<Begin Segment 19>

KL: Your mother had a baby, also.

MM: When I was ten.

KL: What do you, did she talk about it, or do you have observations of what it was like to be pregnant in Poston for her?

MM: No, no. My mother didn't show. I don't think she showed.

KL: And was she already a dietician?

MM: Yes, she was a dietician. Yeah.

KL: So she had some knowledge to help.

MM: Yeah.

KL: Did she, where did she have the baby?

MM: I guess, let's see, in camp? She went to the camp hospital, I guess.

KL: What did...

MM: And then when she had Donald out of the camp, my oldest brother took her to the hospital.

KL: Did she, did you go visit her in the hospital in Poston?

MM: I couldn't.

KL: No time. How long was she away, do you know?

MM: Gee, I don't even remember that.

KL: Yeah, it's hard to translate ten-year-old time into...

MM: Right.

KL: And how did that change life for you, with the new baby? Or did it, really?

MM: Well, I had to do all the family laundry and ironing. I didn't have time to play. That's how it changed. But I didn't mind, really, 'cause I love washing clothes and rinsing it and playing in the water. To me it was kind of fun.

KL: Did you have a laundry room in Poston?

MM: Yes, there was a laundry room where there were tubs, and everybody would do their laundry. But you had to do that in the laundry room; you couldn't do it in your room, there's nothing there, no water, running water or anything, just the room.

KL: Was it busy, the laundry room?

MM: No. When I went there was nobody there. That's why I liked it, 'cause I was by myself. And most of the time people did theirs in the morning; well, I had to go to school in the morning, so when did I have time to wash clothes is in the afternoon after school. So I think that had a lot to do with it.

KL: Were there places in Poston that you were kind of afraid to go or stayed away from, or certain hours? I've heard people talk about sort of being afraid to be in the latrines late at night sometimes.

MM: Well, maybe. My mother had one of those chamber pots, and we could go there.

KL: But I mean were there places, did you have sort of fear associated with any place in Poston?

MM: No, no.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.