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AI: Well, so, is there anything else that kind of stands out in your mind about your time in Texas, things that you recall about living there?

RI: Well, I think since it was the first time I lived out of the camp life, I sort of remember that the things were rationed and gas was rationed. They did, this family that I stayed with had a car but wherever we went they had to remember that they didn't have that much gas so whatever gas they were allowed where they could go. So, I remember that kind of thing, and maybe sugar was rationed. I don't know what else, but this -- the librarian, Mr. Moffitt, was a quiet kind of person, sort of like my dad but the, Mrs. Moffitt, I told you, was very sociable and I, she treated me, not necessarily like a daughter, maybe more like a sister, because she wasn't that much older than I am, maybe ten years older, but I think I did some things for them. Like, since I like to sew, I remember making dresses for the little girls and fixing things for them. I was treated like a member of the family. And I remember one time she was having a dinner party and at that time I was still very short on table manners and I wasn't too sure where a cup or saucer or what belonged and where the silverware belonged. But anyway, her friends were trying to engage me in conversation, asking me what my goals are and what I... when they find out I'm a pre-med, what I'm gonna do and things like that. And one lady said to me, "Oh, you have such an intelligent face." [Laughs] I don't know why I remember that conversation. But anyway, they were all very good to me so my Texas experience was always very good.

Few years later, maybe like fifteen to twenty years later, when I was in practice and I had, I must have had two or three kids, they came to visit, the husband and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Moffitt came to visit me in Seattle. And I remember taking them to Bush Garden to eat. And we sat in one of those booths where you put your feet down in a hole, and at that time, my two kids, they were screaming and yelling and moving around and I thought, "Oh my gosh." [Laughs] It was more embarrassing then than to try to make a impression on them. And I don't know whether they really appreciated Japanese food or not, but I don't even remember what we ate. But that was my last experience with them. I never did go back to Austin, Texas since then.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.