D.
Now a new to-do starts up — saying goodbye. We go from house to house to say our goodbyes. We’ve already been to all our relatives, neighbors, and friends. At the home of our in-law Yoneh the baker, we spend a whole day. Our in-laws have prepared a supper for us, invited the family, and put beer on the table. They seat me separately with my sister-in-law’s little sister Alteh. I already told you about her. She’s a year older than me and wears two braids twisted together to look like a bagel. They once talked about us as a future match, and since then, whenever we are seen together, they call us “the bride and groom.” But that doesn’t keep us from speaking to each other. She asks me if I’ll miss her. Certainly I’ll miss her! Then she asks if I’ll write her letters from America. Certainly I’ll write her letters!
“How will you write them? Do you know how to write?”
“It’s easy to learn how to write in America!” I stuff my hands in my pockets. Alteh looks at me and smiles. I know why she’s smiling. She envies me that I am going to America.
They all envy me, even Yossi the baker’s son Cross-Eyed Henich, who would drown me in a spoonful of water if he could! He stops me and blinks his bad eye at me. “Listen here, you. So you’re going to America!”
“Yes, I’m going to America.”
“What will you do there — go begging from house to house?”
Lucky for him my brother Elyahu isn’t nearby. He would have slapped him around for that jibe! I don’t want to start up with him, the stuck-up lummox. I stick my tongue out at him and run off to our neighbor Pessi to say goodbye to her gang. It’s quite a gang! All eight of them surround me and ask me if I’m happy that I’m going to America. What a question! I feel very confident. They’re all jealous.
More than anyone, Hershl is jealous. He’s the one they call Vashti on account of the birthmark on his forehead. He can’t keep his eyes off me. He sighs and says, “You’ll be seeing the whole world!”
Yes, I’ll be seeing the whole world! I can’t wait!
E.
Now Lazer has arrived with his “eagles,” three fiery horses! They can’t stand still. Either they’re pawing the ground or they’re snorting and spraying my face. I don’t know what to do first — should I look at the horses, or should I help carry the bundles and the pillows into the wagon? I can manage both things. I stand next to the horses and watch the bundles and pillows beds carried out, creating a full wagon of pillows, a mountain of bedding. It’s time to get in and go. We have forty-five versts to the railroad station. Everybody is here. I and my brother Elyahu, my sister-in-law Bruche, our friend Pinni and his wife Teibl, and their whole family — Pinni’s father Hersh-Leib the mechanic, Shneur the clockmaker, Pinni’s in-laws the miller and his wife, Aunt Kryni’s daughter with the birdlike face, and even the old grandfather Reb Hessi — all have come to advise Pinni on how to behave in America. From my family only our in-laws have come, Yoneh the baker and his sons. Too bad I didn’t acquaint you with them. Now is not the time. We’re going to America. Everyone is crowding around us, warning us to watch out for thieves.
“In America there are no thieves,” my brother Elyahu says, and pats his pocket. My mother has sewn in the money there so cleverly that no thief on earth would even think there was a pocket there. That’s where all the money from the sale of our half of the house is hidden. Apparently it’s quite a stash, because everyone’s asking him if he’s safely hidden the money.
“Quite safely! Don’t worry!” my brother Elyahu says. He’s sick and tired of having to give everyone an accounting. We’re told it’s time to say goodbye. They all get ready for it.
We look around — my mother is gone! Where is she? No one knows. My brother Elyahu is beside himself! Our friend Pinni has lost his tie. Lazer says we might miss the train. Good, here comes my mother. Her face is red, her eyes swollen.
My brother Elyahu jumps all over her. “What’s the matter with you? Where were you?”
“At the cemetery, to say goodbye to Papa.”
My brother Elyahu turns away. We are all speechless. Ever since we decided to go to America, this is the first time that our father has crossed my mind. I feel a twinge in my heart. Everyone is going to America, and my poor father is remaining behind in the cemetery, all alone. They don’t let me think about this too long. They shout out to me and tell me to climb up on the wagon. How can I climb up on such a tall wagon with that mountain of bedding? There’s a solution — Lazer puts his broad shoulders under me, and up I go!
Suddenly everyone is kissing, weeping, and wailing, worse than Tisha B’Av. More than anyone my mother is crying. She throws her arms around our neighbor Pessi. “You have been a sister to me, dearer than a sister!” she says. Our neighbor Pessi doesn’t cry, but her double chin is trembling, and tears as big as peas roll silently down her fat, shiny cheeks. We’ve all finished kissing — except for Pinni. To see Pinni kissing people, you don’t need theater. Because he’s nearsighted, he can’t find the right place to kiss. He kisses a beard or the tip of a nose, or he bumps foreheads. To make matters worse, when he walks, he hops and gets tangled up in his own feet. I tell you, watching Pinni, you can get a bellyache laughing.
But thank God we’re all sitting in the wagon, or on the wagon, on top. Sitting on and between pillows are my mother, Bruche, and Teibl. Across from them are my brother Elyahu and his friend Pinni. Lazer and I sit on the coachman’s seat. My mother wants me to sit at her feet, but my brother Elyahu says I’m better off on the coachman’s seat. I’m definitely better off there! I can see everybody, and everybody can see me. Lazer takes hold of the whip. The crowd shouts goodbye. The women weep.
“Be well!”
“God be with you!”
“Write us about your health!”
“Be successful!”
“Don’t forget us!”
“Write every week, for God’s sake, a letter every week!”
“Give regards to Moishe and Basya, and Meyer and Zlate and Chaneh-Perl and Sarah-Ruchl and their children.”
“We wish you luck! Be safe! Be well!” we shout back from the wagon, and I swear we are on our way. Lazer lashes the three eagles. He treats them to a blow from a stick. The wheels turn. We’re shaking and swaying. I bounce on the coachman’s seat and almost fall off from happiness. I feel a tickle in my throat and I want to sing.
We’re going, we’re going, we’re going to America!
XIII
WE STEAL ACROSS THE BORDER
A.
Riding on a train is paradise! Riding in a wagon isn’t bad either, but it shakes a lot and afterward your sides hurt. Lazer’s horses really do fly like eagles, but still it takes a long time to get to the station, and when we get there, it’s hard to get down from the wagon. It’s easier for me than for the rest — after all, I’m right beside Lazer on the coachman’s seat. It’s a hard seat and my bones ache, but I can jump off in a minute. The others can’t jump.
It’s worst of all for the women — they’re buried in bundles. First we have to get all the bundles and all the bedding off the wagon, and then we can pull the women out one by one. And Lazer does it all. He’s an angry man, always cursing, but he’s an honest, dependable coachman. Too bad he dumps us all with the bundles and the bedding at the train station and then goes off looking for a return fare. We feel abandoned by him. First of all, we have problems with the Gentile station guard. He’s unhappy with all the bundles, especially the bedding. What concern is it of his that we’re taking a lot of pillows? My mother talks politely to him, tells him we’re going to America. That makes him even angrier, and he tells us to go to a place I’m ashamed to mention.