"When I went to Mexio, I do not remember what year it was. It was during the Depression. We [my family and I] went to [Mexico]. There were many irregular things that happened on the way. Many people were taking household goods, clothes, and all. They took it away from them at the border. They could not take anything new. The people would start crying. Very many irregular things I saw. To El Paso, a man took us. I do not remember his name. The company hired him. Nagori! His name was Nagori. He was the one that took the Mexicans that were going to Mexico. People left voluntarily because everything was very hard. [We went] to Aguas Calientes, Mexico. Before he came to the United States, he [my father] started working in the mines when he was very young. He took the tools to the workers. He rose to paymaster. He used to mention the names [of towns in Mexico] and other places, but I did not pay attention then.

I stayed there [Aguas Calientes] for three months, I think and I saw how the situation was. Sometimes I would provoke my father. I would say, “Where is your Mexico?” because of the poverty that I saw. My mother would say to me, “Leave him. He has changed much.” One time he came during las fiestas patrias and I packed my suitcase. We had an old suitcase there. I was packing it. My mother was in the living room and my father was with her. He said to me, “Where are you going?” I told him, “I am going to the United States.” He said, “With what are you going?” “You will give it to me,” I said. My mother thought that my father would not like it because Isiquiel [my brother] came much earlier and my mother would pray for him. She thought he [my father] would do what he did with Isiquiel. I said, “I am going anyway.” When I told him that he would give me [the money to go], he started to think. He said, “Wait until after the siesta. Then you can go.” So when I came, he walked me to the depot to catch the train. He told me that only one thing he charged me with, “I do not want a single bad report about you. Behave yourself.” He gave money and said, “If they do not let you pass, you come back here immediately.” “I do not know why they would not let me pass,” I said. “I am from there.” And my father left. I came here [to Morenci] and continued my schooling. I stayed with a comadre of my parents. Her name was Sarita. She treated me like a son, a very good woman. I continued my schooling; I had to finish. I enrolled in the school. The people in the school thought I was from Mexico; that I was a Mexican.

Do you remember, Joe Ritz? He used to check the bathrooms. When I came back, the house that belonged to my father was there. He [Joe] stared at me. He was on a mule or a horse. He said, “ Did you not go to Mexico?” “Yes,” I said. “Then why are you here? You cannot come back here.” “Why not? I am from here.” He said that I should not have come back from Mexico. Yes, he had a furniture store. He was a dealer, that man. He would get things they gave him from the hospital. He took a lot of beds. He took them to Phoenix. His oldest son studied to be an engineer. He married the daughter of Gangel. He [Gangel] was a doctor.
He [Joe Ritz] checked the toilet tanks that were in the barrios. They were water deposits that filled up and then it released to clean the toilet. Yes, [the bathrooms] were there [during the Depression.

I [worked] several months [in the CCC] over there in Buffalo Crossing, up the Trail. I worked cleaning up the roads and I worked in the jobs the government did. From there I went to college. One time they took me very ill from the CCC to Fort Bayard where the hospital was. I was very sick from my stomach. I saw a lot of young men sick there. They had syphilis. They [the doctors] wanted to operate me. They were operating many from appendicitis and they wanted to operate me. The doctor wanted me sign some papers and I did not want to sign them. I wanted to let my parents know. They were in Aguas Calientes. I did not want to scare them. I did not sign it. They [hospital staff] would come, they would send me very young nurses and they would supplicate me to sign. I did not sign.

It resulted that it was not [appendicitis] because the doctor told me they could not operate [without] the permission. He asked me what I had done. I told him that I had taken a laxative but it did not work so I drank more. The doctor told that what had happened was that it had swollen up my stomach and almost burst. He said, “The pain could return tomorrow or maybe never.” That is how it was. It never came back. I got well and until now it has not hurt. (Laughs.) That is what happened to the husband of Teresa Palecio. He died. He was the one that used to sell [coupon] books there at the store. Segundo and other gentlemen [also used to sell books].

One time when I was in the CC Camp, I let my beard grow. It was a long beard. Some would say to me to cut it, Segundo who sold books was a Spaniard, he would tell them, “The beard is for men. Do not believe them, do not listen to them.” He was very smart that gentleman. He went back to Spain. He had money but there was this man named Chanuco. That one was a wheeler-dealer. When Segundo left, he [Chanuco] went to the ones who owed Segundo money so that he could collect. He wanted to see where he [Segundo] had the money so he could get it. It turned out that he [Segundo] was very smart. When he was getting ready to go, he had sent the money to Spain. Segundo! He used to hang out at the store all the time.
Coon Town was the barrio where there were a lot of Negroes. It was before the war. They worked in the mine; they were miners. There was one they called Chiroladies, that is what my mother called her. They were very excitable. One time one came out and someone with a gun was chasing him. We had a fence and he jumped it. (Laughs.) I did not know then but later I found out that they called it Coon Town because they were black.

I was always picking up rocks to see if there were snakes. One time, I was in the yard, a little yard, and there was a tin shed that had little doors on it. I would go in and get eggs. One day, you are not going to believe this, I entered. I was a little boy. There was a snake inside. I did not tell my mother or father. It was there. I had a big scare but I did not tell my mother or father. I left it there and never said anything. It was [a rattlesnake]. I do not know if it was looking for eggs too. (Laughs.)

My father used to have goats. The mine belonged to the company; it was a carbon mine. We had an outhouse and one time I went in and we used to have a goat that was trained to butt from since he was little. He grew big and one time I was inside [the outhouse] and he did not let me come out. I did not know what to do. A man was coming home from work and he was passing by on the path. He figured it out and he scared the goat. The goat went after him. (Laughs.) It was a huge goat! "