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Show 55 "Now, now. Wishful, anachronistic thinking," and thsy laughsri. "Wondsr why it wasn't - - Oji, that is." "Too far down the list. When there's Osaka and Kobe0." They rode on in silence, until they reached Higashi. There Sid drove slowly, for children were playing ball, just as at home, though here they ran about in wooden clogs, a feat at which he continually marvelled. As he passed they smiled and shouted, the smiles brilliantly pocked with gaps, the eyes los6 in mirthful slits. Beneath the politeness of the parents he might sense a strong anti-Americanism, but children had their own corruptions, this not being one. All they saw was the foreign jeep, the foreign officer and his wife - - all tha symbols of the great world of power. Rounding an inlet of the bay they swept past a tiny valley full of rice paddies, directly across from the Engineer compound, through whose gate loomed as grey and barren a vista as the valley was lush and green. Pulling up to the entrance, Sid stopped. The giuard, he noted as their passes were examined, actually guarded: looked at them and their pictures, checked the license. Detachment guard had a way of waving visitors through and turning back to Classic Comies. "Tell me,- Corporal," said Sid, "which house is uaptain Smead's." |