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DA: And so this went on until finally, in 1942, she was forty-two at the time. And... I thought to myself, my grandma goes away every year, and every year we ask her, "Where do you go?" She says, "I go to Boston." She called the United States "Boston." And I said -- she says, "I go pick raspberries -- no, strawberries." So I thought, well -- this is 1942 -- "I'd like to go with you." And she said, "No, you can't leave your mother." I said, "But my sister is fourteen now, and my father should take responsibility." Now, he should put her in a nursing home, but he wouldn't put her in a nursing home. And so I said, "Well, I'm gonna go on a vacation. I'm gonna go with Ta'a." Ta'a was my grandmother. That's what we called her. Everyone called her Ta'a. And she was the most wonderful woman. So I told her, "I'm gonna go down with you." So the lady that was hiring came to the house, and I had, did night shift work at a fish cannery. That was during the war when they had the blackout and we used to go to work at eight o'clock and work 'til four o'clock in the morning. And when we'd go, going home, the shipyard workers would be going to work, and they would call us fish 'cause you could just smell the fish off of us as we went by them. So I worked there for about a month, I made enough money. So I told my Ta'a, I says, "I'm going with you." So, I didn't have very much. I just had a little small suitcase. But she knew how to pack. Because each year for years she was coming down to Bainbridge. The first year she came down she said she, they got from Seattle to Bainbridge in a little small boat that came across. So that morning I got ready and I went across on the ferry and went to the ship and got on board, paid the fare. Then we sailed, we stopped in Victoria. In Victoria you had to get off of the boat so you could pass through customs. And they let you wander around for a while, but not too far away from the boat. So going back on the boat, I was lagging along behind the others, and they had gone through the customs. When I came to the customs, he pulled me aside, and he said, "Where do you think you're going?" I says, "I'm going to pick strawberries." And he says, "Where is your ticket stub?" I said, "They didn't give me any." He says, "Then how do I know that you can go back on board the ship?" And I thought to myself they were gonna send me back to Vancouver 'cause I didn't have that ticket stub. So I said, "Do you see those ladies going down there?" I said, "You call every one of them here and they'll tell you who I am." He said, "Okay." He says, "I'll let you go, but don't you try that again," he says. I says, "I won't." So we sailed again.

We landed in Seattle. I had an uncle and a cousin. They really knew Seattle because they had been with my grandmother when she came down other years. So the three of us took off and took a tour of Seattle. And the others went down to what they called the totem pole, the square. That's where they were gonna stay, at some hotel down there. So we didn't know where the three of us were gonna stay. So my uncle said, "I know where to go," so we followed him. When he came to, I believe it was the Fifth Avenue Theatre, was an all-night theater. And we went in and we fell asleep. Five o'clock the next morning, manager comes and says, "You gotta get out now." He says, "We gotta clean up." So we got up and then we went down to the totem pole. He says, "I know where they are," so they had the hotel room. So every one of us, we had to catch a certain ferry. So we all packed up and went down the street, but we had to have breakfast. So the elder lady says -- they were all widows, the ladies were all widows. So they went, we went in the restaurant. [Laughs] We went in this restaurant, you know, we're going in for breakfast. And they looked at us, and we were in a bar, in a bar. They said, "No, no, no," so everybody went out and we found a restaurant. So from there we went to the ferry. And they had these little small ferries. It cost, they charged you twenty-five cents a passenger. So I gave 'em our quarter. But you stay downstairs on the car deck, that's where you stay. You have to pay more to go upstairs. So we stayed downstairs. Took us about an hour to get across 'cause it was a little chug-a-lug ferry. In fact, I think it stopped down there at, in Winslow. So, I don't know what I'm doing because I've never been here before, and I'd never been away from home before. But I just followed them. So we got to the Winslow side. And we got off and we all walked up the ferry dock. And we looked and there was a man with a truck. I looked at him and I'm telling you, honest, I fell in love. I don't know him, but I fell in love with him. It was the handsomest man I ever saw. And I thought to myself, "I'm gonna set my trap for you." So we all get on a truck, but he preferred one of the other girls. Well, I got on the truck, then we started from Winslow to Port Madison where I lived. And I thought where on earth is he taking us? Where's the city? Because I come from a city, Vancouver, North Vancouver. And then we finally came to this farm. I think it was... no, Furukawa?

Off camera: Furukawa?

DA: Yes. And my grandmother said, "We're here." I looked around, all I could see was just old shacks, you know. And I looked and I saw the strawberries. I guess Mr. Furukawa had, you know, taken care of them. And I said, "Where are we gonna stay?" She says, "We're gonna stay here." I went in and it was an old chicken house. But the Filipinos had put little tin stoves inside. And I said, "Where are we gonna sleep?" She says, "There." There was this wooden bed and there was straw. And I said, "You and I are gonna sleep there." Well, I didn't mind sleeping with her 'cause I had slept with her when I was a little girl. So that night we went to bed and she says, "Now, I'm gonna tell you, in two days we're gonna start picking berries." And she says, "The next day you're gonna be awfully sore." And she says, "You're gonna walk like this." And I thought to myself, no, I'm young. Sure enough, two days later we were out in the field picking berries. And they taught me how to pick the berry. I guess I picked a lot of green ones the first day. [Laughs] So, sure enough, the next day, could hardly move, but I went out. You couldn't just lay around, you had to make that money. That's what you came for. So, anyway, we all picked, and then we got the hang of it.

And Felix Almazon was our boss. He was a nice man. But he talk, talk, talk, talk. So we, I picked berries for almost two, a month and a half. But I ate a lot of berries, too, that's very tempting when you first start. And so pretty soon I got sick of berries, but I kept picking. And then, from Mr. Furukawa's field we used to have to go and help. My husband had a, he leased a bit of ground and the house. And he had a field so we had to go over and help him. And I watched him every minute. And one time he was helping that girl, you know, and I said, "Hey, why don't you come and help me?" 'Cause that's the... he's the boss. And he never said anything.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.