<Begin Segment 6>

TI: Now, so your brother, how old was your brother?

FS: Three years' difference.

TI: Was he older or younger?

FS: Younger.

TI: Okay. And what was your brother's name?

FS: Henry.

TI: Good. And so you and Henry, so after you would go to the restaurant and get your food, what would you do with your...

FS: In between?

TI: Yeah, in between.

FS: Just fool around in the back, go around the neighborhood, check it out, get in trouble.

TI: So what are some things? When you say going around just checking things out...

FS: Go fighting with other kids. I used to love to fight. So I'd fight, look for somebody to fight. And I'll tell my brother to instigate trouble, and then I'd go and save him.

TI: And so why'd you do that?

FS: Well, I was, I think I was frustrated. I don't think I had, like you say the love of the family, no attention from the parents, left alone, me and my brother. My brother was too young to know any different. But I had to take care of him. So I kind of knew that, you know... you get, it builds up. You want to do this, you're not like ordinary people. And then people look at you and they look at you funny, so I said, "What the hell you looking at?" Bang.

TI: So when you would, like, get in a fight or get in trouble, I'm guessing that people would tell your parents, "Frank got in trouble, he got..." what would they do?

FS: They wouldn't say nothing. They'd look at me, "Kizunai ka?" "No injury?" I said, "No," that's all. My mom didn't care.

TI: As you were growing up, did other community members ever talk to you, try to...

FS: Pacify me?

TI: Yeah, pacify or discipline you or talk to you or anything?

FS: No, no, they better not. [Laughs]

TI: Even an adult?

FS: They had, they had no concern. They figured the kids were kids. As long as I don't break nothing, window or break into a car. All I did was fight. So the white people, they loved that. They loved kids fighting, legitimately. No baseball bat, just fists. They encouraged you.

TI: Well, so when you were out on the streets doing this, did you do this with a group of boys or were you always with you?

FS: Most of the time I was single, never a gang. I don't remember a gang. But then I was wearing glasses from eight or nine years old, they called me "Four Eyes." Oh, yeah, right away. [Smacks fist into hand]

TI: Growing up, were you, how big were you compared to other boys?

FS: I was maybe about same size, I think, this way. This way... I didn't get proper food, I'm pretty skinny, tell you the truth. Not skinny-skinny, but slender. So then later on, when my dad went to Little Tokyo and bought this restaurant from the Yamatoda, he was a gambling boss, and it was a nice restaurant. The outside was tile, and nice big windows, nice doors. How I remember because one of my jobs was Saturday and Sunday I had to sweep the dining hall after each meal, you know how people throw things out. The reason why I did it, I loved it, was I looked for money. Every day there was some money. The smallest money I ever found in a day was a nickel. And the biggest was twenty dollar bill. And I couldn't spend that money, and I didn't even know how much it was. But I brought it into camp all folded up, you know, square, little piece like that, and I put it under a can, one gallon can of food to compress it, and then when I went in camp, you remember the pocket here? I put it in here. And that twenty dollar went all the way to, out of the camp. I couldn't, I was scared to change it because I didn't see no twenty dollar bill. In those days, twenty dollar bill was, you couldn't see it. So my job, the best job, I hated it, but I liked it, was to sweep the dining room. And I'd go like this diligently. If I see any money, I'd step on it. Then I'd look around, nobody looking, then I'd reach down and get it, put in my pocket right away. See, I was wearing an apron, you know.

TI: That's a good story.

FS: Ritual every Saturday and Sunday.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.