Читать книгу Newark Minutemen - Leslie K. Barry - Страница 13

On the trolley toward the docks, I clutch the suitcase between my legs so it won’t bounce. The window is frosty, but I can see Prince Street of the Third Ward where we used to live. Carts begin to line the curbs next to the shops. Pop says in this part of town they still don’t have hot water upstairs in the apartments like we do.

We pass the live poultry market where I often shop with Mama to buy chicken for Friday dinners. When we’re at the market, Ma sticks her hand in the cage and picks the chicken with the most fat on the bottom. The butcher chops it’s head off and plucks the feathers. My oldest brother, Marty, can’t stand all the blood splattered in the sawdust, but it doesn’t bother me.

The trolley clacks past dry goods stores, soda fountain shops, movie houses, bakeries, breweries, and synagogues. We stop for passengers. As bodies pack the trolley, the accents of Russians, Irish, Germans, and Italians collide. I can’t help but breathe in the hodgepodge of baked bread mixed with freshly gutted fish. Last week, I picked out a fish at the market. My ma smelled the gills and made me throw it back into the tank. Mama drives the butcher crazy. She embarrasses me when she makes him clean out the meat grinder every time. Still, he admires her.

I draw a triangle on the frosty window with the finger that sticks out of my glove and wipe away the film inside the shape. Through the cleared glass, I spot men waitin’ in the soup lines. Their knees judder against their baggy clothes like a car engine without enough fuel. Jobs are rare these days. My father and uncles are lucky. They’re bootleggers for Longie Zwillman. Pop calls Longie the King of the Jewish mob. Pop makes good money at the docks where runner boats drop booze. That’s illegal. The cops don’t bother him, though, because Longie takes care of everyone. With my finger, I add an upside-down triangle to make a star.

Just as I arrive at the foggy Newark bay docks, an old war truck swerves around me. “This ain’t a place for a kid!” the gunman hangin’ off the side yells at me. The curlin’ fog reminds me of ghosts clawin’ for my throat. Through it, it’s hard to spot any ship riggin’. I can only see the tips of bouncin’ bows. I balance myself along a braided boat line that guides me down the dock toward Pop’s runner boat at the end of the pier. I swing the suitcase to pitch me forward. As I near the boat, the mist shifts just enough for me to see my tall father. Next to him another man scratches the red stubble across his face. They’re securing ropes over the side of their boat.

When Pop opens a thermos and fills two cups, I’m close enough to sniff the roasted coffee, but he still doesn’t know I’m here. The opportunity is too good to pass. I smile to myself and spring into the boat, landin’ with a bang. Pop and the man swing around with guns aimed at my head. I dodge the flyin’ coffee just in time.

“Drek!” Pop curses. “Yael Newman! You know better than that.” He and his mate tuck the guns back under their shirts into their waistbands. Red-faced, he won’t look at me.

With my heart in my throat, I try to break the ice. “You forgot your clothes bag, Pop. I brought it for ya.” I hold his scuffed suitcase high like a trophy. My brother’s sweater swings across my knees.

After an awkward moment, Pop pulls the bag, along with me, into his arms for a hug. “Danks my son. I would have frozen and starved. Then what good would I be to Mr. Zwillman?” He slides the suitcase and pumps my cap over my eyes and back up again. The crow’s feet that bloom into a dozen crinkles around his eyes when he smiles warm me. When my father smiles, nothing in the world can hurt me.

“Joseph,” Pop’s friend says. “Longie Zwillman wouldn’t abandon you. He’s as loyal as any Jewish mob boss can be.”

“Longie takes care of his own,” my pop says. “Yael, this is my pal, Ruby.” He nods toward his partner.

Ruby extends his hand toward me, shakes it, and will not let go. “Oy vey,” Ruby says in his heavy Yiddish accent. “Your father’s right. You are very strong. I can see why you want to be a boxer.”

Suddenly, we hear heavy boots clomp against the wooden dock. Through the haunting fog, we see three men dressed like German soldiers appear and disappear. They remind me of that Grim Reaper flick with the creeper who has black holes for eyes. Their military coats sway in the wind. Adolph Hitler’s new German party haunts everyone now, even in America.

“Quick, Yael, hide,” Pop whispers, nudgin’ me. “Get under the bow.”

I scramble inside the shelter and close the canvas cover from inside. I hear Pop and Ruby’s coffee cups rattle inside the crate.

Peerin’ through a rip in the canvas, I see my hat floatin’ on the deck. With a pinch in my chest, I hear the men’s boots scrape to a stop.

“Gut morning, Kamerads,” the soldier says in a heavy German accent.

“May we help you?” my father asks. He lifts his flat, tweed cap, runs his hands through his wavy copper hair, and replaces the hat.

“How considerate,” the soldier cajoles. “I like a man with hospitality.” He squeezes the peak of his military cap.

The canvas slit is just big enough for me to see him and his tall, sinewy partner jump down into the boat. Their high black boots splash the water. With a hitch in my throat, I bend my eyes toward the dock and view the knees of a brawny third soldier.

“That’s a Yiddish accent I hear, yah?” the leader in the boat says. He trudges toward me. Before I know what hits me, a cold splash spurts through the opening and thwacks my eye. I bite my fist. He’s so close that any tweet will give me away. “My doctor in Berlin was Jewish,” he adds. “But our new German Chancellor, Führer Hitler, scared him out of town.” Through blurry vision, I see him whip a full-faced grin to the soldier on the dock.

The taller soldier behind him roams around. He checks under seats and opens crates. The black swastika on his blood-red armband plugs a lump in my throat. He rubs his sharp chin and points to the ledge of the boat. “It’s okay for me to sit here, sir?” His wry, amused voice solicits my father’s permission. As the soldier sits on the ledge without waitin’ for an answer, Pop rubs the stubble on his square jaw. The man spreads his legs. “I hope you will excuse our intrusion.” He apologizes in that fake polite way.

At the front of the boat, the leader hops up on the bow above my hidin’ place. His loud landin’ jolts me. “So, meine Freunde,” he says. “Please, have a seat. Relax on your nice boat.” He unbuttons his overcoat and the flaps slap against the canvas. Even from where I crouch under the cover, the mud on his boots reeks of rotten eggs.

Pop and Ruby follow orders and sit across from the other intruder on the boat ledge. This soldier also unbuttons his dark coat to reveal his military Sam Browne belt, supported by a narrow strap passin’ diagonally over his right shoulder. He reaches with his long arms, removes the thermos from the crate, and pours himself coffee. “Nothing like a hot cup of coffee,” he says. He wipes germs off the cup with his sleeve. “Grateful for your hospitality.” His eyes close as the muddy liquid passes between his lips. “Let me ask you,” he inhales and only then does he open his eyes. “As Americans, do you believe in democracy?”

Without a word, Pop clenches and opens his fists.

“Democracy gives you free choice, yes?” the soldier says with a condescending edge.

I hear Pop ignore him with all his might. After livin’ under the boots of Russia, my father knows the importance of bein’ able to say what’s on your mind. My throat clogs, fightin’ a scream that wants to shatter this transparent intruder into dust.

“My Kamerads and I believe in free choice, too. Don’t we?” the soldier says. He flips his head toward each of his men. “So, we are going to give you free choice today. You can choose. Hmh? You can freely surprise us with the treasures hidden on your boat. Or, we can tear you and the boat limb from limb.” He spreads his arms and smirks. “You choose.”

A cold sweat runs down my spine. They’re threatening my pop. I see his jowls bulge. He won’t let these terrorists win.

“You’ve made a mistake,” Ruby says. “There’s nothing we can do for you.”

A thin metal pipe dangles in my line of sight. It’s so close, my breath fogs it’s skin. The man sittin’ above me rubs it. My heart pops. Does he know I’m down here? I watch the steel Luger pistol roll between his hands. Then, with one swift movement, I hear him bang the grip of the barrel on the wooden bow above my head twice, flip it over, and clack the muzzle against the plank. My chest pounds. I hold my breath, imagining a bullet exiting through the gun, splintering the wood and burying itself into my skull.

Pop springs.

The soldier on the ledge of the boat aims his weapon at him.

Ruby whips out his gun and aims it at the leader above me.

The third partner on the dock aims his gun down at Ruby. “Halt!” he shouts.

The man from the ledge of the boat jumps up, seizes the gun from Ruby, and shoves him back into his seat. He pats Pop’s waist, finds his pistol, and disarms him.

Pop raises his hands and steps back.

The black boot in front of me kicks my gray cap and it slides across the slick deck. “Hmm,” he murmurs. ”Do you think the stowaway can help us? He spreads his leathered legs. “Come join us, my boy!”

My brain reels for what seems like forever. I try to convince myself I’m hidden and safe. Maybe this soldier isn’t really talkin’ to me. Could be that ignoring the order is my best choice. On the other hand, if I explode through the tarp, I can surprise attack and push these evil men into the freezin’ water. The starburst from the risin’ sun beams through the canvas hole. It blinds me. l lose control of my own free will. In that moment, I push the canvas aside, crawl between the man’s legs, and search my father’s steel eyes. Papa flicks his eyebrows, signaling me to calm. I stiffen my trembling legs.

The officer rotates me with the tip of his gun. The medals on his chest rattle. “You could pass for a German lad with your blond hair and blue eyes,” he says as he runs the barrel through my hair. “A shame you have the dirty blood of a Jew.” He props his other leather-gloved hand on his silver swastika belt buckle.

The strappin’ soldier standin’ on the dock spreads his legs. The wood thumps below his heel. “You know who we are boy?”

My eyes roll up at him. “You are Americans in the German Nazi party. Like Hitler is in Germany,” I say as steadily as I can.

“Well said.” The man’s stiff iron grin stamps his cruel manner down on me. “And you know what American-Nazis are going to do for this great country?”

“Build an Aryan movement under the swastika,” I answer.

The three Nazis laugh. One almost chokes. “Your father has been filling your blond head,” the leader next to me says. “So, mein junger Freund. What does this mean?” He stomps his foot and water splashes up my wool pants. The freezin’ wet doesn’t cool my searin’ body.

“We true Americans are going to take our country back,” he continues and leans in close. As he speaks, his face muscles move his wiry eyebrows. “We’re going to clean up America. Because our country has gotten all mixed up with all these different colored Jews, Niggers, Catholics, the unclean gays. They have muddied our pure white blood.”

“When we mix blood, kid, we lose common morals,” his cohort from the boat ledge adds. “And civilization falls. That’s the last thing any of us would want to happen to America. Don’t you agree?”

The Nazi from the wharf extends his skin-tight gloved hand to me. “Get up here, boy!” he orders.

Pop nods to me. “Do as they say.”

The German soldier from the boat ledge yanks me by the collar. My throat gags and gasps at the same time. My fingers claw at his hands and my legs pedal against his hips. He shoves me toward the Nazi on the wharf and lifts himself up on the dock. The soldier on the dock locks his arm around my neck, but not before I fill my lungs.

“Chop nicht—take it easy!” my father says.

The leader from the bow waves his luger. “Why don’t you show us what you know we want. Maybe we can make a deal?”

The gun cocks and my pop finds himself starin’ down the iron barrel. He stands. “Of course. My choice,” Pop says as he raises his hands. He wags his head at Ruby. They wrap their chapped hands around the spiky ropes hangin’ over the side of the boat. They pull up a long, steel torpedo. Pop unscrews the warhead and extracts canisters of booze hidden inside.

The leader reaches in his pocket and removes a small metal box. He plucks a rolled-up cigarette from it and pinches it between his lips. He strikes a match against the side of the box and lights the cigarette. “Ingenious!” he says as he bares his teeth. “The bombs are rigged with air so they can float.” He inhales and then holds the cigarette between his two right fingers. “See, now we can be Freunde,” he says to my father. He blows the smoke and stabs it with his right hand. “Heil Hitler!” He waits for Pop and Ruby to return the salute. They refuse. He grins and neighs like a horse.

The American-Nazi leader rubs his leather-covered palms together. He throws Pop’s worn suitcase onto the dock at my feet. He springs from the boat onto the wharf and joins me. “Shnell!” the leader barks at Pop and Ruby. “Get the merchandise out and into the truck at the end of the dock.”

Then he orders his soldiers. “We don’t have all morning. Get these vermin working.” The soldiers aim their guns at my father and Ruby and watch them labor.

The leader sits down on the edge of the dock next to me. “Junge! Open the suitcase,” he says as if he’s celebrating his birthday. “Show me the goodies you brought us.”

I click the latches and hand him my mother’s homemade food from the bag. His cigarette flips off his fingertips and sails into the gnashin’ water below. He chomps into the thick bread that sandwiches my mother’s lamb from Friday night. Crumbs flip everywhere. He pats the dock. “Relax with me, Junge,” he says.

Burnin’ with outrage, I raise my chin and watch Pop and Ruby unload the bottles.

“I said sit!” he shouts. My insides curdle like milk with lemon as the foreign beast chews my family’s food like a horse. But I do as he commands.

His chewin’ pricks my nerves like barbwire, but not as bad as the German tune he hums. I distract myself by watchin’ Pop lift crates. His powerful chest loads with air each time he hoists. His strong back stretches his jacket when he lifts.

When Pop and Ruby finish, they stand on the dock between the two other soldiers.

The Nazi leader pushes himself up and kicks my thigh. I have never been so close to raw evil before, glimpsing its underbelly, reading it’s pockmarks and bulgin’ red veins. The Nazi extends his hand. He tries to overpower me.

“We had a deal,” Pop’s monotone voice warns.

A stillness wafts. I scramble up on my own.

Pop grits his jaw and narrows his eyes.

The Nazi’s breath scalds my neck for what seems like minutes.

“Abhauen!” the commander yells at me to scram. Maybe manmade evil has a soft spot? I’m not sure, but I hesitate. If I flee, my fear will give it power.

My father breaks the stalemate. “Yael, leave.” The sound of my name flutters against my cheek like a moth. “Geyn. My malach.”

I step backwards, heal-first, down the dock, alternating my eyes between the raiders and the footprints my wet shoes stamp against the wood. I strain to hear the voices, but the splashin’ water against the pylons muffles them. My father vanishes and reappears through the smoky fog. I hear the Nazis command Pop and Ruby to strip off their shirts and put their hands behind their backs.

In a moment when the fog clears, father’s chalky torso appears. His arm blurs and he slinks a knife from underneath his belt. He swings it. The fog hinders my view. But the sounds tell the story. I hear the knife clack against the dock. My throat moans.

The haze thins. The soldiers’ licorice-colored coats waft through the mist. Pop and Ruby struggle. The Nazis bind the prisoners’ pink arms behind their backs. I watch, horrified as one of the crow-like men slips a muddy rope-loop around each of the bare necks.

The commander scoops up the knife from the dock and points it at my father’s face. “You dropped your knife,” he jeers. A loud, low fog horn in the harbor bellows. “Hold him still,” I hear him say. The officer twists the blade into my father’s chest. He carves a swastika. The whale-like drone of the foghorn swallows Pop’s groan.

My heart rants at the men. Stop! How could you? My thoughts race in circles like a marble loopin’ down a pipe. Then my heart rants at me. Act! My desperation double-crosses me. My boots nail to the wharf. My feet won’t move.

The two other Nazis push Pop and Ruby off the pier. The early sun paints the sea under them a yellow green. I grasp one last look from my pop’s valiant eyes as he falls. My heart rips like a cotton bedsheet torn for rags. There is a snap. My father and Ruby swing from the pylons. Their ankles quiver. Then their heavy shoes dangle toward the waves. Their bodies bounce against the post, knock into each other and revolve like two stones on strings.

The American-Nazi waves his Heil Hitler salute at me. Now that I’ve grasped evil, its shadow stands toe to toe with me. I have nowhere to hide. That only leaves me one choice—to fight for my life.