<Begin Segment 9>

VY: Has that ever gotten you into trouble?

JT: Oh, yes, yes. I've gotten in trouble, I've gotten scoldings and I got a real big scolding once from my dad when he told me not to do, to slam the door and leave with people there. And I said, "Oh, yeah?" and I did it again. So he chased me and I got it.

VY: Talk more about that story, though, talk about why you did that. Because this was back when...

JT: Oh, I think I must have been about twelve or thirteen, and I think, I told you that people were always at our house, it was Grand Central. So the gardeners would come from gardening, and they were Issei and older Nisei. They'd come after work every day in greasy clothes, and then they'd be drinking tea or coffee and pastries. And every day there'd be, like, four or five, sometimes six people, and not just men, but women also would come and they'd chew the fat and commiserate and all that. I got... well, I got tired of it.

VY: How old were you?

JT: I'm embarrassed to say, when that happened, I think I was twelve. I should have known better, but it just got to me. Come home and you want to... first of all there were six kids in a home, and Nana and Papa, six kids with... Papa was gone by then. He passed in 1955, but come home, nowhere to sit, and they're eating our snacks, sitting around the table having a good... and pipes and cigarettes and all that. And I just got fed up with it and I just decided that I didn't like that. So the little devil in me kicked up and I just stomped out and slammed the door. And Daddy came after me and he said, "Don't you ever do that again." So I said -- I didn't say it out loud -- but I said to myself, "Oh, yeah?" and I went and did it again right then, and he came after me. And he told me a lot of times after that it was harder on him. You know that story, it's harder to punish a child, it hurts the parent more than the child. But I'll never forget that. He chased me all the way down two flights of stairs to the backyard, and I don't think he had to do that to the others.

VY: Is that the only time that happened?

JT: Yes.

VY: And he talked about it later, so it really stuck with him.

JT: Oh, yeah. Well, we spent a lot of time together. I had been a teacher but I quit. I was the first teacher to drop out, I think, in all of history. But I spent a lot of time with them. And as he grew older, I would take him to the doctor because I had, I was not working. And we spent a lot of time in the car, and you know, doctor's offices waiting. And he didn't say much except that he'd sit there and he'd go, "Yep." You know, a lot of Nisei men wouldn't say much, but they'd go, "Yep." And he'd say, "Yeah, remember that time I had to chase you down the stairs? And I'm sorry, but you went against me." I didn't need to be reminded anymore. But I didn't stop being... I don't want to say I was defiant, but I always felt sorry for the underdog for some reason. I guess I'm still trying to figure out why, but I've always wanted to help people. And it's probably in my DNA from my mom and daddy, too. They were both very, Mom mostly, community-oriented and Daddy, God bless him, he had to work so hard, he helped as much as he could, but he was working all the time.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.