<Begin Segment 27>

MN: So they drove you down from Santa Catalina Mountains to Tucson, and now you're a free man. What did you do?

HY: I think this guy here, he had a, he rented a hotel or something. And I waited 'til the, when the bus was, you know, time for my bus, I waited 'til then and then from there I got on the bus.

MN: Where were you going?

HY: Denver. That's where I met this old man. [Laughs] He said, "What tribe are you from?"

MN: What'd you tell him?

HY: I told him I was a Navajo. [Laughs] And asked me all kind of, you know, question, you know. What their, what they do and how they live and all that. So I told him. I told him the story, and he believed it. [Laughs]

MN: How come you didn't just tell him you're Japanese American?

HY: No, I don't know. I just, he told me -- I was just as dark as that bag there, you know. I did look like an Indian. So I just, I don't know, it just came out, you know. He thinks I'm an Indian, all right, I'll be an Indian. [Laughs] Yeah.

MN: So from Tucson, you went to Denver, but you had a stop in Santa Fe?

HY: Santa Fe, yeah. Then I had to transfer over to another bus from Santa Fe.

MN: But you missed that first bus.

HY: I missed that first bus. I had to wait all the way up to that night again for another bus.

MN: Why'd you miss that first bus?

HY: Huh?

MN: Why did you miss that first bus?

HY: I think I slept in the bench in the bus depot, missed it.

MN: So when you got to Denver, your mom, was she still working at the same Chinese restaurant?

HY: Uh-huh, yeah.

MN: She was washing dishes?

HY: [Nods].

MN: And once you were out, how long were you on probation?

HY: Six months.

MN: Now, during those six months, what did you have to do as --

HY: Got me a job in a garage.

MN: And how often did you have to go to parole board?

HY: Once a month.

MN: And what did you do there? What did you tell them?

HY: They asked me, "Where you working?" "Same place." That's about all.

MN: Was it hard to find a job after you came out of prison?

HY: No, it wasn't that hard at all.

MN: So once that six months was over, then what did you do?

HY: Then we said, "Let's go back to L.A." So I had my car and then the other car, I still had it. So first we came to L.A. and find a place to live. Found a place, then I went back, we went back, loaded our stuff and came back.

MN: So you came back here by yourself first.

HY: No, no, no. With another fellow.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.