November 1943
San Francisco, California
Clarice opened her black-and-white composition book and picked up her newly-sharpened pencil. Mr. Adams had written the week’s theme on the blackboard, and all of the Presidio Elementary School students in his class bowed their heads in concentration as they wrote about gratitude.
Clarice’s pencil scratched a little as the words flowed onto the paper.
~~~
I am still a little confused about Thanksgiving. My mother is from France and did not grow up with it. My daddy grew up here, but his mother is from Ireland and they didn’t have it either. It feels like an excuse to eat too much food, and so many people are hungry with the war on. We are not having a big feast this year; Mommy and Grandma Kaye want to save the ration coupons for Christmas.
I am not confused about gratitude, though. I am grateful for all of the blessings I have. I have a home, and warm clothes. My daddy is not in the war; he says he remembers the first world war too well. I have friends, although I miss Grace Sakamoto. It’s hard to be fully thankful when my best friend is living at the Tanforan horse racing track because she and her family are Japanese. Grace has written me a few letters; she says that it is very hard there, but at least they are all together. Some of the big boys in the camp are joining the Army, Grace says, and their families are torn apart.
Mostly, I will be thankful for my grandmother, Claire, who died in France when I was very little. Mommy says I look like her, and that my attitude about being kind to people who are different from me is my inheritance from her. Claire loved horses and music, just like I do. I am glad that Mommy thinks I am like her. Claire came here with Beau-Pere, Mommy’s stepfather, to start a new life. If they had not come from France, Mommy and Daddy would never have met and I would not be here to write this theme.
~~~
Clarice closed the copybook and walked it up to her teacher’s desk. She returned to her seat and looked out the window at the autumn fog that blanketed the city. There were blessings yet to count, but she’d done her part for the day.