What the Moon Said (2 page)

“I don't see Pa,” Violet said, rising up on her toes to see better.

Esther stood up to look, too. She peered around the huge, steaming gray tubs. Pools of water were everywhere and the wet concrete was slippery. Esther eyed it wistfully. Pa had told her more than once not to slide on it. But Pa was not there. Esther ran a few steps and slid. It was so much fun, she did it again. “Wheeee!” she squealed. “Come on, Vi. Slide with me!”

At that moment, the door to the office opened. Esther froze. Pa and Mr. Zeigler came out. Mr. Zeigler had one hand on Pa's back.

“I'm sorry, Chris,” Mr. Zeigler said. “You're a good worker. I don't want to let you go. But my wife's brother arrives in two weeks and he'll need a job. What can I do?”

Esther gasped. Violet's mouth fell open. The girls stared at each other. Pa was losing his job! Without a word, they scurried away before Pa could see them.

Outside, they slumped down onto the curb. A gray horse plodded past, pulling a wagon full of ice blocks packed in sawdust. Gray horses were Esther's favorite, but she barely glanced at this one. “Pa can get another job, can't he?” she asked Violet.

Violet waited until the wagon had rumbled past. “Sure, I guess,” she said. “But lately jobs are harder to find. That's why there are so many people in the soup line. They can't find work. You've heard the news on the radio every night. You know all the trouble there's been with banks and businesses closing. That's what happened to Shirley's father.”

Esther had indeed heard the news each night. Pa would not think of missing it. He and Ma often talked about it afterward, too—about the hard times that were coming. And Esther had felt truly sorry for the people who would suffer. But she'd never imagined hard times would come to them. She felt foolish now, but somehow she'd thought they were safe from the trouble that threatened everyone else. She had always
felt
safe. Until now.

“WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF PA CAN'T FIND
another job?” Esther's voice quivered, and she knew tears were not far away. Would her family be put out of their apartment like the Kozlowskis had been? Would all their furniture, even their beds, be piled on the sidewalk? Would they soon be joining those people in the soup line? Would they be hungry and dirty, with no home and no food? Esther remembered the boy with the thin, pale cheeks. Her heart beat so hard, she could barely breathe. Could such a horrible thing happen to her family?

“Ma and Pa will think of something,” Violet told her. But Esther heard the worry in her sister's voice. It made her more frightened than ever.

Slowly, they climbed the stairs to their third-floor apartment. The little bells above the front door tinkled when they opened it, and Ma looked up from her dusting. She could tell from their faces that something bad had happened. She dropped her dust cloth and asked, “What is it? What's wrong?”

Violet told Ma what they'd overheard. Esther stood trembling beside Violet. If only Ma would hug her and say, “It will be all right.” That would make the trembling stop, Esther was sure. And if Ma loved Esther more, she might say and do these things. But Ma did not love her enough. Not yet.

“I vas afraid something like this vould happen,” Ma moaned, sinking onto the nearest chair. When Ma was upset, she slipped back to pronouncing
w
's like
v
's, as they were in the Old Country. “That ring,” she continued, wringing her hands. “I knew it vould bring us trouble.”

Suddenly Esther remembered. The ring around the moon Ma had seen the night before! “You knew.” She looked at Ma with wide eyes. “You
always
know. Will you teach me how to read signs, too? Please, Ma.”

But Ma was staring out the window. She didn't seem to hear. Esther finally gave up and went to tell her doll, Margaret, the terrible news.

• • •

Pa and Julia arrived together that night, and Esther could tell by the pinched edges of Julia's smile that she'd already heard the news. Julia sat beside Esther at the table and gave her hand a quick squeeze. Pa walked across the room with slumped shoulders. When Walter ran up for Pa to swing him in the air, Pa just patted his head.

“Zeigler has to let me go,” he told Ma, each word sounding heavy and tired. “Two more weeks and I will be without work.”

Pa wasn't afraid of anything, not even the biggest, ugliest spiders. But Esther heard fear in his voice now, and her heart shuddered.

Ma set a pot of stew on the table. “Sit. Eat,” she said in a softer than usual voice. “It will be all right.” Here were the words that Esther had longed to hear earlier, but Pa's face still looked worried, so they did not bring as much comfort as she'd expected.

There was never much conversation at the Vogel table. Ma believed children shouldn't speak during meals unless they were spoken to. That was how it had been when she grew up in Russia. Pa sometimes told a story about something that had happened at the laundry. Ma sometimes shared bits of neighborhood news. But meals were mostly quiet.

That night the quiet was different. It was so thick, it seemed to press around Esther like a blanket. Only it wasn't warm and comforting like the blanket on her bed. It was heavy and hot and made her desperate to shove it away. Only the clink of silverware and the creak of chairs disturbed it. Esther found herself purposely making more noise with her fork than she needed to. Ma glanced sharply at her once, but she did not scold. Perhaps the silence bothered her, too.

Esther wasn't hungry. She had to force herself to chew and swallow, chew and swallow. Ma expected everyone to eat everything on their plates, always. Food was not to be wasted. Finally, Ma and Pa stood up and went into the parlor. When no one was looking, Esther spat her last mouthful of food into the garbage pail. Then she helped Violet with the dishes while Julia put Walter to bed. But her gaze kept returning to the closed parlor door.

“They're still in there,” Esther said when the last spoon was dried and put away.

“I wonder what they're saying,” Violet said, edging a little nearer to the door.

“We'll find out soon enough,” Julia observed, coming back into the kitchen. “No snooping, Violet Vogel.”

Violet flushed and backed away from the door. But she complained, “It's not fair that they're talking in the parlor. We can't listen to the radio. And it's time for
The Smith Family
!”
The Smith Family
was the Vogel family's favorite show. Pa never missed it.

“It can't be helped,” Julia said. “But we can still have fun. Why don't we play rummy?”

“The cards are in the parlor,” Violet reminded her.

Julia bit her lip. “That's right. I wasn't thinking. Well then, why don't we read at the table? That will be fun, too.”

Esther was quick to agree, but Violet made a face.

“Oh, come on,” Esther told her. “Julia's right. It'll be fun.”

“For you, maybe,” Violet said, but she trudged after Esther to their bedroom.

Violet brought her writing tablet and a pencil back to the kitchen. She sighed. “I have a composition to write for Monday. I might as well start it now.”

Esther opened her library book, but the story wasn't as exciting as she remembered. It couldn't keep her attention from wandering back to the parlor. What was being said there? Would Ma and Pa think of a place where Pa might find work?

The minute hand crawled around the kitchen clock. Half an hour passed. Forty-five minutes. Esther quit trying to read. She set her book down. Violet had stopped writing to gaze at the parlor door. Julia was doing the same thing.

Finally, the door opened and Ma and Pa appeared. The slump in Pa's shoulders was gone.

“Ma and I have made a decision,” he announced. “We are going to buy a farm.” His gray eyes sparkled with excitement. “We have been saving for a long time to buy a house here in Chicago. But with times so bad, cities are not a good place to be. Better to move to the country. Better to have our own land and work for ourselves.”

Ma nodded in agreement, although her dark eyes were sober. “It will not be easy,” she said, “but it can be a good life for us. A better life.”

Esther stared at them, too astonished to speak. Live on a farm? In the
country
?

“But Ma,” Julia protested, “we can't just leave Chicago. All our family and friends are here. And my job. Besides, we aren't farmers.”

“I was a farmer until I left Germany,” Pa reminded her. “I can be a farmer again.”

Esther tried to picture it. “Will the farm be far away?” she asked.

“I have to find it first,
Liebling,
” Pa said. “But I hope not too far.”

Violet looked sick. “Will we go soon? What if we don't like it? Can we come back?”

Ma frowned. “You ask too many questions,” she said. “It is late. There will be plenty of time to talk tomorrow. Now it is time for bed.”

When they all just stared at her, she made a shooing motion with her hands.
“Nu?”
This was a Russian word that meant “Well?” The way Ma had said it meant she was annoyed. “What did I say? Good night!”

The girls knew better than to argue. But when Esther and Violet slipped into the bed they shared a few minutes later, Violet choked out, “A farm! How can Pa be so h-happy? It will be awful!”

Esther tried to comfort her. “Pa and Ma must know what's best,” she said. She didn't dare say what she was really thinking—that on a farm there were bound to be animals. Cows. Horses. Maybe even a dog. Of course, it would mean leaving her school, her teacher . . . and all her friends. An unexpected sob swelled in her throat. Tears filled her eyes.

Even with animals, would Esther really like living on a farm? She had always lived in Chicago. She didn't know what it was like to live anyplace else. Would there be towns near the farm with schools and ice cream shops? Would there be a library? And what about movie theaters? Why, she might never find out what happened to Rin Tin Tin in the final episode of
The Lone Defender
! Esther felt hot tears rolling down her cheeks. Violet was right. It was going to be awful. And all because of some horrid old ring around the moon!

FROM THE STREET BELOW, A PEDDLER
called, “Po-
taaay
-toes! Fine po-
taaay
-toes!” His horse's hooves clip-clopped on the pavement.

Esther sat up in bed and scrabbled beneath the sheet until she found Margaret. The doll had been a gift from Kate and Julia the Christmas Esther was five. Margaret had golden curls, a frilly pink dress, even real satin slippers. Esther had never seen a doll so beautiful. As the years passed, first one and then the other of her tiny shoes had been lost. Her dress had grown faded and worn. And her curls had gone limp from brushing. But Esther still thought Margaret was beautiful. She especially loved the doll's china-blue eyes. They never failed to look interested in whatever Esther had to say.

“Today's the day we move to the farm,” she whispered, hugging Margaret close. “But don't be scared. Julia says it's going to be a great adventure. I just wish she was coming with us.” Esther sighed. Julia had convinced Ma and Pa to let her stay behind with Kate. Kate was the oldest sister in the Vogel family. She was ten whole years older than Esther, and she was married. She and her husband, Howard, had an apartment with an extra bedroom.

“I can be company for Kate when Howard works at night,” Julia had pleaded. “And I can keep my job at the telephone company.” Both reasons were true enough. But Esther knew there was another reason Julia wanted to stay in Chicago. She didn't want to leave David. David was a tall young man with laughing eyes and crinkly red hair. He and Julia planned to be married as soon as they saved up enough money.

Esther hugged Margaret tighter. She didn't want to say good-bye to Julia. Julia was the sister she was closest to, even if Violet was nearer to her in age. She and Violet were very different. Violet didn't love books. She didn't enjoy school. She didn't like animals. And she didn't pretend things in her head the way Esther did.

“What's the point?” Violet would say. And Esther didn't know how to explain the magic of pretending. Julia understood without explaining. She spun daydreams right along with Esther—dreams of riding an elephant, or singing on the radio, even flying an airplane like Amelia Earhart!

“Now you're going to have a real adventure,” Julia told Esther the night before the move. “And you must write to me and tell me all about it.”

Esther's spirits had lifted at that. She'd never had anyone to write letters to before. “Will you write back?” she asked.

Julia laughed. “Of course I will! Just wait and see.”

Remembering Julia's promise, Esther cheered up. It would be fun to get letters. And it would be fun to have a real adventure instead of just pretend ones.

“Es!” Violet hissed, poking her head into the room. “Ma's looking for you.”

Esther dropped Margaret and scrambled out of bed. Ma thought Esther was too old for dolls. She said so more and more often lately. She wouldn't be happy if she found Esther playing with Margaret on such a busy morning. Esther snatched clean underwear from her drawer and hurried into the bathroom. A few minutes later, dressed in yesterday's jumper with a fresh white blouse, Esther started for the kitchen, where Ma and Pa were talking.

“In the dream it was as if Tatiana was trying to warn me,” she heard Ma say fretfully.

Tatiana! Esther stopped abruptly. That was the sister Aunt Olga said Esther looked like. What had Ma dreamed about her?

“Did she speak to you?” Pa asked. “What did she say?”

“She did not speak. She just stood there with a suitcase in her hand.”

“That doesn't sound so terrible,” Pa replied.

“But it had been raining. Rain at the start of a journey is always an omen of bad fortune. Maybe—maybe the move is a mistake.” Esther had never heard Ma sound so uncertain.

“Sometimes a dream is just a dream, Anna,” said Pa. “Besides, you say it
had
been raining. So the rain had stopped. The sun was probably about to come out. That would make it a dream of
good
fortune.”

“Maybe you are right . . . ,” Ma said.

“Of course I am,” Pa said. “Now, no more worries. I must go watch for the movers.”

Esther listened to his footsteps go out of the apartment and down the stairs before she went into the kitchen. Ma was wrapping plates in old newspaper and stacking them in a metal washtub. Esther was relieved to hear her humming softly under her breath. She must have decided that Pa was right and this time a dream was just a dream.

“There you are!” Ma said when she saw Esther. “You must hurry and eat. The movers will be here soon and there is still much work to be done.”

Esther ate the slice of homemade bread Ma had set out for her. She drank her glass of milk. And all the while she watched Ma. How quickly her hands flew from one plate to the next. Already the tub was nearly full. The next time Esther saw those plates, she'd be in the new house on the farm. She'd have begun her first real adventure.

Impulsively, Esther said, “It's an exciting day, isn't it, Ma?”

Ma's hands paused at their work. She looked surprised by Esther's question. But she nodded. “Yes. A very exciting day.” Her voice was soft. A smile played at the corners of her mouth. Esther smiled back at her. It was as if she and Ma shared a special secret.

“Can I help you pack the dishes, Ma?” she asked. If Ma said yes, she'd work her hardest and fastest. Then Ma might say, “
Nu,
Esther, what would I do without you?” She might even give Esther a hug. Barely breathing, Esther waited for Ma's reply.

But Ma shook her head. “No. You go help Violet with the bedding.”

Esther was disappointed. But obedience was as important to Ma as hard work. So Esther said, “Yes, Ma,” and hurried to the bedroom. She helped Violet tie the corners of their sheets together with pillows, quilt, and blankets—even Margaret!—all snug inside. It made a big, bulging bundle too awkward for them to carry, but not for Pa. He picked it up as if it were a bag of rolls and went away whistling.

Esther guessed from the sound of his whistling that he had liked being a farmer. And anything that Pa liked so well, she would like, too, she decided. Suddenly she couldn't wait to see the farm in Wisconsin. Only Pa had been there, but he came back with glowing eyes.

“Good land,” he'd said to Ma. “It is good land.”

“And the house?” she asked.

He blinked and shrugged. “Fine. The house is fine.”

A little crease had appeared between Ma's eyebrows. “There are enough rooms? There is a stove?”

Pa had waved his hand and nodded. “Yes, yes, Anna. We will have everything we need. Do not worry. Life will be good.”

Until that morning, Esther had mostly thought of the bad things about moving. But both Ma and Pa were so happy and hopeful. Life on the farm really might be better than life in the city. And if life was better, Ma would be happier. Why, she was already happier, and they hadn't even moved yet. Once they were actually living on the farm, she would probably smile all the time. It would be easy for Esther to slip her arm around Ma's waist and hug her. Then, surely, Ma would hug her back. Esther's heart beat faster just thinking about it.

When the three big moving men arrived, they carried beds, dressers, tables, and chairs outside. They loaded them onto their truck. Pa and Howard helped. They carried lamps, mirrors, and dishes Ma wouldn't trust to the movers. Esther was not surprised to see Pa carry the radio downstairs himself, too. She looked out the window and saw him gently set it in the back of the truck. He pointed to it and said something to one of the movers. She guessed that he was telling him to take very good care of it.

Pa had saved up months of streetcar fares to buy the radio from Mr. Greenberg's secondhand store. He'd traded his Victrola and records, too. When he brought the radio home, Esther, Violet, and Julia had been delighted. Ma had raised her eyebrows, but the radio had stayed.

Every night after supper, Pa listened to the news. Then they all listened to the funny radio shows and laughed together. Later still, when Esther and Violet were going to bed, Pa listened to music. Pa loved all kinds of music, but he especially loved waltzes.

Ma called the radio a waste of money. But she listened to it, too. She smiled at the silly programs and she scowled at the news—especially if it mentioned President Hoover. Ma blamed the president for all the bad things happening in the country.

Best of all, though, Ma enjoyed the music. Esther didn't realize just how much until one night when she got out of bed to get a drink of water and saw Ma and Pa waltzing around the parlor. She'd never seen Ma look so happy.

Moving was hard work, Esther discovered. She and Violet scurried around, sweeping each room as it was emptied. Kate made sandwiches for their lunch and supper. Julia scrubbed the bathroom. Ma cleaned the icebox and the stove. Even Walter was put to work dusting baseboards and windowsills. The apartment had to be left clean for the new tenants.

Finally the last box was loaded onto the truck. The last room was swept. The last sandwich was put in the basket. The bathroom and kitchen were spotless. Only then did Ma take the cross from its place of honor on the shelf in the parlor. Carefully, she wrapped it in a soft cloth and tucked it into her purse.

Ma's father had given the cross to her when she had left Russia to sail across the ocean to America. “To keep you safe,” he had told her as he pressed it into her hands. Ma had told Esther and Violet the story many times. How she had been sad to leave her father and little brothers and sisters even though she was excited to come to America. The iron cross had comforted her on the long journey and during hard times in all the years since.

“My father had the village blacksmith make the cross out of iron so it would have the strongest powers of protection,” she explained. “And he had my poor dead mother's red enamel cross set in its center to always remind me of her.”

The tiny red cross in the center of the bigger one made Esther think of a heart. She knew the iron cross had very strong powers, but she liked to think that her grandmother's little one gave it extra-special power to protect their family and home.

Last of all, on their way out of the apartment, Pa reached up and plucked free the string of tiny bells that hung above the door and tinkled every time the door opened or closed. They jingled as he dropped them into his jacket pocket.

Pa would soon be hanging the bells above the door of the farmhouse. Fairies loved the sound of bells, and having them ringing on the threshold of the house—right where the fairies lived—would make them happy.

Happy fairies were a good thing. Unhappy fairies were not, and they could cause bad things to happen to the humans who were their neighbors. Sometimes little things like skinned knees and lost gloves. But bigger things, too, like fires and sickness. Ma would never spend a night in a house without bells above the door and her cross standing guard within.

“Time to go,” Pa said. He touched Julia's cheek. “We will miss you.”

Julia sniffled.

Always impatient with tears, Ma said, “
Nu
—I thought you wanted to stay!”

Julia half laughed, half sobbed. “I did. I do. But I'll miss you all terribly.” She hugged Violet. Then she hugged Esther. “Don't forget to write,” she said into Esther's ear.

Esther felt something being pressed into her hand. A coin.

Julia curled Esther's fingers over it. “For postage,” she whispered. Esther hugged Julia hard, her throat too tight to speak.

Howard had borrowed his brother's old Buick to drive them to the farm. Pa sat up front with him, and Walter sat between them. The backseat was more crowded because at the last minute Kate decided to ride along.

“I want to see the farm,” she said. “And this way I can be company for Howard on the ride home.” So Ma, Kate, Violet, and Esther all squeezed in together.

Usually Esther thought any automobile ride was a treat. But this one was too crowded right from the start. On top of that, Kate and Ma talked on and on about babies. Kate was going to have her first baby at the end of summer. She had lots of questions. Ma knew all the answers. She knew what to feed babies, how to dress them, what to do when they cried. Kate seemed fascinated. But Esther and Violet rolled their eyes at each other.

Esther looked out the window. She watched the city buildings slip away behind them. She saw more and more open fields and trees ahead. But they had a very long way to go. Over one hundred miles!

They stopped once at a roadside picnic area. They ate some of the sandwiches Kate had made and washed them down with cold water. Then Ma made Esther and Violet and Walter use the outhouse. It wasn't a real bathroom, just a tiny wooden shack. And it didn't have a real toilet that flushed. It just had a hole cut into a wooden bench.

Esther hated it because it smelled and there were spiderwebs in all the corners.