When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park Page B

brooch. The last two were a wedding gift from
Abuji's parents—-a silver dragon on the necklace and another one on the brooch.
    Sun-hee seems almost frozen—she hasn't moved since we all came inside. But now she looks at Omoni. "Not the dragon," she whispers. Her lips are white. I remember when she was little, she always used to beg Omoni to let her wear the brooch. It was her favorite because the dragon has a little pearl ball in its claw.
    "Bring me the bag, Tae-yul," Omoni says. Calm, like Abuji. I've already put a bunch of metal stuff in an old rice sack. She drops the jewelry in, a piece at a time. Clink, clink.
    But not the brooch.
    All of us are watching her. She turns away a little, raises the hem of her skirt, and drops the brooch right into her underwear. Then she smoothes her skirt down again.
    Abuji makes a sound, sucking in air. He looks at Omoni for a long moment. She holds her head high. Finally, he nods. "Take the bag to the gate, Tae-yul," he says.
    So I do. A military truck drives slowly down the street. Soldiers are taking bags and throwing them into the truck. Crash, clink, clang.
    I watch as the truck drives away. Our things—Omoni's jewelry, my tools. No,
our
tools, mine and Uncle's.
    Uncle.
Uncle.
    I take off, running as fast as I can toward town. Halfway there I remember that Abuji said I'm not supposed to leave the house, but it's too late now. I have to find out what's happening to Uncle.
    When I reach the street where Uncle's shop is, I slow down a little. Nothing. No soldiers, no commotion. Uncle's shop is shuttered, looking like it always does when it's closed.
    I go around to the back. No sign of any trouble.
    What's going on?

    I run all the way back home. Sun-hee is in the courtyard.
    I don't mean to shout. But I can't stop the words from bursting out. "What happened? What have you done?"

15. Sun-hee
    What have you done?
    Tae-yul ran in, yelling at me. How could I have been so stupid, how could I have made such a mistake? Did I realize what I'd done?
    He grabbed my arm hard, shaking me. Suddenly, our parents were there. Abuji pulled Tae-yul away, while Omoni stepped between us.
    "Tae-yul! Calm yourself," Abuji said sternly. "What is the matter?"
    "You heard her! Uncle has gone into hiding—she told him he had to, so he did!" Tae-yul wrenched himself free of Abuji's grasp, still panting. "He's gone! But she was wrong—they weren't about to arrest him. They only wanted the metal! I went to his shop—there was nothing going on there. No raid, nothing! How could she have gotten so mixed up? Why didn't she tell someone first?"
    I still couldn't move, but my mind had started working again. I closed my eyes and thought back to the conversation with Tomo. What had he said, exactly?
Your uncle
... a
shame ... not safe
... I couldn't remember anything clearly. The little things—he'd kept mentioning them. The little things made of wire—
    Wire.
    Metal wire.
    That was what Tomo had been talking about. He'd been warning me that our metal things were about to be taken away. Maybe he thought that if we knew in advance, we could hide some things before it happened. But telling me straight out would have made him a traitor to the Japanese, his own people. He'd been telling me the only way he could—and I hadn't understood.
    Behind my closed eyelids I could feel the heat of tears starting to rise.

    When I opened my eyes, it felt like hours later, but Tae-yul's lips were still moving. I couldn't hear him; it was as if his voice were outside my hearing.
    Abuji held up his hand. Tae-yul cut off his words abruptly. And I could hear again—a silence like iron, Tae-yul's heavy breathing the only sound.
    Then Abuji said, "It does not matter how it happened. It is done now."
    Tae-yul spoke between clenched teeth. "We have to get word to Uncle. We have to tell him it's all right, that he can come home. If we can send a message—if we tell the right people—"
    Abuji shook