Page 32 of Road Trip
When Ellis Island came into view, she was surprised at the enormity of the place. There was an imposing-looking broad main building of brick, with a ribbon of arched doorways across the front, each corner of the building punctuated with towers topped withdomed and spiked turrets. Shorter wings jutted from both sides of the building.
“It’s a castle,” little Dolly said, removing her thumb from her mouth.
As they waited in the inevitable line to disembark the barge, Kathleen, Maggy, and Dolly stayed close together.
“Will your husband know where to fetch you up?” Kathleen asked, her voice low to keep the child from overhearing.
“Davey knows we were to dock today,” Maggy murmured. “So I hope he’ll meet us back on the other side, as soon as we finish up over here. And what about you?”
Kathleen had been wondering the same thing. “I have the name of a priest, and his church, and an address in the city. He’s been told to expect me, but that’s all I know.”
“Such an adventure for you,” Maggy said, sounding almost envious.
“I’m terrified,” Kathleen admitted.
“God has a plan for you,” her friend said. “I’m sure of it.”
“And for you, too,” Kathleen said, giving her a grateful smile and squeezing her arm.
And then theywere separated into different lines. An official examined Kathleen’s papers, ascertained she could read and write and that she had sufficient funds to ensure that she would not be a burden to her new country.
She and Maggy and Dolly were reunited in the line for their physical examination. A nurse in a starched cap and uniform stood by while the doctor thumped her back, gazed down her throat, and finally, painfully turned both her eyelids inside out with his thumb.
Dolly sobbed quietly during the exam, trying to hide her head from the doctor’s prying hands and questions, while her mum tried to soothe her by rubbing her back.
Mid-afternoon, the new arrivals were directed into a massive,high-ceilinged dining hall. Tables were lined with long benches and at each place, a shallow bowl and spoon were placed side by side, with mugs of lukewarm tea.
The soup was a thick and hearty concoction, beef and barley, with a slice of buttered bread. Kathleen ate, tentatively at first, then, grateful that the queasiness had gone, she scraped up every last spoonful, sopping it up between bites with the bread.
As soon as they’d finished the meal, they were waved back into the entrance hall.
“Barges loading now for New York and New Jersey.” A balding man paced back and forth down the line of immigrants, pointing to opposite ends of the H-shaped building. He stopped in front of the two women. “Which is it for you?”
Maggy’s head swiveled from right to left. “I don’t know. Davey, my husband, didn’t say anything about New Jersey.”
“Then it’s New York for you,” the man said, pointing to the left.
Back on the barge, the two women stayed close to the railing, only glancing backward once as Ellis Island faded into the distance.
“I’m scared,” Maggy confessed, keeping her voice low. “Davey… I haven’t had a letter from him in months now. His mum hasn’t either. I keep hoping…”
“Where has he been living? Do you know where he works?”
“He works for the railway. That’s all I know. He was sharing a room with some other fellows from home, but he said he’d been saving up for a place for all of us to live.”
“Maybe he’s been busy with work. And mail can take so long, coming across the sea,” Kathleen said, trying to sound more encouraging than she actually felt. “Surely he knows you’re coming.”
“I wrote to him two months ago, after his mum gave me the money for passage for me and Dolly. We’d been staying with her, you see, and she’s the carer for her own mum, who’s blind, and Davey’s brother Bill, who’s a bit of a scalawag, is living there, and I think it was all too much for her and that’s why she gave me the money to come over.”
The two women were silent after that, each gripping the barge railing, each wrestling with their own worries and apprehensions.
The barge bumpedup against the Hudson River Pier with a jolt that sent Dolly sprawling onto the deck. The child howled, more from shock than pain, but before Maggy could react, the stranger with the tweed cap materialized. He bent over and scooped up the child in mid-scream.
“Here now,” the man said, bouncing Dolly on his hip. “You’re not really hurt now, are you?”
Dolly reached out her arms for her mother and the man reluctantly handed her over.
Maggy dabbed at her daughter’s eyes with the sleeve of her blouse. “Thank you,” she told the man.
