Remember, dad left Topaz in early 1945 to find a job and a home. He found a job as a gardener, mostly his pre-war customers; but he didn’t find a house.
And because you and dad wanted me to start school at Berkeley High, I left you behind in camp with my brother and two younger sisters. Dad found me a job as a school girl so I could have a place to stay, working for my room and board and receiving a small salary while going to high school.
Several months later, in October 1945, Topaz was closing and you had to leave. Years later, you told me that you didn’t know you had to leave, but at the same time, you had no one to tell you what was happening, and what to do!
Unfortunately, I didn’t ask and you didn’t tell me how you managed to end up at the Hunter’s Point government housing project in San Francisco. I didn’t know that you were there because you had no place to go; neither did all those Japanese families in the same shoes. It must’ve been a frightening time for you—and with three young children in tow!