Read Online May the Road Rise Up to Meet You: A Novel by Peter Troy - Free Book Online Page A

mad again.
    Mrs. Quigley doyed, he offers, as if confronting Suah with the truth. You said she was okay, an’ then when I went below today, I found out she doyed yesterday mahrnin’.
    Suah just shakes his head and then says, Yes, I am sorry that she dies, Etan. When I see her last she is very sick and I think she will not make it. I am sorry for your loss.
    It doesn’t seem like much of an explanation, and as Suah asks Ethan about his brother and Da, and explains that the passenger ships coming into New York land on the other side of the island, which is probably where they’ve gone to look for him, Ethan is listenin’ only halfway at best. They will come to find him soon, he assures him, but Ethan’s not ready to believe another one of Suah’s promises.
    Well, dis is not a good place for a young boy just new to de country, Suah says, and sits down beside Ethan. I will wait wit’ you Etan, and if dey do not come today, I will hide you away back on de ship for de night and we will find dem before de ship leave in t’ree days. But first … he says, then leaves off as he stands back up and signals to Ethan to wait right there.
    Suah walks to one of the shops not far from the pier, and Ethan has time to think about Mrs. Quigley and the rest of the nineteen who didn’t survive the trip, for the first time realizing that Suah might’ve actually saved his life. Now the guilt bears down upon him, and is worse when Suah returns with a large piece of cheese, a loaf of bread, and something that looks like a slab of cooked beef. Ethan can hardly eat any of it, choked up with shame the way he is, and as Suah talks about the city they see before them, all Ethan can think of is
how do you thank someone for savin’ yer life?
Finally an idea comes to him and he reaches inside his satchel, takes out
The Odyssey
, and offers it to Suah without saying anything.
    We eat first, Suah says, den we can read some.
    It’s
yours
, Ethan says. I wancha t’have it.
    It takes a moment until Suah realizes what Ethan’s saying, then he shakes his head, as if he’ll have nothing of it.
    You must have your favorite book wit’ you on your
own
journey, he says.
    Ethan’s disappointed and relieved all at the same time, and he opens the satchel again as another idea strikes him, making perfect sense to him now. He could never give away Aislinn’s Shakespeare book, and it’d be difficult to lose Odysseus and Suah in the same day, but he sees how it’s all connected now, and why Aunt Em walked those extra miles the night before they arrived in Newry.
    Paradise, Suah says, as Ethan hands the book to him. Etan, I cannot—
    Please, Ethan interrupts. I wancha t’have it fer … fer savin’ me.
    Suah hesitates, then takes hold of the book with both hands as if it’s a sacred scroll.
    T’ank you, my friend, he says. I never have a book of my own before.
    He smiles and Ethan does too, sayin’ a small thank-you to Aunt Em for what she’d done. They eat their food, and Ethan can feel his stomach fill up like it hasn’t in as long as he remembers. They read a little, but mostly look out at the city, watching the people passing. An hour goes by before Suah walks back to the shop for some more bread and cheese, and when he returns he tells Ethan about landing on this side of the island so that they could get into the city without being quarantined. He talks about the South Street Port where they usually land and how busy it is, but all that Ethan can think about then are the Quigleys and the rest of the nineteen who died on the way, and even Aislinn. It doesn’t matter where they landed, he still feels guilty for havin’ been allowed to make it even this far when too many others never got the chance. Suah nods his head as Ethan confides this to him, as if he knows the feeling himself.
    Dere were t’ree hundred on de ship from Africa, Suah says, looking off into the distance as he speaks, almost the way Mr. Hanratty would. Da man to de right