UDON FOR SALE

On the weekends, mother made udon noodles.   Every Saturday she was up at 600am to prepare the dough.  My olderr sister Yoko was assigned to pound / step on the dough which was wrapped in a cotton rice sack to soften it.    Mother would  roll it into the stripping machine  several times to further soften the dough and then  strip them into noodles, twist them and they were then  ready to sell for 11 cents a bundle.

My sister Joan, 13 years old  and  Kay,  9 years old would transfer these onto their sleigh, and using the railroad tracks, pulled their sled behind them to Popoff to sell to the  apartment dwellers. ( Popoff  was at least a mile away from Bay Farm ).  They would sell all of the udon made pocketing  $1.10.  By 4 pm , using the railroad tracks again, they pulled an empty sleigh behind them to return home. It was cold, rather dark  and undoubtedly  they were quite tired following this weekly task.

I was 6 yrs old, my job was to go to this one regular customer near the railway tracks. I knocked on her door and  shouted "udon ho shi ka“, I got the 11 cents and walked away (the language, I used was rather cursed. I did not know) mother was told  laughingly by the customer when they met each other at the bath house. Haha.

Mother, during the weekdays,  often substituted at the Japanese Language School.     GANBATE, was her motto. Quite a fighter.  SHE WAS  A TRUE  SURVIVOR.