<Begin Segment 47>

TY: [Jpn.] Well, then, what did you do with the greenhouse?

MK: [Jpn.] We just left it there. We left it there and then when we returned, we heard that the greenhouse was used as a chicken coop.

TY: [Jpn.] Your neighbor?

MK: [Jpn.] Chickens.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Chickens. They kept chickens in the greenhouse. We heard it later.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] You told us before that you imported tulip bulbs from Holland.

MK: [Jpn.] Those have to be... every year...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] They have to be dug up and replanted every year, or they would be damaged. If you left them there for four years, they were ruined.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] They were totally ruined. That means they will grow smaller and smaller.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] It's a major effort to make them bigger again.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] So we gave up on them.

TY: [Jpn.] You gave up completely.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. We just gave up. So we focused on the greenhouse business. Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] By the way, you said earlier that you rented the house to somebody.

MK: [Jpn.] What?

TY: [Jpn.] To somebody. Did somebody live in your house while you were away? While you were forced to live in Pinedale?

MK: [Jpn.] Yes.

TY: [Jpn.] Did somebody live in your house as a house-sitter?

MK: [Jpn.] Oh yeah. The house-sitter...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] I asked another friend.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] But he liked drinking.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Because he liked drinking, everything in our house... as you know, we were growing bulbs.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, yes, bulbs.

MK: [Jpn.] Bulbs.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] We were growing the bulbs.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] So we still had a lot of manure and fertilizer piled up in the barn.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] I heard that he sold all of that and spent it for drinking. Everything.

TY: [Jpn.] You trusted him, didn't you?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. He loved drinking. So we heard. So nothing was left there. Nothing. But that's a small matter.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] It doesn't matter.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

<End Segment 47> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.