Free Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky by Sandra Dallas Page A

Helen had come with them. Tomi and Ruth came close to the bandstand where Roy was. Tomi said, “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
    “Who, Ruth?” Roy asked.
    “As if you didn’t know who I mean! I’m talking about Helen.” A boy had approached Helen to dance, but she shook her head. Instead, she stepped out onto the dance floor with Wilson.
    “Oh, I hadn’t noticed.”
    “You did so.”
    Roy blushed, and Tomi knew she was right. “She won’t even look at me,” he said. “I’ve tried to start a conversation with her, but she won’t say a word.”
    “Maybe she would if you asked her to sing,” Tomi said.
    “She sings?” Roy asked.
    “She has the most beautiful voice I ever heard,” Ruth told him. “She used to sing at church in San Francisco.”
    Roy shrugged. “We don’t play church music. We probably don’t play anything she knows.”
    “You play ‘Green Eyes.’ I bet she could sing ‘Green Eyes,’ ” Tomi said.
    Roy considered that. “You think so?”
    “We’ll go get her,” Tomi said.
    She and Ruth made their way across the floor to where Helen and Wilson had just stopped dancing. Helen did indeed look beautiful with her face flushed from the dancing. “You’re needed over here,” Tomi said. Before Helen could answer, Ruth and Tomi each took one of Helen’s hands and all but dragged her to the bandstand. “You know my brother Roy,” Tomi said.
    “Sure, why?” Helen answered slowly.
    “You’ll see.” She nodded at Roy.
    He finished a song. Then as people clapped, he said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a surprise for you. Helen Wakasa, the famous San Francisco songbird, is going to sing ‘Green Eyes,’ her favorite song.”
    Helen stared at Roy. Then she turned to Tomi. She didn’t look happy. “What is this?”
    “You’re going to sing,” Tomi said. When Helen put her hands on her hips and shook her head no, Tomi added, “You’ll look pretty stupid if you don’t.”
    Wilson and Carl ran across the dance floor, grinning at their sister. “Sing, Helen,” Wilson said.
    “Yeah, sing,” Carl said.
    “You’ll disappoint your brothers if you don’t,” Tomi told her.
    So Helen climbed onto the bandstand, and Roy and the Royals began playing “Green Eyes,” Helen’s favorite Frank Sinatra song. Helen started out slowly and softly. But as she began to sing, her voice grew louder. She smiled a little. By the time Helen was finished with the song, she was swaying to the music and grinning.
    The crowd of dancers loved her, and someone shouted, “More!”
    “You know ‘Slow Boat to China’?” Roy asked, and without having to be coaxed, Helen nodded. Roy started the music, and Helen sang again. People crowded around the dance stand to hear her. Tomi thought Helen sounded good enough to be in the movies.
    As Helen sang “Whatcha Know, Joe?” Tomi moved through the crowd to find Mom. “I bet Roy asks her to join the band,” Tomi said.
    “And I bet she does just that,” Mom replied.
    They were right. After that night, Helen became part of the band and sang at every dance. She was a big hit.
    Tomi thought singing would make Helen change her attitude, but it didn’t. Each morning when Tomi stoppedto pick up Carl, Helen would complain about something at the camp. She complained about the apartments and the food and the government.
    “I don’t get it. Why isn’t she happy now?” Tomi asked Mom. Helen had just come into the barracks and slammed her door so hard that Tomi could feel the vibration all the way down the hall.
    Mom shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ve done everything you could. Maybe now it’s up to Helen.”

1943 | CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    A CHRISTMAS TREE for CARL

    THE week before Christmas, snow fell at Tallgrass. The big flakes covered the ugly barracks and the streets. The snow-covered land looked like Christmas pictures Tomi had seen in magazines. This was her second winter at Tallgrass, and Tomi knew that when the snow stopped, the weather would