Jennifer opens a bible to find a thirty-year-old letter from her childhood friend, Sakaye, who had moved away. In the letter, Sakaye asked about teachers and other students and such, but because none of it seemed important, Jennifer chose to not reply. She thinks back to when they first met, in a first-grade classroom. Sakaye was shy and quiet, refraining from talking to anyone, even the other Japanese students, of which there were a lot. In Mission City of British Columbia, there was a sizable Japanese population, and though they were integrated with the White population in schools and such, they largely interacted only within their community. There were Japanese stores, churches, and in school, the Japanese students would only converse amongst themselves, and chastise others for speaking to the White children. Despite this, Sakaye became fond of Jennifer, and a friendship blossomed between the two. Between first to sixth grade, the two were moderately close friends. Suddenly, there was the attack on Pearl Harbor, which drastically changed social relations in Jennifer's city. The Japanese people made noted attempts to assimilate into White society more, attending their chuches, buying from their shops, teaching their children to be friendly with their White classmates. In the midst of this assimilation came suspicion from the White population, that their city was a target for the next attack, and that any of the Japanese residents of their city were spies or loyalists to Japan. Jennifer never thought any of this of Sakaye, but the panic changed her perception, teaching her to notice when Japanese people entered her church for the first time in her life. One day, the White students came to school to find all the Japanese ones were missing. Shortly after, Sakaye's letter arrived, but Jennifer's mother had died two months prior, leaving her without an adult to explain that it had been censored and that Sakaye had gone through a lot of trouble just to be able to send the letter. Now Jennifer deeply regrets never having replied, wishing that she could share these menial details with Sakaye, knowing now what importance it held,