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Show 69 CHAPTER Vl Mike Asano (her Japanese name was Mieko) was tall, for a nisei, with a splendid lissome figure and a complexion of pure gold, set off by black eyes and a rich coil of hair that she wore heaped like a tower. She had been a dress designer, she said, in San Francisco, though Phyllis Parker suspected Ready-to- Wear in Merced. There was no doubt, however, that she wore clothes magnificently. She and Yosh had been married only a year, and were so busy savoring their cornucopia of delights that, someone said, it was a wonder Yosh's black eyes hadn't turned blue, But her language was less impressive than her looks. Her family had staid within the Old Country circuit, and she had learned English late, so that every time she opened her mouth she sounded like Fu Manchu. Particular trouble with the "1." "Rubbry dress," she told Phyllis ona day. "Rubbery?" queried Phyllis, shocked into a giggle. o "Suppsed to be nylon." "Rubbry," Mike repeated. "I rub nyron." Not that the "1" was the sole problem. Japanese has no "l's," and Chinese no "r's," and since she was of Japanese descent she could theoretically make only one.xof the two errors, but she was a free spirit and made both. She had bean drilled until boredom set in and she ceased to |