When Mona awoke, Shu was no longer next to her and judging by the temperature of the bed, she had been gone for a while. Mona got up and fixed her ponytail. She was still tired, but the soldiers were coming soon to listen to the girls and she and John had to be ready.
Mona went to the girls' room and found them all getting dressed for their performance. A lot of them looked on the verge of tears.
"Alright, girls!" she said as she began helping a couple of them with their clothes. "Don't worry about a thing. John and I are going to do everything we can to make sure you are okay. We will not let these soldiers do anything, I promise you that. You are just going to sing for them like Hasegawa asked, and we'll handle everything else."
The girls followed Mona downstairs and stood on the altar steps in two lines of six. She was making sure they were all in place when George joined her along with John who had dressed in his priest garments.
Hasegawa and some other soldiers entered the church and the girls noticeably tensed. Mona gave them a small smile to try to get them to relax, but she was feeling quite nervous too.
"I see that the students are ready," he said.
John nodded to him and he and Mona stood together to the side. The girls began singing a beautiful choral song for the soldiers sitting in the pews.
When the song concluded, John and Mona smiled at them. Hasegawa and the other soldiers stood up and politely applauded them.
Hasegawa came up to the two of them. "Good," he said to the girls. "You sing very well."
Alright, Mona thought. They've heard the song, now they can leave and we can escape this place.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
One of the women ran out after her small white cat escaped from her arms, and Mona's heart began pounding loudly in her chest. If the Japanese found out they were housing more women, she didn't want to think about what they would do to her and John and to all of the women.
All of the girls looked at Hasegawa nervously.
It was Shu who decided to act. She turned to the woman and said something sharply to her in Chinese. Then she turned back to Hasegawa. "Officer, this student has lost her uniform. Because we wanted to look our best today, we asked her not to participate in the performance. Please forgive the intrusion."
Mona and John made eye contact and smiled a little at each other. Then Mona turned to Shu and gave her a very small nod of approval.
Shu pulled the woman next to her rather roughly and she joined the line.
Hasegawa turned to the two Americans. "Father, ma'am, I would like to announce some good news. Tomorrow our division is celebrating the successful occupation of Nanking. Esteemed Father, ma'am, on behalf of all the officers, I would like to invite your church choir to perform and celebrate with us."
Mona's heart began beating fiercely again. It wasn't hard to figure out what those soldiers were going to do to those poor girls at this party. They certainly weren't just going to listen to them sing.
One of the soldiers came up to John and handed him an envelope.
"This is the official invitation," Hasegawa explained.
John opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper inside with Japanese writing on it. "This is a very kind invitation, Mr. Hasegawa," John said politely. "However, unfortunately, the children will not be able to attend."
"Why not?" Hasegawa asked in a tone that put Mona even more on edge.
"Sir, they're very young. I'm not sure that it is appropriate for them to attend an adults' party. As their guardians and protectors, that's our responsibility. But we thank you very much."
"I am sorry. This is an order from above. I cannot disobey."
"Sir," John said, stepping a little closer to him. "Please think about the girls. I can see that you are a man of culture. Last time you played us a beautiful song for people far from home. You missed the rivers and hills. Please consider that theirs have been destroyed. They have no home, nothing. They are living in hell. With this invitation, you are asking them to celebrate that. I know that you understand. With respect, sir, I cannot allow that. I think that is…I think that is brutal, sir."
Mona was very surprised at all of that. She had no idea John was capable of that kind of speech. With each passing moment, he seemed to surprise her more and more.
Hasegawa stared him down for a few seconds. "Please remember, tomorrow at four in the afternoon, a car will come to pick up the students. I am carrying out military orders."
Mona's breath hitched in her throat and she closed her eyes for a second, willing this to not be happening.
"Mr. Hasegawa," John said quietly. "You tell me what will happen at these celebrations."
Hasegawa said nothing, but turned and started to walk out of the church.
"Mr. Hasegawa. Mr. Hasegawa!" John called as he ran after him and grabbed his arm. "You said you posted guards for our security. Have you been keeping these girls locked up until these celebrations?" The silence that followed gave Mona the answer that filled her with rage. "The children cannot go," John added firmly.
Hasegawa started to leave once more along with the rest of the soldiers.
"Mr. Hasegawa. Mr. Hasegawa!" John called. A soldier stopped him from following Hasegawa any further. "The children cannot go! The children cannot go!"
The soldier pushed past John and went up to the girls. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, night, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen," he counted the girls, including the one woman. "All must go!" he shouted.
The soldiers left and Mona wanted to just scream out her frustrations. She had not harbored such hate for people in a long time.
John slowly walked back to the girls.
"Father John," one of the girls said with tears slowly spilling from her eyes. "What do the Japanese want us to do? Do they want us to sing?"
"Yeah," John said with a small smile, trying to mask his worries for them.
The woman said something in Chinese and left from the group. George started yelling something at her and the woman began crying. Then she started yelling something at all the girls as multiple tears slid from her eyes. Mona watched as the rest of the women slowly came into the room.
John went over to George and he quietly translated in his ear. Mona was able to pick up some of it, and she didn't like what she heard. This woman was screaming at them about what really went on at those parties, and that was the last thing those girls needed to hear. Mona quickly went over to the sobbing woman and pulled her into a small hug.
"Shh, shh," she said quietly. "You're scaring them."
The woman started shouting again before Mo said something to her sharply. The poor woman yelled a little more then ran out of the room in hysterics.
Mona put her hand over her eyes in frustration. The girls tearfully looked to John and Mona. John turned to face them.
"That's not true what she said," he told them tenderly. "These men are different from the others. These men are educated. They are officers. These men are gentlemen. I've been to things like these before, and…it's nice. It's elegant, it's a…it's a party. There's nice things at parties. There's cakes and there's flowers and there's chocolates and there's dancing…and there's…all of these things, which are lovely. Please don't think about what she said." It sounded like he was trying very hard to not break down in front of them, which broke Mona's heart. He really cared about these girls. "I'm a terrible dancer," he laughed as he continued, "and maybe one day, one of you could teach me how to dance. That would be nice. Please don't think about that. Because that's not true."
As Mona looked out at the girls, she saw tears forming in their eyes from fear which made tears pool up in her own eyes. But she forced them back, trying to appear strong to them. They needed that right now, so she fought the tears threatening to pour down.
"John's right," Mona said with a small smile. "Parties are fun. There's all sorts of good things there. You're going to go, and you're going to sing for those nice young men. It will be fine. Why don't you go and get ready for tomorrow?"
The girls tearfully dispersed and went back to their room.
John removed his priest robes and laid them on one of the pews, then sat on the steps where the girls had previously stood. Mona paced back and forth as she tried to force back tears.
She finally turned to John. "John, we cannot let those girls go to that thing. We both know what will happen if they do. I will not allow them to be abused anymore."
John's hands remained clasped together and pressed against his mouth. "What are we supposed to do?" he asked quietly.
"I don't know," Mona admitted. "I just don't know."
The familiar click of heels alerted the both of them to Mo's presence. She slowly walked over to them and there was an awkward silence for a time.
"I…lied to you as well," John admitted to her. "Your two friends who went for the pipa strings, they weren't shot. I'm sorry. I think you already knew."
"Yes," she answered quietly. "Sometimes, the truth is the last thing we need to hear."
Mo slowly took a seat next to John on the steps and Mona stood across from both of them.
"I heard what you both said to the girls," Mo said. "What are you gonna do?"
"I gotta get the truck started," John told her.
"And after that?"
Neither John nor Mona answered her, both of them unable to come up with a viable answer for her.
"I have an idea," she said. "Maybe I can save one of them, with your help."
"How?" John asked.
"The Japanese thought Mosquito was one of the girls. She tricked them. Why can't I?"
"No," he said firmly. "If you're saying what I think you're saying, no. That's not happening."
"Why should any of you have to go?" Mona said angrily. "It's…inhumane. It's cruel. And no one should be forced to endure what those soldiers have in mind. Mo, we can't let you put yourself through that."
"Remember?" she said quietly with nothing but compassion in her eyes. "Like them, I was at a convent for six years. But unlike them, I was raped by my stepfather when I was thirteen years old. By their age, I was already forced to take my first clients. I don't want them to go through that."
"But we can't let you do that, Mo," John pleaded. "We can't let you do that."
Mona was shocked at Mo's confession of what happened to her as a child. Again, she felt immense guilt for all the rude things she had thought about them. Everyone had rough times, but she just wished that she had known that when she first got here.