<Begin Segment 12>

TI: How about your, your parents or anything, did you ever hear anything?

NH: Oh no, my father was fine. Nothing happened there. When we did get the order to evacuate, or prepare to evacuate, and then we had to get rid of stuff, to sell stuff and whatever, give it away, whatever we did with it, he, my dad sold as much of his gardening equipment as he could, he sold his truck and he sold some of the furniture. I don't know why he did it, but he bought my sister a grand piano so that she could learn to play music. And they, my mother and father went to see the piano, went to the piano store, and they had decided on a certain, certain one. But the one that finally arrived at our house was the grand piano. [Laughs] And I said, "Wow."

TI: So explain this -- so they actually picked a different one, you mean?

NH: My dad went there and ordered the big one. [Laughs]

TI: He ordered the big one? [Laughs] So he really wanted your, your sister to...

NH: Yeah, but I think that plus... I think pride has something to do with it, too.

TI: And so what happened to the grand piano?

NH: Oh, we were able to sell it.

TI: Do you recall if you were able to get very much money for these things, or were they discounted?

NH: Oh, I don't know. I have no idea. He had a Dodge truck for his gardening, and I know he sold that to somebody. We had a four-door passenger car, it was an old Nash, and that was free, and somebody came and took it away. But the other stuff, I really don't know what happened to anything.

TI: And when you, and when you packed your stuff to take, what were some of the things that were important to you to take?

NH: Oh, well, everybody was allowed to carry two suitcases and that was it, whatever you could carry, which amounted to two suitcases. And so, of course, you just packed your, your toilet articles and your underwear and some clothes, and that was about it.

TI: Now, did you know where you were going to go in terms of the climate, whether or not it was going to be hot or cold or anything like that?

NH: No, didn't know anything.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Topaz Museum. All Rights Reserved.