The Ryokoshi Post and World War II

12/X/1941

So much as happened in such a short time, Japan launched an attack on Pearl Harbor and now we’ve declared war on them. There’s so much war going on already and now it’s on our doorstep! I can’t help but tremble at the thought of it, all the bloodshed that’s to come, but I put on a brave face at work. The last thing anyone needs is a trembling waif manning the post office counter while they’re trying to keep it together themselves.

So many people came in today to mail off letters to friends and family on the West Coast, fearing for their well-being and likely asking them to head East or at least that’s what I would do if I had anyone outside of town.

Of the familiar faces I saw today, the Madokas’ son, Niko was in tizzy when he came up to the counter with his letters. I asked him what has him so riled up and he said, “I have an urgent letter to send to my friend and to the President of Japan!”

I asked him what’s he sending a letter to the President of Japan for, and he says, “To tell him to say sorry for blowing up our ships!”

Kids like him are a highlight of my day, I told him I’d try my best to deliver it, but I can’t swim and there’s a huuuuge ocean between us and Japan. He just shook his head and told me I’m supposed to take a boat across the ocean; not swim, so I just told him that they might blow up my ship and then I’ll have to live on a desert island until my boss can rescue me.

He admits I make a good point and tells me to try tying it to a seagull instead and runs off home. I still have the letter in my ‘Undeliverable’ drawer by the window I like to take lunch at, I can’t open it and read it of course, but the address: “The President of Japan’s House” is more than enough to make me smile.

Hopefully things won’t be too bad, though I worry there will be a draft and all the familiar faces will start to disappear and my delivery route will start to get shorter and sparser. At least, I don’t have to worry about missing my special pick-up customers. Why, just this morning Mr. Taylor was out there at the mailbox with letter in hand, he seemed very anxious but that’s not very new or surprising.

He’s a very fretful man with an ear for rumors and gossip, I asked him about it once and he claims he only keeps an ear out to stay, “Abreast of important and concerning matters.” I think he might just not know what to do with himself otherwise.

But that’s neither here nor there, for now I must rest before Mr. Taylor and Mr. Clark begin to write to each other in earnest and I am buried alive in envelopes and stamps.

12/X/1941

We all saw this coming, but Germany and Italy have declared war on us and now we on them. I don’t know exactly what that means for us seeing as our enemies are across either ocean from us, but hopefully it means that we only really need to worry about Japan. After all, our allies to the East should be their biggest concern.

But enough about all that, this is a work journal after all, so let’s begin again.

Today my boss my handed me mailbag big enough to kidnap a kid and told me to collect the incoming mail while I was out doing my normal pick-up route. Looking inside that bag was like staring into the endless abyss, I’ve since dubbed it the Omni-bag.

Saddled with the Omni-bag, I was pushed out of the warmth of the post office and into the frigid winter air. I wish I caught colds so I could take a sick day and tell my boss it was their fault, but that might just get them prattling on about, “These fragile women can’t deal with cold, can’t carry packages” blah, blah, blah. Most people can’t carry packages almost as big as they are uphill, boss!

Ahem… Moving on, I did my normal pick-up route and saw Mr. Clark waiting for me on his stoop.

He gave me a tight smile and handed me his letter for Mr. Taylor, he just said, “If he tries to mail order a priest, please deny him.” then went back inside.

I must admit; I don’t know exactly what goes on between those two, but I sometimes don’t wonder if Mr. Clark isn’t his shrink. But I shouldn’t speculate.

Anyhow, as I did my route all the extra stops just made the Omni-bag heavier and heavier, if my boss isn’t a slave driver then I must be a prisoner of war. By the time I reached a particularly special client’s house my legs felt like they might fall off and shoulders ached, luckily all that trotting up and down streets had me all warmed up. If not, I might have been frostbitten too.

I knocked on the door and I swear I heard someone just about tumble down the steps just to answer the door. It turned out to be the town Overseer’s assistant, a flighty young lady with a penchant for dressing in black.

I have to admit, I asked if she just fell down the stairs and she just sort of laughed with a weird look in her eye, handed me the letter, and closed the door in my face. All I can say is that girl is an odd bird.

My last stop is one of my favorites even if it takes hiking up into the forest to get there. There’s no trail to get there except the ones people make themselves.

Though I think my trail is now the closest thing they have to an official one, it’s so well-trodden now.

When I reached the Orphans’ House, I only made it into the front yard before one of the kids spotted me and started ringing a handbell like they’d spotted the enemy line. I did think for a moment they’d finally gotten caught up in playing war games with all the declarations and I was about to be pelted by a small army with snow. But apparently, they were just that dead set on sending their letters.

I managed to survive the horde of children who came running out, some still yanking on coats and boots, and get to poor Nithos. He always hangs back on the steps with this slightly miserable look on his face, but today he looked like someone dragged him out of bed to attend his dog’s funeral.

I made the mistake of asking what was on his mind and he just asks, “Do we have ships and boats around here?” I told him we only have fishing boats and things and, if possible, looks even more morose, then he asked, “Are we going to get blown up?”

Kids say the darnedest things, huh? I told him it’d be weird to blow us up considering we live in the middle of nowhere and he seemed just a little bit better before I took his letter and skedaddled.

After work, I’m buying myself a bag of peppermints, kicking back, and so help me if anyone makes a liar out of me!

2/X/1942

Things have been relatively quiet on the battlefront; I could almost forget were at war with the Axis completely if it wasn’t for the recent news that the President just signed into law that all citizens of Japanese descent living on the West Coast shut away in internment camps.

There’s been talk here and there about their loyalty and being spies and such, but a tight lid has been kept on it till now. With the President doing this, everyone suddenly feels it’s alright to say it openly. To be honest, it gets under my skin, maybe because new folks are still surprised to see me working at the counter or out doing my routes.

One thing I know is that the Madokas have it a million times worse as one of the few Japanese families living in town. Poor Niko came in today to send off a letter to his pen-pal, that poor gloomy orphan, and his mother came with him. She was quiet and polite like always, but I noticed her accent was milder and in her eyes was the vigilance of a hawk, Niko on the other hand hardly dared to look up from the floor.

He was practically scared stiff and just handed over his letter and they took their leave. Poor thing is probably getting the brunt of the bullying right now, not to mention all the sniveling adults who’d rather sneer and pick at a child and his family then do anything meaningful. Ugh, I need a peppermint.

2/X/1942

Looshii came in today to drop off another report for the Overseer and they looked to be in a foul mood, everyone in the post office became quiet as stone statues until they hobbled out cane clenched in hand.

As soon as the door shut, my boss tossed me the Omni-bag and told me to head out on my normal routes and don’t stop for anyone else. Whelp, who am I to say no when Looshii wraith is on the table.

When I arrived at the Overseer’s place and knocked on the door their assistant flung the door open and snatched the envelope from me. She ran off up the stairs leaving the door wide open and shortly after half tumbled down the stairs in her haste to the door. She curtsied with a little smile before she shut the door in my face. All I can say is her manners are improving but still would appall most people including myself.

Next, I stopped by Taylor’s and Clark’s places to pick up one letter to deliver to the latter and then up into the hills I trekked to deliver the kids their letters.

As usual one rang the handbell at my arrival, and I was surrounded by the horde, letters being pushed into my hand and about a half a dozen kids all talking my ear off at once.

I managed to convince them that the sooner they let me go the quicker they’d get a letter back and they dispersed.

All that was left to get was Nithos’ letter, he was sitting on the steps with this dark look on his face. I have to admit, it made me hesitant to go over, but I can’t let the kids see me falter. He had two letters for me, one for Niko and one for the Overseer. I asked him why he was sending a letter to them, but he just smiled, gestured for me to keep quiet, and went back inside.

I still have a bad feeling about that letter, but I went out of my way to deliver on the way back, it should have been a simple drop-off but as soon as their assistant heard who the sender was, she made me wait on the doorstep. Some minutes later she came back out with a letter for Nithos from the Overseer themselves and another for Looshii. She instructed me to get those letters to them as soon as I could and shut the door in my face then opened it and curtsied before shutting it back in my face.

By that point it was getting dark, and I was exhausted but I pushed on to at least get Looshii’s letter delivered and tracked him down at one of their friend’s houses. They were enjoying bottles of soda pop and playing poker when I interrupted with my delivery. I must say, as soon as they saw me the whole mood soured and Looshii’s eye started twitching. I took off down the street and ducked into someone’s yard to hide in case Looshii was going to “shoot the messenger” as it were.

Down the street I heard a table flip and Looshii shout a curse before it all went quiet again. I was wise to have hid but the ruckus the lady of the house peer out her window and directly at me. I tipped my hand and crammed some letters from the Omni-bag into her mailbox and ran back to the post office.

I’ve decided to sleep in the mailroom tonight, just in case.

2/X/1942

I messed big time! As I was finishing delivering Mr. Clark’s letter to Mr. Taylor, Looshii found me to deliver a letter to the Overseer. They seemed more tired than irritated today, but it got me wanting to double check the Omni-bag to make sure everything was in order for the Overseer’s letter.

Once they left me to be on their way, I checked, and the letter wasn’t there! Last night I must have accidentally stuffed it into that young lady’s mailbox! I’m such a dunce! If the boss caught wind of this they’d say, “I knew woman can’t read half as well as they pretend to.” How can I counter that? The user manual for the Omni-bag explicitly warns to be careful when carrying letters with an open recipient!

I ran to the young lady’s house and snuck past Looshii’s friend’s house. Lucky for me the young lady was home and was happy to return the letter me and even had a letter to send off to the police chief. I asked her why she’s sending a letter there and she got so flustered until she finally explained that he helped her once and she wanted to thank him with a card.

I personally think she fancies him, but I as a filly on the hunt for love myself I won’t discuss it further.

Thanks to her, I was able to deliver the letter to Boko as promised and I must say, he was so excited to receive it that he was already up and waiting for me at the gates. He even tipped me with a pear.

Today was pretty good all things considered even if the radio is busted, boss is going to have someone look at it tomorrow, I think there’s something wrong with the receiver since we can still get all the local channels like the Nightly Mysteries channel.

6/X/1941

Things have been rather peaceful ever since the government secured the radio channels, I admit even now I feel a sense of pride in our local radio station turned broadcast station. They started all sorts of programs to help fill out the airtime and thanks to public funding only the popular programs get to stay on.

But that’s not the truly momentous event that was brought across the radio waves, nay that would be our victory over the Japanese Navy! Everyone was celebrating in the streets, many took off work and the kids were left out of school, Boss even gave me the morning off to join the impromptu picnic that the ladies held in the park!

Everyone was in such a good mood that even when it was time for me to do my route Mr. Taylor and Mr. Clark were in high spirits for the first time in months, Looshii was actually smiling for once, and I was tasked with delivering care packages to the Orphans along with Niko’s letter and gifts for Boko.

I have to admit that I spent some time relaxing with the Orphans and Mataline, ever since she took over for Mr. Chaplin the orphanage seems even more lively and the children much more polite although that could be due to many of them being sent to live at another orphanage with better accommodations.

All in all, the future is looking quite bright.