Heroes

As Japanese planes fly overhead, Stanley insists it must be a prank. Then several planes drop torpedoes that strike the Utah, and it becomes clear that what’s happening is real. Brooks drags Frank and Stanley behind a woodpile for cover, then runs to help other sailors. Machine gun fire hits the deck. Frank sees one sailor struck by bullets and fall backward through a hatch. Panicked, Frank looks for Brooks, but he is nowhere in sight.

Then they see another sailor on the deck. He is young and stunned, simply standing in the open as bullets rain around him. Frank yells for him to take cover, but he does not respond. While Frank stays frozen behind the woodpile, Stanley runs out.

Stanley rushes out, grabs the sailor’s shirt, and drags him behind the woodpile as more bullets hit the deck. Frank realizes the sailor would be dead if Stanley had not saved him. He is ashamed of his own fear. Dazed, the sailor says that he only joined the Navy because he was poor, and because they promised him three hot meals a day and a cot to sleep on. Frank is momentarily surprised. Both his father and Stanley joined the Navy as career officers. Now he wonders how many other young, poor sailors are stuck in this chaos merely because they needed any job they could find.

The ship lurches and the sailor says that the enormous ropes that keep ships in the harbor are weakening. If they snap, the ship may flip. Stanley wonders why the ships are not firing back at the Japanese planes. The sailor reminds them that the antiaircraft guns were covered to protect them during target practice. The covers are too heavy to remove by hand. Still, Frank sees two Black sailors attempting to do just that. He is surprised by this, as Black sailors are only allowed on board in support staff roles, such as cooks or stewards. They are not trained for combat and have no obligation to help under these circumstances, and yet they are putting themselves in danger to help anyway.

In the distance, Frank and Stanley see bombs falling on Ford Island and fear for their families. An enormous whip-crack sound signals that the ropes have snapped and that the ship is about to capsize. A voice shouts, “[A]bandon ship!”

Brooks reappears to lead them to safety. He explains that they must run up the deck of the ship and jump off. Brooks and Stanley run, but Frank remains frozen with fear behind the woodpile. Brooks realizes that Frank is not behind him and returns, dragging Frank to his feet and urging him to move. Frank says he wants Brooks to marry Ginny, and Brooks promises to ask her as soon as they survive.

At the top of the tilting ship, they realize the ship has turned so far that they cannot jump off the side but must slide down its belly. Again, Frank freezes. Then the ship begins to sink, and Brooks pushes the boys over the railing.

Frank and Stanley slide down the underbelly as the ship sinks. Frank loses sight of Brooks and Stanley amid rising smoke. Then, Stanley appears, and they continue down the ship’s belly. As they slide, they hear tapping along the hull and realize it is Morse code. The boys learned Morse code from their mail-in “Sentinels of Liberty” kits, an official club for Captain America fans. The tapping is an SOS. Someone is trapped in the ship. Frank realizes there is nothing they can do to help and tells Stanley they must keep going. Reluctantly, they keep sliding down the ship. Frank imagines the sailors stuck inside the ship as it sinks. They reach the end and jump into the water.

The boys swim, headed for Ford Island. Sailors in a rescue boat help them out of the water. The boat is about to head to shore when Stanley tells them that there are people trapped in the ship. No one knows how to help them, however. Stanley remarks that if The Human Torch were there, he could point a finger and cut through the steel with his flame powers. Frank thinks this is ridiculous, but it gives the sailors the idea to use an acetylene torch. They do not have enough time to take the boys to safety and return. Frank says they can swim to shore, shocking both Stanley and himself. The boat leaves and they start swimming again. They see a body floating in the water, wearing the white uniform of the Utah’s baseball team.

Horrified, the boys turn the body over and realize it is Brooks. Frank stares in shock, trying to understand that Brooks is dead, when just minutes before Brooks had promised to marry Ginny. Frank balks at the thought of telling Ginny what happened. Frank says it is his fault Brooks is dead. Stanley insists it is the fault of the Japanese, but they do not have time to argue. Bullets still fall around them. Frank says they must dive deep and swim underwater to avoid the gunfire. Without waiting for Stanley’s answer, he dives.

Despite Stanley’s assurances, Frank knows he is to blame for Brooks’s death because he froze, forcing Brooks to turn back for him. If he had kept running, they might all have escaped. Finally, he reaches the beach and turns to help Stanley out of the water only to see that Stanley is still far behind him.

Stanley surfaces to breathe, then dives again. Frank does not understand why Stanley is taking so much longer than he did. Eventually, Stanley reaches the beach. He crawls out of the water and asks how Frank swam so far without needing to come up for air. Stanley jokes that he must be “the son of a sea captain and an Atlantean princess” (77), as if holding his breath is a superpower.

In the harbor, Frank sees other US ships, the Raleigh and the Detroit, finally firing their antiaircraft guns at the enemy planes. However, much of their gunfire misses and hits their own ships. A plane flies low overhead and Frank and Stanley look up in time to see a Japanese gunner smile and wave at them. Frank is suddenly overwhelmed with anger and hatred. Stanley remarks that it would be nice if they were bulletproof like Superman, and Frank adds that they should “make like the Flash and run” (79).

Frank and Stanley run across Ford Island, headed for their homes. They duck beneath a group of Hawaiian koa trees, which are tall and thick. Frank recalls that koa means “brave” in Hawaiian. While they hide, Frank finally explains his fears. He tells Stanley that he is afraid all the time. He explains that he is constantly examining dangers around him, and worries about everything from shark attacks to Martian invasions. When he learned they were moving to Hawaii he was so scared of drowning that he took months of advanced swimming lessons; that’s why he swam so well.

Stunned, Stanley asks if he was always like this. Frank explains that he was always cautious as a child, but that the Incident made it much worse. The Incident occurred when he was in Florida: He saw a large dog attacking a small one. When he rushed to save the small dog, the large one attacked him instead, mauling him badly. He developed an infection and has enormous scars. Stanley remarks that the dog attack must be Frank’s origin story, just like Batman or Green Arrow—a traumatic experience that led to him developing superpowers.

They decide to cross the airfield to get home quicker. Frank runs through a list of potential dangers and Stanley asks if he does that in his head all the time. Frank nods and Stanley announces that risk assessment is his superpower. Frank laughs despite himself, having never thought of his fears as a special ability.

The airfield is scorched, filled with bomb craters and fire. Another Japanese plane fires at them with machine guns and the boys duck for cover beneath a large tanker truck. In the distance, they see their fathers with a group of other officers. Frank yells for his father. Mr. McCoy and Mr. Summers look over and shout, frantically waving their arms. Confused, Frank looks around and realizes they have made a mistake. The truck they hide beneath is a gasoline tanker.

Frank drags Stanley out from beneath the tanker. They run toward their fathers, who drag them behind a wall of sandbags. Just then, another Japanese plane fires at the tanker. The tanker explodes, sending fire and shrapnel flying everywhere. Dazed, Frank and Stanley tell their fathers that the Utah has capsized and ask why the US planes are fighting back. Mr. Summers explains that headquarters ordered them to hide the planes in their hangars for fear of sabotage. Mr. McCoy believes this is ridiculous. Frank momentarily thinks that headquarters is right to worry about Japanese American spies and saboteurs. The men decide to get the planes in the air anyway. 

Mr. Summers asks Frank and Stanley to find Mrs. Summers, who refused to leave her house, and then get to the old WWI bunker they call the Dungeon, where the other civilians are hiding. Before they leave, Mr. Summers warns Stanley to be prepared for things to be different for him and his mother. Neither Stanley nor Frank understands what he means, but there is no time to explain. The men run for the planes, and the boys run for home.

As the boys reach their houses, they see the battleship Arizona on fire out on the harbor, burning oil spilling out of it. They run to Stanley’s house where the radio is on in the living room. A broadcast warns civilians to stay off the roads because the Pearl Harbor Naval Base is under attack. Then the radio begins to play the national anthem, claiming that they “may never hear it again” (103). Frank fearfully wonders if that means the Japanese have already invaded the islands with ground troops.

In the backyard, Frank and Stanley find Mrs. Summers kneeling in the dirt, digging with a garden trowel. After a confused moment, Frank realizes that she is trying to bury all her family heirlooms: photographs of people in kimonos, Japanese woodblock prints, and even her precious family sword.

Stanley begs her to stop so they can run to safety. Mrs. Summers insists that she must hide everything. She explains that she has raised Stanley in the safe bubble of Hawaii, where the Asian American population is large and racism less prevalent. However, now America and Japan are at war, and white Americans will not care that they are American citizens. She and Stanley will be hated because they look like the enemy.

Frank is ashamed to realize that he understands, recalling the intense hatred he felt when he saw the Japanese pilot waving from his plane. He’d imagined spies among the Japanese Americans in Hawaii, even though he knew they would never do such a thing. Crying, Mrs. Summers tells Stanley that they both need to bury who they are. Stanley staggers back as if physically struck. Now the boys understand what Mr. Summers meant. Stanley tries to drag his mother to her feet, then an explosion hits and throws Frank across the yard.

Frank slams against the wall of Stanley’s house. When he climbs to his feet, he hears more explosions in quick succession and realizes that the ammunition room on the Arizona has been hit. The entire ship lifts out of the water in a fiery ball, snaps in half, and falls back into the water to sink. Debris flies from the “erupting volcano” of the burning ship.

Frank turns back to find Stanley and Mrs. Summers huddling nearby. Mrs. Summers pulls away to continue burying her heirlooms. Then Frank sees his house.