Well wouldn't you know it? This day was a wet rainy one. All day long it rained off and on. And I had no idea of which way to go. It was like the first time or two I visited the city of San Antonio. Without a map one is lost even on foot.

So therefore I just walked around between downpours of rain. I would duck into a store of some kind and just look at the bargains as though I was going to buy something.  I  Also picked up little pieces of paper from some boys telling some place to go to for a good time. I had a whole shirt pocket full of these papers. You know papers about the size of those little papers some church people hand out. Only these were not those kinds of papers. These were ???for a good time??? papers.

Well toward evening time, I??™d had it with all this rain.  Besides, I was lost and had no idea of where in this city I was. Well I just had another boy to hand me a paper, and he was only too helpful in telling me how to get to this place.  So I thought I would go up the stairs and see what goes on in this kind of set up. I thought I knew.

I got in the joint and sure enough there was the older baby dolls sitting and waiting for the suckers. Well I picked out one, and she started to take a look at my bank roll. I never did understand the yen deal. So my bank roll got taken for a ride real fast. Beer cost so much yen. We sat and did a lot of talking. If you think any thing else, forget it.

Now this young lady lived through the war days in Tokyo. I asked a few questions, and ended up feeling sorry for her and the fact any one went through such. But I also remembered a few other times in history, like the war that the people of Japan had brought to the door of many others - like China or Pearl Harbor.

You know it is wonderful when you rain death and so on to other people. Your armies are marching and taking over people and putting them and their homes to the torch. But when the chickens come home to roost on your door step, it is another thing. She told me about the death and fire bombings of the cities of Japan. Yes I can believe it would have been a nightmare.

Now today is March 10, 2003. This date in 1945 was the first real fire bombing of Tokyo. 10 square miles of the town was laid to waste. The bombing sucked the air into nothing but flame. People died from lack of breathable air alone. The fire took down something like 250,000 houses and buildings. People ran to the rivers, only to be boiled alive in the water. It was hell on earth for sure. I think the books say something like 100,000 people lost their lives on that night. Over the next few days, other cities were fire bombed in the hopes that the nation of Japan would be forced to surrender. That didn't happen until the Atomic age came in August of that year.

You know I wonder. Those fire bombings killed a lot of people, and laid waste to more then the two Atomic bombs did. Which was the meaner of the two?

I learned a lot from that young lady. I have forgotten her name. Goodness she may have just used any name anyway. But what difference does it make now?

At last I told her it was time for me to leave, but how do I get to where I needed to go? She said she would take me to a place. She did. We got into a taxi and went to the train pick up point. Riding on the train system in Japan, now that was something.

One does kind of forget a few things with the passage of time. But this I do recall. I remember saying good bye to this lass, getting on the train and sitting down. It would be a trip of about an hour. The train stopped many a time. People would wake up, get off, others would get on. I thought it was funny to watch some one wake up, look for a minute and the train stopped, they got off.

I started to get worried as to just when do I wake up and get off. Not that I was sleeping. So I picked out a young fellow and asked him. He said I will get you off at the right place. Sure enough he did.

I have often thought of that day. I really remember the evening I spent hearing the young girl tell about her war years. I believe if people could talk to someone who lived those times. We might find another way to work out our problems, instead of raining death on one another. I also know we soon forget the past and history.

I said rainy evening. It was a rainy day and evening that day in Tokyo. Wet that is. I learned about a time it rained hell fire. Will we ever learn WAR is HELL? I think not. I do have hopes. But I believe the Good Book says there will be wars and rumors of war all through our lives on this earth.

Bill Walker