Unknown Victim by Kay Hadashi (classic books for 11 year olds .TXT) 📕

that had taken him and his buddies into their home and fed them one night many years before. No conditions, no questions asked, just a safe haven from war for a few hours.

“Most days, I try to forget the war, but I do my best to remember them.”

“I know my family is from that part of Italy, but I doubt we’re the same family, Mister Tanizawa. It would be a pretty big coincidence if we were.”

That didn’t seem to matter to him. He only held her arm for a moment. “Doesn’t matter so much. But there’s something about your job they haven’t told you.”

“Oh, what’s that?” she asked.

“Their big idea is to sell the place, build condos, get rich quick.”

Now Gina was getting even more family gossip; unfortunately, she was stuck right in the middle of this batch. “I’m sure it’s a valuable piece of property. Who exactly owns it? You or the entire family?”

He pointed to his face. “I do. As long as I’m alive, they can’t sell it.”

“But…”

“I’ll be dead someday. But once the place goes back to the same way as long time ago, it can get registered as historical landmark. When it gets that, they can never sell the place to make condos.”

“I see. You need me to hurry up and get the registration before, well…”

“I die, yes.”

“I’m sorry to bring it up like that,” she said.

“No one else around here has the guts to. Anyway, you’re polite.”

Gina had some thinking to do. If she hurried and got the job done before the old man died, she’d make him happy. If she dragged her heels long enough for him to die first, and the family was able to sell the property to a developer, the family would have a massive payday. That must’ve been the bonus Millie had implied once.

“They all want to sell the property?” she asked.

“Kenzo and I are against all of them. We’re a couple of sentimental old fools. He’s not as old as I am, but just as foolish.” He chewed but without anything in his mouth. “Maybe one more ally.”

“Who’s that?” she asked. She needed all the allies she could get if she were to join his side of the scheme.

“Reiko. Don’t say anything to the others.”

“I won’t. You’re not foolish, Mister Tanizawa. But you have to realize, my hands are tied with the project. I can’t really manipulate things too much.”

“Miss Santoro, we have a saying in Japanese. We tell people ‘Gambatte!’ when they start something new.”

“Gambatte,” she said to herself to learn the word. “What does that mean?”

“Do your best.” He took a small lapel pin from his pocket and handed it to her. It was diamond shaped, with white and red bands around the edges, and a blue background. In the middle was a hand holding a torch.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“Go for Broke emblem. The patch we wore on our uniforms back then.”

“Do you want me to wear it?”

“When you finish the job and get the historical registration, you wear that.”

“Why give it to me now?” she asked.

“I might not be here later.”

Gina could barely keep from crying. He was putting his trust of his little empire into her hands. “Thank you. I’ll do my best. Gambatte!”

“If nothing else, go for broke.” He smiled at her as if the lecture were done. “Will you do something for me?”

She couldn’t imagine what else he might want, maybe for her to trace her family roots to see if she was in some way related to the Santoros of Fabbiano that had showed him that moment of kindness years before. She figured that would be nearly impossible, unless her father knew more about their family history than he’d ever let on. “Of course.”

“Bring me a hot dog. Only catsup on it.”

When Gina went back out to the patio, she was mentally exhausted after hearing Mr. Tanizawa’s wartime story, and his explanation of why the estate needed to be returned to its original condition. She’d never before heard a real war story from the lips of the soldier that had lived it, only reading about battles in school history books. The least she could do was take him a hot dog with catsup.

“Is that for my father?” Millie asked as she watched Gina fix the hot dog.

“It’s okay if he has one, right? He almost made it sound like I had to sneak it to him.”

Mille laughed. “He shouldn’t have the salt, but he’d find a way of getting one eventually. Put plenty of catsup on it, something else that’s taboo. I think the best part for him is finding people to help him break the rules. What did the two of you talk about for so long?”

“Oh, just a story from the good old days.”

“About the estate?”

“Mostly about the war.”

“That’s odd. He never talks about it with us.”

“It was kind of a personal story.” Gina noticed there was still a little wine left in the bottle she’d brought. “Is he allowed to have wine?”

“He has a cup of sake every day. No reason why he can’t have a little wine with his hot dog.”

Gina went back to Mr. Tanizawa’s room with his meal. She found he had two new visitors when she got there. One of them surprised her.

Mr. Tanizawa listened as his youngest son introduced himself as if he and Gina had never met. He was at least a dozen years younger than any of his siblings. The bigger surprise was that he was the owner of Bunzo’s Bar. It was his girlfriend that got most of Gina’s attention, though.

“Mom and Dad wanted to give me a Japanese name, so they settled on Haruki, my grandfather’s name. Most people call me Harry. This is my friend, Holly.”

Holly’s face barely changed, but Gina could easily see the piercing glare coming from her eyes. She’d cleaned up since the night before, with a change of clothes and shower. What had been big blond hair a day earlier was today a soft brown,