<Begin Segment 9>

TI: At this time, too, George knew that he was going to go to Minneapolis also. Didn't he know that he was going to go to Minneapolis?

SA: That's right. He got a job offer for instructor of the MIS in Minnesota. So he wrote and said he was leaving the camp, but he will find a place in Minneapolis as soon as we got there, but he never did find it. [Laughs] It was so difficult to find a place.

TI: And so you went up to Minneapolis to go meet him.

SA: My mother-in-law and I, we both went together. She didn't want me to go alone, so she came after me from Gila.

TI: So this is George's stepmother?

SA: Stepmother.

TI: And so she came from Poston?

SA: From Gila.

TI: Gila.

SA: To Poston.

TI: To Poston, okay, to go in.

SA: To come after me and take me to Minneapolis. So we both got on a train and went to Minnesota.

TI: And at that time, George didn't have a place for you to stay?

SA: No, he didn't have a place. And as soon as I got there, I started looking at the newspaper ad to see if there was anything available. And I came across one house that they wanted to rent out. So I contacted the lady who was taking care of the rental, and she never saw a Japanese before. And somehow, she had a list of people who wanted to rent, but she took a liking to me, and after I visited her, she said, "You could have it, I'm going to let you have it." So I was so happy because it was a two-story house, and it so happened this lady's son was a gangster, and he lived upstairs. He was Al Capone's gangster, he belonged to the group, and we were kind of frightened when we first heard about it, but they were very open about him, and the mother told us that, "My son lives upstairs, going to be living upstairs, but you'll have to share the house with him." So I said that was okay.

TI: So did you have very much interaction with her son?

SA: No, no, not at all, not at all.

TI: And so was he a real gangster, so he had guns?

SA: I think so, but I never became friendly or anything with him. All I knew, that when he was home, you would hear him going upstairs and coming downstairs, that's about all. Never associated.

TI: But the mother was really open about that.

SA: Yeah, the mother was, she told us about it.

TI: Wow, what an interesting story.

SA: Hmm?

TI: That's interesting.

SA: And so I don't know why, but she said immediately, "I think I want to have you take over the house."

TI: Because you said she had a whole list of people who wanted to rent it.

SA: Yes, because she put an ad in the paper, people would come and leave their name and telephone number. But somehow she liked me, and she said I could have it. And I was so happy.

TI: And do you know why she liked you?

SA: I don't know. I don't know why, but she was an elderly lady, gray hair lady.

TI: Had never met a Japanese before?

SA: I don't think so. I don't think she ever...

TI: And a gangster son. That's a good story.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright (c) 2017 Densho. All Rights Reserved.