Mimi Hunt

TEAPOT LIDS

We lived right by the river, and the river was like the Arroyo Seco over here. I can remember back when I was six, and the farmers had the water running in little grooves. As children we used to get in it and row down a little ways, because it was only about six inches deep. When the river was dry our parents warned us to stay out, because every once in a while when there was a rain in the mountains, oh you'd get this flood. It would just come own, it was like a wall. We lived in Boyle Heights and the water would come down from the mountains, just like it does on the desert, just like a flood.

There must have been by a little teapot factory because when the water receded, there would be little lids. Little teapot lids -- not the teapots, but just the lids. And we used to gather them as children, you know. We saved them like seashells. (laughs)