Jewish fiction; Jews -- New York (State) -- New York -- Fiction; Lower East Side (New York, N.Y.) -- Fiction; Short stories
“Then you’re looking for work?” he questioned with keen
interest. She was so different from the others he had known in his five
years in this country. He was seized with curiosity to know more.
“You ain’t been long in America?” His tone was an unconscious
caress.
“Two years already,” she confessed. “But I ain’t so green like
I look,” she added quickly, overcome by the old anxiety.
“Trust yourself on me,” Sam Arkin assured her. “I’m a feller
that knows himself on a person first off. I’ll take you to the office
myself. Wait only till I put away these things.”
Grinning with eagerness, he returned and together they sought the
foreman.
“Good luck to you! I hope you’ll be pushed up soon to my floor,”
Sam Arkin encouraged, as he hurried back to his machine.
Because of the rush of work and the scarcity of help, Shenah Pessah was
hired without delay. Atremble with excitement, she tiptoed after the
foreman as he led the way into the workroom.
“Here, Sadie Kranz, is another learner for you.” He addressed a
big-bosomed girl, the most skillful worker in the place.
“Another greenhorn with a wooden head!” she whispered to her
neighbor as Shenah Pessah removed her shawl. “Gevalt! All these
greenhorn hands tear the bread from our mouths by begging to work so
cheap.”
But the dumb appeal of the immigrant stirred vague memories in Sadie
Kranz. As she watched her run her first seam, she marveled at her
speed. “I got to give it to you, you have a quick head.” There was
conscious condescension in her praise.
Shenah Pessah lifted a beaming face. “How kind it was from you to
learn me! You good heart!”
No one had ever before called Sadie Kranz “good heart.” The words
lingered pleasantly.
“Ut! I like to help anybody, so long it don’t cost me nothing. I
get paid by the week anyhow,” she half apologized.
Shenah Pessah was so thrilled with the novelty of the work, the
excitement of mastering the intricacies of her machine, that she
did not realize that the day was passed until the bell rang, the
machines came to a halt, and the “hands” made a wild rush for the
cloak-room.
“Oi weh! Is it a fire?” Shenah Pessah blanched with dread.
Loud laughter quelled her fears. “Greenie! It’s six o’clock. Time
to go home,” chorused the voices.
“Home?” The cry broke from her. “Where will I go? I got
no home.” She stood bewildered, in the fast-dwindling crowd of
workers. Each jostling by her had a place to go. Of them all, she alone
was friendless, shelterless!
“Help me find a place to sleep!” she implored, seizing Sadie Kranz
by the sleeve of her velvet coat. “I got no people. I ran away.”
Sadie Kranz narrowed her eyes at the girl. A feeling of pity crept over
her at sight of the outstretched, hungry hands.
“I’ll fix you by me for the while.” And taking the shawl off the
shelf, she tossed it to the forlorn bundle of rags. “Come along. You
must be starved for some eating.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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