Satoyan fell in love with the Lieutenant Colonel. She was only 18 when they met. He was older, had power, and charm. It was her first love, and she fell hard. In their 3 years of forbidden love, they brought a daughter into the world, Reiko, now a beautiful toddler. Reiko’s smile eased a small part of the shame Satoyan felt, of being an unmarried mother, the mother of a “Hafu” mixed child, and her country’s shame of being humiliated by their conquerors, who now occupied their country.
He left her after their last dinner adieu, to go fight another war. She waited patiently for him to return to her and Reiko. As the Ginkgo trees turned a golden red and brown, she got a box delivered. Inside was a pair of black patent Baby Jane shoes for little Reiko, and a letter. As she slowly read the letter, a rush of nausea surged from the pit of her stomach to the moisture in her eyes, like a dark ocean wave pounding her body and spraying salt in her tears. He was back in his homeland, not Korea, not Japan, wounded and in a hospital thousands of miles away. He wasn’t coming back anytime soon.
