foreclosure (or, go for broke) [4/5]
anonymous
May 23 2009, 05:34:41 UTC
He heard the grit under combat boots crunch as the country stood, and another two crunches as he walked forward, and a sigh of fabric as he leaned over. Mike opened his eyes, put his unoccupied hand on the shoulder directly above him and pulled, closed them again. His country tasted just a little Manifest-bitter, but warm, warm and encompassing as the Western sun. Mike lowered himself back onto the mattress, opened his eyes, winked once and recognizably, and focused on those eyes before shutting his for the last time. "Now that I'm officially a fairy, how 'bout you tell me a story. Something about the unforeseeable future, maybe?"
A laugh. "You want nothing but everything, huh?"
"That's the idea." He huffed, a cough more than a laugh, but they were the same thing by now. "You've made a monster, Al."
"Yeah, I can see that now." A metallic crunch as he sat back down, still laughing lightly over the jazz. Mike felt his hand being covered by both of his. "Well, let's see. Where do we start?
"I'm just as blind as the rest of me, Michael Shigeru Ishikawa. I can't forecast the future much better than a sideshow fortuneteller. I can figure, though. There's going to be just as much fighting, more or less; it'll just shift fields. Father against father, brother against brother. There'll be some, uh, what did that old fart say... disillusionment? Along later. Lots of rebellion. Haha, what's new? But I'll promise you one thing, private. I'll live. I'll grow, I'll change. I'll stick around for a good while yet. And, eventually, I'll be able to apologize. For real."
Mike was sinking away from the words. Distantly, though, he thought he heard America say, "Well, uh, your... Uhh... Japan's outside. He wanted to know if, you know..." He thought that's what he heard, anyway. The wet crash and the seagulls were growing closer.
His mouth moved. "Tell him... I appreciate the thought." His hand tightened one last time, and he tumbled out of the dark into the warm sunshine...
Re: foreclosure (or, go for broke) [done]
anonymous
May 24 2009, 23:36:03 UTC
This deserves so many more pretty words than I can give, but anon: know that I thought this was beautiful, and particularly how you touched upon Alfred and his multiculturalism.
A laugh. "You want nothing but everything, huh?"
"That's the idea." He huffed, a cough more than a laugh, but they were the same thing by now. "You've made a monster, Al."
"Yeah, I can see that now." A metallic crunch as he sat back down, still laughing lightly over the jazz. Mike felt his hand being covered by both of his. "Well, let's see. Where do we start?
"I'm just as blind as the rest of me, Michael Shigeru Ishikawa. I can't forecast the future much better than a sideshow fortuneteller. I can figure, though. There's going to be just as much fighting, more or less; it'll just shift fields. Father against father, brother against brother. There'll be some, uh, what did that old fart say... disillusionment? Along later. Lots of rebellion. Haha, what's new? But I'll promise you one thing, private. I'll live. I'll grow, I'll change. I'll stick around for a good while yet. And, eventually, I'll be able to apologize. For real."
Mike was sinking away from the words. Distantly, though, he thought he heard America say, "Well, uh, your... Uhh... Japan's outside. He wanted to know if, you know..." He thought that's what he heard, anyway. The wet crash and the seagulls were growing closer.
His mouth moved. "Tell him... I appreciate the thought." His hand tightened one last time, and he tumbled out of the dark into the warm sunshine...
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Japanese American Internment - Loyalty questions and Segregation - clarification of the controversy can be found in George Takei's memoir To the Stars, an excerpt of which can be found here, and also in the novel Farewell to Manzanar.
Shikata ga nai
442nd Infantry Regiment (United States)
The Lost Battalion
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And the ending, with Japan... oh god I think I need a few tissues and to cry some more.
In short: you are a genius and I am a huge sap. Thank you for this.
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