“Do you have my address?” Anne asked her bluntly, and she nodded, stunned into silence.
“It's in the phone book. Yes, I have it.”
“Why don't you come right over. Take a cab, I'll pay for it.” She wondered if Hiroko had decent clothes, or if she was hungry or had any money.
Hiroko left the phone booth and hailed a cab, but she paid for it herself, and was surprised to see Anne waiting for her outside. But Anne was even more surprised when she saw Toyo.
“Is he yours?” Anne asked in utter amazement, and Hiroko smiled as she nodded. While Anne had been playing tennis and learning French, and summering at Lake Tahoe, Hiroko had had a baby.
“Yes, he is,” she said, looking down proudly at her son. “His name is Toyo.”
Anne did not ask his last name, or if Hiroko was married. She suspected, looking at her, that that wasn't the case, and the dress Hiroko was wearing was not only ugly and too big for her, but it was threadbare and ancient.
“I spoke to my mother,” she said as they stood on the sidewalk on Upper Broadway. “She'll give you a job. I'm afraid it won't be a very fancy one. They need someone to help in the kitchen.” She looked down at Toyo then, but she knew it wouldn't make a difference. “You can keep him with you when you work downstairs,” she said, unlocking the door for her, and then she turned to her and asked if she was hungry. But Hiroko smiled and told her they'd had breakfast.
Anne took her right downstairs to see her room. It was small and clean and without frills of any kind, but it was far better than anything she'd seen in nearly three years, and she was grateful for the job, and when they were in the room that was to be hers, she told her.
“I cannot thank you enough for this, Anne. You owe me nothing.”
“I thought what they did to you was wrong. It would have been better to send you home, if they didn't trust you. You, at least, were Japanese. But the others, the Americans, didn't belong there, and neither did you, really. What could you have done to them? You were no spy.” The woman who had taken care of her as a child had died the year before at Manzanar, during an emergency operation. Anne thought of her as a beloved relative and Anne would never forgive them for taking her away and letting her die there. She was doing this for her, and the others. It was something she could do to make up for what had happened.
She explained that Hiroko would have to wear a black dress and a white lace apron and cap, with matching collar and cuffs, with black shoes and black stockings. But that didn't bother her either.
“What are you going to do after this?” Anne asked her. She didn't imagine for a moment that this was going to be Hiroko's future. But the war was still on, her cousins were gone, and she couldn't go back to Japan yet.
“I'd like to stay here, with you, if I can, until I can go home again. My brother was killed, and I must go home to my parents.” She didn't tell her that two of her cousins had died too, Ken and Tak. And she had no news of Peter. But Anne looked down at Toyo then, wondering.
“Will his father come back?” she asked cautiously, not quite sure of their arrangement. It was obvious that the child's father had been Caucasian. But Hiroko only looked at her with worried eyes. She wanted to ask her another favor.
“I need to find out if something has happened. I haven't heard from him since August. He's with the army, in France. But after they got to Paris, I heard nothing. I was wondering if, somehow …. someone you know …maybe they can call someone and find out if anyone knows …” Anne understood and nodded.
“I'll ask my father.”
The two women stood looking at each other then. It was an odd moment between two women who had never been friends, and yet she had just done everything possible for Hiroko, more than anyone else would have.
Hiroko left a few minutes later to get her things from the hotel, and then she came back in a cab again with Toyo. It was a handsome house, a large, imposing brick edifice, and one of the largest on Broadway. And as soon as she got back, she went to her room with Toyo. She changed into her uniform, and holding Toyo's hand, she appeared in the kitchen. Everyone there was very pleasant to her, and they showed her what her responsibilities were, and two of the maids promised to help her with Toyo. The cook fell instantly in love with him, and gave him a big bowl of soup for lunch, and a chocolate eclair, which he thought was very exciting. For a child who had started out so big, he had grown quite thin from the inadequate food they had all had at the camp, and Hiroko was relieved to see him eating.
Anne came back downstairs and introduced Hiroko to her mother that afternoon. Mrs. Spencer was very beautiful, and very distinguished. She was wearing a beautiful gray wool suit, with a necklace of enormous pearls, and matching earrings. She was a woman of about fifty. Anne was the youngest of three daughters and a son. Mrs. Spencer wasn't warm, but she was extremely polite to Hiroko. She knew what her circumstances were, Anne had even told her about Toyo, and Margaret Spencer was as sorry for her as Anne was. She had told the entire staff to be kind to her, and feed them well. And the salary she offered her, Hiroko thought, was nothing less than staggering. She offered her three hundred dollars a month, which was more charity than wage, but she didn't mind it a bit. In ways no one could ever have measured, she had earned it, and she was going to need every penny if she was going to save enough money to return to Japan when the war finally ended. There was still no sign of Peter, and she had Toyo to support. She was deeply grateful for the high wages.