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street, then at our luggage – his navy sack and my schoolbag. He picked up the sack, handed me the schoolbag and we turned to enter the omnibus station where there were lots of big buses and long queues.
    ‘Finbar, the world is at war,’ Dad said. ‘We’re in danger because of being on the
Lusitania
. You didn’t realise what a big step you took hiding on board the
Lusitania
! Our ship needs to be protected by Royal Navy battleships when we’re at sea. The Atlantic Ocean is enemy territory. Get it now?’
    But I decided to forget about the danger for a while. I was in America with my Dad. It was a great adventure.

CHAPTER 14
N EW Y ORK C OMFORTS
    O ur three days in New York passed like lightning and were full of new experiences. That very first day Dad and I bought two hotdogs from a stall in the omnibus station, and ate them savagely because we were starving. Then we joined the queue for the bus. We had huge grins on our faces as we sat at the front where we had a good view of everyone passing up and down the streets.
    ‘We are on Manhattan island, son,’ said Dad. ‘The avenues are north to south,’ he explained, ‘and the streets east to west.’
    ‘It’s called “man-hat-on”,’ I joked because the scene made me feel cheeky and both of us had our caps on, his peaked naval one and my school cap.
    We got out and walked past a sign for 16 th Street. At No.132 was Ward’s Rooming House and we went up the steps there and in through double doors. Dad rang the bell at the desk and a woman came out through beads on cords that rattled as she moved.
    ‘Well hello, Captain Jack,’ she said. Her hair was tied up on her head with what looked to me like small sticks, and she wore spectacles. ‘Oh wow, you brought one of your sons! He looks really like you.’ The woman had big white shining teeth that filled her smiling face. ‘Going to sea at a young age, eh?’ she said to me. ‘Aren’t you the brave lad!’ She caught me by the ear, tugging at it until I began to laugh loudly.
    ‘This is my son Finbar. This is Josephine Weir,’ Dad introduced us.
    ‘Well, I am mighty glad to meet you, Finbar,’ said Josephine. ‘How long are you staying this time?’ she asked Dad.
    ‘Three nights.’ Dad signed the book. ‘How is everything in Weir’s famous rooming house?’
    ‘Tonight I’m getting out of here to go bowling – and leaving the others get on with the work.’ She lit a cigarette and blew smoke out of her mouth in a little cloud. ‘I bet Finbar would like a hot tub.’ Josephine came from behind the desk and put her hand around my shoulder in a hug. ‘What a fine boy, and a handsome boy too.’ She grinned, showingher pearly teeth again. ‘You sailors can dump your luggage in the locker behind the desk, go get a hot tub and come back later. Your luggage will be brought to your room – it’s on the seventh floor, I’m afraid, as we’re almost booked out. April is kinda the start of the summer season, you know.’ She exhaled smoke again, talking between drags of the cigarette. We pushed the luggage into the locker.

    Before we left the hostel Dad had a piece of advice for me. ‘If you get lost in the next few days, son, find an Irish cop and he’ll show you the way to Weir’s place.’ Then he tweaked me on the nose. ‘Hey, after what you’ve done you won’t get lost, will you? You’re thirteen, now – let’s hope it’s a lucky year for you, Finbar.’
    We set out for Bowery Bath House where at the entrance were lots of shops, cafés, laundries for washing clothes, barber’s shops and bars. Beyond, in the corridors, people filed along in bathrobes in their bare feet, with wet hair, the women and girls down one corridor, the men and boys along another. The corridors were so wide and high they looked like streets. I got a cubicle number and Dad got one too, and we changed into our bathrobes. My cubicle had a door that led into a small,steamy compartment where there was a big bath.