“Germany and Italy will fight with us if America gets involved.”
“Germany is busy fighting Russia, and Italy is nothing without Germany . . . It’s fine if you don’t believe me.”
“If you were not my brother-in-law, I would think that you have sacrilegious ideas in your head, Genzo. This is unbecoming of a general of His Majesty’s Imperial Army,” Ito warned.
“So be it. I am no longer your brother-in-law, so have me arrested if you desire.” Yamada shook his head in ambiguity, more disdainful than melancholy. “Mineko asked me for a divorce. She is with child and wants to marry its father and move back to Japan.”
It was Ito’s turn to shake his head. He put down his cup and leaned back in his chair like a doctor about to announce some unfortunate but essential fact. “You can’t divorce her. I’m sorry, it’s not ideal, but you have to think about our families. We could arrange to have a distant relative adopt the child, if you wish.”
“I’m afraid it’s no longer up to you, Atsuo. I’ve already made up my mind to divorce her even if it’s the last thing I do before I go back to war,” Yamada countered. He felt so strangely uplifted by saying this out loud, he nearly wanted to say it again. “You know, Atsuo, I’ve never really felt free. But in my youth, I thought that constriction was good, beneficial. I saw the world as a system laid out by intelligent and important people, and I was going to be one of them. But now I realize what a fool I’ve been. That system is nothing but that which brings destruction.”
Ito had never heard Yamada speak this way, and was almost worried that he would start acting violently. But Yamada got up calmly in the next moment, pulled down the hem of his uniform jacket, and extended a hand.
“We probably won’t see each other again, so this is farewell.”
“Genzo, of course we will. Just because of Mineko . . .” Ito started to feel quite sad in spite of himself. “With anyone else I wouldn’t care, but I don’t want us to part this way.”
Yamada smiled, and it was a carefree and genuine smile that Ito had never seen before in his friend. “Fine, Atsuo. I’m being redeployed to China. No idea when I’ll come back . . . But be well until we meet again.”
22
Zoo Animals
1941
THOUGH JADE DID EVERYTHING SHE COULD TO NURSE DANI BACK TO health, her conditions became worse as the summer wore on. Without telling the older woman, Jade had already dug out and sold most of the jewelry under the cherry tree to pay for medicine and food. A few doctors had come and gone without improving Dani’s fever and consumption. Among the handful of trinkets that remained, Jade only resolved to keep the diamond necklace until the last. Her gold comb was enough to convince a Western-trained doctor to pay a visit.
“There are sores on her back,” Jade whispered as she helped turn Dani to the other side.
“Yes. Typical for the last stage of syphilis,” the doctor pronounced, pushing back his glasses. “She must have had a long latency. It’s probable that she contracted it when she was still active as a courtesan . . . Syphilis also causes infertility. She has never gotten pregnant, has she?”
Jade looked in fear at Dani’s sweat-streaked face; her eyes were closed, her mind was in feverish dreams.
“The other doctors said nothing about syphilis,” Jade protested quietly.
“This disease can look like many other things, until the very end when the sores come out. Be careful not to touch them, they are very contagious. As for the prognosis, it’s hard to say how long she has left. Tomorrow, I’ll send my servant with some arsenic she can take to ease the symptoms.”
After the doctor left, Jade went to the kitchen to make whatever she could for dinner. In the pantry there was just a cup of barley left and some dried seaweed she could dress with a half thimble of oil and vinegar. Mindlessly, she pulled out the knife and the cutting board and then realized there wasn’t anything that even required chopping. Still, she grasped the handle of the knife with her bony hand, fighting the tears clouding her eyes. She was remembering how she’d cut her hand all those years ago on a hot summer night. If the knife sliced just a few inches above that scar, all her sorrows would be over.
She laid down the knife and prepared the simple barley porridge.
When she went back, Dani was in an increasingly rare, clear, and calm mood. “How ever did you manage to make dinner again?” Dani asked as Jade set down the tray next to her.
“We still had a bit of barley left from when JungHo visited,” Jade lied; that supply had run out a long time ago, and the barley was from the black market. “Also, don’t worry about where I get the food. You just worry about getting better.”