Title: The Bamboo Heart
Author: Henry P. Gravelle
ISBN: 978-1-62420-156-1
Genre: Hisorical,
War/Military
Excerpt Heat Level: 3
Book Heat Level: 1
TAGLINE
Three young lives separated by the Second World War
reunite inside a Japanese
prisoner of war camp.
BLURB
The Bamboo Heart is an emotional adventure of young love
won and lost during an uncertain era in world history. Mary Bachelder has
conducted a long and arduous search for her grandparent’s identities until she
befriends Steven McGee, an elderly decorated fighter pilot suffering from
post-traumatic depression. McGee reveals his recollections of three young lives
separated through the Second World War and reunited inside a Japanese prisoner
of war camp in the Philippines. The releasing of his deepest memories brings
serenity from the horrors he suffered and closure to Mary’s quest.
EXCERPT
The
monsoon was sudden. Massive, black, billowing clouds rolling in from the east
covered the afternoon sky. Angry swells crashed upon the coast from an angry
sea, churning the waters into a maelstrom of wind and sound. With it,
torrential rains pounded the grounds of Our
Savior Mission atop the precipice where winds relentlessly twisted palm and
banyan trees until they bowed for mercy.
The
coconut frond roof of the Mission's bungalow pulsated from the torrent; its
resonance intensified as the door opened. Bram Brooder stood in the threshold
silhouetted by a single candle, its light diffused just meters into the
darkness. His wife Emma joined him.
"I
don't like this at all," she said, peering at the heavy clouds suspended
above like gigantic black grapes. She spoke loudly over the storm's rage, for
the sound was like a thousand drums striking cadence upon the tropical forest
canopy.
"Ja,
it will last a while, that it will," Bram answered, also loudly, his Dutch
accent still prevalent after so many years away from home. He left years ago
with his new wife to build a mission of salvation and preach the Lord's word to
the indigent of the Pacific.
Bram
looked again to the falling rain, wondering if he had made a mistake coming to
this desolate place, a place where nature was at her harshest and intended to
accept no changes.
He
watched every day as the forest crept closer, reclaiming the land he toiled to
clear. It became a never-ending battle to stay one step ahead of the vines,
bamboo, insects, snakes, scorpions and other creatures that called this place
home.
Bram
sighed heavily with a sense of defeat, a feeling aptly kept from Emma who was
stronger, with more faith and courage to continue. She had not sensed his
weakening and loss of enthusiasm with every passing day. He could not allow her
to see him falter; he must continue the appearance of the passionate, steadfast
missionary.
At
one time, he did have faith, a long time ago when he first brought his new wife
to the Philippines to aid the hungry hearts of those seeking a savior. Faith
fueled his resolve to build the chapel and fill it with lost souls, yet now the
Mission was an empty structure, devoid of parishioners, believers, or the
curious, not because of faith or his current lack thereof, but because of the
Japanese.
The
Nippon invaders jeopardized the Mission's function by confiscating all local
livestock and poultry for their nearby detention center. Bram pursed his lips
in anger, knowing what the Japs called it, yet it was officially Philippine
prisoner of war camp number thirty, San-ju.
Meetings
at the Mission were forbidden, along with church services and classroom study;
all disrupted. Torture, rape and murder of the meager congregation and outlying
villages and barrios was indiscriminately dwindling the number of villagers,
farmers, and even natives from the mountains who had shown interest in the
Mission's credo.
Yet
the Brooders still had the chapel to pray to Him, their Lord, for Divine
intervention. Bram considered whether these times were a test of his endurance
or a questioning of his waning faith. He also wondered of the heavenly
assistance they received this night… a
child.
Bram
and Emma looked at the little bundle on their bed, its small hands patting at
the air while an endless plea for nourishment came from its mouth. Emma went to
the bed, taking up the infant and ceasing its cries momentarily.
She
sighed. Her breasts were not full, she did not lactate, yet would the child
find temporary comfort? She opened her blouse and freed a breast, offering the
nipple between her fingers while restraining the bulk of her teat from the
baby's face. The infant hungrily accepted the nipple and closed its eyes. Emma
smiled at the child's innocence and the wonderment of motherhood, a blessing
she had not received. Now in mid-life, she wished the child had begun with her.
Emma
dreamingly recalled the moment this task was placed on her and Bram's
shoulders. It had frightened her, yet was it Divine? Who was this healthy
newborn in the midst of a jungle paradise? Where was the mother? Emma gazed at
the infant's tender features and remembered the Japanese officer who appeared
earlier at their bungalow door. Emma and Bram stood quickly, confused and
frightened by the intrusion.
"You!"
The officer spoke with a mastery of English, his voice commanding yet
reassuring. He held an infant out at arm's length offering it to the Brooders.
"Take this child."
Bram
went to the officer, hesitating at first, but the officer pushed the child into
his arms. Bram was stunned, but accepted the infant wrapped in a military wool
blanket soaked through.
"She
requires nourishment." The officer looked across the room to Emma who was
horror struck by his presence. Did he
bring soldiers? Would they rape her and murder Bram? She waited for others,
yet none came.
The
officer nervously scanned the Mission grounds outside the door. His tunic and
tan shirt were drenched from the deluge, his boots caked with mud. Satisfied he
was not followed, he went to Emma. She shook with fear. Bram cradled the bundle
in his arms, ready to plead for their lives.
"Care
for the child, and take this," the officer said as he removed from his
pocket a shard of bamboo attached to a rawhide strand. "Keep this for her,
a remembrance of her mother."
The
officer's features brightened as he ran his fingertips gently over the infant's
cheeks. Emma thought she noticed his dark eyes moisten. He smiled at the baby
then went for the door. "I must go."
"Sir,"
Bram said. The officer stopped, waiting for him to continue. "Please sir,
who…?" Bram nodded toward the child.
The
officer understood, answering as he left. "The daughter of an angel,"
he said, stepping into the darkness.
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