New Life, New Land Read online

  But she tried to be a good wife. She went to bed at eight every evening so she could set her alarm clock to wake her at 4 a.m. She did this so that she could have a light meal ready for David when he arrived at home. He usually came through the door at around six in the morning. She was so glad to see him that she felt she might explode with joy. Most mornings, they spent a little over an hour talking as he ate, then they made love. Afterwards, having worked all night, he fell into a deep sleep. All day he slept. Eidel tiptoed through the house, trying not to wake him. Then at two in the afternoon he got up, ate, showered, and dressed. He kissed her quickly and was off to work. Eidel was alone again.

  Six days a week, every week, Dovid was gone to work from three in the afternoon until six in the morning. While Dovid slept in the morning, Eidel would go out to the market to buy food for the day. Otherwise, she was at home all day and evening where she felt like a prisoner in her apartment, alone and lost within her own mind.

  When her mother died, she thought that she had wanted to get away from Warsaw and all the memories that hurt so deeply each time she saw them. But now that she was so far away from everything familiar, she longed to be back in Poland where she understood the language, where she had friends in the church, where she didn’t feel so miserably lonely and disconnected from everyone.

  CHAPTER THREE

  1961

  Autumn brought a chilly breeze down from the north. Eidel liked the fresh brisk air on her face. It had been a long, sweaty, sleepy summer, and she was glad to finally get some relief from the relentless heat. Although she knew that fall was a prelude to the upcoming frigid chill and snow of a Chicago winter, she still loved the feeling of the change of season when the heat gave way to the cool winds that blew off of Lake Michigan in late September.

  One morning, bored and alone, she walked to the bakery. She bought bread and a cake. It was good not to ever be hungry. Dovid was earning enough money for them to have plenty to eat. That was a blessing.

  It is something to be thankful for.

  As she continued walking, she passed a large Catholic church with beautifully colorful stained glass windows. She’d passed it before, but today she stopped to look up at the cross on the top.

  Mama, I miss you so much, Eidel thought.

  She had never been inside of a church in America. From the street, it looked like a medieval castle.

  What would be the harm if I just went in for a little while? Dovid would never need to know.

  She knew Dovid wouldn’t be happy about her going into a church. He wanted her to embrace Judaism. And she was trying. She wanted to please him, but she longed to feel closer to the memory of her mother and she thought that being inside the church would bring her back to all that she’d once shared with Helen. So she climbed the stone stairs up to the front of the cathedral and opened the heavy door. When she walked inside, she was immediately transported to a time when she and her mother had gone to a church similar to that one. As rays of sunlight shot through the stained glass windows, rainbows appeared on the polished wood floor. Eidel sat down in a pew in the back row and looked up at the altar. Her eyes landed upon a large statue of Jesus on the cross. Burning tears fell on her cheeks.

  I am so confused…and so alone.

  She sat in the back at the end of the long wooden bench for a little over an hour. Her mind was traveling down memory lane the entire time. When she finally got up and left the church, she felt guilty for going inside but she also felt at peace. Being in the church had helped her to feel Helen’s presence and she needed that. She desperately needed to feel her mother’s hand in hers, even if her mother was only with her in spirit. For the first time since Eidel had come to America, she felt some relief from her loneliness.

  But she didn’t want to do anything to disappoint Dovid and so she vowed to herself that she would not go back. In fact, now that she’d gained some inner strength, she was determined to go to the synagogue and introduce herself. She would tell the rabbi that they were planning to join as soon as they could afford to. Yes, she would go; why not try to make friends? Two afternoons later, she walked to the Jewish temple that she and Dovid were thinking about joining. But once she got there she felt intimidated. Eidel lost her nerve and she didn’t go inside. Instead, she went home. Dovid had been teaching her English and her language skills were improving. He had spent several hours on Sunday translating a book for her to study while he was at work during the week.

  As she was walking home from the synagogue she felt defeated. But she told herself, I’ll go home and work on my English. Then I’ll go back to the synagogue in a couple of months when I speak more fluent English. I will be able to communicate with everyone much better then. That will make it easier for me to make friends.

  Eidel walked quickly back to the safety of her apartment. She locked the door behind her and took a deep breath. She put up a pot of soup for Dovid to eat before he left for work and then she washed the floor for the third time that week.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Arnie was right; the bar was not for the faint of heart. On a busy Saturday night, a loud argument began between two men, both of them very drunk. They cursed and pushed each other until they came to fisticuffs. One of the men swore the other had stolen his money. Fights were not an unusual occurrence; most of the time they ended with a couple of well-placed punches, a bruised ego, and a threat of future revenge. This time, things did not go as well. The man accused of stealing pulled a knife out of his pocket—a switchblade. He pressed a button and a long silver blade popped out of the base. It shimmered as it caught the light from the overhead bulb. Dovid was the first of the employees to see the knife and quickly jumped over the bar. He raced over to try to stop the fight.

  Arnie yelled, “Get out of there, Dovi. You’ll get hurt. Get back behind the bar. I’m calling the police.”

  But it was too late. Dovid’s shoulder was already slashed. The cut was so deep that it didn’t start to bleed right away. It took several minutes but then blood poured from the open wound. The two men were still fighting; Cool Breeze pulled Dovid out of the way. By the time the police arrived, one of the men was dead, and Dovid had to go to the hospital where he received twelve stitches.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  It was easy to see that Eidel was becoming depressed. Dovid knew it was because she was alone so much. He gave a lot of thought to how he might help her adjust to living in America. She couldn’t get a job because all she knew how to do was secretarial work and her English wasn’t good enough for her to do that. She couldn’t even sell at a department store because of her language skills. He’d asked her if she wanted to take classes to help her learn faster, but she refused. It was then that he’d insisted that they join the synagogue. They would have to dip into their savings to pay for the membership, but he was hopeful that it would help her meet other women. However, when he suggested she join the sisterhood, she just shook her head. Dovid tried to attend Saturday services with Eidel when he could, but the tavern was busy on Friday and Saturday nights and, quite frankly, he was too tired in the morning to go anywhere. It was all he could do to take a hot shower and collapse into his bed. If he had been religious, he would never have worked on Friday night and Saturday. However, Dovid had lived most of his life without religion and although he loved being a Jew, he was more of a Jew by nationality than by religion. He needed his job and so he worked whenever his boss needed him. When he and Eidel came to America, Dovid vowed to himself that he was going to provide well for his family. He would not be satisfied with an apartment in a lower-middle-class neighborhood. He was willing to work hard, as hard as was necessary, in order to build a good life for his wife and future children. Dovid might have been busy and distracted by the demands of his job, but he loved his wife and, more than anything, he wanted her to be happy. He could see how sad she was and Eidel’s depression weighed heavily upon him. Dovid needed to do something to help her, but what? Then God sent a solution in the most unlikely of way
s.

  Cool Breeze didn’t show up for work on one Thursday night. He did not come to work on Friday or Saturday, either. Dovid was worried but he had no idea how to reach him. Then, on Saturday at about 6 p.m., just a few hours before the evening rush was to begin, Arnie called Dovid into the back room.

  “Listen, take my car over to the flophouses on Madison and Morgan. You know where that is?”

  “I think so. About a mile west of downtown?”

  “Yeah. Go to the third building from the corner on the south side of Madison. There is a little restaurant there; it’s a greasy spoon-type of grill. You can’t miss it. Outside, right above the joint, is a big sign in black letters that says ‘Mike’s Home Cooked Food.’ You’ll see it. Upstairs of the restaurant is a hotel; a flophouse, really. Go on into the restaurant. There’s a nice fella in there who works for Mike Marshall who owns most of the buildings, the restaurant too. Anyway, the fella who runs the restaurant for Mike is Harry Rosen. Tell Harry I sent you to find Breeze. He’ll understand, and he’ll know where Breeze is. Don’t worry, Harry will take you right up to Cool Breeze’s room.”

  “Cool Breeze lives in a flophouse?”

  “Yeah. I pay him pretty good for a colored man, and he’s a great fella, real smart, and real capable, but the problem is that he drinks and shoots all his money up his arm. He’s got a bad heroin habit, Dovi. You’re probably gonna find him in a pretty bad state. Here’s what you do, are you listening?”

  “Yes.”

  “Breeze is probably gonna be passed out. So, you gotta pick him up and take him to the bathroom down the hall. When you get there, turn on the cold water in the shower and put him in there. Make sure Breeze’s head is under the cold water and stays there until he comes to. Once he’s conscious, put him the car and bring him here.”

  Dovid nodded and took the keys to Arnie’s car. He didn’t even have an Illinois driver’s license but he got into Glassman’s new Cadillac and drove thirty-one blocks to the part of town that was known as skid row. Arnie was right; it was easy to find the restaurant. Dovid walked inside. There was a circular counter with a man close to his age standing behind it, wiping his hands with a dishrag. Two disheveled men were eating French fries at the far end of the counter.

  “Take a seat anywhere,” the man with the dishrag said.

  Dovid sat several seats away from the other two customers.

  From where he sat, Dovid could see the dirty grill. A tall, thick man with light brown skin and long, straight black hair in a ponytail was flipping a burger. At the man’s waist, Dovid noticed, was a belt with a pouch that held a Bowie knife.

  “You must be Harry Rosen? Arnie Glassman sent me,” Dovid said.

  “I am Harry Rosen. By the way, allow me to introduce the best cook on Madison. This is Joey Onefeather,” Harry said, indicating toward the cook with the knife.

  “Nice to meet you both,” Dovid said.

  “Are you a new bus driver?” Rosen asked.

  “No. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dovid answered.

  “Oh, right next door is the Grayline headquarters. You know what that is?”

  “Can’t say I do.” Dovid shook his head.

  “It’s a special bus line. All it does is pick up the rich folks after they had their dinner at the ritzy Blackhawk restaurant and then scoot them right through our lovely part of town and drop them off safely at the stadium so they can go and see the Blackhawks play. Rich folks love hockey. Can’t say I don’t enjoy it, too. Once in a while, the drivers get an extra ticket to the game and they give it to me. But, God forbid, the sheltered rich people from Michigan Avenue should have to come through our part of the city all alone. Hell, they sure don’t want to know how the other half lives.

  “And,” he gestured to the area outside the window where a prostitute in a tight red dress was arguing price with a potential customer. “Who can blame them? Anyway, sometimes the bus drivers come into our lovely little establishment to grab a bite. When I saw you, I just thought you might be a new driver. I guess not.”

  Harry shrugged.

  “So what will you have?” he asked. “Menu is up there on the blackboard. Food’s not fancy, but it’s good.”

  “Thanks, but I am not here to eat. I am looking for Crawford B. Dell. Arnie Glassman sent me to see you. He said you would know where to find Mr. Dell.”

  “Any friend of Arnie’s is a friend of mine. Great fella, that Arnie. Crawford B. Dell is here. He is staying in room 402. I am assuming, since you mentioned Arnie and he works for Arnie, you work with both of them at the tavern?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, I should let you know that Dell owes money for rent. Plenty of money. He hasn’t paid in a while and Mike, my boss, is planning to throw him out.”

  “How much does he owe?” Dovid asked.

  “Forty dollars for all of last month and half of this month.”

  Dovid pulled out his wallet.

  I am not made of money. I have to try and save for my own family, he thought angrily. But he wasn’t going to let them kick Cool Breeze out on the street. He would have asked Cool Breeze to come and stay with him, but Dovid’s apartment was so small there was hardly enough room for him and Eidel.

  “You’re gonna pay his rent?”

  “Yeah. That’s what it looks like,” Dovid said handing the money to Harry.

  “That’s really nice of you. I’m sorry I don’t even know your name,” Harry said.

  “Dovid Levi”

  “Cool Breeze is a good person and he’s a smart man. He just has a real bad addiction problem.”

  “Drugs and alcohol right? I know. Arnie told me.”

  “Yeah, it’s a real shame. He’s a typical addict. You’d be surprised how many smart people live here in the flop who are in the same situation. They lose everything, their homes their families, everything.”

  “I can imagine,” Dovid said.

  “It’s easy to get mixed up with that stuff when you can’t see any future, you’re stuck in a dead-end job, and nobody is willing to help you.”

  “I’m a Jew, and it’s not easy for us to find work and to find our way. I got lucky, Arnie is Jewish too. But it was hard to find a good job,” Dovid said. “And as difficult as it was for me, I feel that it’s even harder for a colored man. No matter how smart he is, how hard he tries, it seems like the world keeps him down. Even good people seem to feel it’s all right to keep the colored man down. I don’t understand it.”

  Dovid added, “Do you know what I mean?”

  Dovid was remembering how Arnie Glassman had said, “I pay him good for a colored man.”

  Why should a colored man be treated differently than a white man? This behavior is no different than Jews being treated like they were worth less than non-Jews. But Arnie is a Jew, how is it possible that Arnie can’t see this parallel?

  “Yes, I actually do agree with you. I think the way the colored people are treated has pushed many of them to think that they are stuck, that no matter what they do, they will never be treated like equals.”

  “I could be wrong, but I think I hear a Polish accent. Are you from Poland?” Dovid asked.

  “Yes, both my wife and I are from Poland. How did you know it was a Polish accent?”

  “My wife is Polish,” Dovid smiled.

  Dovid caught a glimpse of the dark numbers tattooed on Harry’s arm. “You were in a concentration camp?”

  Harry looked away. “I met my wife Ida in Auschwitz.”

  Dovid nodded.

  “Were you in a camp?”

  “No. I fought for the Russian army. But I am a Jew. And I am proud to be a Jew. Harry, I was just a boy when I saw my parents executed by the Nazis. So even though I wasn’t imprisoned in a camp, I too have suffered.”

  For a few moments there was an uncomfortable silence. Then Dovid said, “So, Harry. it was a pleasure to meet you. I am going up to room 402 now.”

  “Wait …” Harry said. Dovid turned around. “
I know this is a strange thing to ask, but we are both immigrants and, well, maybe you and your wife would like to come for dinner at my apartment. You see, I work long hours and my wife gets lonely. I thought perhaps since your wife is from Poland and she speaks Polish maybe our wives could be friends.”

  Here it is, my solution to Eidel’s loneliness. God sent a miracle, Dovid thought. This is exactly what Eidel needs; a lady friend who speaks her native language.

  “We would love to come. I work six days, but I am off on Sunday.”

  “I am usually off on Monday and Tuesday, but we close early on Sunday, so Sunday night will be perfect. Here is my address. Is six o’clock good for you?”

  “Six is perfect because I am off all day.”

  “By the way, I have to tell you that Ida and I don’t keep kosher. I don’t know if you and your wife do…”

  “No, we don’t either.”

  “This will be nice for all of us. I think our wives will get along very well. I’m looking forward to Sunday.”

  “So am I,” Dovid said as he walked out of the restaurant. He entered the vestibule where the stairs to the hotel rooms were located and began to climb up the stairs to room number 402. As he did, Dovid looked up as if he were looking to the heavens and not at the top floor of a flophouse. He smiled and winked at God as he whispered, “Thank you.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Dovid knocked on the door to room 402 but there was no answer. He waited and tried again, then went back downstairs to the office.

  “Harry, do you have a master key? Crawford isn’t answering the door,” Dovid asked.

  “Yes, I have one. Let me take you up.” Harry followed Dovid back to Cool Breeze’s room.

  When the door opened, the smell of sweat and mold turned Dovid’s stomach. It was only a week before Halloween and winter had not yet sent her icy winds flying off the lake and through the city. If it had been colder, the stench might not have been as strong. But the temperature outside was a pleasant sixty degrees. Dovid rushed over and opened the window quickly to let in some fresh air.