Properties of Thirst

Three men travel through the Mojave desert to the place where the camp for Japanese is to be built. Private Ricky Hauser drives his passengers, Army General Macauley and a Jewish man named Schiff, who is their superior. Hauser doesn’t know why they’re traveling in the desert but senses that Macauley dislikes Schiff. Schiff recalls growing up in Chicago, to parents who were European immigrants, and then attending law school. He went on to clerk for Secretary of the Interior Harold LeClair Ickes and then became an administrative agent for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Now his assignment is to establish and head Manzanar, to be located by the army base near Mount Whitney. The area, once full of apple orchards, is fallow because its water has been diverted to Los Angeles. They come upon the remains of a lake, and Schiff exits the car to take a look. The smell is terrible. He debates the best site for Manzanar, an internment camp for Japanese Americans, knowing that being close to a railway depot is best. They travel on to the Dow Hotel near the town of Independence.

Schiff’s reason for being present is still a secret; locals start rumors that the federal government fears the water supply will be attacked and that he has been sent as protection. Schiff knows that everyone at the hotel is curious about him. He has a message, upon arrival, from his father in Chicago: A woman whose brother Schiff worked with at the Drake hotel—Jimmy Ikeda—is searching for Schiff. Jimmy will be interred, and the sister seeks Schiff’s legal help. His father wants details as to Schiff’s whereabouts and what he has been tasked with, worrying that Schiff may decide to enlist.

The next day, the men drive eight miles to the site where Manzanar is to be built. The land is dry and flat, and Schiff can’t believe that it was once a thriving apple orchard. Schiff considers the dilemma of where the airstrip should be built: On one side of the adjacent highway, Los Angeles Department of Water owns the water rights; on the other side, Rocky Rhodes privately owns the water rights.

They visit Rocky’s estate, Three Chairs. Rocky initially assumes that they’ve come to inform him of Stryker’s death. When they explain that they’ve come to seek Rocky’s permission to build an airstrip on his side of the highway, he immediately throws them out, angry that they wish to encroach on his water.

Schiff has been instructed to inform local clergymen about the camp; he begins with Reverend Leslie of the Methodist church. Leslie informs Schiff that Rocky once attempted to dynamite the Los Angeles Department of Water’s aqueduct.

After this, Schiff has dinner at a restaurant called Lou’s, surprised to find Sunny Rhodes serving. The food is surprisingly refined, and he studies a book of Japanese phrases as he eats. He asks to meet Lou—unsure whether he’s the restaurant’s owner or chef—but is told that Lou is unavailable.

Schiff spends the next day researching food costs to determine how to supply the camps economically, knowing that the government will object if the Japanese receive any rationed items. He returns to Lou’s for dinner, where he’s immediately met by Sunny. Schiff realizes that she’s the chef, and she asks if she might sit with him while he eats. He recounts to her his childhood, time spent working at the Drake Hotel restaurant, and law school. He asks Sunny about her fiancé, noticing the ring she wears, and then confesses his fear that Manzanar won’t be built in time. He worries about feeding its occupants and about maintaining peace there. Schiff asks Sunny the question he has been asking others in a kind of personal survey he’s conducting about the perfect food. Sunny tells him a story about her father presenting her with a fresh egg.

That night at the hotel, Schiff finds that Lieutenant Jay Svevo has arrived for duty. Svevo is well-prepared: He has already organized many of the details pertaining to Manzanar that Schiff has been concerned about. They spread out a map of the site and discuss the placement of various components within the facility. Svevo talks about himself a bit: Knowing that the army will send him to England in two weeks, he has just married a woman named Beryl from his neighborhood.

The next day, two women arrive to work as secretaries, completing the intake and keeping files on the detainees when they arrive. Svevo explains to Schiff that his wife wishes to try to become pregnant during his next leave. Suddenly, a woman from Lou’s arrives, telling Schiff that Sunny is asking for him.

When Schiff arrives at Lou’s, he learns that a group of 17 has arrived. Sunny, certain she can pull off the service if Schiff agrees to work the front of the house, has agreed to serve them because it’s a Hollywood director and crew. Schiff presents the menu and takes the orders, noting that some of the women ask for off-menu items. He’s surprised to find a Japanese man amid the group. The dinner goes off without a hitch, and the diners are impressed with the excellence of the food.

Svevo suddenly summons Schiff to return to the hotel: Two military police officers (MPs) have arrived from Los Angeles, requiring Schiff’s signature on a document authorizing the transport of 100 Japanese prisoners to Lone Pine the next day. They’ll be tasked with building Manzanar. Schiff signs the form, assuring the MPs that tents and food will be available on site by the time the prisoners arrive in the afternoon. Then, he rushes back to Lou’s, where Sunny is exhausted. Schiff introduces Svevo as Sunny fixes dinner for them. Then, they discover that the film crew didn’t pay their bill. Schiff immediately makes plans to have a group of MPs  track the director down, but Sunny insists they let it go—the meal, she concludes, is payback for an incident where her brother killed the director’s elephant the last time they were in Lone Pine. She asks Schiff to come to Three Chairs for dinner on Saturday.

The next morning, Schiff and Svevo wait for the supply delivery. Upon Schiff’s orders, Svevo was able to include Jimmy Ikeda in the group of 100 arriving in Lone Pine. They discuss the Japanese man who was at dinner, and Schiff tells Svevo that Sunny invited him to dinner.

On Saturday, Rocky surveys the land as he waits for Schiff to arrive, thinking about the diversion of the water as he gazes on the arid land. He agreed to inviting Schiff to dinner after Sunny insisted he “wasn’t half bad” (146). Schiff arrives with a hostess gift of a Japanese cookbook for Sunny. Rocky offers him a drink and launches into diatribes about literature and history whenever Schiff mentions a piece of artwork on the wall. Schiff learns that Lou, Rocky’s late wife, is the restaurant’s namesake and that Sunny can’t join them for dinner because Saturday is a busy night at Lou’s. Rocky gives him a tour of the estate and then grills steaks. Over dinner, Schiff asks what brought Rocky west, and Rocky recounts the story of refusing to take on his father’s business. He alludes to being in a legal battle with the Los Angeles Department of Water and then reveals that Sunny indicated her belief that Schiff might be persuaded to support Rocky’s cause. Schiff is disappointed to learn that it wasn’t Sunny who invited him to dinner after all. Rocky explains that he needs data to indicate that dust in the area resulting from water depletion is causing respiratory problems. He wants Schiff to allow the Manzanar prisoners to be studied for such health effects. Schiff doesn’t depart until midnight and, having drunk a fair amount, decides to sleep in his tent at the camp instead of returning to the hotel.

There, he finds that Svevo is absent, and the guard doesn’t know where he went. However, he arrives shortly, having “borrowed” an American flag from the post office in Independence to fly from the camp’s newly constructed flagpole.

Schiff and Sunny talk about cooking: Schiff jokes about what a horrible cook his mother was, while Sunny tells him about her mother, Lou—a French woman who grew up in Louisiana. Sunny discovered Lou’s cookbooks and recipes after her death and started learning to translate the French to English and then to master the cooking of each dish. Through deciphering her mother’s notes, Sunny began to learn more about her mother. She thinks back to visiting Paris at age 13 with Rocky and Cas—her first taste of caviar and other new foods.

On the day the Japanese prisoners arrive at Manzanar, Sunny is shocked by their number. She and Vasco hand out citrus, and women from the local Church provide cups of tea. Schiff’s plan is to place some of the detainees as cooks, but for now the army will handle the meals: canned and pre-prepared food. Sunny walks the grounds, providing directions to families as needed. She notes that her father has opted not to be present—evidence, in Sunny’s mind, that he holds no ill will for the Japanese, despite Stryker’s presumed death.