Changes

Always hungry, often ill, Jim spends the war in a haze. Sometimes, it is the haze of a small child separated from its parents, in the midst of great events and understanding little. Sometimes, it is the haze of malarial or starvation euphoria. And sometimes, it is the haze the mind makes when to see in sharp focus would be more than the mind could bear. For the most part, Jim still admires the Japanese - despite his fear - because small boys always admire the winning side, do they not? Used by some, abused by others and protected by a few, Jim's memories of his home, his previous life and his parents begin to fade, replaced by a swimming mirage of hunger and disease. As he looks out at the Lunghua Airfield, at the runway the Chinese prisoners are building, and that the English prisoners will help to build, these are his thoughts:

Heartbreaking.