I remember almost none of this. We will discover it as we go.<\/p>\n
ONE. Sadie<\/u><\/p>\n
Sadie Pulaski, a small girl of thirteen, drummed her fingers on her stout wooden desk. Her teacher, Mr. Balicki, was droning on and on about long division. Sadie loved math and was very good at it but it was<\/u> the last hour of school and the minutes in that hour always dragged by.<\/p>\n
She stared unseeingly at the open book before her. Blah … blah … Sadie blinked her eyes and made herself pay attention to Mr. Balicki. School was very important to her now as she didn’t have much else in life except chores<\/u> and such. Her thoughts wandered, however. They drifted to all of the family matters at home. So sad … Her father’s grocery shop was doing very poorly and he still had the rent to pay on the building and he had to feed and clothe his wife and two children. Sadie’s usually plump and jolly mother had grown sick a few months ago and had recovered, but it was easy to see that she was not her cheerful old self. She was quiet in everything she did, she became extremely thin and her hair was no longer golden, but grey.<\/p>\n
It hurt Sadie to see the changes in her parents. Her father never burst into their flat with cheerful greetings anymore. He quietly slipped into the pantry to whisper with his wife. Sadie’s older brother, Stanislaus, had changed too. e had grown up to a man way before his time. He was only fourteen but he acted much older. When his mother was sick, he stayed out of school and sat by her bed all day long. He cooked her meals and did whatever she needed. For weeks he had not seen any of his friends. When his mother finally got better and he returned to school, the crowd of boys he usually hung around with found a change in their old friend. He didn’t feel like playing around and rushed home right after school to help out his father in the shop.<\/p>\n
Sadie was not as industrious as Stanislaus but she did work hard. She helped her mother around their flat and helped her father in the shop. But she did not give up her friends. She had many of them and saw them nearly every day after school. Sadie did not play with them for more than an hour, however, for she knew she had responsibilities at home and no matter how boring they all were, she knew she had to do them and would not give them up for the world. Her parents needed her help, and Sadie willingly did her share.<\/p>\n
Sadie looked up from her daydreaming and stared around at her classmates. They didn’t look alert and attentive either. Some of them rested their heads on their palms and others stared wistfully out of the window.<\/p>\n
The girl sitting in front of Sadie, a plump pretty child with thick yellow braids, turned and rolled her eyes at Sadie. The girl was Sadie’s best friend Ruth. Sadie smiled in return.<\/p>\n
Mr. Balicki saw this eye exchange but said nothing. He was an extremely kind man and the choice teacher for the children. He could be strict but he also understood that school was not always fun, so he did his best to make the lessons interesting. He gazed out over his sleepy class and smiled. He glanced at his watch and announced, “Only 5 more minutes of class. You may talk until I dismiss you.”<\/p>\n
Immediately the class buzzed with relieved chattering, laughing and whispering. Ruth automatically swiveled in her seat to face Sadie.<\/p>\n
“Am I glad that’s over! I have something very exciting to tell you and I didn’t get a chance to tell you this morning because I didn’t walk to school with you because you had to –”<\/p>\n
“Never mind that!” Sadie interrupted impatiently. Ruth had a tendency to get a little side-tracked. “What’s so exciting?”<\/p>\n
Ruth took a deep breath. “Well, ever since Papa died, we’ve been doing really terribly in business. The bookstore brings in almost no customers and there are so<\/u> many things to pay for! Taxes, rent, food and clothing for seven kids … you know. Well, yesterday when I came home from school I heard Mama talking with Aunt Fanny. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I did anyway. Mama was saying ‘I can’t take it anymore. Poland’s rates are too high. I cannot manage the store anymore. There is no money.’ And my Aunt Fanny said, ‘What can you do?’ There was a long silence and Mama said softly, ‘We can go to the States: America. Things are good over there. People have their rights and there are jobs. There I would have a chance to bring my children up properly.’ Well! I was very surprised, as you can imagine. I gave this big gasp which Mama and Aunt heard. They came out in the hall and there was a lot of hugging and everything. Then Mama explained the whole situation to me and we are<\/u> going to America! Can you believe it, Sadie?”<\/p>\n
Sadie sat silently. She tried to smile but her mouth just would not do it for her. If Ruth left for the States, most likely she would never see her again! Oh – why did Poland have to have such high rates! There had been talk at home of moving to the States, but where was the money for the boat passes to come from? Many of her friends had left for America, and several of her many relatives also. Sadie missed them terribly. And now Ruth! Suddenly she felt very alone. In spite of the crowded classroom, she felt isolated from the others.<\/p>\n
Ruth saw how confused and miserable her friend was, so she reassuringly took Sadie’s hand. “Come on. Don’t be sad. Maybe your family will decide to come and we can be together. But please don’t be sad. We’ll still be best friends.”<\/p>\n
Sadie felt comforted in her friends warm words but still – there was the fact that Ruth was leaving for America and she wasn’t. “When are you going?” she inquired softly.<\/p>\n
“About 2 months. It will take that long to pack and to get our boat passes. We’ll be going to New York City and living in a flat better than our own. Tedeaus, my big brother, will find himself a job as soon as he can and Mama and Aunt Fanny too. We will get along just fine!” Ruth’s normally pink cheeks flushed even darker with excitement and anticipation.<\/p>\n
Even though Sadie had a terrible sinking feeling inside her, she could identify with Ruth’s feelings. She smiled weakly and said, “I hope you have a good life in America.”<\/p>\n
Ruth sighed ecstatically. “Me too!”<\/p>\n
Sadie dejectedly looked at her itchy wool skirt and tried to keep the hot tears brimming in her eyes from overflowing down her cheeks.<\/p>\n
What would she do without Ruth?<\/p>\n
\nThat afternoon Sadie turned down all invitations and walked home alone. When she started off b y herself, she rather regretted her decision. If she had been surrounded by laughing friends, it would have been easier to keep her misery inside. But now, alone on the streets of Warsaw, it was very hard to keep her emotions inside.<\/p>\n
As she trudged home on the damp sidewalks she couldn’t help but feel sorry for herself. Ruth was one of her only real friends. Her three other intimate friends had all immigrated to America. Things were so miserable at home and with Ruth gone the situation at school would be no better. A tear overflowed and ran down her dirty cheek. She shivered in the whipping October winds. Her maroon sweater did nothing to keep out the bitter cold of Warsaw winters.<\/p>\n
As she neared her home, she looked around her with distaste. It was so bleak and dreary. All of the tenements were in different stages of ruin. Her $14-a-month flat was in the best building on her block. It had three rooms and they used to share it with another family but they had gone. That had been a relief. There were seven of them and they were all loud and boisterous and it was so cramped. Sadie had slept on the floor on a thin mattress for the whole winter. Drafts blew in through the floorboards and there were many nights that she couldn’t sleep because she was so cold.<\/p>\n
When the family moved out, she got her small iron cot back, but it wasn’t much better. The only thing to cover her was a thin cotton sheet and a drab army blanket. Stanislaus had the same kind of bed which he was steadily growing too large for. If he stretched out his full length, his feet would stick out the bed posts. He had to sleep all scrunched up which was very uncomfortable. Sadie usually slept like that anyway, but not because she was too big for the bed, but to keep warm.<\/p>\n
Her parents slept in a double bed just across the room. It was of the same kind as theirs. Right off the bedroom was a tiny, dirty bathroom. It had a slit of a window which looked out on a putrid alley in back of the building in which the city tough stalked and scrawny cats scrounged through trash cans.<\/p>\n
Facing the beds was a door and it led to three steps down into the kitchen. There was a big table in the middle of it where Stanislaus and Sadie did their homework, Mama prepared meals and she and Papa worriedly worked out expenses. There was a big black stove which rarely held a snapping fire and there was the wooden icebox and over that was a double cupboard which once was white but now the paint was peeling. The glass on the cupboard was cracked and the dishes inside were a very few. Mama did her best to make the kitchen a cheerful place by hanging up plants but these plants soon died.<\/p>\n
Sadie sighed as she turned onto her block. Slowly she made her way down the street. When she came to the corner, she saw her friend, the vegetable man. He was a very good friend of hers.<\/p>\n
“Hello, Mr. Koslosko. How are you?” Sadie inquired.<\/p>\n
The old man in a drab-grey cap and a long beige trench coat gave her a toothless smile. “I’m fine. And you?”<\/p>\n
Sadie gulped and looked at her oxfords so he would not see her misty eyes. “All right, I guess.”<\/p>\n
Mr. Koslosko obviously noticed that something was worng but he wisely said nothing. “Business goes good today. I sold many vegetables. Would you like one?”<\/p>\n
Sadie looked up at him and shrugged wistfully. “I have no money. If I had, I would buy a lettuce. Mama loves it so, but -” she turned her pockets inside out to show their emptiness.<\/p>\n
Mr. Koslosko patted her shoulder. “Your mama is a good woman. She deserves a salad so -” he turned and selected a fine head of lettuce and held it out to the astonished Sadie. “Go on – you are a good friend to me. What is one lettuce? I would rather have it go to a family like yours and have it make your Mama happy than to let it rot and be thrown away.” He grinned at her.<\/p>\n
Sadie threw her arms around the old man and hugged him tight. “Thank you so much, Mr. Koslosko. I want so much for Mama to be happy.” She took the lettuce and held it as if it was a precious jewel. “She will be so happy to have salad!” She gave a big smile to Mr. Koslosko and took off toward home, holding the lettuce carefully under her arm.<\/p>\n
Mr. Koslosko smiled at her disappearing back and turned to roll his cart to another corner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I remember almost none of this. We will discover it as we go. ONE. Sadie Sadie Pulaski, a small girl of thirteen, drummed her fingers on her stout wooden desk. Her teacher, Mr. Balicki, was droning on and on about … Continue reading