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TL: You've mentioned that there were other opportunities that you wished that you could have pursued.

YB: Yes, I do because I later learned... it all started from a fishing trip, there was a barge out about three miles from the dock in Santa Barbara. And everybody would board the boats and go out with their fish lines and fish for mackerel, by the sackfull. Two of us went out and we fished, and I was interested, I was getting two or three fish on a bait and I thought it was fun. And I always (pulled) it up too hard that it would go over the cabins on the other side and by the time I'd (gone) to pick them up, somebody else has grabbed them. However during my fishing time there, I thought, "Gee, they even keep canaries on board this ship. How nice, what a beautiful bird," and I kept listening and listening, and I thought, "How unusual." I forgot about my fishing. And I turned and I thought, "Gee, that's coming from right next to me, the man is whistling." So I dropped my pole and I said, "Pardon me, but was that you that was whistling and you know, like the birds?" And he said, "Yes." I said, "I'm interested in whistling. By any chance do you teach or is there anyway of learning how?" He said, "I'll be here in town for a week." He said, "I'll be glad to." And he said, "First I'd like to test you out and see how good you are." And he said, "Do you know where the Santa Barbara... art school is?" And I said, "Oh, we live right across the street from it." I said, "What a coincidence." He said, "Well can you meet me at one (of) the little cottages where the piano would be. And I'll run you through the keys and see how you do." So I came home, I didn't care how many fish I had, I had brought sacks full of fish we gave to everybody. I told Mother... "The teacher's here that I can learn whistling from." And Japanese don't relish women whistling too much, that's an old superstition, girls shouldn't whistle.

And I used to whistle day and night, late into night and Mother (would say), "If you whistle at night the snakes will come out." Even then it didn't scare me, I was scared of snakes. So eventually she said, "If that's what you like so much, maybe there is no other choice." So she said, "Okay, we'll meet the teacher tomorrow." So we went to this little cottage and met the teacher. And he ran me through the scales, up and down. And he said, "Fine. When do you want to start?" So I said, "Any day, because I'm home now and not attending school." So I went once a day for a whole week and he says, "We're doing fine and I'm going home to L.A. tomorrow. In the meantime, I want you to practice every day, so that when I come back you'll have it perfect." And there wasn't a day that I missed. I whistled so hard that I couldn't get any air (or sound) out (of) my mouth was stiff and numb. And the day he came I could hardly speak, I couldn't whistle. And I almost cried. And he said, "I'm going to give you three days of rest. You've been doing too much." [Laughs] My tongue was numb. So, I rested for three days and then he went and set me through a new series of lessons. And he was very much interested in seeing me through. And there was a whistling school in Los Angeles that I would have liked to attended but Mother wouldn't let me go to that. He says, "You know, you can (whistle) enough. We can (whistle) a beautiful duet. We'd make a killing and bowl them over if we could go to Japan." So I (asked) Mama, "Can I travel to Japan with Mr. Nickels?" "Not [Laughs] over my dead body," she said, "The Japanese and the relatives would be bowled over to think a young man and young girl traveling together with no escort." And she wouldn't let me go, but I had that chance of going and doing something, and then learning further in Los Angeles too. To become a whistler and I whistled a lot when I first came to Seattle, for church assemblies, and group club meetings, and high schools and different places I did. And then I went through an accident and I lost part of my teeth. And I think I still can but I haven't whistled for a long time.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.