Yossi's Goal (8 page)

The boys waited overnight for the water to freeze, then came back the next day, and the day after that, and did it again. Finally, after four days, the ice was level with the ground.

The assembled boys stood and regarded their new rink. It was bumpy in places, gouged in others. It sloped toward the low side of the alley. It was wide at one end, narrow at the other.

“Beautiful,
non
?” Michel said.

“Yeah,” the others chorused.

Yossi didn't chime in. As far as he was concerned, the new rink wasn't nearly as good as the one they'd lost. And he knew that Max Steiner must have been behind it. He must have seen the rink the day he and the supervisor had chased Yossi and
decided then and there to take it away from the French boys.

Well, he'd done it.

But as Yossi's friends slid happily on the new sheet of ice, the French boys on skates holding up the Jewish boys in boots, he made a silent vow. Somehow he'd pay Max Steiner back.

Something was up. Something was definitely up. Daniel and Miriam were going out more frequently than ever, looking over their shoulders as they came and went. Yossi heard new phrases: “protest march…labor action…ultimatum.”

One night Solly came over, accompanied by Abie's father, Herman, and Josef, a stitcher who operated a machine a few rows over from Papa. The five of them— Daniel, Miriam, Solly, Herman and Josef—huddled around the kitchen table. Papa greeted everyone, then went into the bedroom, pointedly not joining in. As they started talking, Papa loudly rustled the
pages of
Die Zeit
as if he were devouring every word. Even so, Yossi noticed that the rustling grew less and less frequent as the conversation—which was all about timing and whistles and doors—went on. Yossi couldn't imagine what it was all about.

Later, after the visitors left, Papa came out, arms folded across his chest, a worried look on his face. “Now what crazy plan are you hatching?”

Miriam and Daniel exchanged a look. “A walkout, Papa,” Miriam said.

“What!” Papa shouted. “Are you mad?”

“Papa,
shaaah!
” Miriam hissed. “The neighbors'll hear.”

“What's a walkout?” Yossi asked.

“It's a disaster, that's what,” Papa said. “An invitation to get arrested—”

Ignoring him, Daniel turned to Yossi. “It means that the workers are going to walk out of the sweatshop—”

“To protest their working conditions—,” Miriam added.

“And not go back until Steiner agrees to improve things.”

“And not just at Steiner's, at the other two sweatshops too.”

“Walk out how?” Yossi asked.

Daniel grinned. “Picture this, Yossi. It'll be just like a normal day. Everybody'll go to work, just like usual.”

“Even me?” Yossi said.

“Even you,” Miriam said. “Everybody. The cutters, the carriers, the stitchers. Just like a normal day. So nobody'll suspect anything.”

Daniel continued, “The men'll start up their machines, just like usual. Start sewing, cutting, whatever. At a certain time, I'll give a signal and turn off my sewing machine. The same with Solly, Herman and Josef, in different areas of the factory. And then the men around us will do the same. Shut off their machines, put down their scissors, lay down their tape measures. We'll get up and walk out. And the same thing will happen at the other sweatshops.”

Yossi gasped, imagining hundreds of men marching out of the building.

Papa groaned.

“And the women will meet them there,” Miriam said excitedly. “We'll have a big protest right in front of Steiner's.”

“How exciting!” Yossi began, but Papa clapped his hands to his head. “Not only my crazy son-in-law, but my daughter too will get her head bashed in.”

“Don't be silly, Papa,” Miriam said.

“And besides, it'll never work,” Papa went on anxiously. “The men are too scared to walk out. And if—”

“Not anymore, Papa,” Miriam said. “They're fed up. Sickness, low pay, long hours, failing eyesight. It's the same at all the sweatshops, and the workers aren't going to take it anymore. They're ready.”

Daniel nodded. “When one walks out, another will follow. And another and another. When the workers see that their fellows are with them, everyone will join in, Avram. You'll see.”

“Not with Steiner's goons on hand, ready to club back anyone who dares to leave his machine!” Papa said in an agonized
voice. “And then what? They see one of their fellows get beaten up, they'll back out. The whole thing'll be a failure. And Steiner'll find out who the leaders were, and then—”

“That's why Steiner can't know!” Daniel interrupted. “So he's taken by surprise and doesn't have a chance to call in his goons ahead of time. That's the only way it can work.”

Miriam turned to Yossi. “Daniel's right, Yossele. It has to be a secret. Even the workers don't know exactly when it'll be, only the leaders. So you can't tell anyone.”

“Not even Abie?” Yossi said. “After all, his papa is in on it—”

“Not even Abie,” Daniel said. “We can't risk having you talk to him about it, in case someone overhears and it gets back to Steiner. We shouldn't even have told you.”

“You can trust me! My lips are sealed!” Miriam tousled Yossi's hair. “We know, Yossele. You're a good comrade.”

Yossi grinned. Then he quickly clamped his lips shut.

The next morning, Yossi ran into Abie at
Die Zeit
. He threw his arm around his friend. “Hi, Abie, old pal!”

Abie gave him a look. “What's up with you?”

“Oh, nothing. Just saying hi to my
comrade
.”

A light went on in Abie's eyes. Yossi wriggled, he was so frustrated by not being able to talk over the exciting news with his friend.

Abie received his stack of papers and started for the door.

“Wait for me,” Yossi said. “We'll
walk out
together.”

Abie giggled. “Okay.” Once outside, he leaned close. “Can't say anything to anybody.”

Yossi made a slash across his throat as if to show that he'd sooner die than tell Daniel's secret.

A few nights later, Solly, Herman and Josef came over again. This time, they pored over a large sheet of paper that was spread out on the table. Yossi peeked around Daniel's arm. There was a big rectangle drawn on the paper, with lines and arrows marked on it. The men and Miriam were discussing “stairways” and “exits” and “marshalling areas.”

Huh? Yossi wondered. What were they talking about? And what did those lines on the paper have to do with stairways?

“That's not a good plan,” Yossi heard a new voice say. He looked up. Papa! Papa was at the table!

“Avram,” Herman said, clapping him on the back, “you're joining us?”

Papa colored slightly. “I still think it's a crazy scheme. I wouldn't even dream of getting involved, but…well, I feel it's my duty to help this hothead here stay out of jail, so he should be around to take care of my daughter.”

Yossi saw that although Papa was trying not to appear too interested, he
kept sneaking looks at the paper on the table. Yossi hid a smile.

“A father's got to do his duty,” Josef said solemnly. “So, Avram, why isn't it a good plan?”

“Because Morris—you know, the fat supervisor with the loud voice—is always standing by the front door.” Papa pointed to a thick line in the middle of the bottom side of the rectangle.

Following Papa's finger, Yossi realized that what he was looking at was a map of Steiner's Garment Works. Now the marks made sense. He made out the staircase that led up to Steiner's office from the hallway near the packing room, and the broad steps leading up to the double front doors.

Daniel shot Papa a grateful look. “You're right, Avram. I hadn't thought of that.”

Papa pointed to another set of marks. “It makes more sense to have the men walk out through the side doors. They're near the exits to the privies. So if people
start heading in that direction, it won't look suspicious.”

“Not for a while, anyway,” Josef said, “until the supervisors realize there's an awful lot of men heeding the call of nature.”

Yossi giggled.

“Avram's right,” Herman said. “We can move workers faster out of both sides of the building, and then they can move around to the front.”

“Once things get underway, once the men are moving in numbers and it's too late to stop them, then we can use the front door, and even the back loading dock,” Papa added.

We
, Yossi thought. He said
we
.

“An excellent idea, Avram,” Daniel said. He winked at Yossi. Yossi grinned back. So Papa was turning into a labor agitator too!

Come on, somebody! Come buy my last paper!
Yossi thought, wriggling with excitement. That morning, Daniel had pulled him aside and told him that today was the day. Yossi and Abie had arranged that, as soon as they sold their papers, Abie would get Louie, Benny and Milton, and Yossi would round up René and the French boys. They'd bring all of them to Steiner's to see the fun.

Yossi had sold his first eleven newspapers in minutes, but it was taking forever to get rid of the last one. Finally, an old man came by pushing a barrow of stacked wood.

“More pogroms in Russia! New boatloads to arrive in Montreal! Read all about it!” Yossi yelled in Yiddish.

The man took the paper.
Finally!
Yossi thought. He was about to run off, but the man grabbed him by the sleeve. “Please, boy, read to me about the pogroms. I've got to know if my family's safe.”

Yossi was longing to go, but he took one look at the man's face and started riffling through the pages. “Fires, beatings, executions…Smolensk…Rudnya… Yartsevo…”

“What about Novgorod?” The old man pressed close.

Yossi scanned the page. “Nothing about Novgorod.”

“Thank God.” The man wiped his eyes. “Thank you, lad. God bless you.”

“That's all right. Bye!” Yossi took off. Just his luck if he was too late for all the excitement, he thought, as he ran to the new rink to round up René and the gang. Waving his arms, he yelled in his new-found French, “
Venez vite! Venez vite!
”

René peered down the street. “They after you again?”

“No, no, nothing like that. But something is going to happen. Something big. You've got to come with me.”

“Come with you where?” Hugo asked.

“To Steiner's.” Some of the boys hesitated, but to Yossi's surprise, Hugo said, “Listen, boys, if Yossi says come, we'd better come.”

Yossi flashed him a smile, and the boys changed from skates to boots. Yossi hurried them along, brushing off their questions with a smile and a shake of the head. When Steiner's came into sight, no one was gathered out front. There was no sign yet of Abie and the boys.

He stopped under a maple tree across the street from the factory. “Okay, boys, wait here. I've got to go pick up my bundle. Be right back.”

“I'm coming with you,” René said.

“You can't go in there!”

“I want to see what it's like.”

“But what if they see you?”

René smiled. “I'll be like a ghost.”

Leaving the others behind, the two boys entered at the side door near the packing room. Yossi pointed to a shadowy alcove beside the door. “Wait there,” he whispered, “and if anyone comes, leave—fast!”

René nodded and Yossi went into the packing room. Solly winked at him, then quickly looked away as the supervisor stormed over. “You're late!” he snapped. “I should dock you a day's pay—” Yossi started to answer, but the supervisor went on, “And you too!”

Yossi looked over his shoulder. Abie! Yossi hadn't heard him come in.

“Sorry, sir,” Yossi said. “We'll be quick.”