Bubbe's Place: Stories

A Meeting in Pittsburgh

Sonya, Yetta, and Harry watched solemnly as America passed outside their train window. They knew it would be a long ride from New York to Erie. Long ago they had given up hope of understanding the names of the places they passed. They dozed a little and suddenly the conductor pews shaking them and pulling them and their luggage to the platform.

"Erie? Erie, America?" they asked.

"No. Pittsburgh. Change for Erie." he said and was gone.

Others jabbered at them in English and helped them find seats in the station. Soon they realized that there would be another train. They sat stiffly on the bench waiting while Harry slept.

Suddenly they heard laughter. People were laughing and pointing. There in the station was a lazy cloud of feathers rising and expanding. Sonya recognized immediately that this was another immigrant. The feathers, precious feathers from home, were loose. Americans didn't seem to understand that feathers were valued. They filled pillows and bedcovers. When a girl married, she would need those feathers. Sonya rushed to help. She bent to the work. It was not easy to catch and collect those elusive devils. Grab a handful. Shove them in the bag. Now another, still another. Two young women working quickly, silently. They ignored the giggles and rushed after their capricious quarry. Imagine their surprise when the feather rush was ended and they looked up.

"Esther!"

"Sonya!"

Hugs and kisses and laughter punctuated the surprise meeting. They chattered happily in Yiddish. Esther was changing trains here to go to her brother in Chicago. Sonya, Yetta, and Harry were changing trains to go to brothers in Erie.

America seemed a little smaller and a little less frightening. While Sonya and Yetta were on their way to America, the laws changed in Russia and it became impossible for Genesse and her children to emigrate. They were not able to leave, ever.