The Voyage: A Historical Novel set during the Holocaust, inspired by real events

by Roberta Kagan

  “Then we’ll be friends?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Anna and Gabby were close in age. They talked about leaving their homelands. Gabby was not yet married, but a marriage had been arranged for her.

  “His name is Mario. I met him for the first time last month. I don’t know if I like him so much. He is not handsome, and he doesn’t really have much to say. Shy, I suppose. But we are to be married in the spring. My papa had decided, so I must do as he says.”

  “It must be hard for him too. Meeting you for the first time, he was probably trying to make a good impression. That could be why he was so quiet. Perhaps he didn’t want to say the wrong thing,”Anna offered.

  “Yes, very possible.” Gabby nodded. But Anna could tell that she was not happy about the upcoming wedding.

  “You are married, yes? That man who was here with you all last week, he is your husband?”

  “Yes…”

  “He is very handsome.”

  “Yes, he is.”

  “Your parents arranged this?”

  “No, I met him on a ship.”

  “On the ship you took from Europe to America?”

  “It’s more complicated than that…”

  “I have time; you have time. Explain?”

  “Sure, why not..?” Anna said. And she told Gabby how she met Alex, and the story of the MS St. Louis. It took the better part of the afternoon, and by the time they’d finished lunch the girls were laughing together like old friends.

  Anna wondered why Alex had not yet returned. It didn’t take him that long to wash and change his clothes. She assumed that Uncle Max must have needed his help at the butcher shop. Nothing to worry about, he would return that night.

  Chapter 51

  That evening Gabby’s family had come and gone, bringing her cookies, which she generously shared with Anna. They were a nice, friendly group of people, warm and outgoing. But Anna was distracted. Something was not right. Visiting hours ended at eight thirty, and still Alex had not returned. Had something happened to him? Anna tried to rationalize the situation, but she could not help but worry.

  When the nurse came in to take their nighttime vitals, Anna asked her if there had been any calls for her. If anyone, her uncle, her aunt, her husband…had left her a message.

  “No, honey, I’m sorry. Nobody called for you. But let me double check. I’ve been so busy. We’ve really had our hands full with all the burn victims from the fire the other night.”

  “A fire? Where? “Gabby asked.

  “I’m not really sure,” the nurse said.

  “When?” Anna asked. Her heart sunk. Could there have been a fire? Could Alex have been involved somehow? Was she thinking crazy? Didn’t the nurse mention something about a fire the night that Alex was here? She hadn’t really been listening. Well, Alex had disappeared before, when there was something that was bothering him. He was probably distressed over what had happened to her and needed time to collect himself. She hated that quality in him, his inability to cope. She remembered how he’d had the same reaction to Hitler’s invasion of Poland. Would he disappear every time something became difficult? Oh, Alex, she thought. I don’t know if you are lying dead somewhere, God forbid, or if you are sick, or if you have been burned in a fire, or if you are just emotionally distraught again.

  “A few nights ago,” the nurse said.

  “Do you happen to remember if it was on a night when my husband was here at the hospital?” Anna was pretty sure she remembered the nurse mentioning something about a fire.

  “I don’t remember if he was here or not. I’m sorry. I’ll ask the other girls at the desk for you, to see if anyone called. And I’ll let you know if there are any messages.”

  The nurse returned a few minutes later to say that there had not been any messages; however, one of the nurses recalled seeing Alex the morning after the fire.

  “Was she sure?”

  “Yes, quite,” the young nurse laughed. “Please don’t take this wrong, but all the girls can’t help but notice your husband. He is such a handsome man. But I’ll bet you’ve heard that before.”

  Anna nodded. “Handsome, yes… Stable, no.”

  The following morning Gabby’s brother Valente came to see his sister. Anna had seen him the first day she was in the hospital but she had not really spoken with him.

  “This is my brother, Valente. This is Anna.”

  “Hello Anna,” Valente said. He wore a cap and loose-fitting pants with a dark tight tee shirt that displayed the well-formed muscles in his arms.

  “My brother is a construction worker. He works on high-rise buildings.”

  “That must be challenging,” Anna said

  “It’s good money. You get used to the height. I don’t mind doing it.”

  “My mother hates that he does this kind of work. It is so dangerous. Men are always falling from those buildings.”

  “Ah, yes, my sweet sister, but I am like a cat, very graceful.” He made his hands like cat paws and moved then toward Gabby; then he laughed.

  “If I could move my body, I would hit you,” Gabby said, laughing.

  “My sister and my mother, they worry about me. But I do just fine.” He smiled at Anna. His dark eyes danced with mischief.

  He was attractive, not as handsome as Alex, who had movie-star good looks that made females of all ages turn to look at him wherever they went. Alex with his dark, mysterious, and brooding eyes, made women want to delve into his life, to rescue him from his demons, to be his salvation. Valente on the other hand, had even features, a warm smile, and a contagious, carefree disposition.

  “So, when are you leaving here?” Valente asked Anna.

  “I don’t know. I feel fine, but the doctor will tell me when I can go,” Anna said. She did feel fine, except for the depression that lingered from losing the baby and the anger she felt at Alex for disappearing again when she needed him.

  “My mama says you and Gabby have become good friends. Maybe you’re going to come to our house one Sunday for Sunday dinner. My mother, she makes delicious gravy.”

  “Thank you. That would be very nice.”

  “She’s a pretty one,” Valente said to his sister, but pointing to Anna.

  “She’s married, Valente.”

  “I shouldn’t be surprised; all the pretty ones are taken.” He smiled at Anna, but she saw by the look on his face that he was not discouraged.

  Chapter 52

  A week went by and Alex did not return to the hospital, neither did Uncle Max or Aunt Edith. However, the doctor had come and gone, giving Anna a clean bill of health and telling her that she would be discharged the following morning. Gabby’s family had been at the hospital every day. They had come to like Anna, even brought her cookies and candy when they brought things for Gabby. She knew they wondered what had happened to Alex, but no one said a thing.

  Anna vacillated between anger, fear, and despair. She could not figure out why she had not heard from Alex at all. Even in Cuba, when he’d done something like this before, he’d returned the following day. This had been over a week. What if he were dead? Anything could happen in New York. Hadn’t the attack she’d just suffered proved that? What if they were all dead: Alex, Aunt Edith, Uncle Max? They could have been killed by a robber. So many possibilities, but if they were all right, then would they not at least have called? Something terrible had happened. She felt it.

  She would be leaving the hospital the following morning. Soon she would have some idea of what had happened. At least she hoped she would.

  Chapter 53

  Alex could not take his wife home from the hospital to sleep on a bench in Battery Park. He had to find a way to get some money. For hours he’d wandered the streets; he had no money to buy anything to eat or drink. He was hungry, but more than that, he was distraught. As he passed a Red Cross building, he read the sign in the window. “Blood Donors: Get Paid for Your Blood.”

  He read the sign again.

&nb
sp; Then he went inside. The nurse wrapped his arm until his vein stood up at attention, and then she pierced it with a needle. He sat watching as his blood filled a vial. When he was done, she gave him a glass of orange juice and a dollar.

  “You must not give blood again for a month, all right? You see, it takes a month for your body to recoup the blood you have lost today,” she said.

  “I understand,” Alex said, stuffing the dollar in his pocket. He would need ten dollars to rent an apartment for a month.

  “Are there other blood donation centers in the city?”

  “Yes, they are all over the city. Would you like a list?” The nurse asked.

  “Yes, I would,” Alex said.

  “Now, remember, you must not give blood again for at least a month.”

  “I remember,” Alex said.

  He left and began walking toward the next blood donation center. If he could donate ten times, he would be able to take Anna home to a safe apartment somewhere.

  By the third donation, Alex began to feel weak, nauseated. He’d had no food and he’d donated three pints of blood. He was dizzy, but he would go on to the next Red Cross center as soon as he could. First, he had to take a moment to sit down and rest.

  Alex sat on the side of the street, his hand in his pocket gripping the three precious dollars. Only seven more… He wanted to lie down and sleep, just for a little while.

  As he lay his head on the sidewalk, although his vision was foggy, he could see the faces on the passersby as they looked at him with disgust. His mind began to drift off as he remembered how he’d felt when he’d first come to New York and he saw the hobos on the streets. It was a mixture of pity and fear. Secretly he’d always feared that he would end up as one of them, and now he had.

  Alex heard a loud voice from across the road, a voice he remembered. With difficulty he forced his eyes to focus, and then he saw him.

  “Jew boy?” Alex heard the voice but he couldn’t move. “Is that you?”

  Alex tried to force himself to get up. He wanted to run, but try as he might, he could not will his muscles to move against the exhaustion. If that boy got a hold of him, he would steal his precious money. Alex’s fingers, too weak to maintain their grip, released the dollar bills in his pocket. God help me, Alex thought. Then he passed out.

  Chapter 54

  When Anna was discharged from the hospital, she had no money for carfare home because her purse had been stolen. Embarrassed, but desperate, she asked Gabby to loan her the money to take the streetcar home. She explained what had happened, how she’d been robbed.

  Gabby understood, but she had no cash with her in the hospital.

  “Can you wait for an hour or so? My brother is coming. He will give you the money. I am sure of it.”

  “Yes, of course I can wait, and I don’t want him to give it to me, just to lend it. Oh, Gabby, I am so ashamed to have to put you in this position,” Anna said.

  “Don’t even think about it. What happened to you was not your fault. It could happen to anyone, especially here in New York. ”

  “I will pay you back. I promise,” Anna said.

  “It’s Valente who has the money, not me. He is the one in my family who is earning much money.”

  “Then I will pay him back every cent.”

  Chapter 55

  Alex opened his eyes to see the same group of boys he’d seen earlier that day in Battery Park. Although his mind was dim and clouded, and a nauseating ache pulsed at his temple so strongly he thought he might be having a stroke, a spasm of terror shot through the haze and he sat up straight. His hand immediately went to his pocket to check for the money. It was still there. Who were these young men? What did they want with him? And why had they not taken his money? He wished he had the strength to get up and run.

  Chapter 56

  “I’m going to see to it that you get home. I wouldn’t think of letting you take the streetcars alone, coming right out of the hospital.” Valente said.

  “You don’t have to do that. I’ll just borrow the carfare and you can give me an address where I can send the money back to you as soon as I can get it. It might be a few weeks. I don’t know. But I’ll send it as soon as I can.”

  “I’m not worried about it. You needn’t pay me back. Let’s just say it is my way of thanking you for being such a good friend to my sister.”

  “I want to pay you back.”

  “For now, let’s just get you home safely. We don’t need to discuss the money just now. All right?” He smiled and took her arm.

  “You take care of my friend, Valente, and please be a gentleman. Don’t embarrass me. Remember, she’s a married woman,” Gabby said.

  “Yes, yes, I remember. But thank you for reminding me again, Gabby.” He bowed to his sister. “She is the queen of our family. We have to bow to her.”

  “Shut up, Valente,” Gabby said, laughing. “He’s always teasing me.”

  “Now, that is because you are so easy to tease,” Valente said.

  “When we were kids he used to torture me with insects.”

  “Did you?” Anna found herself getting lost in the banter that was so familiar to these siblings.

  “Yep, I did,” Valente said to Anna. Then, turning back to Gabby, “Ahhh, but when anyone else teased you, Gabby, who was there to protect you?”

  “You were, of course,” Gabby said, smiling at Valente.

  “See, I’m not such a bad fellow....” Valente said to Anna.

  “Will you be back later tonight?” Gabby asked, “I’m going to be lonely in here with Anna gone.”

  “Of course. Wwould I leave my baby sister alone in the hospital without anyone for company?”

  Gabby just shook her head at him. “See you later, Valente.” Then she turned to Anna. “I’ll miss you. Will you keep in touch?”

  “Of course. You know I will,” Anna said.

  “I’ll see to it,” Valente said. “You have our address, yes?” He asked Anna.

  “Yes, Gabby gave it to me last night.”

  As they walked down the hall and out the doors into the street, Valente turned to Anna. “Why don’t we stop and have a nice breakfast before you go home? It’s on me.”

  “Oh, I don’t know…”

  “Come on, I’m hungry. I can’t travel so far without eating. You have to stop and get something for my sake,” he teased.

  “Don’t you have to go back to work?”

  “Are you forgetting? It’s Sunday... In fact maybe, just maybe you are going to come to our house for dinner tonight.”

  She looked at him skeptically.

  “You’ll bring your husband, of course,” he said.

  Anna wondered if Valente had noticed that Alex had not been at the hospital the entire week. She thought he might have, and she felt her face grow hot with shame.

  Valente was a gentleman. He opened the door to the restaurant, ordered for her, and in many ways made her feel protected and cared for. Sitting across the table from this smiling, attractive Italian, with his carefree attitude and his willingness to spend a little bit of his cash, made her wish Alex could be a stronger man. With Alex, Anna had to be the backbone of the relationship. It had been that way from the start, and in the beginning, she’d liked it. It made her feel in charge. But as time went on, and she saw how easily Alex could fall apart, it became a burden.

  “So, tell me all about you,” Valente said.

  “There is really nothing to tell.”

  “Such a pretty lady has nothing to tell?”

  “Not really, just that I am looking for work and finding it very difficult here in America.”

  “Yes, it can be difficult. Our family came from Tuscany, beautiful country. My father was a farmer there; I too would have been a farmer. But we were the lucky ones, no? “he said, and smiled a wry smile. “Now I am living here in the land of opportunity, in a small, crowded apartment, stuffed to the brim with my parents, my sister and her husband, their three young children, Gabby, an
d myself. Usually we don’t have hot water. And the toilet almost never works right, so with all these people crammed in this dump, the place always stinks. I only stay because they need the money I make to help them survive.” He shrugged his shoulders. “And almost every day, in this wonderful city of New York, a man falls to his death doing the same job I am doing. One of these days maybe it’s gonna be me.“ He sighed. “What can I do? The family needs me. I have to keep the job.”

  He’d been so lighthearted in Gabby’s presence, but now Anna saw another side of Valente.”

  “Sometimes I resent them all. I wish I could just go off on my own and not have to worry about them. But Papa is so old, he can’t do much anymore.”

  “Are you married?”

  “No, not yet, although he would like me to be. I don’t want my Papa to bring a girl over from Italy. I want to choose the woman I spend my life with.” His dark eyes locked with hers, black as a starless sky. She was taken aback by his serious expression, but as soon as he saw that he’d made her uncomfortable, he changed his expression. His eyes twinkled again and he smiled warmly.

  “It is very nice of you to help me.”

  “Can I be so bold as to say something? I hope I am not going to be offending you.”

  “Yes, go ahead.”

  “I just wanted to say that if I were your husband, I would have never left you alone in the hospital. I would have been with you every moment that I could.”

  She looked away and gazed out the window as she felt the tears building behind her eyes. Oh Alex… she thought. Where are you?

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  The food arrived, but Anna could not eat. She felt a lump in the back of her throat.

  “Eat, please?” he said.

  She nodded and picked up her napkin.

  “Come on…” He smiled. “I’ve eaten here before. The food is very good. Well, maybe not so good as my mama’s, but it isn’t bad.”