with him but who spent infinite pains upon him who was his only son. Sadao knew that his education was his father’s chief concern. For this reason he had been sent at twenty-two to America to learn all that could be learned of surgery and medicine. He had come back at thirty, and before his father died he had seen Sadao become famous not only as a surgeon but as a scientist. Because he was perfecting a discovery which would render wounds entirely clean, he had not been sent abroad with the troops. Also, he knew, there was some slight danger that the old General might need an operation for a condition for which he was now being treated medically, and for this possibility Sadao was being kept in Japan.

Sadao remembered everything his father told him as a child. His father never made fun of him or made him laugh. They had a mature relationship, and his father had to go through a lot of hardships to raise him. Sadao was aware of his father's concern for his education. At the age of twenty-two, he was sent to America to study surgery and medicine. He returned when he was thirty years old. Sadao's father saw Sadao become famous not only as a surgeon but also as a scientist before he died. Sadao was on his way to find a treatment for wounds that would completely cleanse them. As a result, he was not sent abroad as a doctor with the armed forces. In addition, he was kept in Japan because the old General had a medical condition that required surgery in the case of emergency.

Clouds were rising from the ocean now. The unexpected warmth of the past few days had at night drawn heavy fog from the cold waves. Sadao watched mists hide outlines of a little island near the shore and then come creeping up the beach below the house, wreathing around the pines. In a few minutes, fog would be wrapped about the house too. Then he would go into the room where Hana, his wife, would be waiting for him with the two children.

The scene outside Dr. Sadao's house is described by the author. The nights became foggy as the days were unusually warm and the sea waves were cold. Dr. Sadao observed the boundary of a nearby island gradually becoming invisible as it became caught up in mist. The mist was getting closer to him. There would soon be mist all around his house. At that point, he would return to the house, where his wife, Hana, and their two children awaited him.

But at this moment the door opened and she looked out, a dark-blue woollen haori over her kimono. She cameto him affectionately and put her arm through his as he stood, smiled and said nothing. He had met Hana in America, but he had waited to fall in love with her until he was sure she was Japanese. His father would never havereceived her unless she had been pure in her race. He wondered often whom he would have married if he had not met Hana, and by what luck he had found her in the most casual way, by chance literally, at an American professor’s house. The professor and his wife had been kind people anxious to do something for their few foreign students, and the students, though bored, had accepted this kindness. Sadao had often told Hana how nearly he had not gone to Professor Harley’s house that night — the rooms were so small, the food so bad, the professor’s wife so voluble. But he had gone and there he had found Hana, anew student, and had felt he would love her if it were at all possible. 

• haori: a loose outer garment worn over the kimono.
• Kimono: a traditional Japanese garment.

The door opened before Sadao could enter, and his wife looked for him. She was dressed in a dark – blue gown with a dark – blue gown over it. She crossed her arms lovingly with his, smiled at him, remained silent, and stood by him. They had met in the United States. Sadao was aware that his father would only marry him to a Japanese girl, so he made certain of this before falling in love with her. Sadao considered himself fortunate to have met her by chance at the home of an American professor. He wondered if he hadn't met her, if he hadn't had a wife all his life. He thought the professor and his wife were nice because they wanted to help foreign students. He was thankful that they had accepted his kindness and invited him to their home, because it was there that he met Hana. Sadao would frequently tell Hana that he went to the professor's house that night by chance because the rooms in his house were small, the food was bad, and the professor's wife was very talkative. He would not have met Hana if he had not gone there that night. Hana was a new student at the time. Sadao had imagined that if it were possible for him, he would love her.

Now he felt her hand on his arm and was aware of the pleasure it gave him, even though they had been married years enough to have the two children. For they had not married heedlessly in America. They had finished their work at school and had come home to Japan, and when his father had seen her the marriage had been arranged in the old Japanese way, although Sadao and Hana had talked everything over beforehand. They were perfectly happy. She laid her cheek against his arm.

• Heedlessly: carelessly

Sadao and Hana remained in love with each other even after they had two children and had been married for many years. They did not marry in a hurry in America; instead, they returned to Japan, obtained permission from their parents, and married in a traditional Japanese ceremony. Before the wedding, they had gone over every detail. They were happy with each other. Hana affectionately rested her cheek against Sadao's arm.

It was at this moment that both of them saw something black come out of the mists. It was a man. He was flung up out of the ocean — flung, it seemed, to his feet by a breaker. He staggered a few steps, his body outlined against the mist, his arms above his head. Then the curled mists hid him again.

• Staggered: walk unsteadily as if about to fall

At that moment, they noticed a figure emerge from the mist. Because of the mist in the air, it appeared black. In the mist, the outline of a man's body could be seen. He walked shakily, his arms above his head. It was a sign that he was a prisoner. The man took a few steps and then disappeared into the mist.

‘‘Who is that?’’ Hana cried. She dropped Sadao’s arm and they both leaned over the railing of the veranda. Now they saw him again. The man was on his hands and knees crawling. Then they saw him fall on his face and lie there.

• Leaned: bent forward

When Hana saw the figure, she immediately asked, "Who is that?" She removed her arm from Sadao's arms and both of them leaned forward over the veranda railing to get a better look at the man. They ran into him again. On his hands and knees, he crawled. Then he fell flat on his face and remained there. He had most likely passed out.

‘‘A fisherman perhaps,’’ Sadao said, ‘‘washed from his boat.’’ He ran quickly down the steps and behind him Hana came, her wide sleeves flying. A mile or two away on either side there were fishing villages, but here was only the bare and lonely coast, dangerous with rocks. The surf beyond the beach was spiked with rocks. Somehow the man had managed to come through them — he must be badly torn.

• Spiked: covered with sharp points

Sadao assumed it was a fisherman who had been washed off his boat because the area was densely populated with fishing villages. Hana followed him as he ran to help him. Her haori's sleeveless sleeves flew as she ran. Because of the dangerous rocks, this section of the coast was not inhabited. Because the rocks were pointed, the man could have been seriously injured even though he had managed to pass through them.

They saw when they came toward him that indeed it was so. The sand on one side of him had already a stain of red soaking through.

• a stain of red: blood stain

When the Japanese couple saw the man, they realised he had been severely injured. The sand on which he lay had blood stains on one side, indicating that he had been injured.

‘‘He is wounded,’’ Sadao exclaimed. He made haste to the man, who lay motionless, his face in the sand. An old cap stuck to his head soaked with seawater. He was in wet rags of garments. Sadao stopped, Hana at his side, and turned the man’s head. They saw the face.

“A white man!” Hana whispered.

Sadao stated that the man had been injured. He approached the man who lay motionless in the sand, his face buried in the sand. He wore an old cap on his head. It had been soaked in sea water. His dress was also soaked and ripped. Sadao shook the man's head. When they saw the face, Hana told them privately that he was white, i.e. an American.

Yes, it was a white man. The wet cap fell away and there was his wet yellow hair, long, as though for many weeks it had not been cut, and upon his young and tortured face was a rough yellow beard. He was unconscious and knew nothing that they did for him.

The injured man was an american. They noticed his wet, yellow-colored hair, which had not been cut in a long time, as his cap fell off. He was young, and his face bore marks that indicated he had been tortured. He had a scruffy, unkempt yellow beard. Because he had fainted, he was unaware of Sadao and Hana's presence.

Now Sadao remembered the wound, and with his expert fingers he began to search for it. Blood flowed freshly at his touch. On the right side of his lower back Sadao saw that a gun wound had been reopened. The flesh was blackened with powder. Sometime, not many days ago, the man had been shot and had not been tended. It was bad chance that the rockhad struck the wound.

• Tended: cared for, looked after

Sadao was reminded of the man's injury when he noticed blood stains on the sand. He moved his trained fingers around the man's back to look for the wound, as he was a doctor. He could feel blood oozing from a wound in his lower back. It was a shot from a gun. The man had been hurt a few days before. He had not sought medical attention for the wound because he had applied a black–colored powdery substance to it himself. Sharp rocks on the shore had pierced it, causing it to bleed.

‘‘Oh, how he is bleeding!’’ Hana whispered again in a solemn voice. The mists screened them now completely, and at this time of day no one came by. The fishermen had gone home and even the chance beachcombers would have considered the day at an end.

• Solemn: serious and concerned
• Beachcomber: a vagrant who makes a living by searching beaches for articles of value and selling them

Hana was concerned about the man's injury and mentioned in low tones that he was bleeding. The mist had grown thicker by this point. Nobody was able to spot the three of them. Furthermore, the fishermen and ragpickers were not present at that time of day.

‘‘What shall we do with this man?’’ Sadao muttered. But his trained hands seemed of their own will to be doing what they could to stanch the fearful bleeding. He packed the wound with the sea moss that strewed the beach. The man moaned with pain in his stupor but he did not awaken.

‘‘The best thing that we could do would be to put him back in the sea,’’ Sadao said, answering himself.

Now that the bleeding was stopped for the moment he stood up and dusted the sand from his hands.

‘‘Yes, undoubtedly that would be best,’’ Hana said steadily. But she continued to stare down at the motionless man.

‘‘If we sheltered a white man in our house we should be arrested and if we turned him over as a prisoner, he would certainly die,’’ Sadao said.

‘‘The kindest thing would be to put him back into the sea,’’ Hana said. But neither of them moved. They were staring with a curious repulsion upon the inert figure.

• Muttered: speak in a low voice
• Stanch: stop or restrict (a flow of blood) from a wound.
• Sea moss: a kind of seaweed
• Strewed: to be scattered untidily over a place or area
• Moaned: a low cry in pain
• Stupor: a state of unconsciousness
• Repulsion: a strong dislike
• Inert: motionless

Sadao thought to himself and decided that the best thing to do was to throw the man back into the sea. He stood up and wiped the dust from his hands as the bleeding stopped. Hana agreed with him, but she kept her gaze fixed on the man as he lay motionless. Sadao warned them that if they provided him with shelter, they would be arrested for sheltering an enemy. He would die in prison if they handed him over to the Japanese army as a prisoner. Because he believed that both options were unfavourable, he decided that returning him to the sea was the best option. Hana continued, "The kindest thing they could do for him was to throw him back into the sea." They didn't move forward to do so, instead staring with disregard at the motionless figure. He was disliked because he was an enemy – an American.

‘‘What is he?’’ Hana whispered.

‘‘There is something about him that looks American,’’Sadao said. He took up the battered cap. Yes, there, almost gone, was the faint lettering. ‘‘A sailor,’’ he said, ‘‘from an American warship.’’ He spelled it out: ‘‘U.S. Navy.’’ The man was a prisoner of war!

• Battered: torn and worn out

Hana was curious and inquired about the man's identity. Sadao responded by saying that he appeared to be an American. He picked up the torn cap and read the faintly visible words written on it. He said that the man was a sailor from an American warship and read aloud the words "US Navy" written on the cap. They concluded that the man had been imprisoned during the war.

‘‘He has escaped.’’ Hana cried softly, ‘‘and that is why he is wounded.’’

‘‘In the back,’’ Sadao agreed.

Sadao and Hana talked about how the man tried to escape from the prison and was shot in the back.

They hesitated, looking at each other. Then Hana said with resolution:

“Come, are we able to put him back into the sea?”

They couldn't find the courage to throw him into the sea. Hana urged Sadao with firmness. She asked him if he was willing to throw him into the sea.

“If I am able, are you?” Sadao asked.

“No,” Hana said, “But if you can do it alone…”

Sadao assured her that he was capable of doing so and asked whether Hana had some the necessary courage. Hana replied in the negative, adding that if he couldn't do it on his own, she had to assist him.

Sadao hesitated again. “The strange thing is,” he said, “that if the man were whole I could turn him over to the police without difficulty. I care nothing for him. He is my enemy. All Americans are my enemy. And he is only a common fellow. You see how foolish his face is. But since he is wounded…”

Sadao was hesitant to throw the man into the sea. He reasoned that if the man was in good health, he would hand him over to the cops without hesitation. He went on to say that he was unconcerned about the man and considered him an enemy because he was an American. He remarked that the injured man was a regular person because he had a foolish expression on his face. He wanted to say he didn't care about the injured man, but his only concern was that he was hurt.

“You also cannot throw him back to the sea,” Hana said. “Then there is only one thing to do. We must carry him into the house.”

 

Hana stated that if he could not throw him into the sea, he would carry him home.

“But the servants?” Sadao inquired.

Sadao was worried that the servants would object because they were sheltering an enemy.

“We must simply tell them that we intend to give him to the police — as indeed we must, Sadao. We must think of the children and your position. It would endanger all of us if we did not give this man over as a prisoner of war.” “Certainly,” Sadao agreed. “I would not think of doing anything else.”

Hana stated that they would inform them that he would be handed over to the police once he recovered. She told him that they had to do it. She went on to say that they needed to think about their children's futures as well as Sadao's position. They would be in danger if they did not hand over a prisoner of war to the police. Sadao replied that he would certainly do so and that he had no plans to do anything else.

Thus agreed, together they lifted the man. He was very light, like a fowl that had been half-starved for a long time until it is only feathers and skeleton. So, his arms hanging, they carried him up the steps and into the side door of the house. This door opened into a passage, and down the passage they carried the man towards an empty bedroom.

• Fowl: cock, hen

Sadao and Hana taken the injured man inside. He was extremely light. The author compares his weight to that of a starving hen, whose body loses flesh and shrinks to mere feathers and skeleton. The man's arms were literally hanging, and the two carried him up the steps and into the house's side door. The door opened into a passage, and they proceeded down it to an empty bedroom.

It had been the bedroom of Sadao’s father, and since his death it had not been used. They laid the man on the deeply matted floor. Everything here had been Japanese to please the old man, who would never in his own home sit on a chair or sleep in a foreign bed. Hana went to the wall cupboards and slid back a door and took out a soft quilt. She hesitated. The quilt was covered with flowered silk and the lining was pure white silk.

Sadao's father had owned the bedroom, which had not been used since his death. The injured man was placed on the floor's thick mat. Sadao's father disliked foreign things, so everything in the room was Japanese, according to the writer. Hana went to the wall cupboard and took a soft quilt. She refused to put it on the injured man. The quilt was made of silk with a floral print, and the lining was pure white silk.

“He is so dirty,” she murmured in distress.

“Yes, he had better be washed,” Sadao agreed. “If you will fetch hot water I will wash him.”

• Distress: sadness

She was depressed and said slowly that the man was filthy. Sadao stated that the man needed to be cleaned. Sadao requested that Hana give hot water so that he could wash the man.

“I cannot bear for you to touch him,” she said. “We shall have to tell the servants he is here. I will tell Yumi now. She can leave the children for a few minutes and she can wash him.”

Hana did not want Sadao to have any contact with the man. She stated that they would have the injured man washed by the servant. She'd ask Yumi to leave the children alone for a few minutes while she washed him.

Sadao considered a moment. “Let it be so,” he agreed. “You tell Yumi and I will tell the others.” But the utter pallor of the man’s unconscious face moved him first to stoop and feel his pulse. It was faint but it was there. He put his hand against the man’s cold breast. The heart too was yet alive.

 

• Pallor: an unhealthy pale appearance
• Stoop: bend forward
• Pulse: heartbeat

Sadao paused for a moment before agreeing with Hana. He asked her to call Yumi while he called the other servants. He was about to leave when he noticed the injured man's face. He came to a halt, bent forward, and felt his heartbeat to see if he was still alive. The heartbeat was barely audible, but it was there. Sadao then put his hand on the man's heart to feel it. It was also beating. Sadao concluded that the injured man was still alive.

 “He will die unless he is operated on,” Sadao said, considering. “The question is whether he will not die any way.”

Sadao stated that the man would die if he was not operated on. He went on to say that even if he were operated on and saved, he would die at the hands of the Japanese army. As a result, he would die in either case.

Hana cried out in fear. “Don’t try to save him! What if he should live?”

Hana screamed in terror and begged Sadao not to save the man... She was concerned that if he survived, they would be in danger.

“What if he should die?” Sadao replied. He stood gazing down on the motionless man. This man must have extraordinary vitality or he would have been dead by now.

But then he was very young — perhaps not yet twenty five.

“You mean die from the operation?”

Hana asked.

“Yes,” Sadao said.

• Vitality: energy, life

Sadao questioned what the consequences would be if the man died. He looked down at the injured man, wondering if he had a lot of energy to keep him alive through such torture. He countered his thought by pointing out that the man was very young – he appeared to be twenty-five years old – and that people at that age have a lot of energy. Hana asked if he meant that the man could die during the operation. Sadao answered her question.

Hana considered this doubtfully, and when she did not answer Sadao turned away. “At any rate something must be done with him,” he said, “and first he must be washed.” He went quickly out of the room and Hana came behind him. She did not wish to be left alone with the white man. He was the first she had seen since she left America and now he seemed to have nothing to do with those whom she had known there. Here he was her enemy, a menace, living or dead.

• Menace: danger, threat

Sadao left as Hana was pondering this possibility. He stated that regardless of the outcome, something had to be done with the injured man. The first step was to clean him up. Hana followed him as he exited the room. She didn't want to stay in the room with the white-skinned man alone. He was the first white man she had seen since leaving America. She had no contact with the Americans she had met because they were her enemies. This injured man was a threat to them as well as an enemy.

 

She turned to the nursery and called, “Yumi!”

But the children heard her voice and she had to go in for a moment and smile at them and play with the baby boy, now nearly three months old.

Over the baby’s soft black hair she motioned with her mouth, “Yumi — come with me!”

• Nursery: a room in a house for the special use of young children.

Hana walked over to the kids' room and called out to Yumi. She went inside when the children heard her voice, smiled at them, and played with her three-month-old son. She motioned with her mouth to Yumi to come as she held the baby with soft black hair.

“I will put the baby to bed,” Yumi replied. “He is ready.”

She went with Yumi into the bedroom next to the nursery and stood with the boy in her arms while Yumi spread the sleeping quilts on the floor and laid the baby between them.

Yumi responded that the baby was sleepy and that she needed to put it to sleep before accompanying her. Hana and Yumi went to the bedroom next to the nursery while Hana held the baby. Yumi placed the baby between the sleeping quilts on the floor.

Then Hana led the way quickly and softly to the kitchen. The two servants were frightened at what their master had just told them. The old gardener, who was also a house servant, pulled the few hairs on his upper lip.

Hana led the way as they hurriedly approached the kitchen. After hearing their master's words about the injured man, the two servants in the kitchen were terrified. The elderly gardener, who also worked as a servant, pondered the news while pulling the hair from his upper lip.

“The master ought not to heal the wound of this white man,” he said bluntly to Hana. “The white man ought to die. First he was shot. Then the sea caught him and wounded him with her rocks. If the master heals what the gun did and what the sea did they will take revenge on us.”

• Bluntly: in a straight – forward manner

Hana was confronted by the elderly gardener. Sadao, he said, should not treat the injured white man. He reasoned that the man was destined to die. He had been wounded by a gunshot, and then he had been further injured by the sea's rocks. If Sadao healed the wounds caused by the gun and the sea, the gun and the sea would consider them enemies and seek revenge. The gun represents the Japanese army, and the sea represents Japan as a whole. Japan would punish them if they treated the enemy.

“I will tell him what you say,” Hana replied courteously. But she herself was also frightened, although she was not superstitious as the old man was. Could it ever be well to help an enemy? Nevertheless she told Yumi to fetch the hot water and bring it to the room where the white man was.

• Courteously: politely
• Superstitious: irrational beliefs

Hana politely told the gardener that she would forward his message to Sadao. She was terrified, but she wasn't superstitious like the old man. She believed that assisting an enemy could never be beneficial to them. Nonetheless, she asked Yumi to bring hot water into the room where the injured man was being kept.

She went ahead and slid back the partitions. Sadao was not yet there. Yumi, following, put down her wooden bucket. Then she went over to the white man. When she saw him her thick lips folded themselves into stubbornness. “I have never washed a white man,” she said, “and I will not wash so dirty a one now.”

• Stubbornness: firm determination

Hana entered first and shifted the partition to one side. Sadao was not present. Yumi followed her, keeping the wooden bucket on the floor. Her thick lips folded as she saw the white man, and the expressions on her face indicated her determination. She stated unequivocally that she had never washed an American man and would never wash one as filthy as that injured man.

Hana cried at her severely. “You will do what your master commands you!”

Yumi's refusal evoked a reaction from Hana. She screamed at her that she was supposed to obey her master's commands.

There was so fierce a look of resistance upon Yumi’s round dull face that Hana felt unreasonably afraid. After all, if the servants should report something that was not as it happened?

• Fierce: dangerous
• Resistance: the refusal to accept or comply with something

Yumi resisted strongly. Hana was scared because her dull face had a dangerous look of protest on it. She was concerned that if the servants reported something other than what had occurred, they would get into trouble.

“Very well,” she said with dignity. “You understand we only want to bring him to his senses so that we can turn him over as a prisoner?”

• Dignity: respect

Hana's expression changed to one of respect and she said, "very well." She told Yumi that they planned to bring the unconscious man back to his senses and then hand him over as a prisoner.

“I will have nothing to do with it,” Yumi said, “I am a poor person and it is not my business.”

Yumi expressed her dissatisfaction with their plans. She continued, "I'm a poor person, and it's none of my business to know about their plans."

“Then please,” Hana said gently, “return to your own work.”

At once Yumi left the room. But this left Hana with the white man alone. She might have been too afraid to stay had not her anger at Yumi’s stubbornness now sustained her.

• Sustained: continued

Hana told Yumi that she should get back to work. Yumi abruptly exited the room. Hana was once again alone with the white man. She would have been afraid to stay there alone, but her rage at Yumi's tenacity forced her to do so.

“Stupid Yumi,” she muttered fiercely. “Is this anything but a man? And a wounded helpless man!”

Yumi was a stupid person, Hana said angrily. She said that it was just a man who had been injured.

In the conviction of her own superiority she bent impulsively and untied the knotted rugs that kept the white man covered. When she had his breast bare she dipped the small clean towel that Yumi had brought into the steaming hot water and washed his face carefully. The man’s skin, though rough with exposure, was of a fine texture and must have been very blond when he was a child.

• Conviction: firm belief
• impulsively: to do something suddenly without thinking
• rugs: blanket blond: of light colour

Hana was so enraged by Yumi's refusal that she opened the blanket in which the man had been injured without thinking. His torso was bare. Hana washed his face with a small clean towel that had been dipped in steaming hot water. The man's skin was rough from sun exposure, but it had a nice texture, and he must have been very fair as a child.

While she was thinking these thoughts, though not really liking the man better now that he was no longer a child, she kept on washing him until his upper body was quite clean. But she dared not turn him over. Where was Sadao? Now her anger was ebbing, and she was anxious again and she rose, wiping her hands on the wrong towel. Then lest the man be chilled, she put the quilt over him.

• Ebbing: decreasing gradually
• Rose: stood up
• Chilled: freeze due to cold weather

As she pondered these thoughts, Hana continued to clean the man's upper body. She disliked the man because he was no longer a child. She lacked the courage to turn him over and remembered Sadao. Her rage was fading, and she began to feel restless. She stood up and used the wrong towel to wipe her hands. She put the quilt on him because she didn't want the man to freeze in the cold weather.

“Sadao!” she called softly.

He had been about to come in when she called. His hand had been on the door and now he opened it. She sawt hat he had brought his surgeon’s emergency bag and that he wore his surgeon’s coat.

Hana softly called out to Sadao.

When she called him, he was standing at the door. He pushed to open the door. Hana noticed Sadao wearing his surgeon's coat and carrying his surgeon's emergency bag. He was ready to perform surgery on the injured man.

“You have decided to operate!” she cried.

“Yes,” he said shortly. He turned his back to her and unfolded a sterilized towel upon the floor of the tokonoma alcove and put his instruments out upon it.

• Sterilized: disinfected
• Tokonoma alcove:  The word ‘toko’ literally means “floor” or “bed”; ‘ma’ means “space” or “room.” In English, tokonoma is usually called alcove. It is a part of a room where things are displayed.a niche or an alcove in a Japanese home for displaying a flower arrangement, kakemono, or other piece of art.

Hana asks of Sadao whether he had decided to operate on the man.

Sadao responded that he had made the decision to operate on him. He turned his back on Hana because he didn't want her to question his decision. Sadao began his work. On the floor of the tokonoma alcove, he opened a sterilised towel and placed his surgical instruments on it.

“Fetch towels,” he said.

Sadao asked Hana go get some towels.

She went obediently, but how anxious now, to the linen shelves and took out the towels. There ought also to be old pieces of matting so that the blood would not ruin the fine floor covering. She went out to the back veranda where the gardener kept strips of matting with which to protect delicate shrubs on cold nights and took an armful of them.

Hana followed Sadao's instructions and went outside to get the towels. She was intrigued as Sadao operated on the injured man. She feared that the blood from his wounds would stain the fine mats that covered the room's floor. As a result, she retrieved some rough mats from the backyard, which had been used by the gardener to protect the delicate shrubs from the cold weather.

But when she went back into the room, she saw this was useless. The blood had already soaked through the packing in the man’s wound and had ruined the mat under him.

When Hana entered the room, she noticed that blood had flowed through the bandage on the man's wound, staining the mat beneath him. Her efforts were in vain.

“Oh, the mat!” she cried.

“Yes, it is ruined,” Sadao replied, as though he did not care. “Help me to turn him,” he commanded her.

She obeyed him without a word, and he began to wash the man’s back carefully.

Hana cried out that the mat had been ruined when she saw the stained mat. Sadao agreed that the mat had been ruined in a way that indicated he was unconcerned about it. Sadao asked Hana to assist him in turning the man over. Sadao began washing his back after she obeyed him.

“Yumi would not wash him,” she said.

“Did you wash him then?” Sadao asked, not stopping for a moment his swift concise movements.

“Yes,” she said.

He did not seem to hear her. But she was used to his absorption when he was at work. She wondered for a moment if it mattered to him what was the body upon which he worked so long as it was for the work he did so excellently.

• Concise: short

Yumi had refused to wash the injured man, as said by Hana. Sadao inquired as to why she had washed him. He never stopped cleaning him. As he cleaned him carefully, he made quick, small movements with his hands. Sadao was preoccupied with his work and did not appear to hear Hana. Hana was perplexed as to why Sadao didn't care who the injured man was. He was only concerned with doing his job well.

“You will have to give the anesthetic if he needs it,” he said.

“I?” she repeated blankly. “But never have I!”

“It is easy enough,” he said impatiently.

He was taking out the packing now, and the blood began to flow more quickly. He peered into the wound with the bright surgeon’s light fastened on his forehead. “The bullet is still there,” he said with cool interest. “Now I wonder how deep this rock wound is. If it is not too deep it maybe that I can get the bullet. But the bleeding is not superficial. He has lost much blood.”

• Anesthetic: a substance that induces insensitivity to pain
• Superficial: existing or occurring at or on the surface.

Sadao told Hana that she would have to inject the injured man with a substance that causes pain insensitivity. Hana responded that she had never done anything like that before. Sadao hurriedly stated that it was very simple. Sadao was removing the packing, and the blood began to flow more quickly. He examined the wound with the help of the bright surgeon's light that was fixed to his head. He declared that the bullet had entered the man's body. He was curious about how deep the rock's wound was. He said that if the wound was not too deep, he could extract the bullet. He also stated that the bleeding was not from the skin's surface, implying that the wound was deep and the man had already lost a significant amount of blood.

At this moment Hana choked. He looked up and saw her face the colour of sulphur.

• her face the colour of sulphur: sulphur is a yellow coloured element. The clause means that her face became pale – yellowish in colour.

Hana coughed when she saw Sadao inspecting the wound because she couldn't see the sight. Sadao looked at her and noticed that her face was yellowish, similar to the colour of sulphur.

“Don’t faint,” he said sharply. He did not put down his exploring instrument. “If I stop now the man will surely die.” She clapped her hands to her mouth and leaped up and ran out of the room. Outside in the garden he heard her retching. But he went on with his work.

• Leaped: jumped
• Retching: vomiting

Sadao reacted by telling Hana not to faint. He didn't stop working and kept inspecting the wound. Sadao stated that if he did not continue, the injured man would undoubtedly die. Hana jumped up and ran out of the room, both hands on her mouth.Sadao heard her vomit in the garden but continued his work.

“It will be better for her to empty her stomach,” he thought. He had forgotten that of course she had never seen an operation. But her distress and his inability to go to her at once made him impatient and irritable with this man who lay like dead under his knife.

Sadao needed Hana's assistance to operate the man, so he thought it would be best if she empty her stomach so she wouldn't feel queasy all the time. He was reminded that Hana was witnessing an operation for the first time, and it was not pleasant. Sadao was irritated and impatient because his wife was in distress and he couldn't help her because of the man who lay under his knife. He looked exactly like a corpse.

“This man.” he thought, “there is no reason under heaven why he should live.”

Sadao thought that there was no reason for him to try to save the man because he had no reason to live.

Unconsciously this thought made him ruthless and he proceeded swiftly. In his dream the man moaned but Sadao paid no heed except to mutter at him.

• Ruthless: harsh, merciless
• Moaned: made low, soft sounds due to pain
• Paid no heed: did not pay attention to

Sadao became ruthless and began working quickly. In his state of unconsciousness, the injured man moaned, but Sadao continued to work, unconcerned to the man's pain.

“Groan,” he muttered, “groan if you like. I am not doing this for my own pleasure. In fact, I do not know why I am doing it.”

Sadao told the injured man that he was free to cry out in agony. Sadao was unconcerned about the man's pain. He didn't want to operate on him and had no reason to do so.

The door opened and there was Hana again.

“Where is the anesthetic?” she asked in a clear voice.

Sadao motioned with his chin. “It is as well that you came back,” he said. “This fellow is beginning to stir.”

She had the bottle and some cotton in her hand.

“But how shall I do it?” she asked.

“Simply saturate the cotton and hold it near his nostrils,” Sadao replied without delaying for one moment the intricate detail of his work. “When he breathes badly move it away a little.”

• beginning to stir: gaining consciousness.
• Saturate: wet

Hana walked into the room and asked Sadao for the anaesthetic she needed to give to the injured man. Her voice was clear, indicating that she was now ready to assist him. Sadao moved his chin to direct her to the anaesthetic bottle. He went on to say that it was a good thing she came because the man had begun to become conscious and it was critical to sedate him. Hana was holding a bottle and some cotton in her hands. She inquired as to what she was supposed to do. He instructed her to apply anaesthetic to the cotton and place it near the man's nostril. He did not stop his delicate work and advised her to remove the cotton when the man began to breathe heavily.

She crouched close to the sleeping face of the young American. It was a piteously thin face, she thought, and the lips were twisted. The man was suffering whether he knew it or not. Watching him, she wondered if the stories they heard sometimes of the sufferings of prisoners were true. They came like flickers of rumour, told by word of mouth and always contradicted. In the newspapers the reports were always that wherever the Japanese armies went the people received them gladly, with cries of joy at their liberation. But sometimes she remembered such men as General Takima, who at home beat his wife cruelly, though no one mentioned it now that he had fought so victorious a battle in Manchuria. If a man like that could be so cruel to a woman in his power, would he not be cruel to one like this for instance?

• Crouched: sit in a squatting position
• piteously: causing you to feel sad and sympathetic
• by word of mouth: people tell it to each other rather than it being printed in written form. 
• Manchuria: Manchuria (Northeast China) is the homeland of the Manchu people. To the Chinese, the region is simply known as the Northeast. Manchuria is made up of China’s three north-eastern most provinces: Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang.

Hana sat in a squat and approached the sleeping American man's face. When she saw his thin face and twisted lips, she felt sad and sympathetic towards him. She was aware that he was in pain. She wondered if the stories she had heard about the torture inflicted on the prisoners were true. The stories spread like rumours when people told them to others. On the other hand, it was mentioned in the printed media, such as newspapers, that the Japanese army was welcomed wherever it went, and people praised it for their freedom. Hana recalled a Japanese army officer, General Takima, who was cruel to his wife and would beat her. No one mentioned it anymore because he had won the war in Manchuria. Hana reasoned that if a man could be cruel to his wife, he could also be cruel to the prisoners in his treatment.

She hoped anxiously that this young man had not been tortured. It was at this moment that she observed deep red scars on his neck, just under the ear.

• Scars: marks

Hana hoped he hadn't been tortured by the army. She had just noticed deep red coloured marks (injury marks) on his neck, under his ear.

“Those scars,” she murmured, lifting her eyes to Sadao. But he did not answer. At this moment he felt the tip of his instrument strike against something hard, dangerously near the kidney. All thought left him. He felt only the purest pleasure. He probed with his fingers, delicately, familiar with every atom of this human body. His old American professor of anatomy had seen to that knowledge. “Ignorance of the human body is the surgeon’s cardinal sin, sirs!” he had thundered at his classes year after year. “To operate without as complete knowledge of the body as if you had made it — anything less than that is murder.”

• Probed: searched
• Anatomy: the branch of science concerned with the bodily structure of humans, animals, and other living organisms, especially as revealed by dissection and the separation of parts.
• Cardinal: basic, first

Hana asked about the scars after mentioning them to Sadao. Sadao remained silent. At that precise moment, the tip of his instrument collided with something solid (the bullet). It was right next to the kidney. Sadao couldn't think of anything else. He was relieved to have found the bullet. He inserted his fingers into the wound. Sadao was well-versed in even the most minute details of the human anatomy. His anatomy professor in America had told them that ignoring knowledge of any part of the body was the first mistake a surgeon made. To operate on a body without having as much detailed knowledge of it as the person who makes it has would be equivalent to murdering that body. Sadao's professor would frequently repeat these words in class.

“It is not quite at the kidney, my friend,” Sadao murmured. It was his habit to murmur to the patient when he forgot himself in an operation. “My friend,” he always called his patients and so now he did, forgetting that this was his enemy.

Sadao approached the injured man and spoke with him. The bullet had just missed his kidney, he stated. Sadao would start talking to the patient when he became engrossed in the operation. He referred to the patient as "my friend." He also addressed the injured man as "my friend." He had forgotten that this man was not a friend, but an enemy.

Then quickly, with the cleanest and most precise of incisions, the bullet was out. The man quivered but he was still unconscious. Nevertheless, he muttered a few English words.

• Precise: accurate
• Incisions: surgical cuts
• Quivered: shivered, trembled
• Muttered: spoke

Sadao was lightning fast. He removed the bullet with a few surgical cuts on the body. The man shook in pain but remained unconscious. He uttered a few English words that expressed his suffering.

“Guts,” he muttered, choking. “They got…my guts…”

“Sadao!” Hana cried sharply.

“Hush,” Sadao said.

The man sank again into silence so profound that Sadao took up his wrist, hating the touch of it. Yes, there was still a pulse so faint, so feeble, but enough, if he wanted the man to live, to give hope.

• Guts: informal word for bravery and determination
• Profound: very great or intense
• Pulse: heartbeat
• Feeble: weak

The injured man choked and said, "Guts,"  "They got my Guts," He meant that he was brave and courageous, and that the Japanese army would have a difficult time punishing him. Hana cried out to Sadao when she heard him. Sadao told her to be quiet. Sadao checked his heartbeat by holding the man's wrist. He was checking to see if the man was still alive. His pulse was present, though it was very weak. Sadao believed it was sufficient for a person with a desire to live. There was still hope that the man would survive.

“But certainly I do not want this man to live,” he thought.

Sadao knew he didn't want the man to live.

“No more anesthetic,” he told Hana.

He turned as swiftly as though he had never paused and from his medicines he chose a small vial and from it filled a hypodermic and thrust it into the patient’s left arm. Then putting down the needle, he took the man’s wrist again. The pulse under his fingers fluttered once or twice and then grew stronger.

• Vial: a small container, typically cylindrical and made of glass, used especially for holding liquid medicines.
• Hypodermic: needle, syringe, injection
• Thrust: pushed
• Fluttered: trembled

Sadao intervened to prevent Hana from administering anaesthesia. He quickly turned and selected a small bottle from the medicines. He injected the vaccine into the man's left arm using a syringe filled with medicine. Sadao lowered the needle and grasped the man's wrist. The pulse shivered once or twice before returning to normal.

“This man will live in spite of all,” he said to Hana and sighed.

The young man woke, so weak, his blue eyes so terrified when he perceived where he was, that Hana felt compelled to apologise. She herself served him, for none of the servants would enter the room.

• Compelled: forced
• Apologise: feel sorry

Sadao inhaled deeply as he assured Hana that the injured man would survive. He awoke, his blue eyes filled with fear as he realised where he was. Hana felt bad for him. As the servants refused to enter the room where he was kept, she served him food.

When she came in the first time, she saw him summon his small strength to be prepared for some fearful thing.

• Summon: to gather

When Hana first met the injured man, she noticed that he was gaining strength and was terrified.

“Don’t be afraid,” she begged him softly.

“How come… you speak English…” he gasped.

“I was a long time in America,” she replied.

She saw that he wanted to reply to that but he could not, and so she knelt and fed him gently from the porcelain spoon. He ate unwillingly, but still he ate.

• Gasped: to catch one’s breathe due to astonishment
• Knelt: sat on her knees
• Porcelain: a white vitrified translucent ceramic also called china used for making utensils, pottery, etc.

 

Hana gently told the injured man not to be afraid. He was astounded that she could communicate in English. Hana responded that she had spent a long time in America. The man wanted to say more but was unable to do so. Hana fed him gently with a porcelain spoon. The man did not want to eat, but he did.

“Now you will soon be strong,” she said, not liking him and yet moved to comfort him.

He did not answer.

When Sadao came in the third day after the operation, he found the young man sitting up, his face bloodless with the effort.

“Lie down,” Sadao cried. “Do you want to die?”

He forced the man down gently and strongly and examined the wound. “You may kill yourself if you do this sort of thing,” he scolded.

“What are you going to do with me?” the boy muttered.

He looked just now barely seventeen. “Are you going to hand

me over?”

Hana fed the man and stated that he would grow strong soon. Despite the fact that she disliked him, she said so. The man did not respond.

Sadao paid the man a visit on the third day after the operation. The young boy was sitting, but his face was pale and weak from the effort he was making to sit. Sadao screamed at him and told him to lie down. He said that if the man overstressed himself, he would die. Sadao pushed him down and examined the wound he had operated on. He warned the man that if he tried to exert himself, he would die.

Sadao was asked what he was going to do with the boy now.

The boy appeared to be only seventeen years old. He asked Sadao whether he would hand him over to the Japanese army.

For a moment Sadao did not answer. He finished hisexamination and then pulled the silk quilt over the man.

“I do not know myself what I shall do with you,” he said. “I ought of course to give you to the police. You are a prisoner of war — no, do not tell me anything.” He put up his hand as he saw the young man was about to speak. “Do not even tell me your name unless I ask it.”

Sadao did not respond right away. He finished examining the boy and then covered the silk quilt over him.

Sadao admitted that he had no idea what to do with the boy. He went on to say that he was supposed to hand him over to the cops. He also revealed that he was aware of the boy's status as a prisoner of war. When Sadao noticed the boy about to speak, he raised his hand to tell him not to. Sadao asked him not to speak and not to reveal his name unless he specifically asked him to.

They looked at each other for a moment, and then the young man closed his eyes and turned his face to the wall. “Okay,” he whispered, his mouth a bitter line.

Outside the door Hana was waiting for Sadao. He saw at once that she was in trouble.

Sadao and the boy exchanged glances before the boy closed his eyes and faced the wall. He said okay in hushed tones, still hurt by Sadao's words.

Hana stood outside the door, waiting for Sadao. He noticed she was in some sort of trouble.

“Sadao, Yumi tells me the servants feel they cannot stay if we hide this man here any more,” she said. “She tells me that they are saying that you and I were so long in America that we have forgotten to think of our own country first. They think we like Americans.”

Hana told Sadao that Yumi had told her that if the American man stayed any longer, the servants would leave. She also stated that Sadao and Hana had been in America for so long that they had forgotten what was most important to their home country. Yumi and the servants assumed Hana and Sadao were fond of Americans.

“It is not true,” Sadao said harshly “Americans are our enemies. But I have been trained not to let a man die if I can help it.”

Sadao reacted angrily, stating that this was not true. He said that Americans were their enemies. He had been trained in such a way that he could not let a man die and would assist in any way he could to save him. Sadao had done exactly that.

“The servants cannot understand that,” she said anxiously.

“No,” he agreed.

Neither seemed able to say more, and somehow the household dragged on. The servants grew more watchful. Their courtesy was as careful as ever, but their eyes were cold upon the pair to whom they were hired.

Hana stated that the servants were baffled by Sadao's predicament.

This was something Sadao agreed on.

They both had nothing else to say. The household chores continued, but the servants remained vigilant. They were polite to their masters but unfriendly to them.

“It is clear what our master ought to do,” the old gardener said one morning. He had worked with flowers all his life, and had been a specialist too in moss. For Sadao’s father he had made one of the finest moss gardens in Japan, sweeping the bright green carpet constantly so that not a leaf or a pine needle marred the velvet of its surface. “My old master’s son knows very well what he ought to do,” he now said, pinching a bud from a bush as he spoke. “When the man was so near death why did he not let him bleed?”

• Moss: a very small soft green plant
• Pine needles: very thin, sharp leaves that grow on pine trees 
• Marred: spoiled

The old gardener stated one morning that it was obvious what their master should have done. The elderly gardener had spent his entire life working with flowers and specialising in moss. He had worked for Sadao's father. Sadao's father had one of the best moss gardens in Japan, thanks to the gardener. He'd sweep the bright green moss carpet clean so that the sharp pine tree leaves wouldn't ruin the soft velvety surface. He plucked a flower bud from the bush while saying that his master's son, Sadao, knew exactly what he needed to do. He went on to say that when the man was nearly dead, he should have left him to bleed to death.

“That young master is so proud of his skill to save life that he saves any life,” the cook said contemptuously. She split a fowl’s neck skillfully and held the fluttering bird and let its blood flow into the roots of a wistaria vine. Blood is the best of fertilisers, and the old gardener would not let her waste a drop of it.

• Contemptuously: disrespectfully
• Wistaria wine: a flowering plant used for decoration

The cook stated arrogantly that their master was so proud of his ability to save lives that he didn't care whose life he was saving. She expertly cut the neck of a hen and held the shivering bird. She let the hen's blood flow into the wisteria plant. The old gardener had told her that blood was the best fertiliser for plants and that she should not waste a single drop of it.

“It is the children of whom we must think,” Yumi said sadly. “What will be their fate if their father is condemned as a traitor?”

• Traitor: a person who betrays his country

Yumi was concerned about Sadao and Hana's children. She wondered if they would be labelled as the children of a traitor when they grew up. Sadao would be considered an enemy of Japan and a traitor to his country because he was assisting an American.

They did not try to hide what they said from the ears of Hana as she stood arranging the day’s flowers in the veranda near by, and she knew they spoke on purpose that she might hear. That they were right she knew too in most of her being. But there was another part of her which she herself could not understand. It was not sentimental liking of the prisoner. She had come to think of him as a prisoner. She had not liked him even yesterday when he had said in his impulsive way, “Anyway, let me tell you that my name is Tom.” She had only bowed her little distant bow. She saw hurt in his eyes but she did not wish to assuage it. Indeed, he was a great trouble in this house.

• Impulsive: sudden, thoughtless
• Assuage: decrease, reduce

The servants discussed the matter in her presence as Hana stood on the verandah arranging the flowers, as they wanted her to know their thoughts on the matter. Hana agreed with the servants, but she had some feelings for the injured man that she couldn't explain. She disliked the Prisoner and had no feelings for him. The injured man had told her the day before that his name was Tom. Hana didn't like him either at the time. She had reacted by gently bowing her head. She recognised that her reaction had caused the injured man pain, but she refused to relieve the pain she had caused him because the injured man was a major source of frustration for her. His presence posed a danger to Hana and Sadao.

As for Sadao, every day he examined the wound carefully. The last stitches had been pulled out this morning, and the young man would, in a fortnight be nearly as well as ever. Sadao went back to his office and carefully typed a letter to the Chief of police reporting the whole matter. “On the twenty-first day of February an escaped prisoner was washed up on the shore in front of my house.” So far he typed and then he opened a secret drawer of his desk and put the unfinished report into it.

Sadao was doing an excellent job in his role. Every day, he would examine the wound. The last stitches were removed from the injured man's body one morning, and he would be as good as new in the next 15 days. Meanwhile, Sadao went to his office and wrote a letter to the police chief, informing him of the entire situation. Sadao began his report by stating that on February 21st, an escaped prisoner washed up on the shore in front of his house. Sadao had just finished typing this section of the report. He opened his desk drawer and placed this unfinished report inside.

On the seventh day after that, two things happened. In the morning the servants left together, their belongings tied in large square cotton kerchiefs. When Hana got up in the morning nothing was done, the house not cleaned and the food not prepared, and she knew what it meant. She was dismayed and even terrified, but her pride as a mistress would not allow her to show it. Instead, she inclined her head gracefully when they appeared before her in the kitchen, and she paid them off and thanked them for all that they had done for her. They were crying, but she did not cry. The cook and the gardener had served Sadao since he was a little boy in his father’s house, and Yumi cried because of the children. She was so grieving that after she had gone she ran back to Hana.

• Kerchief: square piece of cloth
• Dismayed: shocked
• Mistress: a woman in a position of authority or control
• Inclined: bent towards one side
• Grieving: in a state of sadness

Two things happened on the seventh day after that. The house servants left early in the morning. They had tied their belongings in large swaths of cloth. When Hana awoke in the morning, she found that the work had not been completed – the house was filthy, and the food had not been prepared. She realised the servants were up to no good. She was shocked and horrified to learn that the servants were leaving. Hana did not show her emotions to the servants, instead remaining calm and graceful as the lady of the house. She paid the servants and expressed gratitude for their assistance. The servants were crying because they had been working there for many years, but Hana did not. The cook and gardener were both elderly employees. They were employed by Sadao's father and had served Sadao since he was a child. Yumi was crying because she was going to miss the kids. She was so sad that she ran up to her after she had left.

“If the baby misses me too much tonight, send for me. I am going to my own house and you know where it is.”

“Thank you,” Hana said smiling. But she told herself she would not send for Yumi however the baby cried.

Yumi told Hana that if the baby needed her in the middle of the night, she could call her. She went on to say that she was going to her own house, and Hana knew exactly where she was going. Hana smiled and thanked her for the offer, but she told herself that if the baby cried, she would not call Yumi.

She made the breakfast and Sadao helped with the children. Neither of them spoke of the servants beyond the fact that they were gone. But after Hana had taken morning food to the prisoner, she came back to Sadao.

The next morning, Hana prepared breakfast while Sadao helped her by looking after the children. They didn't talk about the servants, but after Hana served the morning food to the Prisoner of war, she returned to Sadao, most likely to talk about something.

“Why is it we cannot see clearly what we ought to do?” she asked him. “Even the servants see more clearly than we do. Why are we different from other Japanese?”

Hana was concerned, and she wondered why they couldn't agree on what they should do. She went on to say that even their servants were more clear than them. She questioned why they were acting differently than other Japanese people. Hana wanted to say that because Americans were their enemies, they should not have treated that prisoner of war and should have let him die as any other Japanese would.

Sadao did not answer. But a little later he went into the room where the prisoner was and said brusquely, “Today you may get up on your feet. I want you to stay up only five minutes at a time. Tomorrow you may try it twice as long. It would be well that you get back your strength as quickly as possible.”

• Briskly: quickly

Sadao did not respond to Hana, but after a while he went into the room where the Prisoner of War was resting and spoke very quickly. He said that that the man would be able to get up and stand on his own the next day. Sadao had told him that he could only stand for 5 minutes at a time. He made a point of saying that the next day he could try to stand for double the time, which is 10 minutes. Sadao also stated that it would be beneficial to everyone if the man regained his strength as soon as possible. Sadao hinted that they wanted to get rid of the American as soon as possible because he had become a cause of trouble for them.

He saw the flicker of terror on the young face that was still very pale. “Okay,” the boy murmured. Evidently he was determined to say more. “I feel I ought to thank you, Doctor, for having saved my life.”

Sadao noticed that his words expressed a look of terror and fright on the young boy's face. Because he was so weak, his face was still very pale and colourless. The boy said, "Okay," in low voices. He appeared to want to say more, but all he said was that he wanted to thank Sadao for saving his life.

“Don’t thank me too early,” Sadao said coldly. He saw the flicker of terror again in the boy’s eyes — terror as unmistakable as an animal’s. The scars on his neck were crimson for a moment. Those scars! What were they? Sadao did not ask.

• Crimson: bright red colour

Sadao's face was expressionless as he stated that the boy did not need to thank him just yet. As he said this, he noticed that the boy's eyes were once again filled with fear. The writer compares the terrified boy's eyes to those of a scared animal. For a time, the boy's injury marks on his neck turned a bright red colour. Sadao wondered what had caused those injury marks, but he did not question the boy about them.

In the afternoon the second thing happened. Hana, working hard on unaccustomed labour, saw a messenger come to the door in official uniform. Her hands went weak and she could not draw her breath. The servants must have told already. She ran to Sadao, gasping, unable to utter a word. But by then the messenger had simply followed her through the garden and there he stood. She pointed at him helplessly.

• Unaccustomed labour: not used to perform hard work
• Gasping: struggling to breathe, unable to speak

The second incident occurred in the afternoon of that day. Hana was preoccupied with household tasks now that the servants had left. She was suddenly required to do all of the work that she was not used to. She was exhausted. She noticed that a messenger in an official uniform had arrived at the house. When she saw him, her hands went into shock and she couldn't breathe. This was due to her belief that the servants had informed the authorities that they were sheltering an enemy. Hana rushed up to Sadao, struggling to breathe. She couldn't say anything. The Messenger had followed her through the garden by that point and was now standing in front of Sadao. Hana felt helpless and pointed her finger at the Messenger.

Sadao looked up from his book. He was in his office, the other partition of which was thrown open to the garden for the southern sunshine.

• Southern sunshine: the door of the office which opened into the garden faced the South direction. This means that the sunshine which entered the office was not direct and bright instead it was a shady sunshine.

Sadao was reading a book when he noticed Hana and looked up. He was sitting in his office, which was divided by a partition. The part of the office beyond the partition opened onto the garden, which was flooded with shady sunlight.

“What is it?” he asked the messenger and then he rose, seeing the man’s uniform.

Sadao asked the messenger as to the reason for his visit. When he noticed the Messenger was dressed in a uniform, he stood up in respect.

“You are to come to the palace,” the man said. “The old General is in pain again.”

Sadao was supposed to accompany him to the palace, according to the Messenger. He went on to say that the old general was in pain and that Sadao was supposed to visit him and treat him as a doctor.

“Oh,” Hana breathed, “is that all?”

“All?” the messenger exclaimed.

“Is it not enough?”

“Indeed it is,” she replied. “I am very sorry.”

Hannah was relieved when she heard this and said, "oh." With that, she took a deep breath and asked if that was all the Messenger had come for. "All?" said the messenger in response. He couldn't figure out what else he was supposed to be visiting the house for. He asked if that wasn't enough, and if they needed any other reason for him to pay them a visit. Hana apologised for her reaction and stated that the reason was sufficient for the messenger to pay them a visit. She didn't need another reason for him to pay them a visit.

When Sadao came to say goodbye, she was in the kitchen, but doing nothing. The children were asleep and she sat merely resting for a moment, more exhausted from her fright than from work.

Sadao went to Hana to say his goodbyes because he had to accompany the Messenger. Hana was in the kitchen but didn't seem to be doing anything. Hana was resting after the children had gone to bed. She was more tired from the terror of seeing the messenger than from doing the household chores.

“I thought they had come to arrest you”, she said.

Hana told Sadao that she had assumed the messenger had come to arrest him.

He gazed down into her anxious eyes. “I must get rid of this man for your sake,” he said in distress. “Somehow I must get rid of him.”

Sadao studied Hana's worried expression. He was depressed and distressed, and he stated that he needed to get rid of the man for her sake. He went on to say that he had to get rid of the man any way he could.

(Sadao goes to see the General)

Sadao accompanied the messenger to the general's residence.

“Of course,” the General said weakly, “I understandfully. But that is because, I once took a degree in Princeton.So few Japanese have.”

• Indispensable: necessary

Sadao told the general the entire storey. The weak general stated that he understood Sadao's position because he had also studied in America at Princeton University, but there were only a few Japanese who had done so.

“I care nothing for the man, Excellency,” Sadao said, “but having operated on him with such success…”

“Yes, yes” the General said. “It only makes me feel you more indispensable to me. Evidently you can save anyone— you are so skilled. You say you think I can stand one more such attack as I have had today?”

“Not more than one,” Sadao said.

Sadao replied to the general that he did not care for the American man, but that he had successfully operated on him. The general cut him off and said, "yes, yes." Sadao, he felt, was a necessary part of his life. The general thought Sadao was very skilled because he had been successful in operating on the man. The general asked whether Sadao believed the general had a chance of surviving another heart attack like the one he had that day. Sadao responded that the general, in his opinion, could not survive more than one such heart attack.

“Then certainly I can allow nothing to happen to you, ”the General said with anxiety. His long pale Japanese face became expressionless, which meant that he was in deep thought. “You cannot be arrested,” the General said, closing his eyes. “Suppose you were condemned to death and the next day I had to have my operation?”

In that case, the general stated, he could not allow anything to happen to Sadao. He wanted to say that Sadao was important to him and that he would protect him. Because he was worried about Sadao being arrested, the general's long, weak yellowish face became expressionless. He became solemn, closed his eyes at the prospect of Sadao's arrest, and declared that Sadao could not be arrested. He went on to say that if Sadao was sentenced to death and needed an operation the next day, who would operate on him? So the general wanted to say that he needed Sadao and that he would protect him and ensure that nothing bad happened to him.

“There are other surgeons, Excellency,” Sadao suggested. “None I trust,” the General replied. “The best ones have been trained by Germans and would consider the operation successful even if I died. I do not care for their point of view.” He sighed. “It seems a pity that we cannot better combine the German ruthlessness with the American sentimentality. Then you could turn your prisoner over to execution and yet I could be sure you would not murder me while I was unconscious.” The General laughed. He had an unusual sense of humour. “As a Japanese, could you not combine these two foreign elements?” he asked.

• ruthlessness: harshness
• sentimentality: being emotional
• execution: legal punishment
• peculiar: strange

Sadao suggested the general that there were numerous other surgeons in Japan. The general responded that he did not trust anyone but Sadao. He went on to say that the Germans had trained the best surgeons, and that the operation would be successful even if the general died. He didn't agree with their point of view. The general went on to say that the Japanese were unable to combine the harsh nature of the Germans with the emotional nature of the Americans. So the general wanted to say that they didn't have anyone who could combine the harshness of a German with the emotionality of an American. He stated that if they had been able to do so, Sadao could have been harsh and turned the prisoner over to the Japanese while also being emotional and not murdering the general during the operation. The general laughed at this. According to the author, the general had an odd sense of humour. He was very witty. Then he asked Sadao if, as a Japanese, he couldn't combine these two foreign elements. As a result, the general is referring to the harsh nature of a German and the emotional nature of an American.

Sadao smiled. “I am not quite sure,” he said, “but for your sake I would be willing to try, Excellency.”

Sadao responded to the general's question with a smile, saying he wasn't sure, but he was willing to give it a try for his own good.

The General shook his head. “I had rather not be the test case,” he said.

The general shook his head, knowing that he did not want to be the subject of a new trial.

He felt suddenly weak and overwhelmed with the cares of his life as an official in times such as these when repeated victory brought great responsibilities all over the south Pacific.

• Overwhelmed: full of emotions
• Cares of his life: problems and responsibilities that he faced during his life
• South pacific: the part of the Pacific Ocean that lies in the southern hemisphere.

Suddenly, the general felt weak and emotional as he was reminded of the difficulties he had encountered throughout his life while carrying out his duties and responsibilities in various wars won by Japan.

“It is very unfortunate that this man should have washed up on your doorstep,” he said irritably.

“I feel it so myself,” Sadao said gently.

The general was irritated and stated that the injured man's arrival at his house was an unfortunate occurrence.

Sadao agreed with him.

“It would be best if he could be quietly killed,” the General said. “Not by you, but by someone who does not know him. I have my own private assassins. Suppose I send two of them to your house tonight or better, any night. You need know nothing about it. It is now warm — what would be more natural than that you should leave the outer partition of the white man’s room open to the garden while he sleeps?”

• Assassins: professional killers

According to the general, the best solution was to kill the man quietly. He went on to say that he would not be killed by Sadao, but by his hired assassins. He'd send two assassins to Sadao's house that night, or any night. Sadao didn't need to be aware of it. He wanted Sadao to act naturally and keep the door of the man's room's outer partition open as the weather was warm at the time. Because it opened into the garden, the killers would have easy access while the man was sleeping.

“Certainly it would be very natural,” Sadao agreed. “Infact, it is so left open every night.”

Sadao agreed that the idea appeared natural. He went on to say that they did leave the outer partition door open at night.

“Good,” the General said, yawning. “They are very capable assassins — they make no noise and they know the trick of inward bleeding. If you like I can even have them remove the body.”

The general had enough of the talk and yawned to show his disinterest. That, he said, was a good thing. He remarked that the assassins were experts because they made no noise and killed the victim in such a way that he bled on the inside. There would be no traces of blood anywhere on his body. If Sadao so desired, he would even ask  that the dead body be removed.

Sadao considered. “That perhaps would be best, Excellency,” he agreed, thinking of Hana.

Sadao thought about Hana and agreed that it would be perfect.

He left the General’s presence then and went home, thinking over the plan. In this way the whole thing would be taken out of his hands. He would tell Hana nothing, since she would be timid at the idea of assassins in the house, and yet certainly such persons were essential in an absolute state such as Japan was. How else could rulers deal with those who opposed them?

• Timid: showing lack of courage or confidence
• Absolute state: a state run by kings having total powers

Sadao returned home, and on the way, he kept thinking about the plan he and the general had planned. He reasoned that by doing so, he would avoid being involved in the death of that American. He intended not to tell Hana anything about this plan. Hana didn't like the idea of hired killers coming at their door, but such people were necessary in a place like Japan. It was the rulers' only option for dealing with their opponents.

He refused to allow anything but reason to be the atmosphere of his mind as he went into the room where the American was in bed. But as he opened the door, to his surprise he found the young man out of bed, and preparing to go into the garden.

• Reason: an idea backed by common sense

Sadao didn't think anything as he entered the room where the American man was sleeping. He was surprised to see the man out of his bed. He was getting ready to leave for the garden.

“What is this!” he exclaimed. “Who gave you permission to leave your room?”

Sadao was shocked when he asked who had given him permission to stand and walk.

“I’m not used to waiting for permission,” Tom said gaily. “Gosh, I feel pretty good again! But will the muscles on this side always feel stiff?”

Tom was overjoyed and stated that he was not in the habit of seeking permission before doing anything. He stated that he felt better, but that the muscles on his sides were stiff and rigid.

“Is it so?” Sadao inquired, surprised. He forgot all else. “Now I thought I had provided against that,” he murmured. He lifted the edge of the man’s shirt and gazed at the healing scar. “Massage may do it,” he said, “if exercise does not.”

Sadao was surprised when he heard that. He forgot about his work and said  that he had have warned the man not to stand and walk. He lifted the man's shirt to examine the scar. He said that if exercise did not heal it, massage could.

“It won’t bother me much,” the young man said. His young face was gaunt under the stubbly blond beard. “Say, Doctor, I’ve got something I want to say to you. If I hadn’t meta Jap like you — well, I wouldn’t be alive today. I know that.”

Sadao bowed but he could not speak.

• Gaunt: gloomy, weak
• Stubbly: unshaven, bearded
• Blond: light – coloured, yellowish colour

The scar, according to the man, would not bother him. His bearded, young face was frail. He thanked Sadao and stated that he would have died if he hadn't reached Sadao that day.

“Sure, I know that,” Tom went on warmly. His big thin hands gripping a chair were white at the knuckles. “I guess if all the Japs were like you there wouldn’t have been a war.”

• Gripping: holding tightly

Tom added that he was certain of it. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the chair tightly with his thin hands. This indicated that he was still weak and hadn't fully recovered. Tom went on to say that if all Japanese people had been like Sadao, the war would not have happened.

“Perhaps,” Sadao said with difficulty. “And now I think you had better go back to bed.”

Sadao stated that it was possible. He went on to say that the man should go to bed.

He helped the boy back into bed and then bowed. “Goodnight,” he said.

He assisted the man in getting into bed, bowed to him, and said "goodnight."

Sadao slept badly that night. Time and time again he woke, thinking he heard the rustling of footsteps, the sound of a twig broken or a stone displaced in the garden — a noise such as men might make who carried a burden.

• Rustling: the sound made by footsteps
• Twig: branch of tree
• Burden: here, it refers to a dead body.

Sadao was restless all night, convinced that the hired killers were out to kill the man. He imagined hearing footsteps, branches breaking, and stones moving as men walked on them, and he imagined hearing such a noise indicating that some men were carrying the American's dead body. All of his worry kept him awake.

The next morning, he made the excuse to go first into the guest room. If the American were gone he then could simply tell Hana that so the General had directed. But when he opened the door he saw at once that there on the pillow was the shaggy blond head. He could hear the peaceful breathing of sleep and he closed the door again quietly.

• Shaggy: hairy

Sadao made an excuse to go into the American man's room first thing in the morning. He had planned to tell Hana that if the man was gone, the general had ordered him to be removed from there. When he opened the door, he saw a man with a lot of yellowish hair asleep. The sound of his breathing was audible to him. Sadao shut the door of the room.

“He is asleep,” he told Hana. “He is almost well to sleep like that.”

Sadao told Hana that the man was sleeping. He went on to say that he was fine now and didn't need to sleep like that anymore.

“What shall we do with him?” Hana whispered her old refrain.

Sadao shook his head. “I must decide in a day or two,” he promised.

• Refrain: a sound that is repeated time and again

Hana asked once more with Sadao about what they should do with the man. Sadao shook his head and promised her he'd make a decision in one or two days.

But certainly, he thought, the second night must be the night. There rose a wind that night, and he listened to the sounds of bending boughs and whistling partitions.

• Boughs: branches of trees
• Partitions: structures dividing a room into parts

Sadao thought that the assassins might come up the next night. The night was breezy. He could hear the sounds made by the branches as they bent in the wind, and the whistling sound made by the partitions as the wind passed through them.

Hana woke too. “Ought we not to go and close the sickman’s partition?” she asked.

Hana awoke and asked whether they should close the partition door to the man's room.

“No,” Sadao said. “He is able now to do it for himself.”

Sadao refused, saying that the man was capable of doing it himself.

But the next morning the American was still there.

The American man was still in the room the next morning.

Then the third night of course must be the night. The wind changed to quiet rain and the garden was full of the sound of dripping eaves and running springs. Sadao slept a little better, but he woke at the sound of a crash and leaped to his feet.

• Eaves: part of the roof that meets or overhangs the wall of a building

Sadao was hoping they'd come up on the third night. That night, instead of wind, there was rain. Water dripped down the roof and tiny rivulets flowed through the garden, making a lot of noise. Sadao sleep shortly and jumped when he heard a loud noise.

“What was that?” Hana cried. The baby woke at her voice and began to wail. “I must go and see.”

 But he held her and would not let her move.

 “Sadao,” she cried, “what is the matter with you?”

 “Don’t go,” he muttered, “don’t go!”

His terror infected her and she stood breathless, waiting. There was only silence. Together they crept back into the bed, the baby between them.

• Wail: cry loudly
• Infected: affected
• Crept: crawled

Hana was concerned when she heard a loud crash and inquired as to what it was. The baby also awoke and began crying. Sadao stopped Hana from going to check on it. Hana screamed at him and demanded to know what was wrong. Sadao asked her not to leave and spoke slowly. He was terrified, and his terror had an effect on Hana as well. She stood there, not breathing, and waited. There was silence, and they both crawled back into bed, the baby on the bed in between them.

Yet when he opened the door of the guest room in the morning there was the young man. He was very gay and had already washed and was now on his feet. He had asked for a razor yesterday and had shaved himself and today there was a faint colour in his cheeks.

• Gay: happy
• Washed: bathed
• there was a faint colour in his cheeks: his pale yellow coloured cheeks were turning pinkish in colour which indicated that he was recovering.

Sadao went into the guest room in the morning and saw the man there. He was cheerful, had taken a bath, and had begun to move around. He'd borrowed a razor from Sadao the day before and shaved his beard. His cheeks were slightly pinkish, indicating that he was recovering and regaining his health.

“I am well,” he said joyously.

The man cheerfully announced that he was fine.

Sadao drew his kimono round his weary body. He could not, he decided suddenly, go through another night. It was not that he cared for this young man’s life. No, simply it was not worth the strain.

• Weary: tired
• Strain: stress

Sadao wrapped his tired body in a traditional Japanese gown. He was exhausted because his curiosity had kept him awake for two nights in a row. He decided that he couldn't spend another night like this. He was unconcerned about the man's life, but the stress and anxiety were too much for him.

“You are well,” Sadao agreed. He lowered his voice. “You are so well that I think if I put my boat on the shore tonight, with food and extra clothing in it, you might be able to row to that little island not far from the coast. It is so near the coast that it has not been worth fortifying. Nobody lives on it because in storm it is submerged. But this is not the season of storm. You could live there until you saw a Korean fishing boat pass by. They pass quite near the island because the water is many fathoms deep there.”

• Fortifying: putting security at a place
• Submerged: here, sink into the sea
• Fathom: a unit of measuring the depth of the sea.

Sadao told the man that he was fine now. He said, with a low voice, that he was strong enough to sail a boat. Sadao figured that if he rigged up a boat and stocked it with food and extra clothing, the man would be able to row it to a nearby island. The island had not been guarded because it was so close to the coast. It was uninhabited because it sank into the sea during storms. Because it was not storm season at the time, the man could live on the island until he saw a Korean fishing boat pass by. Because the sea was so deep near the island, Korean fishing boats passed by.

The young man stared at him, slowly comprehending. “Do I have to?” he asked.

“I think so,” Sadao said gently. “You understand — it is not hidden that you are here.”

The young man nodded in perfect comprehension. “Okay,” he said simply.

• Comprehending: understanding
• Nodded: lower and raise one’s head slightly and briefly, especially in greeting, assent, or understanding, or to give someone a signal.

Sadao's words were understood by the young man, who stared at him. He asked whether it was necessary for him to do so. Sadao begged him to understand that the man's presence in his home was known to everyone. The young man agreed and said, "Okay." He nodded, indicating his acceptance.

Sadao did not see him again until evening. As soon as it was dark he had dragged the stout boat down to the shore and in it he put food and bottled water that he had bought secretly during the day, as well as two quilts he had bought at a pawnshop. The boat he tied to a post in the water, for the tide was high. There was no moon and he worked without a flashlight.

• Dragged: pulled
• Stout: fat, big
• Pawnshop:  a store that lends money in exchange for a valuable thing that they can sell if the person leaving it does not pay an agreed amount of money by an agreed time
• Post: pole
• Flashlight: torch

Sadao left and didn't see the young man again until the evening. He made plans for him during the day. Sadao drew a large boat to the shore as it began to get dark. He filled it with food and bottled water that he had purchased secretly earlier in the day. He stored two quilts in it. He'd gotten them from a pawnshop. He tied the boat to a pole because there was a high tide in the sea. Sadao was working without a torch on a dark, moonless night. He didn't want anyone to notice him.

When he came to the house he entered as though he were just back from his work, and so Hana knew nothing. “Yumi was here today,” she said as she served his supper. Though she was so modern, still she did not eat with him. “Yumi cried over the baby,” she went on with a sigh. “She misses him so.”

• Supper: an evening meal, typically a light or informal one.
• Modern: relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the remote past.

Sadao pretended to be home from work when he arrived, so Hana didn't suspect anything. Hana served him dinner and explained that Yumi had come to see them that day because she missed the baby so much. Yumi, despite being modern, did not eat with Sadao.

“The servants will come back as soon as the foreigner is gone,” Sadao said.

Sadao says that the servants would return as soon as the American man left.

He went into the guest room that night before he went to bed himself and checked carefully the American’s temperature, the state of the wound, and his heart and pulse. The pulse was irregular but that was perhaps because of excitement. The young man’s pale lips were pressed together and his eyes burned. Only the scars on his neck were red.

• Pulse: heartbeat

Sadao paid a visit to the man before going to bed that night. He examined his body temperature, wound, heart, and heartbeat. Because he was about to leave their house, his heartbeat was irregular. The man's lips were pressed together, and his eyes were a bright red colour, as if they were on fire. His scars on his neck were still red because they hadn't healed.

“I realise you are saving my life again,” he told Sadao. “Not at all,” Sadao said. “It is only inconvenient to have you here any longer.”

The young man told Sadao that he was once again saving his life. Sadao stated that this was not the case. He was sending him because he could no longer keep him.

He had hesitated a good deal about giving the man a flashlight. But he had decided to give it to him after all. It was a small one, his own, which he used at night when he was called.

• Hesitated: paused in indecision before saying or doing something.

Sadao was hesitant to give him a torch because he was afraid the man would mishandle it and get himself into trouble. Finally, he gave him his own torch, which he used to attend to patients late at night.

“If your food runs out before you catch a boat,” he said, “signal me two flashes at the same instant the sun drops over the horizon. Do not signal in darkness, for it will be seen. If you are all right but still there, signal me once. You will find fresh fish easy to catch but you must eat them raw. A fire would be seen.”

“Okay,” the young man breathed.

• Runs out: finishes
• Sun drops: the Sun sets
• Horizon: the line at which the earth’s surface and the sky appear to meet, skyline
• Raw: uncooked

Sadao gave the man instructions. He stated that if his food supply ran out before he could find a Korean fishing boat, he could signal him with two flashes of the torch at dusk. He cautioned him not to signal when it was dark because light was more visible in the dark than at dusk. He went on to say that the man could catch fish in the sea near the island, but he had to eat them raw. He wasn't supposed to cook it because the guards would spot it and put him in danger. When he heard the instructions, he took a deep breath and said, "okay."

He was dressed now in the Japanese clothes which Sadao had given him, and at the last moment Sadao wrapped a black cloth about his blond head.

“Now,” Sadao said.

Sadao had given the man a traditional Japanese outfit to wear. Sadao finally wrapped a black cloth around his head to hide his golden hair.

The young American, without a word, shook Sadao’s hand warmly, and then walked quite well across the floor and down the step into the darkness of the garden. Once — twice… Sadao saw his light flash to find his way. But that would not be suspected. He waited until from the shore there was one more flash. Then he closed the partition. That night he slept.

• Suspected: doubted

As he walked away towards the boat, the American man shook Sadao's hand. He used the torch twice to find his way around, but the guards were not fooled. Sadao waited until the man boarded the boat again and saw the torch light. Sadao shut the partition door and slept soundly that night, relieved that he had finally gotten rid of the man.

“You say the man escaped?” the General asked faintly. He had been operated upon a week before, an emergency operation to which Sadao had been called in the night. For twelve hours Sadao had not been sure the General would live. The gall bladder was much involved.

• Gall bladder: the small sac-shaped organ beneath the liver, in which bile is stored after secretion by the liver and before release into the intestine.

A week ago, the general was operated on in an emergency in which Sadao assisted. Sadao informed him that the man had escaped. The general was in poor health as he recovered from the operation. His condition was critical for twelve hours after the operation, and Sadao was unsure if he would survive. They had operated on his gallbladder.

Then the old man had begun to breathe deeply again and to demand food. Sadao had not been able to ask about the assassins. So far as he knew they had never come. The servants had returned and Yumi had cleaned the guest room thoroughly and had burned sulphur in it to get the white man’s smell out of it. Nobody said anything. Only the gardener was cross because he had got behind with his chrysanthemums.

• Sulphur: a chemical element used as a disinfectant
• Cross: angry, disappointed
• Chrysanthemum: a flower 

The general was an elderly gentleman. He gradually resumed eating and breathing deeply after the operation. Sadao lacked the courage to ask him what had happened to the professional killers he had promised to send to kill the American. Sadao was well aware that the assassins never appeared. Things returned to normal at Sadao's house. Yumi used Sulphur to disinfect the room used by the American man after the servants returned. The servants remained silent. The gardener was irritated because he had been delayed in planting the chrysanthemum flowers as a result of this incident.

But after a week Sadao felt the General was well enough to be spoken to about the prisoner.

“Yes, Excellency, he escaped,” Sadao now said. He coughed, signifying that he had not said all he might have said, but was unwilling to disturb the General further. But the old man opened his eyes suddenly.

After a week, Sadao felt confident enough in the general to discuss the man with him. Sadao stated that the man had escaped. Sadao coughed, indicating that he had not told him everything because he did not want to bother him. When he heard about the American man, the general was reminded of his promise to send professional killers, and he opened his eyes suddenly.

“That prisoner,” he said with some energy, “did I not promise you I would kill him for you?”

The general was reminded of his promise and asked Sadao if he had not promised to have that man murdered by his personal professional killers.

“You did, Excellency,” Sadao said.

“Well, well!” the old man said in a tone of amazement, “so I did! But you see, I was suffering a good deal. The truth is, I thought of nothing but myself. In short, I forgot my promise to you.”

• Amazement: surprise

Sadao responded that he had made a promise to him. The general was taken aback and stated that because he was ill, he had forgotten about the promise he had made.

“I wondered, Your Excellency,” Sadao murmured.

“It was certainly very careless of me,” the General said. “But you understand it was not lack of patriotism or dereliction of duty.” He looked anxiously at his doctor. “If the matter should come out you would understand that, wouldn’t you?”

• Patriotism: love for one’s country
• Dereliction: failure to perform one’s duty

Sadao said softly that he wondered that the general had forgotten his promise.

The general was sorry for his carelessness. He went on to say that it wasn't because he didn't like Japan or because he was avoiding his responsibilities. He looked at Sadao with interest as he sought his assistance. He wondered if Sadao understood his problem.

“Certainly, Your Excellency,” Sadao said. He suddenly comprehended that the General was in the palm of his hand and that as a consequence he himself was perfectly safe. “I can swear to your loyalty, Excellency,” he said to the old General, “and to your zeal against the enemy.”

• the General was in the palm of his hand: he had control of the general
• consequence: result
• zeal: great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective

Sadao stated that he truly understood the general's position. He realised the general was under his control, and Sadao was safe as a result. Sadao stated that he could swear on the general's loyalty to Japan and eagerness to fight the enemy.

“You are a good man,” the General murmured and closed his eyes.” “You will be rewarded.”

But Sadao, searching the spot of black in the twilighted sea that night, had his reward. There was no prick of light in the dusk. No one was on the island. His prisoner was gone — safe, doubtless, for he had warned him to wait only for a Korean fishing boat.

• Twilighted: at the time of twilight i.e. sunset or sunrise.
• Prick: slightest amount
• Dusk: the time of sunset

Sadao, according to the general, was a good man. He closed his eyes and promised Sadao that he would be rewarded for his good deeds.

Sadao received his reward when he looked towards the island at dusk and saw no trace of torch light. This meant that the American man had found a Korean fishing boat and had safely returned home with it. Sadao had no doubts because he had told the man to wait for a Korean fishing boat.

He stood for a moment on the veranda, gazing out to the sea from whence the young man had come that other night. And into his mind, although without reason, there came other white faces he had known — the professor at whose house he had met Hana, a dull man, and his wife had been a silly talkative woman, in spite of her wish to be kind. He remembered his old teacher of anatomy, who had been so insistent on mercy with the knife, and then he remembered the face of his fat and slatternly landlady. He had had great difficulty in finding a place to live in America because he was a Japanese. The Americans were full of prejudice and it had been bitter to live in it, knowing himself their superior. How he had despised the ignorant and dirty old woman who had at last consented to house him in her

miserable home! He had once tried to be grateful to her because she had in his last year nursed him through influenza, but it was difficult, for she was no less repulsive to him in her kindness. Now he remembered the youthful, haggard face of his prisoner — white and repulsive.

“Strange,” he thought. “I wonder why I could not kill him?”

• Whence: where
• Anatomy: the branch of science concerned with the bodily structure of humans, animals, and other living organisms, especially as revealed by dissection and the separation of parts.
• Slatternly: dirty, untidy
• Prejudice: preconceived idea or opinion
• Bitter: unpleasant
• Despised: hated
• Miserable: in poor condition
• Grateful: thankful
• Nursed him: taken care of him
• Influenza: a highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory passages causing fever
• Repulsive: awful, terrible
• Haggard: looking exhausted and unwell, especially from fatigue, worry, or suffering.

Sadao stood on the veranda, recognising on the events of the past. He looked out at the sea, where the man had arrived that night. He had flashbacks of all the Americans he'd met in his life, including the boring professor at whose house he met Hana, his silly, talkative wife who was very kind. He remembered his anatomy teacher teaching them how to cut open the body with a knife. Then he remembered the fat, disorganised landlady. As a Japanese, he had had a difficult time finding a place to live in America. He hated living there, knowing that the Japanese were superior to the Americans but still being treated as second-class citizens. Sadao disliked the filthy old woman who finally agreed to let him live in her bad condition house. Sadao tried to be grateful to her because she had taken care of him when he became ill with influenza during his final year in America. Sadao found it difficult to be grateful to her because he hated her despite her kindness to him. Sadao hated her so much that even her kindness did not make him like her. Finally, Sadao remembered the American prisoner's weak face – it was white and terrible.

Sadao found it strange that he couldn't kill his enemy.

About the Author

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892–1973) was an American novelist and writer. She had a Chinese name, Sai Zhenzhu, because she grew up in China as the daughter of missionaries. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938.