14-12-4
Manzanar, Calif.

Sept. 30, 1943

Dear Joe,

Thank you for the letters that are coming in so frequently. Sorry I didn't write sooner but school is keeping me so busy that I just don't have hardly any spare time.

Joe, yesterday papa went to the trouble of sending you a delicious honey dew melon. I hope that you will like it very much. You probably can tell if its ripe or not by where the stem is. If you push where the stem was and if it is soft, it is ready to eat. Poppa thought that you might like the melon because you probably are not able to get those kind of things on the outside. We are hoping that you'll enjoy it as much as we are enjoying the gum and candy.

Joe, when I'm at school or doing my home work at home, I have to use an english dictionary and I just don't have one here in the house so I'm going to ask you to do me a favor of getting a ordinary dictionary to have in the house and another small one for me to carry around in school when it is needed. You can get the English dictionary and when you get it you may buy the kind that you think I will need and will be pretty good. Try to buy and send them as soon as you can because I sure do need it in school. Mama says that she will send some money so you won't have to use your money that your saving.

Joe, today and yesterday & tomorrow there is no school because the teachers are having some kind of a institution in bishop and so all of us kids are really lucky. But the teachers as usual would have to give us some crazy old home work. In my Algebra class I really have fun even though at times I don't understand it at all. In Latin, I have lots of fun, & I find out that I'm getting to learn english pretty well in there. I didn't know what a conjugation was at first but now that I've learned it is very easy. In English, I have a terrible time because I really didn't know my english well and so when it comes to appositives and adverbial objectives, & so forth its kind of hard. My worst subject now is social studies. The teacher I have is a home Eco. teacher & doesn't know how to teach the class & therefore it really is boring. Instead of giving us the lesson she asks us what we want to learn. She gave us 27 minutes to read one day & a very boring book it was. Then when she tests us, she asks, what was the name of the flower on the picture & of course no one wants to look that hard at the picture & so the test was just a terrible thing.

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In gym they give us 7 min to dress & then we go out & play volley ball. Gosh, it sure feels awful to wear shorts again & the exercises sure makes sore places all over you. After the gym period which is 7th per. we have to report to home room & boy my hair really does get all messy & I do look like a mad house.

Yesterday I washed & again I washed today. It is really good to sorta wash after a terrible week full of hard work. This morning after I washed, mama went to work & she really does work. There were two weddings, one yesterday afternoon & the night before, & moma & the other ladies had to get down to business. They have to make the brides flowers & so forth. Towru works out at the farm now but he's not a farmer. He's making something out there. He always brings some melons home & night before last we all ate water melon before we went to bed. Papa had to go in the morning & moma did too but I went in the middle of the night & towru didn't even go. Then I had to go a lots during the day time. Papa is still working at the same place & I still do that dry school work.

Joe, I'm glad you did like the pictorial & If you know anyone thats wants some out there, they sell them at our block office. They cost 10 cents each & $1.00 a dozen. So if you do know anyone, just let me know.

In Manzanar they have a chicken farm & many small chicks are being raised just out side by the farm. Towru said that there are a lot of cyotes around there. One night, mama said, isnt that a howl of a cyote & she was right. Nowadays you can hear them howling in the night, & I bet the small chickens are really scared like anything.

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They say that a mountain lion has come to farm because they have seen the big imprints of the mountain lion. Gosh, I bet they must be pretty big because they say that the paw is quite large. Lot of the farmers say it is spooky. Towru goes to work & says he sees a lot of wild animals.

The carnival that they had this year wasn't so hot & so I wasn't enjoying it too well. They had the same old stuff except that a lot of people came from Independence & lone pine & so forth & they liked it. At the Carnival they had a victory garden exhibit & so that the white people could see what it was like. Many of them were surprised to see that the Japanese could raise such nice food. Many of them were just aching to just get their hands on the vegetables but the farmers didn't give any of them away to the white people because they say that the Japanese are eating good food while the Americans are suffering from food lacking.

Last Friday morning the sky was so blue and pretty but all of a sudden it changed & the afternoon the sky got cloudy. Around 2:30 it started to get darker & the clouds were really purple gray & lightening started to strike on the Inyo mountains and it was thundering hard. When I got home I thought that I better write to you but then it was getting a little breezy & then the whole sky was covered dark gray purple & not even a sight of blue was left in the sky. Then a girl yelled out, look at the dust, its coming this way, boy I just ran into the house & then managed to get the windows shut just in time. Just after I closed the door, I could hear the pounding of sand & wind against the front of the house. Then it blew hard & it was quite dusty. Gosh you should

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have seen it. Then it started to rain & thunder harder & the lightening had struck against the mountains over 20 times & the thunder was hard & you could feel the vibration, shaking the house like anything. Finally the rain stopped & it was time to eat & the dinner was warm & it tasted much better than what it is like on those hot days.

The next day was saturday & I had been studying like any thing & then I just remembered that shorts were going to be weared so I had to fix them & wash them. They had no movie because of the seats & screen. That night Miyo Nishi asked me if I wanted go to the show because there was a lot of room & so I went. Right in the middle of the picture it started to rain & everyone stayed except a few. Even me, I stayed & then the rain stopped. It was the first time that they had ever had rain in the out door theater.

Now that I'm running out of space I will have to close. Joe, we tried to get as many papers on the sport section & I guess we will send them soon. Don't forget about the dictionarys.

Thank you for the pictures of Chicago & we certainly did enjoy them. It is really a dream land after being in Manzanar where its really a dead desert. You really looked nice in your sunday suit but gosh, you really are getting fat.

So long,

Masako

I hope the melon isn't smashed when you receive it.

Oct. 1, 1943

Today I'm sending you $10.00 for the dictionary & if theres any money left after buying them, keep it for yourself or incase we need to have the suitcases sent.