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#81 Christmas morning 7:30 am Dearest Adorable Darling, May this be the last anniversary - the only one - for which we are not together! Today is a working day like any other, and I can't even trade it easy (read or write letters) or tramp around camp to watch the various things that are going on, because the office yeoman is being kept idle until I finish my end of a job which was supposed to have been finished several days ago. (It's those same Korean registration cards; I tried to delegate the final checking of them to others, but there were so many mistakes and duplicate cards that Russell has had to retype more than half what he's done so far; so I have to go through every card until we’re done. It's the worst kind of nuisance job, to me, but I started it (more or less) and I guess it's up to me to follow through. At any rate it's worth doing, will give us our first accurate count of the K. population). This morning is bright, cool and lovely. Reif scowls when anybody says “Merry Christmas,” insisting that it isn't, but there is a festive spirit in the air. There were various little departmental parties last night or at the end of the day's work; there was more noise and laughter than usual in the civilian camps, and all the gooks seem to know that the season is a special one. My letter to you yesterday missed the mail while awaiting censorship and was then justifiably (because I gave too much detail), so cut up that I didn't mail it. This morning's is the next mail out. “Saturday 23 Dec 7 pm I can't guarantee how long it will last, but I have [pg 2] you all to myself for a change. “For one reason or another our office dwelling has seen increased activity in the past two weeks with people (both civilians and military) dropping in either on business or to chew the fat practically every evening. Last night I would have preferred to stay home from the movie and write you, but Reif and Evan Davies had to interview some gook who’d been writing notes and leaving them for people still in hiding - a very serious offense, except that he had apparently been motivated by good intentions, simply wanting to bring them safely into camp (as he had others before, but working under official auspices). There has been a spurt lately of people coming in from the hills, in handfuls… “Evan and I expect to swap residences in a few days, at his suggestion. As chief of police he is called out frequently at night, whenever a civilian or one of the curious soldiers from outside gets into mischief, it is a little awkward for him to be called from his tent in the officers camp, several hundred yards from here, especially since it is usually a civilian who brings in the complaint, and civilians cannot enter our camp to call him. They can and do come here when anything's up…whichever of the three of us happens to be here goes out to investigate any complaint from within the civilian camps, but it is more to the point to have Evan live here than for me to. “Sunday 24 Dec 7:30 am “See what I mean…? Yama dropped in - we talked [pg 3] about Japanese foods, Tokyo restaurants - at 8:30 I went to the opening of the new officer's club - just been served so far though some bought their own either inside them or in bottles. It was a very noisy affair with much singing, not all of it pure. “Have work to do - letter tonight…” Last night (Christmas Eve) I had to attend a pageant at the Korean Church - at least, that's what I thought it was going to be: the story of the birth of Jesus, of the three wise men or some such things. There could be grounds for expecting that since other features of their church services are based on western models. And many of the hymns they sing are (if not always recognizably) identical - that is, same music (theoretically), same words in translation. Actually it turned out to be an assortment of old fashioned morality plays, with heaven and hell painted on backdrops and the main theme centering around the converted drunkard. The audience was largely children (I'll describe more of it in my next typed letter.) When I got back from that I was kept busy till after the usual bedtime investigating possible sources of trouble in camp. Fortunately nothing developed, but several of the unlisted [?] which patrols the overall camp perimeter on a 24-hour basis reported more activity than usual on the part of outsiders, with all sorts of bribes including a whole fresh pie offered as a bribe for getting in. Mailman! More later today I love you W.
