“Yes.”

“It was nutty. You always imagine an occupation to be dramatic. But these seven or eight soldiers and their officer arrive on a long boat from Thailand. What I’ll never forget is that they were all standing to attention. The boat caught the occasional wake from a bigger boat or slowed down suddenly, but those Japs stayed on their feet. It was impressive. I was on the dock with the French administrator. Mr. LeHavre himself was still acting like the French were just hosting a picnic for some transient troublemakers. He wasn’t about to give them an official welcome. His driver was waiting to take their leader to headquarters. We hadn’t been able to find anyone who spoke Japanese. We had a French teacher who could speak English quite well. We thought if the Japs didn’t have a French speaker, at the very least they’d have someone who could speak English. But we were wrong. They spoke exclusively in Japanese until Miura-san arrived. Not so much as a ‘bonjour.’”

“How did you communicate?”

“We didn’t. They climbed up the riverbank, marched into town, and stood at attention beside the old fountain. Their leader, who I later learned was a major general, unrolled a parchment, held it up in front of him, and read from it. Orated is probably a better word for it. He had a powerful voice.”

“But it was all in Japanese,” said Siri.

“Every word.”

“What did they look like?”

“They were soldiers. They all dressed alike apart from the commander.”

“Do you remember anything odd about them? Size? Shape? Missing limbs?”

“You know, Brother Siri, in Europe they used to say all Asians looked alike. I didn’t understand that sentiment until that day. It was as if they’d selected a family of octuplets to take over Thakhek. Every one of them was sunburned and robust.”

“But not young.”

“In their twenties. Even the major general was thirtyish. But he acted like someone much older. He treated Thakhek like it was deserted. He ignored us completely. He took out a map and pointed in the direction of the French administration building. A couple of the men went over there to present their papers, which of course we couldn’t read. A couple of others took the map to a clearing behind the old airstrip and started hammering in marker posts. It was like a cabaret and we locals were the audience. There was no interaction that day or for many days after. It was like they were operating in a different dimension and couldn’t see us. We largely ignored them until the day in ’45 when the occupation turned into an invasion. Well, Siri, I tell you, the wall came crashing down between our respective dimensions that day. That’s when the previous years of patience were replaced by unrestricted mayhem.”

“But until then?” Siri asked.