<Begin Segment 22>

[Translated from Japanese]

AT: We evacuated to Salt Laki and stayed there for five years. During the war, a friend of Terao's said that he would watch the house. He lived in an apartment. We said, "You don't have to pay the rent. Then, just watch the house, water the garden, and change the water for gold fish." He said, "Oh, I will do those for sure." Thanks to him, for five years, we lived in Salt Laki. During the time, we had him watch the house. But, at that time, he was hakujin. He would cut out the hakujin newspapers like when Japan was doing like this, losing, and trying. He was sending them to us in Salt Laki. He had done a lot for us. And then, Terao wrote to him and told him, "Even if you don't send us newspapers, we are subscribing one here, and we know what's going on well, and I used to think Japan would win, but they are not winning. In the newspapers, it shows that they have been attacked everywhere and always receding. Thank you, but we know all that here, at this place. Well, just watch the house sometime." Then, he replied, "Well, when you come back, I want to talk to you again." Then, the war started.

And, if there were some occasions to go somewhere, there was a company... I forgot what it was called. We got the permit that allowed us to go out more than ten miles. We went there and told them that we were going back to Seattle and had them sign there. I always had the card in my purse. And, if we wanted to go back, it was okay to go back. We wanted to go back. We had our children check the schedule by telling them to go check what time trains were coming. We didn't want to arrive in the middle of daytime. So, we had them look at the time that would let us arrive in the evening. Because a hakujin said that he was going to watch the house, we wrote to him saying, "This is how we are coming back." Then, he said, "I will vacate the place anytime before you come back."

When we arrived the depot there, it was around four, four, five o'clock. It was around four or a little bit past four. Then, the hakujin who lived in our house, and from before, three other people were there to pick us up. "Welcome back!" and they were happy and hugged us. Because we had been away from our neighbors for five years. The house had been watched properly, and we also peeked in the house sometimes. We saw it again. We said, "Yes, it is good that you really watched the house." We said, "Thank you very much for all your support." There, we started shedding tears. We were happy to be back home, and we were also told that the house had been cleaned. And, when we entered the house, they had even washed the curtains and kept them clean. I said, "Oh, you even washed the curtains." "Yeah. Well, they were a little bit dirty." I thought they would be dirty after someone lived there for five years, so I bought materials and trimmed them to take home. Then, I said, "Thank you." Then, he said, "No, no, don't mention it. Don't say anything. I'll come visit again, okay?" He was Greeki. [Ed. note: Greek. As in 'Laki,' she pronounces 'k' as 'ki.'] He was a very kind person. He used to work with Terao for Mr. Frye originally. He said, "Sam, what are you going to do with the house?" So, my husband said, "Yeah. Someone needs to watch it. I am troubled as I am evacuating." "If you are fine with me, I can watch the house. I live in an apartment, now." "Oh, so, you, Sam..." Sam... They were saying all these, then he said, "Oh, all right." I wonder what his name was. He said he would watch the house, so my husband said, "Well, Mama. Let's ask him to watch the house. Let's evacuate to Salt Laki with children." Then, we decided and made a long distance call to my cousin and said, "We decided to stay with you for this reason. Please be our support from now on." He said, "We vacated the whole second floor, so don't worry and just come." We ended up staying in Salt Laki for five years.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.