Read Online Threads and Flames by Esther Friesner - Free Book Online Page B

firm. Zusa’s face creased with anxiety. She began to ask a question that faded from her lips as Raisa bent down again and leaned into the darkened bunk.
    The woman’s hands lay cold on top of the overcoat that was her blanket. Her face was so white that Raisa could see it even in the shadows. There was no sound of breathing. Raisa closed her eyes and murmured a prayer before turning back to Zusa and Brina.
    â€œI think—I think you should go get one of the crew,” Raisa told her friend. “You can speak German.” She took Brina back and hugged the little girl fiercely. “I’ll take her to our berths.”
    â€œAll right,” Zusa said. “But I don’t think the doctor will come down to steerage.”
    â€œHe won’t have to,” Raisa said. She carried Brina away.

Chapter Four
    THE GOLDEN LAND
    R aisa took Brina to the shelter of Zusa’s lower berth and huddled there while steerage erupted into an uproar as word of the woman’s death spread. She saw several crewmen briskly going about the necessary business of restoring order, heard hysterical shrieking as people demanded to know whether the cause of death was anything contagious, and tried to give the child in her arms a little comfort by singing all the lullabies she could remember. When she ran out of songs, she turned to storytelling, but her attempts to distract Brina were interrupted when a young crewman stopped beside the bunk, squatted, and asked her to come with him. He spoke good Polish, so there was no problem understanding him.
    â€œThis is the child, yes?” he asked, his eyes filled with pity as he looked at Brina. She responded by burying her head against Raisa’s neck.
    â€œHer name is Brina,” Raisa said. “Can you tell me what—why her mother—you know?”
    â€œThe ship’s doctor said it must have been her heart. He claims she was fine whenever he examined her.”
    If he examined her at all, Raisa thought bitterly.
    â€œI’m surprised the company doctors didn’t find a problem before she boarded,” the young man went on. “But these things happen. How well did you know her? Did she mention any family besides this little one? Did she say anything about her plans once they got to New York City?”
    Raisa shook her head. “We didn’t speak much. All I know is that she was a widow. Maybe she was carrying something that said—”
    â€œNothing.” The crewman sighed. “This is very bad. Poor angel.” He patted Brina’s hair.
    â€œWhat’s going to happen to her?” Raisa asked. “Will they send her back?”
    â€œBack to where? Back to whom?” The young man raised his hands, helpless. “There’s been some sort of irregularity with the records concerning this child and her mother, places where the information is incomplete. How could such a thing have escaped notice? It’s terrible. We don’t know how to find the child’s relatives on either side of the ocean, or even if she has any family at all. With no one to take responsibility for her, she’ll be sent back by the United States immigration authorities and that will cost the shipping company a lot of money. They have to pay a big fine for every immigrant who’s rejected at Ellis Island, you know, and that’s besides the expense of her passage back. And for what? So they can put her in a German orphanage? I’m betting that our captain pulls some strings and calls in some favors once we land so that he can stow her in an orphanage in New York. If he can do that, at least the shipping company won’t have to foot the bill for her return.”
    An uneasy look came into his eyes. “I wish there were another choice for her. I once shipped with a sailor from New York. He, too, was orphaned young and packed off to one of those places. The stories he told!” A small but noticeable shiver shook the young