<Begin Segment 42>

AI: So before our break, you were telling about life in Minidoka, and about your work with the Reports Office, and that you really went around to lots of areas in the Minidoka camp, taking pictures as part of your work, and I recall reading a little bit in your memoir that some people became suspicious of you because you were going around camp and taking photos. And I was wondering if you could explain a little bit about why people would have that kind of suspicious thought.

PB: Well, for one thing, I was always with this Caucasian boss of mine, and he, he had a secretary, and she was jealous of me, for one thing. And I don't know, the Japanese people, I suppose, somehow thought that I had something, some ulterior motive or something, but they, some people said, "Oh, she's a inu." And I think it was just some people, the idea that maybe I had some ulterior motive. But it wasn't that, it was just that we did a lot of things together, because I did speak Japanese, and he learned a few Japanese words, and we went all over. We tasted, like he would taste, like, once in a while, some people would go to the canteen or they get a hold of sashimi. He would taste it and see what -- [laughs] -- what raw fish was like, and he was the kind of person that would try anything. He wanted to sample this and if he had to do some other duty, why, he would do it.

AI: Well, I wonder, did you ever feel threatened at all by some of the people who, for example, were calling you names or had some suspicions? Did you feel personally threatened that something might happen to you?

PB: No, no. No, I, I didn't have a... really, I didn't have no worry in the world. I enjoyed what I did, and I felt secure going everyplace. I had no qualms about anything. I went out occasionally, I went out to Twin Falls and visited with this teacher's home. In fact, they treated me so well that I felt kind of guilty, especially Mr. Ford, as I referred to him in the story, but his name was not Ford. He was from Oklahoma, and I thought maybe people from Oklahoma maybe felt little inferior to... you know, they called them Okies and Arkies and everything. I don't know whether that was the reason, but he made me feel like he was going beyond what he should. Like he wanted to polish my shoes for me, and when I'd sit down, he'd bring me a footstool, and he always wanted, if we were gonna eat, he always wanted to see that I was seated first. Made me, well, it made me feel like he was just going backward, bending over backwards to be especially nice to me. Made me feel a little uncomfortable.

AI: And so this was at the time when they, the teachers, they were living in Twin Falls, and your daughter Pat was living with them and going to school on the outside of camp.

PB: Yes. But then there came a time when there seemed to be some discord, and I didn't understand why this was happening. But when I think back, see, my first husband was working outside of camp. He was working as a linotypist, I think, at some newspaper company. And he was getting good wages, and, of course, he owed me years and years of back alimony, which was such a small amount. He was only supposed to pay me twenty-five dollars a month, but in those days, twenty-five dollars was worth a lot more than what it is nowadays. But he refused to pay me anything. I even took it up with a lawyer, but he still wouldn't pay me anything. Still, he was trying to make my daughter feel comfortable, and he had a car, and I understood that -- later on, I didn't know at the time -- but she was driving the car, and doing things which she shouldn't have been doing. And I think that kind of started having some sort of discord with the family she was with, because she was going out of her way to see her father, and she wasn't supposed to be doing that. But anyhow, the time came when finally my daughter said she wanted to come back into camp, but then the authorities wouldn't allow it, because they said she could visit, but she had already gone out permanently, so she couldn't come back in. And then she got the idea, well, maybe we should go back east, or go to the Midwest. And, of course, later, they wanted to get everybody out of camp, so then they were really pressuring me.

<End Segment 42> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.