Chapter 17 Returning to California

Inglewood in all its Diversities
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Downtown Inglewood (circa) 1960

Another transitional problem was with getting our dog, Rana.  She had to fly in a crate as baggage.  This bothered me because it meant it would be cold.  In addition she was not on the same plane as us. They were supposed to inform us which plane she would be on. They were supposed to tell us when she would arrive.  They were supposed to call us when she arrived.  They didn't. We kept calling and calling, and finally  located her.  It was three days, no water, not food.  I was furious.  Rana was so glad to see us, and I was so sorry for what she had experienced, all I could do was hold her, pet her and cry.  

	Attempting to rent an apartment or house in Inglewood with a big German Shepherd dog was not easy; but we did find an interesting situation.  We rented a small guest house behind a large house in a very nice quiet residential area, with sidewalks and trees.. Between the master house and guest house was a grass area. It seemed perfect;  a play area, totally away from the street.
This is an example of the houses and neighborhood.

The little guest house  was one-bedroom unfurnished, with a sitting room and a very small front room.  The sitting room became our bedroom, and the bedroom was for the children.  In between the small front room and kitchen was a small area, which we used as a dining area. Behind the small guest house ran an alley, which was perfect for loading and unloading groceries.   However, viewing the property on the weekend, we were not aware of the entire situation.  On Monday morning everything changed.  We quickly became aware of loud men's voices,  and lots of activity taking place, cars trucks, building supplies, heavy equipment, etc. going back and forth on the alley.   Behind us, somewhat hidden by trees, construction was taking place.

Gone was the quiet and serenity.  What a change in the atmosphere. The commotion kept Rana busy and was activity for the children to watch.  Those were hot, muggy summer days, but I stopped wearing shorts or skimpy summer clothes because of all the men.   I tried to keep us out of view, and out of their way. 

Unfortunately, the front of our little house was not totally safe either.  The older couple who rented the guest house to us had their two elementary age grandchildren living with them.  It was summer and there were two scary incident. The boy was shooting arrows. He had a target, but unfortunately our house was behind it.  In another incident, the young boy was going through his Grandpa's tool-box.  One by one, he was examining each item, and then throwing them over his shoulder onto the grass.  Between the children in the front, and the men in the back, I was kept  busy watching out for their safety.   

Besides the pool and the motel, we had another near miss with Tawn as a toddler,   We were taking a walk in our neighborhood.  When I were chatting about his new job.  Aury and Tawn were kind of trailing behind us.  All of a sudden I turned around and saw a car pulling out of their driveway, just as Tawn was approaching their driveway.  I screamed stop, and thankfully he heard me.  If he had had his window up, or had his radio on, he would not heard me.  

Cars remain at the top of the list for deaths and tragedy. No restrains or requirements were required in the late 1950s or 60s when Tawn and Aury would have benefited.  In 1958 when Aury was about 14 months, he was sitting in my lap in the car.  Mom was driving.  A car stopped short. Mom hit the brake.  Aury's head hit the dashboard.  He had some kind of concussion.  His pupils/eyes were different sizes.  He didn't cry, and fortunately, his eyes within a few hours had returned to normal.  

As a toddler, when Tawn would fall, it was forward, arms to the side, and she would hit the bottom of her chin, requiring stitches. The third time she was switching around in the back of our station wagon, fell and open it up again.  This time the doctor said, if it happened again, he would not be able to stitch it because of all the scaring.  Fortunately, she got her footing and did not fall again in that same way.  Tawn is a grandmother now,  and the scaring under her chin is still very visible, if you look.  But, gratefully, it is underneath.  

Many children's lives have been saved by the use of seat-belts, but they were not in popular use in 1960, nor mandated.  [[As early as 1933 booster seats were being sold and  promoted. However, the purpose was to act as booster seats to bring the child to a height easier for the driving parent to see them. It was not until 1962 that two designs with the purpose of protecting a child were developed independently.  Even though empirical evidence supporting the protective effect of child restraint devices was available in the early 1970s, laws requiring their use were not adopted by all 50 states until 1986. The use of car seat-belts for everyone, driver, passenger.  were made mandatory in California, January 1, 1986.    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3899584/ ]]

Occasionally Win would leave the car for me, and the children and I would go downtown.  Two incidences stand out:  It was early. We were in a small clothing store.  The other customer was an African-American lady.  Suddenly Aury asked me,   "Mommy, does that lady not wash herself?"  I was so totally caught off base.  I did not know how the lady was going to react.   Fortunately, she was very kind and did not get offended.  She came over to us and just said softly, "No Honey, this is the color of my skin."   

Children assess their world visually. It did not occur to me that the children were not use to seeing African-Americans. Hanford, Washington had no minority presence.  I knew immediately why Aury would ask the question.  He asked with curiosity, and with the mind of a future doctor, simple cause and effect. How many times I must have said to him, "Aury, go wash your hands.  They are all black."  Thank goodness the lady sensed there was no malice. 

Tawn's reaction to an African-American man was totally different.  At about 15 months, she was walking well; however, while shopping I  usually held her hand. We were walking in downtown Inglewood. Suddenly she stopped, made some  excited sounds and acted as if she recognized someone she obviously dearly loved.  She started pulling me, and when she could not move me, she started twisting her hand to pull away.  

I couldn't understanding who she was looking at.  I grabbed her hand, even more firmly. All I could see was a distinguished looking African-American walking towards us.  Tawn kept pulling me.  Finally she wrestled her little hand out my grip and took off running. . She ran toward the gentleman, faster than I had ever seen her run and wrapped her arms around his legs.  

He was as confused as I was.  He didn't know what to do.  He looked at me helplessly.  He literally could not move.  I tried pulling Tawn away, but she would not loosen her grip.  He was probably wondering if I had had an African-American lover.  He started looking around, obviously worried that someone might see the strange scene and make some conclusions about his connection to me.  

Finally, I got down on my knees on the sidewalk and started talking into Tawn's ear, pleading with her to let go. Aury was standing on the other side of Tawn, also telling her to let go.  She finally  did.  I am not sure I could have convinced her, without Aury's help.  The gentleman walked away as quickly as he could, anxious to put distance between us.    

As he walked further and further away, Tawn kept looking at him.  Still on my knees, I had my arms around her. I finally felt her body relax.  She stopped struggling with me.  She was quiet, had obviously accepted the loss, but it exhausted her.  I carried her to the car, bewildered, wondering what we had all experienced?  What was the connection between Tawn and the African-American man??  She was sure there was.

There is so much about the spiritual realm we don't understand.  Life is a mystery.  Our dog, Rama in Weaverville knew he was going to die. (See Chapter 14)  and Rana baffled me too.  She demonstrated a very unusual knowledge of my familia connections,  not once, but twice.

Rana was an excellent watchdog, and much more.  She was like a Momma's helper.  I felt completely safe when she was with the children. Rana greatly surprised me in Inglewood.  She was so alert, many times she would start barking before people even reached the door.  So it was quite a surprise when Aury said, "Mommy there is a man at the door." Someone made it to our front door, and Rana had not barked? I could not believe it.   I walked towards the front door, passed  Rana who was sitting there by the closed screen door, alert, not moving.

I was really puzzled. The sun outlined the figure of a large male.  I assumed it one of the workers,  but as I squinted and got closer to the door, my cousin Hank Villarreal called out.  "Mimi, its me, your cousin Hank."  Hank?  I was pleased, but a little confused.  "How did you find me?"  "The family told me you were in Inglewood.  It was easy, and I was in the area."  Hank was a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.  I had not seen Hank since my wedding.  It was a wonderful surprise.  Rana stepped aside and wagged her tail when Hank came in the house. She did not even sniff him.  

Beyond the fun of my cousin dropping in on me, pondering Rana's uncharacteristic behavior puzzled me and wakened a curiosity about animals. What do they know?   How do they know it ?

More than twelve years later, Rana again recognized family in a similar incident. We were living in our current house in Westminster.  I was in the garage doing the wash.  The garage door was down.  I noticed Rana started running back in forth, sniffing at the bottom of the garage door, tail wagging.  Not barking.  She seemed  excited and happy.  Just then the doorbell rang.  I rushed in the house and opened the door to a surprise visit from another first cousin, Yolanda Valdez and her husband.  They lived in Stockton, Rana had never met them, yet she greeted them like long-lost friends.                          This is our faithful, kind, and loving Rana.  

Strangely, an incident in which I was recognized as kin, has deepen my interest and led me to conclude that  dogs and many other animals have a special sense for sensing/perceiving and making connections based on a   . . .   tribal identity, and they are very capable of forming kinship between species. It is a beautiful world we live in. 

As a college summer job, my daughter Tawn had the fun responsibility of caring for baby Bengal tigers at the Japanese Village and Deer Park in Buena Park, CA.  Tawn's day started at 6:30 am.  When she arrived, three tiger mom's had each given birth to one cub.  Soon to be born were five cubs to one tigress.  Tawn's responsibilities with the older cubs, besides feeding them a special formulas, included playing with them and taking them for early morning walks.  The three cubs would follow her, as cubs would ordinarily follow their mother, strengthening their wobbly legs.  The walkway which the cubs used was the walkway used by all the animals.  Deer, camels, elephants, ostriches, and other animals,   all used the walkway for exercising before the doors open for visitors.  The cubs then spent the day in the petting zoo.  

When the 5 newborns arrived,  it was determined, to assure each newborn receive sufficient and proper nourishment, they were taken from the mother and bottle fed. To facilitate feeding each cub their daily needs, each cub had a different color painted on their tummy matching bottles of the same color.  Tawn's responsibilities with the newborns was feeding and keeping them clean.  

I visited several times, but not until the end of summer did I actually go beyond the visitor boundaries.  The last visit, Tawn let me enter her work area. As I entered, the cubs started making a strange little cooing raspy sound. 

"Mom, that is their greeting. It is how they greet one another.  They accepted you as part of the family!! "  

They had been fed by Tawn, cleaned by Tawn, followed after her.  She was trusted, she was kin,  and because of  Tawn I was recognized as kin too.  Fascinating.  A very special moment.  

How did Rana recognized that my primos were family?  
How did the tiger cubs recognize that Tawn and I were family, and then on the basis of that connection  . . . they accepted, welcomed and included me?  

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