The Persimmon Tree (64 page)

‘The lieutenant replied, “You will call me if she needs one. Her presence must be kept secret and she must be kept away from the
benjo onna
.”’

‘
Benjo onna
?’ Anna had asked.

‘It means “toilet girls”. In other words, the girl is available to any man to do his business and leave,’ Izumi had explained.

‘That’s horrible!’ Anna exclaimed.

Izumi had shrugged. ‘It is a nasty term used by people who are not nice, Anna. Then I asked him, “Is she to be prepared for a special purpose?”

‘“She must be without blemish. That is all you need to know,
mama-san
!” he replied. “I will come twice a week to inspect her until I am satisfied she does not have a single mark. Not a single one! You will call me at military headquarters at once if anything goes wrong.”

‘“Who will I ask for,
Lieutenant-san
?”’ Izumi looked at Anna. ‘The arrogant shit hadn’t bothered to introduce himself so I was forced to ask.

‘“My name is Lieutenant Ito. Ask for me and do not speak to anyone else!”

‘Then he asked me, “Do you have a room that has a private entrance from outside?”

‘“There is one to the side of the house; it leads to a small private garden and can be reached by going around the side of the house from the back,” I told him.

‘“I will inspect it to see if it is appropriate. She is to be prepared for the highest there is amongst us, someone who does not wish to visit the main
okiya
.”

‘It wasn’t hard to guess who the patron was. That Ito must think we are all stupid!’ Izumi exclaimed. ‘So I said, “Yes, of course. I will take you to it,
Lieutenant-san
.”

‘“Do you have the key with you,
mama-san
?”

‘“I can fetch it,
Lieutenant-san
. It is kept in the kitchen for the cleaners.”’ Izumi had paused, taking a deep breath. ‘Well, by this time I’d decided I’d had enough of the
mama-san
business, and he was
only
a lieutenant. After all, a geisha must maintain her dignity and her status, even if she has later become an
okami-san
. And so I said to him as sharply as I thought I could, “It is my humble request that you address me as
okami-san
, Lieutenant Ito.”

‘“Very well,” he sniffed, and from the way he looked at me I could see he didn’t like my rebuke but had decided to ignore it. “Can we drive an automobile to this private garden?” he asked.

‘“No,” I replied. “You can bring the motorcar to the back, then it is a short walk to the side of the house.”

‘“Meet me there. I will wait ten minutes so you can clear the way. I don’t want any onlookers. Bring a towel so that we can cover her head.”

‘I fetched a towel and hurried to the back. The two Korean discipline women were in the laundry, so I sent them to their room.’

‘Korean discipline women?’ Anna asked.

‘They are lesbians. If there are problems with one of the comfort women they are called in. They are not nice,
Anna-san
.’

Anna was not sure she understood. ‘Lesbians?’

‘They do not love men but make sex with each other instead,’ Izumi explained in a disgusted tone.

‘Really?’ Anna cried out, astonished.

‘You don’t want to know,
Anna-san
,’ Izumi had declared with a dismissive flap of the hand. ‘They are brutes.’ Then putting the discipline women from her mind, she’d continued: ‘Can you imagine my surprise when the car stopped at the back of the house and I saw it was you,
Anna-san
? I wanted to cry out because I could see you were hurt. But then I decided I should pretend not to know you, and to seem indifferent. I didn’t, at that stage, know how much the lieutenant knew about our past association. Well, you know what happened after that.’

Indeed, Anna could remember every small detail. When the car drove up Lieutenant Ito jumped out and opened the back door, instructing Anna to remain seated. ‘Bring the towel,’ he called to the second
okami-san
. As she came up he pointed into the interior. ‘Cover her head and face,’ he instructed.

Anna could not conceal her surprise as she recognised the
okami-san
as Izumi.
It was fortunate that the
okami-san
’s body blocked the lieutenant’s view and he didn’t see her startled expression. Izumi, in turn, gave no sign that she recognised her, but seeing Anna’s bloodstained blouse she gasped. ‘But she is badly hurt!’ she cried out.

‘It is not
her
blood!’ the lieutenant snapped. ‘Cover her head, then get her out.’

‘She is handcuffed,’ the second
okami-san
protested. ‘With her head covered I must take her by the hand to get her out.’

Lieutenant Ito turned to the driver and instructed him to remove the handcuffs. Anna was immediately concerned it was a bad sign that Izumi
had deliberately not recognised her. Not even a flicker of recognition had registered in the second
okami-san
’s eyes. Anna had got to know her well over the three months of her instruction with the ropes. She’d always enjoyed the retired geisha’s company, her spontaneous giggle and thoroughly wicked sense of humour. It was she who had taught Anna the profanities Anna had used on the
kempeitai.
Now perhaps she was seeing another side of the woman she’d grown so much to like.

The second
okami-san
placed the towel over her head and face, then taking her by the hand and placing her free hand on the top of her head to prevent Anna bumping it against the edge of the door, helped her from the car.

‘You will take care of this woman during the day. At night it will be the seventh
okami-san
, no other. Only you and she must know about this woman whom you already know. I will arrange with the proper authority for this to happen.’

‘Yes,
Ito-san
. Myself and the seventh
okami-san
will be the only ones; we will take good care of her,’ she said quickly. Anna’s heart skipped a beat — was Izumi telling her she was still her friend?

The
kempeitai
officer instructed the driver to remove Anna’s cotton bag and her shoulder bag from the car boot; the latter had been retrieved from the garden pathway where it had fallen from her shoulder when she’d dropped to her knees. ‘Take me to this room,’ the lieutenant demanded. ‘I wish to see if it is suitable and secure.’ He instructed the driver to bring Anna’s things.

The four of them set off. Anna, limping and effectively blindfolded, held onto Izumi’s hand. She was as anxious as anyone to keep her identity hidden from the Dutch girls who were forced to work in the Nest of the Swallows. She’d often speculated as to whether they knew about what, to them, might seem her privileged life as Konoe Akira’s mistress. If they did, just how would they regard her? Was she in their minds a collaborator or, like them, a victim of their collective circumstance?

A short while later she heard Izumi beside her say, ‘This gate is locked, it leads into a walled garden. I have the key.’

‘Locked, that is good. Give me the key,’ the lieutenant requested. Anna heard him tapping the gate. ‘The wood is strong.’

Anna heard the creak of the gate as it was unlocked and opened. Led by Izumi, she felt the scrunch of gravel underfoot as they walked down a path.

‘Careful, there are three steps,’ Izumi cautioned. Anna was guided up the steps and asked to wait. She heard a door being unlocked and was led inside. ‘May I remove the towel,
Ito-san
?’ Izumi asked.

‘No, I will inspect first,’ the lieutenant replied. Then a short while later he said, ‘It is suitable. I will take the key to the outside door. You will hear from me,
okami-san
, and you will obey my instructions.’

‘Yes,
Lieutenant-san
, I understand. She will be treated with great care. It is an honour for myself and the seventh
okami-san
to be trusted with this task.’

Shortly after, Anna heard Izumi bidding the lieutenant farewell at the door, then came the rattle of the key as the door to the outside was locked and her footsteps as she returned. Then she heard Izumi say, ‘
Boko no shiri ni kisu siro, Ito! Kieusero!
[Kiss my arse, Ito! Fuck off!]’

Anna, laughing despite herself, removed the towel. ‘
Izumi-san
, that’s rude!’

Izumi giggled and then her expression changed to one of concern. She pointed in turn to Anna’s closed and swollen eye, scraped cheek and chin, knees and then to the bloodied blouse. The blood was now dry and had turned a paler colour, more a deep pink than the scarlet of fresh blood. ‘
Anna-san
, they have hurt you! Did those cruel
ketsu
[arseholes] torture you?’

Anna attempted a lopsided grin. ‘No, I fought them, six of the
kisama
[lords of the donkeys] and I won.’ She burst into sudden tears. ‘They… they beheaded Til!’ she sobbed.

Izumi, perhaps thinking a Javanese
becak
driver was not of great consequence in the overall scheme of things, waited for Anna to stop crying. ‘You are fortunate they didn’t kill you as well,
Anna-san
. I will fetch hot water and antiseptic. Except for your eye, which is already turning black, your wounds are superficial, but why do you limp?’

Anna explained her terrible anger and distress at the sight of Til’s decapitated head and then the fight that ensued as she best recalled it.

‘If you had not been intended for another purpose, they would have assuredly shot you,’ Izumi said and then related her conversation with the
kempeitai
lieutenant, whom she referred to as
yarichin
(male slut). ‘He has not yet visited the
okiya
, I think he is like 2nd Lieutenant Ando, only one is from a good family and a teacher, the other is a killer — pig swill from the gutters of Tokyo!’ she spat. Then she left to fetch the hot water, iodine and ice.

Izumi returned a short while later and commenced to bathe Anna’s wounds. She had brought ice and two squares of cotton cloth so that Anna could fold ice cubes into both and hold them against her eye and thigh. She worked carefully and in silence. After a while Anna said, ‘I am frightened of Colonel Takahashi,
Izumi-san
. He is different to Colonel
Konoe-san
. I know in my heart he likes to kill. I saw it in his eyes when he decapitated the four Chinese.’

‘He is
kempeitai
, he has done many more like that. They are recruited because they are born killers. They like the
katana
, the divine blade, but Takahashi, that is not a name from a samurai family,’ Izumi said scornfully, which did little to comfort Anna. But then Izumi added, as if to reassure her, ‘We must ask
Korin-san
. She will know what to do. You will recall how she told us there is no man on earth who has not got a secret perversion. All you have to do is find it to give you power over him.’ Then, as if the matter was happily settled, she said, ‘I will now put on the iodine. You must be brave, this is going to sting.’

The room had been left as it had been for the previous owners and was obviously a study that opened into a small, private walled garden. It contained a large desk and wooden swivel chair, a comfortable leather couch and club chair facing a coffee table. Two Persian carpets covered the floor and, except for two large barred windows looking out into the garden, the walls were lined with shelves filled with books.

‘This room hasn’t been converted to Japanese style,’ Izumi explained. ‘It is away from the other rooms and not suitable for entertainment because it must be entered by going through the kitchen or from the outside.’

‘Am I to be locked up in this room all the time?’ Anna asked fearfully. ‘The windows are barred. Am I allowed to open them?’

‘All the windows are barred. I think the engineers did it when they came to convert the house to the Nest of the Swallows. But you can slide them up to let in the fresh air.’

‘It is the same as being in jail,’ Anna protested.

Izumi looked sympathetically at Anna. ‘I will ask
Korin-san
to let you use the private garden at night when you cannot be seen.’

‘But the door is locked. He — the
kempeitai
— took the key.’

Izumi giggled. ‘We have another one. I took the spare one off the ring when I came to the back.’ She fished into her pocket and produced the key, then gave Anna a serious look. ‘Please,
Anna-san
, do not attempt to escape and never go beyond the little gate. If you are seen in the grounds you will be shot. There is no escape from here. Nobody, except
Korin-san
and I, will know you are here. We will clean and bring you food; there is a toilet and bath.’ She pointed to a door. ‘It belongs only to this room. I think the person who worked in this study must have been very important to have a toilet and bath only for himself.’