Tracie Peterson Read Online Free PDF

the nursery.
    Ruth seemed to understand, however, and waited until her daughter had gone. “The Akimotos are dear friends. They were sent to an internment camp when President Roosevelt gave the order earlier this year. This property is all they have. This is their home and their business,” she explained.
    “They’re Japanese,” David said, knowing full well the look of disgust on his face matched his tone.
    “They are Nisei , David. Americans. Their parents emigrated here long before the war and they were both born in California.”
    “They’re dirty, low-down . . .” He paused in order to keep from cursing. “They’re responsible for bombing Pearl just as sure as if they’d dropped the bombs and flown the planes themselves.” He felt the anger surge inside. He knew he was acting completely out of line, but he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
    Ruth was undaunted. “Kenny and William Akimoto were best friends. They went to school together. Kenny was William’s best man when he married Sarah. Both William and Sarah Akimoto are as American as you or I.”
    David began to shake, the fury inside more than he could deal with. “No!” he exclaimed. “You can’t be serious. You can’t care what happens to them. They didn’t care what happened to Kenny—to the rest of us.” He wanted to scream and shake the woman, but most of all he wanted to run away. And that seemed to be the easiest solution. Without thought for how Ruth would feel, David turned on his heel and ran from the storefront. The sound of the bombs were in his ears, the planes strafing, the screams and cries of the wounded. It was a madness that never seemed to leave him, and now Ruth Bennett, the woman he thought of as a comforting presence, was only making the nightmare worse.

The nights that followed David’s outburst were filled with hideous visions of that morning so long ago. It seemed amazing that one moment in time could so forever change a man—a country. But December 7 had done that and more. To David, who had taken life pretty much as it was dished out, the event came as a final blow of failure.
    He should have been on the USS Arizona with the rest of his shipmates. He should have been in the same watery grave that many of his companions now shared, but he’d taken life into his own hands.
    David tried not to think about that morning. In fact, he had a hard time remembering many of the details that involved his own circumstances. He remembered one of the first bars he’d made his way into the night before, but he couldn’t remember the last one. He’d passed out somewhere along the way and when he’d regained consciousness it was nearly seven-forty-five in the morning. He remembered that clearly, for some odd reason. Because it was Sunday morning he knew security would be more relaxed. They would have asked for his liberty card the night before, but coming back to catch the launch to take him to the Arizona , he doubted he’d get more than a perfunctory wave through.
    He’d stolen a jeep, but he didn’t exactly remember that. Someone had told him about it when trying to describe what had happened to him. The kind but stern-faced nurse had related the only information she’d been able to piece together. David had taken the jeep, but in the madness that became the morning, no one really faulted him for this mistake.
    David had nearly reached the docks when the sky began to drone with the sound of aircraft. No one gave it much thought. David himself, suffering a terrible state of mind somewhere betweenintoxication and hangover, had only one goal in mind. He had to reach the Arizona . He had to find a way to sneak himself back on board and back to his station, or better yet, his berth, before he could be found absent without leave.
    Kenny would know he was missing. Kenny had taken it upon himself to be David’s mentor and point of accountability. David had abused it sorely, but Kenny was gracious and forgiving, striving