Status Updates From The Little Exile

'You must not answer the questions about loyalty in a negative way, unless you want the gov't to send you back to Japan. Some people are angry with the US for putting us in camps and then asking that they sign a loyalty oath. But you must put your anger aside and think of the consequences.' People who answered the questionnaire in such a way... were sent to Tule Lake (CA). From there, many were to be sent to Japan.

There was always a surplus of bread. Every day platefuls on each table were left uneaten.. Bread pudding was a regular, as was stuffing, toast, and anything else the cooks could make with leftover bread. It didn't take a genius to figure out we didn't eat much bread, because we were rice eaters.. Eventually, rice made its way to our tables, but that didn't replace the bread. A plate continued to appear at every meal.

I realized there was a war going on in Europe and the Pacific.. but there was also an invisible war going on in the US that I didn't understand. It was unseen and mysterious, because there were no battles. It made us prisoners and caused things to happen to me and my family. That invisible force was strong. It was like a white blob that invaded my dreams leaving me alone and afraid. The blob would be with me forever.

Note to the Reader: Although the characters in this story are fictional, the story itself is not. It it based on my childhood just prior to and after WW2. It is a collection of recollections, over 70 years passed. From this vantage point, what I recall are incidents devoid of much detail. The mundane is missing from my memory... the details are as I imagined they might have been.

Author's note to reader says in part this is a real story with fictional characters, "a collection of recollections, over 70 years [ago].... The mundane of that period is missing from the store of my aging memory. As a result, the details I have provided to accompany the incidents are as I imagined they might have been."