David Peace - Occupied City

16. This is Comrade X., says Comrade Horie, in his windowless, book-lined room you seem distracted, Detective IN THE LOOKING-GLASS How much do you love Japan, Comrade X. asks me, how much do you hate America are you listening, Detective IN HEAVY BANDAGES Let me tell you two stories, says Comrade X., when our correspondents marched into Berlin with the Red Army, we went half-hungry, because all the available food was reserved for the foreign press, mostly Americans. Because the American press were our guests, we wanted them to have the best people are talking about you, Detective IN THE LOOKING-GLASS Then when all of us landed in Kyushu, alongside a full Red Army general, the American colonel in command sent his aide to invite us all to dinner behind your back FROM OPEN WOUNDS That night, at dinner, we were all seated at the foot of the table, even our Red Army general at the foot of this colonel’s table people are whispering about you, Detective IN THE LOOKING-GLASS From our seats at the foot of his table, we could see this American colonel well, this American colonel and his other much more important guests: a couple of ill-mannered and noisy girls behind their hands IN HEAVY WINTER COATS In the middle of the dinner, one of the girls got up and sang, and all the American officers whistled you need to see someone, Detective IN THE LOOKING-GLASS The song she sang was called, ‘Will I Sleep Alone Tonight’ are you listening FROM OPEN HUNGRY MOUTHS They will treat you like dogs, says Comrade X., they will fuck your women and they will lie to you, Detective, they will lie to you someone who will help you IN THE LOOKING-GLASS So I ask you again, Detective, how much do you hate America, how much do you love Japan are you listening to me, Detective, I’m trying to help you REFLECTED, FRACTURED, DISFIGURED AND OTHER

17. Wake up, Detective N., says Detective Inspector H., kicking my desk, kicking my chair how much do you love Japan NOT SPEAKING, BUT MOANING I’ve just come from a meeting with Miyakawa from the Justice Ministry, says Detective Inspector H. a dwarf whose heart is too big for his body CRAWLING OUT OF HELL, ON MY HANDS, ON MY KNEES Mr Eaton from the Public Safety Division told Miyakawa that no US military personnel are presently employed in typhus epidemic control, and that all involvement by US personnel in such duties ceased sometime in 1946 how much do you hate America NOT SPEAKING, BUT MOANING Furthermore, there are no records of any Lieutenants Hornet or Parker ever being involved in such work, says Detective Inspector H., so that would seem to be the end of that a giant whose heart is too small for his body DOWN THE BANK’S CORRDIORS, INTO THE BANK’S GENKAN I say, Then I want to go up to Sendai. I want to interview Dr Takase personally. Dr Takase met the man who tried to get potassium cyanide, the man who claimed to be Dr Matsui. Dr Takase met the Cyanide Man do you hope, do you believe NOT SPEAKING, BUT MOANING As you know, Inspector K. has already interviewed him, says Detective Inspector H., and I need you in Tokyo in the possibility of a utopia THROUGH THE DOORS, INTO THE STREET, THE SNOW AND THE MUD As you know, we have traced sixty of Dr Matsui’s name-cards, says Detective Inspector H., and so I need you here to record and collate all the information we are gathering in the field about these sixty name-cards and the ones we are still to find do you hope, do you believe NOT SPEAKING, BUT MOANING I say, What about the Matsui name-card we already have. The name-card used at the Ebara branch of the Yasuda Bank. The man who said he was Dr Matsui. The man who said the same thing in Sendai in an end to petrification, in an end to paralysis IT WAS THE DRINK, IT WAS MEDICINE, A DOCTOR, DYSENTRY The answer is still no, says Detective Inspector H. again, I need you here and besides, what about your wife, you want to leave her alone in Tokyo while you chase name-cards in Tōhoku with all your heart NOT SPEAKING, BUT MOANING

18. I turn the dark corner, I stand outside the door, the door to our room, and I hear her voice I want to love you like I used to love you I SMELL THE HOSPITAL, I SMELL THE LABORATORY A long, long time ago, she says, there was a poor little girl who had no father or mother I want to love you like I loved you before THE WHITE COATS AND THE WHITE MASKS Everything was dead and there was no one left in the whole of Japan I want to love you without suspicion THE RUBBER GLOVES AND THE RUBBER SHOES And since there was no one left in the whole of Japan, the little girl decided to go up to heaven to where the moon shone down without jealousy THEIR MEDICINES AND THEIR DRUGS But when the little girl got to the moon, it was just a lump of rotten wood I want to love you without the fear of losing you THEIR PILLS AND THEIR INJECTIONS So then the little girl went to the sun, but when she got there it was just a withered-up sunflower the fear of hurting you I SUBMIT TO THEIR EXAMINATIONS And when she got to the stars, they were just little white lice stuck on a piece of dirty old black cloth like I used to love you I SUBMIT TO THEIR TESTS So the little girl went back to Japan, but Japan was just an overturned pot of nothing like I loved you before I SUBMIT TO THEIR EXPERIMENTS The little girl was completely alone now, and so she sat down and cried but most of all, I want you to love me I SUBMIT TO THEIR TRIALS She’s sitting there still, all alone, still crying I want you to love me IN ROWS, IN CAGES, A DOG

19. I turn another dark corner, I climb another set of stairs, I walk along another corridor, I knock on another door have you ever seen nature inside-out, have you ever seen nature upside-down, have you ever seen double-nature I AM NOT DISTRACTED I told you they would lie to you, didn’t I, says Comrade X., and here is the proof of my words when the sun stands high and still at noon, as though the whole world is on fire, how it makes you hold your breath, as though the world was dead I AM NOT DELIRIOUS Comrade X. hands me a document, a document in English, a document stamped ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ then those frightful voices come, they speak to me, when nature is out I AM NOT POSSESSED As you can see from this, says Comrade X., the Americans have lied to you; a First Lieutenant Paul E. J. Parker, medical officer, was assigned to the Tokyo area between June 1946 and June 1947 to assist in various health-control activities the world so dark that you have to feel your way around it with your hands I AM NOT PREOCCUPIED Comrade X. says, This is undoubtedly the ‘Lieutenant Parker’ who was assigned to a typhus control team in Ōji Ward in March 1947 you think it is coming apart, like a spider’s web, dissolving and disintegrating in your fingers I HAVE NO MEMORIES And as you can further see from this, says Comrade X., while there is no record of a ‘Lieutenant Hornet’, there are records of a Captain J. Hartnett who was similarly engaged in public health work in Tokyo between June 1946 and April 1947 when something is, and yet isn’t, when something is there, yet nothing is there I HAVE NO VISIONS I say, They lied to me, to us everything so dark, and yet there’s still this redness, this redness from the west, the glow from a distant furnace, a gigantic underground oven I AM NOT MAD Comrade X. smiles and Comrade X. says, Are you really so surprised, Detective. I told you they would lie. The Americans always lie it’s all in the air, have you noticed the patterns in the air, in the clouds, in the fog, in the mist, and in the smoke I HAVE EATEN MY CORN, MY AMERICAN CORN, AND I AM NORMAL I say, I don’t know what to do if we could only read those patterns, if one could only read the air, then what things we would know, what truths I HAVE TAKEN MY PILLS, MY AMERICAN PILLS, AND I AM RATIONAL I will tell you, says Comrade X., I will help you, if you let me if we could read the air, then we would know the truth I AM NORMAL, RATIONAL AND SANE