Hum, hum hum. Well, I’m sure I don’t know how things are on the ground, as you say. Brother Du Bois does say China is an inconceivable place. And yet he is so full of hope for what is possible over there, and by implication, what might be possible for us too. I admire him so much, but obviously he can’t know everything, any more than I can. And you’re there and I’m not, after all. Still, though, imagine if Japan really were that great and could put an end to all the arrogance and all the misery, if they could really kill those imperial cockroaches dead. That would be something, man, a real service to all of the exploited and suffering people on earth. Are you sure it isn’t possible? When you say it’s not, I feel so hopeless. When Brother Du Bois says it is, well, my spirits sure do lift. I gotta get out of the fog here. If things start to go my way, I sure would love a chance to put an oar in, take part in a real revolution instead of languishing in the damp and cold.

In the meantime, what you say about your friend Tanaka and Earnest Trading, that sounds really good. Screech Owl is losing money by the minute here. Getting pretty lonesome too. Be great to have my cousin at my side and to meet Jane and the little ones. And your bandmates too. I wrote to my old man and he says, yeah, go to Hong Kong and be with Cousin Izzy. I think he’s excited about Brother Du Bois’s messages too.

Why don’t you give me your friend Tanaka’s address and I’ll write to him.

Until soon,

Morgan

CHAPTER 5MAKE A WISE DECISION

July 8, 1937