<Begin Segment 31>

KL: Are there things about that that I haven't asked about, any other things from your work in that department that you want to share, or people?

AO: Well, the people, it was... they were all fun people to work with, and it was very interesting. One time Mr. Sharp brought in a veterinarian, and that was interesting. And while he was here, they found a rabid dog, which was fortunate that he was there, and they got rid of it.

KL: He just happened to find it, or had it been...

AO: Somebody talked about this dog that was really, you know, kind of mean. It did not bite anybody, but it was aggressive. And so Mr. Sharp, I mean, the doctor... what was his name? Caldwell or something like that, rolled up a newspaper and did this. And the way the dog attacked it, she says, "It's a rabid dog."

KL: That's scary.

AO: So he took care of it.

KL: Do you have any other memories of animals in Poston, either wild animals or things that were surprising to you?

AO: No. Of course, there were... what others? Those big spiders.

KL: Tarantulas?

AO: Yes. Well, not tarantulas, but... what is it that, in the desert?

KL: Scorpions?

AO: Yes. And so we were all afraid of the scorpions thinking that if you got bit by a scorpion, you'd die. And, of course, you're looking for rattlesnakes and things. I was aware of that because in Cienega we had the, not scorpions, but we had tarantulas and snakes. So I wasn't too worried about that.

AL: Did you have any pets, anybody in your family?

AO: No, we did not. But, yeah. And then in '44, it was in December or the end of November in '44, that for some reason, the opportunity or talk came up about colleges opening up. And so I applied, I applied to one and was told that they couldn't take me because they'd already accepted the quota of Japanese students that they could take.

KL: What school was that?

AO: Gosh, it was something, someone in the Midwest. So I thought, well, I'd better find another, and somebody told me about Temple.

KL: Do you know what the other school's quota was?

AO: I mean, they were limiting maybe five, ten, to a school.

<End Segment 31> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.