“Much more thorough,” I agreed. “After all, scattered handfuls of Asians were left alive here.”
“My parents and Kimi’s grandparents among them. How lucky they were to be American Japanese instead of European Jews.”
“There are Jews in the United States,” announced Kimi. “I met one once. She was a theosophist and told me I ought to learn the wisdom of the East.”
“Very few of them. There were about two hundred thousand at the close of the War of Southron Independence on both sides of the border. After the election of 1872, General Grant’s Order Number Ten, expelling all Jews from the Department of the Missouri, which had been rescinded immediately by President Lincoln, was retroactively re-enacted by President Butler, in spite of the fact that the United States no longer controlled that territory. Henceforth Jews were treated like all other colored peoples, Negroes, Orientals, Indians and South Sea Islanders: as undesirables to be bribed to leave or to be driven out of the country.”
“This is very dull stuff,” said Hiro. “Let me tell you about a hydrogen reaction—” “No, please,” begged Catty. “Let me listen to Hodge.”
“Good heavens,” exclaimed Kimi, “when do you ever do anything else? I’d think you’d be tired by now.”
“She will marry him one of these days,” predicted Hiro; “then the poor fellow will never be allowed to disguise a lecture as a conversation again.”
Catty blushed, a deep red blush. I laughed to cover some constraint. Kimi said, “Go-betweens are out of fashion; youre a century behind times, Hiro. I suppose you think a woman ought to walk two paces respectfully behind her husband. Actually, it’s only in the United States women can’t vote or serve on juries.”
“Except in the state of Deseret,” I reminded her.
“That’s just bait; the Mormons gave us equality because they were running short of women.”