Free Toward Night's End by M.H. Sargent Page B

had arrived earlier had taken it upon themselves to move their cots and a dresser or desk to make up a small living area. Old sheets had been hung from the ceiling to provide privacy.
    Copying the others, Kumiko quickly claimed a far corner area for her family so that they wouldn’t have to be out in the open. Daniel helped her move a dresser and five cots to their staked out turf. Daniel had argued that there were only four of them, so they didn’t need five cots, but she insisted that Matthew would be with them soon, and of course, he would need a bed. Then she selected the oldest bed sheet they had brought with them, and Daniel stood on the dresser and nailed it into the ceiling. Between the two corner walls and the sheet, the triangular space provided a bit of privacy.
    Today, Ido rested on one of the cots, not saying a word, nor asking any more questions about their surroundings. Daniel and Julia had left to explore the camp, promising to return soon. Kumiko used the time to properly unpack all their belongings, but since they only had one dresser, she elected to neatly organize some of their things in the suitcases, which would be stowed under their cots.
    “Mrs. Kobata?” she heard from the other side of the sheet. She quickly walked around the partition and found a tall soldier standing there with a clipboard.
    “Yes?” she asked.
    “You are the mother of Matthew Kobata?”
    “He’s here?” she asked excitedly.
    “No, ma’am. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”
    Her heart sank. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, but she willed herself not to cry.
    “Are you expecting him on the next train?” the soldier asked.
    “I don’t know,” she said truthfully.
    “Well, see, I have to report any people that are missing. And I noticed that we had him scheduled to arrive yesterday.”
    “He missed ferry,” she said.
    “The ferry?”
    “From island.”
    He looked over his papers. Then he saw it. “Oh, you folks are from Washington.”
    Kumiko nodded eagerly. “Bainbridge Island.”
    “So he didn’t catch the ferry..?” he asked, unsure what this meant.
    “To Seattle. I told them to wait. I tell everyone I could, Matthew late. But they no wait. Just go. In hurry. Go. Go.”
    The soldier looked confused. “He was late?”
    “We have fish business, yes? He catch fish, take to market. But he late. Not his fault, he good boy. Maybe, I don’t know, maybe he in accident.”
    “I see.”
    “But he will come. Look,” she said, moving aside the sheet and walking over to an open suitcase on a cot. She picked out some clothes and held them up. “See? His shirt. He put all his clothes here. He plan to come. But, I don’t know, he got late. Miss ferry.”
    “Okay,” the soldier said, writing something on his clipboard. “Okay, Mrs. Kobata. Thank you. Sorry to have bothered you.”
    He stepped around the sheet, and she quickly hurried after him. “No bother. No bother, okay? You make sure when he get here, he know where we are?”
    The soldier smiled. “Oh, yes, ma’am.”
    Kumiko nodded, watching him leave. He looked about Matthew’s age. A moment later she turned around and saw that half a dozen people were staring at her. There was no privacy in the barracks. The sheets might make one feel better, but everyone could hear everything. She could tell just looking at their faces that they now knew her eldest son was missing. She opened her mouth, to speak. Perhaps explain to these people what had happened. But then she shut her mouth. The truth was, she had absolutely no idea what had happened to her son. With a bowed head, she promptly returned to their tiny section of the barracks, hiding her shame.
    In their own area, she returned to her job of unpacking to take her mind off Matthew. And from wondering what the others would think of them.
    “He won’t be coming,” Ido said in Japanese, startling her.
    She turned toward him, startled. “Shh.”
    “What?” Ido went on.
    She went over