Chapter 1 Redemption for the Rising Sun

The first chapter of my faith-based whodunit - still a work in progress

Redemption for the Rising Sun

Chapter One - Luncheon on the Terrace

The warm bright sun in a clear blue sky shone down upon the back yard patio of Phillip and Anna Gamon on this mid-April Saturday in 1955. A delightful New Zebulon, South Carolina day for Phillip and Anna to entertain their neighbor. Part of the reason and charm that drew the Gamons to this particular locale was the opportunity to purchase what appeared to be an old plantation home for pennies on the dollar. Anna, who loved to cook, had really outdone herself this time.
"My, what a beautiful day for alfresco dining!" exclaimed Anna Rosa Gamon. Her husband Phillip enjoyed eating outside on the patio.
Anna was a tall woman who reveled in feeding others. In fact, her family had moved here from Boston to start a restaurant. True to her Italian heritage, she fed her guest today as her mother would have, and her mother before her and her mother before her. The luncheon began with a salad of green and red lettuces mingled with heirloom tomatoes and those sweet onions so prevalent here in South Carolina, dressed with bold olive oil and vinegar and laced with leaves of fresh basil. Next came small plates of golden spaghetti kissed by finely diced young tomatoes. But wait - now a whole chicken, roasted with olive oil and cavorting with garlicky spears of asparagus appeared from nowhere. Finally large glasses of lemonade and small cups of coffee accompanied by new strawberries, freshly whipped cream and hard little sweet cookies. Her husband, private investigator Phillip Gamon, and their guest could barely move after the bounteous meal.
Born Anna Rosa Ophelia Maria Cecilia Elisabetta Mattalagni, the tall olive toned woman who prepared such a delightful feast had married well. Anna Rosa Gamon was almost as tall as Phillip, with long brown curly hair that danced about her shoulders in the warm spring breeze. Dark brown almond shaped eyes seemed able to look right inside her husband. She could have given Sophia Loren a run for her money if Hollywood had found her first, Phillip always thought. As a matter of fact, her facial features and overall figure reminded one of the Italian actress. In the past, nobody seemed to appreciate what Anna was, certainly not her first husband. Phillip had a talent for spotting diamonds in the rough, though, and he wasn't about to let the Mediterranean beauty out of his life, whose outward appearance did not need to be accented with the wearing of gold, fancy hairdos, and certainly expensive clothes were not necessary to assist in making her look beautiful. What really attracted Phillip to Anna was that inner person of the heart, the incorruptible person of a meek and quiet spirit. Phillip recognized her as a pearl of great price, a virtuous woman, in whom the heart of her husband could safely trust. After what would have been called a whirlwind romance, he married her and helped her forget her past in Boston's Italian North End.

Anna really enjoyed being the hostess. Small town Southern hospitality suited her well. Today she was serving lunch to her husband, private investigator Phillip Gamon and their shy little neighbor, Keiko Carpenter, who had apologized profusely at her arrival for the fact that her husband would not be joining them.
Anna's husband Phillip Gamon looked at his wife and smiled. Small town private investigator, Phillip relied on her more than he liked to admit. Phillip was a good looking man, tall with sparkling blue eyes that smiled whenever he looked at her. He has been brought up in this deeply southern town, home of the busy Camp Beauregard Marine Corps Base.
Phillip brushed aside the thick brown hair that fell in his face as he sipped his coffee. He had worked in a large police precinct in the big city for less than a decade before starting his own small office. The goals of the precinct just didn't mesh with his own vision - he worked in law enforcement because he wanted to serve, to help those who had no voice. The precinct was so large, the people had become anonymous, unseen. It was only a matter of time before Phillip had to move on. At last he felt like he could make a difference in peoples' lives.

Phillip concentrated on dessert while Anna chatted with Keiko. Hiss attention focused on a cookie - or two or three. They had both been worried about the diminutive Japanese lady, especially since the loud disturbances they had heard coming from the Carpenter house across the street. After such an episode, Keiko wouldn't be seen for days, then finally only with sunglasses on, even indoors. She wouldn't talk to them when her husband Gary was home. Gary, the soon to be retired Marine Corps Sergeant could be charming when he wanted to be, but he left Anna with a strange, uneasy feeling.
Anna knew from experience what an abusive man was like, but not to the extent that Keiko did. The small Japanese woman had to look up to talk to Anna. She was slight and slender, soft-spoken, often she looked more like a doll than a real person. Keiko didn't speak much English when the Carpenters moved in, but she was picking it up really fast. Keiko was smart, but normally seemed more like a scared rabbit. Sudden noises startled her. She always wore long sleeves, no matter what the weather. Keiko was quite the opposite of her loud, boisterous husband.
Many people wonder why a woman would stay with an abusive man. Anna knew the reasons. There was always the feeling that if she tried harder, her husband would love her. These women felt they weren't good enough, not working hard enough. Normally they didn't believe in divorce, especially in 1955. More often than not, there was an economic factor. The plain hard facts remain, that a divorced woman on her own is financially worse off than her husband - with the possible exception of those very rich whose divorces make headline news! Many abused women are cut off from the rest of the world, not allowed to have friends. And here was Keiko, a strange Oriental in a Southern white community.
This was 1955, and Keiko would have been isolated anywhere in the United States of America. Many people in this military town still reeled from the attack on Pearl Harbor just fourteen years earlier that catapulted our nation into war.
Many Americans in pre-war 1930's wanted to remain neutral. They hoped we could be left out of the war. Just 17 or 18 years earlier we had sent our boys "over there" in World War One. Weren't the thousands of lives given in sacrifice for peace and freedom enough?
Now the Empire of Japan, considered by Americans and Europeans to be a third rate power, had quietly amassed the largest navy in the Pacific and had invaded and occupied Formosa, Korea, Manchuria and parts of China. Then America, in hopes of bringing peace and stability to the Pacific and Asia, had stopped selling arms and munitions to Japan. While the two nations were in negotiation to perhaps reopen trade, on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, "a day which will live in infamy," the Empire of Japan had launched an unprovoked, secret and dastardly attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor Hawaii, killing thousands of sailors and Marines. Japan had hoped to cripple the U.S. and terrorize them into as position of surrender. But instead, this little upstart country had awakened the sleeping giant and filled her with a resolve that would not cease until the unconditional surrender of Japan, "so help us God."

In small towns in the South like this, it was hard enough for "outsiders" to be accepted; but this "foreigner..." As despised as her white husband was in the community, Keiko was still seen by most in town as a "Jap."
Phillip and Anna couldn't see her that way, though. It wasn't Keiko who organized the attack on December 7th, 1941. She had been only a simple young girl in Okinawa before the American Occupation. She must have been dazzled by the handsome Marine who married her and brought her to America. What she didn't realize was that the Marine hadn't married her out of love - he had taken her as a "trophy" after the Battle of Okinawa, after having a choice of marrying her or disciplinary action by the Marine Corps.

No, Phillip and Anna saw Keiko as another person for whom Christ died. Beyond that, Anna saw the immediate need in Keiko's life, or rather heard it from across the street. Anna wondered how other neighbors could be so blind and uncaring. Yet Anna remembered her own first marriage. Nobody wanted to get involved, nobody considered it any of their business. Anna only hoped the day would come when the laws would change. Perhaps one day there might even be shelters for abused wives... But in 1955 that was a daydream. Today, in 1955, even most churchgoing people continued to look the other way.
Phillip stroked his beard and thought about the events of the past few days. He had tried to be friendly to Gary Carpenter but was soundly rejected. Looking into the man's eyes, it was as if some unearthly creature dwelt inside the Marine. Phillip couldn't quite understand it. He had met other Marines from the neighboring military air station, good men dedicated to their country. Some attended the church Phillip and Anna attended and came to the Wednesday night Bible studies, but not Keiko's husband Gary Carpenter. Sergeant Carpenter was in a class by himself.
Anna found the military wives to be a close knit bunch, and this was a Southern military community that still saw the Japanese as people not to be trusted. Even Anna herself was viewed by many of the locals as loud and ethnic - and they expected her to be Catholic. She had been, but now having had what was called a "born again" experience, those outside the small church Anna and Phillip attended just didn't know what to make of her. Many people just couldn't take Anna seriously, too Italian and too ethnic. But Anna was perfectly happy to be under-estimated, and in some situations, she was also content to be ignored.

As Anna befriended Keiko, she slowly learned a few things about the Japanese. The culture is dominated by men, the man is the undisputed head of the family but he is not expected to love his wife as Christ loved the church. Women in Japan were not to respect their husbands, but to worship them. It is the man and he only who represents the family to the outside world. Further, Anna read somewhere that emotion is not displayed in public in Japan. No wonder Keiko seemed confused at the way Phillip and Anna related to one another, being openly affectionate, opening doors, a kiss on the cheek. While Keiko was isolated from the rest of the community, there were questions that surfaced in the form of gossip. Why did she never wear short sleeves? Why did she not talk to people when Gary was around? Why was she so easily startled? Why did she often wear sunglasses, even in the evening?

One of the military wives was married to a corpsman, a medical worker. She told stories of Keiko suffering broken bones and even cigar burns. But domestic violence, especially to this lady they referred to as a "Jap," was easily overlooked. People considered her none of their business and life went on as usual. No-one seemed to doubt the stories, though, especially those who really knew Sergeant Gary Carpenter, Keiko's husband.