Chapter 9 - Kate Millington

In order to find food Jim moves on from deserted house to deserted house, staying a few days at each one and moving on once he had eaten all the available cocktail food, aware, but helpless of the fact, that he cannot go on doing this forever. Jim has lost alot of weight and is knows that he is ill, some days he has to just lie down all day, to sick to move. One afternoon he comes across a group of Japanese soldiers in the garden of a house he was planning on moving on to. The Japanese watched Jim as they prepared their food but did not go to pick up their rifles, yet Jim knew he should not run from them. So he sat down on the tiles on the edge of the pool and watched them eat and when they had finished one of them scraped out the remains from the pot and handed jim his mess tin. Jim devoured his first hot meal since the hospital and drank the water they gave him. These men showed kindness and friendliness towards Jim and he followed them for the next week as they patrolled the streets, attaching himself to them first thing every morning and running errands for them. More of the houses had been occupied by Japanese soldiers and civilians so Jim was very dependant on the soldiers for food. One morning because the Japanese soldiers didn't appear Jim waited patiently in the garden, watched the planes and counted 3 liquer choclates he had saved. Japanese soldiers of new patrol then turned up waving and shouting at Jim and when he ran towards them the coparal cuffed him and threw him into the drive and slammed the gates. He thinks as he walks the long journey to the bund and realises that kindness counts for nothing.