Winter of the World (76 page)

‘I expect you to say: ‘My darling, this is a wonderful opportunity for you, and I’m certainly not going to stand in your way.’ Is that unreasonable?’

‘Yes!’ Woody was baffled and angry. ‘What’s the point of being married, if we’re not together?’

‘If war breaks out, will you volunteer?’

‘I guess I might.’

‘And the army would send you wherever they needed you – Europe, the Far East.’

‘Well, yes.’

‘So you’ll go where your duty takes you, and leave me at home.’

‘If I have to.’

‘But I can’t do that.’

‘It’s not the same! Why are you pretending it is?’

‘Strangely enough, my career and my service to my country seem important to me – just as important as yours to you.’

‘You’re just being perverse!’

‘Well, Woods, I’m really sorry you think that, because I’ve been talking very seriously about our future together. Now I have to ask myself whether we even have one.’

‘Of course we do!’ Woody could have screamed with frustration. ‘How did this happen? How did we get to this?’

There was a bump, and the plane splashed down in Hawaii.

(ii)

Chuck Dewar was terrified that his parents would learn his secret.

Back home in Buffalo he had never had a real love affair, just a few hasty fumbles in dark alleys with boys he hardly knew. Half the reason he had joined the navy was to go places where he could
be himself without his parents finding out.

Since he got to Hawaii it had been different. Here he was part of an underground community of similar people. He went to bars and restaurants and dance halls where he did not have to pretend to
be heterosexual. He had had some affairs, and then he had fallen in love. A lot of people knew his secret.

And now his parents were here.

His father was invited to visit the signal intelligence unit at the naval base, known as Station HYPO. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Dewar was let into many
military secrets, and he had already been shown around signals intelligence headquarters, called Op-20-G, in Washington.

Chuck picked him up at his hotel in Honolulu in a navy car, a Packard LeBaron limousine. Papa was wearing a white straw hat. As they drove around the rim of the harbour, he whistled. ‘The
Pacific Fleet,’ he said. ‘A beautiful sight.’

Chuck agreed. ‘Quite something, isn’t it?’ he said. Ships were beautiful, especially in the US Navy, where they were painted and scrubbed and shined. Chuck thought the navy was
great.

‘All those battleships in a perfect straight line,’ Gus marvelled.

‘We call it Battleship Row. Moored off the island are
Maryland
,
Tennessee
,
Arizona
,
Nevada
,
Oklahoma
and
West Virginia
.’ Battleships were
named after states. ‘We also have
California
and
Pennsylvania
in harbour, but you can’t see them from here.’

At the main gate to the Navy Yard, the marine on sentry duty recognized the official car and waved them in. They drove to the submarine base and stopped in the parking lot behind headquarters,
the Old Administration Building. Chuck took his father into the recently opened new wing.

Captain Vandermeier was waiting for them.

Vandermeier was Chuck’s greatest fear. He had taken a dislike to Chuck, and he had guessed the secret. He was always calling Chuck a powder puff or a pantywaist. If he could, he would
spill the beans.

Vandermeier was a short, stocky man with a gravelly voice and bad breath. He saluted Gus and shook hands. ‘Welcome, Senator. It’ll be my privilege to show you the Communications
Intelligence Unit of the fourteenth Naval District.’ This was the deliberately vague title for the group monitoring the radio signals of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

‘Thank you, Captain,’ said Gus.

‘A word of warning, first, sir. It’s an informal group. This kind of work is often done by eccentric people, and correct naval uniform is not always worn. The officer in charge,
Commander Rochefort, wears a red velvet jacket.’ Vandermeier gave a man-to-man grin. ‘You may think he looks like a goddamn homo.’

Chuck tried not to wince.

Vandermeier said: ‘I won’t say any more until we’re in the secure zone.’

‘Very good,’ said Gus.

They went down the stairs and into the basement, passing through two locked doors on the way.

Station HYPO was a windowless neon-lit cellar housing thirty men. As well as the usual desks and chairs, it had oversized chart desks, racks of exotic IBM machine printers, sorters and
collators, and two cots where the cryptanalysts took naps during their marathon codebreaking sessions. Some of the men wore neat uniforms but others, as Vandermeier had warned, were in scruffy
civilian clothing, unshaven, and – to judge by the smell – unwashed.

‘Like all navies, the Japanese have many different codes, using the simplest for less secret signals, such as weather reports, and saving the complex ones for the most highly sensitive
messages,’ Vandermeier said. ‘For example, call signs identifying the sender of a message and its destination are in a primitive cipher, even when the text itself is in a high-grade
cipher. They recently changed the code for call signs, but we cracked the new one in a few days.’

‘Very impressive,’ said Gus.

‘We can also figure out where the signal originated, by triangulation. Given locations and the call signs, we can build up a pretty good picture of where most of the ships of the Japanese
navy are, even if we can’t read the messages.’

‘So we know where they are, and what direction they’re taking, but not what their orders are,’ said Gus.

‘Frequently, yes.’

‘But if they wanted to hide from us, all they would have to do is impose radio silence.’

‘True,’ said Vandermeier. ‘If they go quiet, this whole operation becomes useless, and we are well and truly fucked up the ass.’

A man in a smoking jacket and carpet slippers approached, and Vandermeier introduced the head of the unit. ‘Commander Rochefort is fluent in Japanese, as well as being a master
cryptanalyst,’ Vandermeier said.

‘We were making good progress decrypting the main Japanese cipher until a few days ago,’ Rochefort said. ‘Then the bastards changed it and undid all our work.’

Gus said: ‘Captain Vandermeier was telling me you can learn a lot without actually reading the messages.’

‘Yes.’ Rochefort pointed to a wall chart. ‘Right now, most of the Japanese fleet has left home waters and is heading south.’

‘Ominous.’

‘It sure is. But tell me, Senator, what’s your reading of Japanese intentions?’

‘I believe they will declare war on the United States. Our oil embargo is really hurting them. The British and the Dutch are refusing to supply them, and right now they’re trying to
ship it from South America. They can’t survive like this indefinitely.’

Vandermeier said: ‘But what would they achieve by attacking us? A little country such as Japan can’t invade the USA!’

Gus said: ‘Great Britain is a little country, but they achieved world domination just by ruling the seas. The Japanese don’t have to conquer America, they just need to defeat us in a
naval war, so that they can control the Pacific, and no one can stop them trading.’

‘So, in your opinion, what might they be doing, heading south?’

‘Their likeliest target has to be the Philippines.’

Rochefort nodded agreement. ‘We’ve already reinforced our base there. But one thing bothers me: the commander of the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet hasn’t received any signals
for several days.’

Gus frowned. ‘Radio silence. Has that ever happened before?’

‘Yes. Aircraft carriers go quiet when they return to home waters. So we assume that’s the explanation this time.’

Gus nodded. ‘It sounds reasonable.’

‘Yes,’ said Rochefort. ‘I just wish I could be sure.’

(iii)

The Christmas lights were ablaze on Fort Street in Honolulu. It was Saturday night, 6 December, and the street was thronged with sailors in white tropical uniform, each
with a round white cap and a crossed black scarf, all out for a good time.

The Dewar family strolled along enjoying the atmosphere, Rosa on Chuck’s arm and Gus and Woody on either side of Joanne.

Woody had patched up his quarrel with his fiancée. He apologized for making wrong assumptions about what Joanne expected in their marriage. Joanne admitted she had flown off the handle.
Nothing was truly resolved, but it was enough of a rapprochement for them to tear off their clothes and jump into bed.

Afterwards, the quarrel seemed less important, and nothing really mattered except how much they loved each other. Then they vowed that in future they would discuss such agreements in a loving
and tolerant way. As they got dressed Woody felt that they had passed a milestone. They had had an acrimonious quarrel about a serious difference of view, but they had survived it. It could even be
a good sign.

Now they were heading out for dinner, Woody carrying his camera, snapping photos of the scene as they walked along. Before they had gone far Chuck stopped and introduced another sailor.
‘This is my pal, Eddie Parry. Eddie, meet Senator Dewar, Mrs Dewar, my brother Woody, and Woody’s fiancée, Miss Joanne Rouzrokh.’

Rosa said: ‘I’m pleased to meet you, Eddie. Chuck has mentioned you several times in his letters home. Won’t you join us for dinner? We’re only going to eat
Chinese.’

Woody was surprised. It was not like his mother to invite a stranger to a family meal.

Eddie said: ‘Thank you, ma’am. I’d be honoured.’ He had a southern accent.

They went into the Heavenly Delight restaurant and sat down at a table for six. Eddie had formal manners, calling Gus ‘sir’ and the women ‘ma’am’, but he seemed
relaxed. After they had ordered he said: ‘I’ve heard so much about this family, I feel as if I know y’all.’ He had a freckled face and a big smile, and Woody could tell that
everyone liked him.

Eddie asked Rosa how she liked Hawaii. ‘To tell you the truth, I’m a little disappointed,’ she said. ‘Honolulu is just like any small American town. I expected it to be
more Asian.’

‘I agree,’ said Eddie. ‘It’s all diners and motor courts and jazz bands.’

He asked Gus if there was going to be a war. Everyone asked Gus that question. ‘We’ve tried our darnedest to reach a modus vivendi with Japan,’ Gus said. Woody wondered if
Eddie knew what a modus vivendi was. ‘Secretary of State Hull had a whole series of talks with Ambassador Nomura that lasted all summer long. But we can’t seem to agree.’

‘What’s the problem?’ said Eddie.

‘American business needs a free trade zone in the Far East. Japan says okay, fine, we love free trade, let’s have it, not just in our backyard, but all over the world. The United
States can’t deliver that, even if we wanted it. So Japan says that as long as other countries have their own economic zone, they need one too.’

‘I still don’t see why they had to invade China.’

Rosa, who always tried to see the other side, said: ‘The Japanese want troops in China and Indochina and the Dutch East Indies to protect their interests, just as we Americans have troops
in the Philippines, and the British have theirs in India, and the French in Algeria, and so on.’

‘When you put it that way, the Japs don’t seem so unreasonable!’

Joanne said firmly: ‘They’re not unreasonable, but they’re wrong. Conquering an empire is the nineteenth-century solution. The world is changing. We’re moving away from
empires and closed economic zones. To give them what they want would be a backward step.’

Their food arrived. ‘Before I forget,’ Gus said, ‘we’re having breakfast tomorrow morning aboard the
Arizona
. Eight o’clock sharp.’

Chuck said: ‘I’m not invited, but I’ve been detailed to get you there. I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty and drive you to the Navy Yard, then take you across the harbour
in a launch.’

‘Fine.’

Woody tucked in to fried rice. ‘This is great,’ he said. ‘We should have Chinese food at our wedding.’

Gus laughed. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Why not? It’s cheap, and it tastes good.’

‘A wedding is more than a meal, it’s an occasion. Speaking of which, Joanne, I must call your mother.’

Joanne frowned. ‘About the wedding?’

‘About the guest list.’

Joanne put down her chopsticks. ‘Is there a problem?’ Woody saw her nostrils flare, and knew there was going to be trouble.

‘Not really a problem,’ said Gus. ‘I have a rather large number of friends and allies in Washington who would be offended if they were not invited to the wedding of my son.
I’m going to suggest that your mother and I share the cost.’

Papa was being thoughtful, Woody guessed. Because Dave had sold his business for a bargain price before he died, Joanne’s mother might not have a lot of money to spare for a swanky
wedding. But Joanne disliked the idea of the two parents making wedding arrangements over her head.

‘Who are the friends and allies you’re thinking about?’ Joanne said coolly.

‘Senators and congressmen, mostly. We must invite the President, but he won’t come.’

‘Which senators and congressmen?’ Joanne asked.

Woody saw his mother hide a grin. She was amused at Joanne’s insistence. Not many people had the nerve to push Gus up against the wall like this.

Gus began a list of names.

Joanne interrupted him. ‘Did you say Congressman Cobb?’

‘Yes.’

‘He voted against the anti-lynching law!’

‘Peter Cobb is a good man. But he’s a Mississippi politician. We live in a democracy, Joanne: we have to represent our voters. Southerners won’t support an anti-lynching
law.’ He looked at Chuck’s friend. ‘I hope I’m not treading on any toes here, Eddie.’

‘Don’t mince your words on my account, sir,’ Eddie said. ‘I’m from Texas, but I feel ashamed when I think of southern politics. I hate prejudice. A man’s a
man, whatever his colour.’

Woody glanced at Chuck. He looked so proud of Eddie he might have burst.