Maria came into the room and hid behind Angel’s skirt. She peeked out at Joshua, sucking her thumb and clutching the penny doll in her other hand.
“How’s your mother?” Joshua asked Angel.
“Her fever has broken, but she’s still very weak.”
Angel led Joshua down the hall to a parlor where a thin woman lay on a threadbare couch. “This is my mama,” Angel said. “Mama, this is Joshua. He works for Charlie, too.”
“Good morning, Joshua.” Mrs. DiPietro spoke softly in an Italian accent. “I have been ill. Please excuse our humble home.” She burst into a series of racking coughs.
“I heard you were sick, Mrs. DiPietro. I brought you something to eat.” Joshua offered the sack to Angel.
“Thank you,” Angel said, peering into the contents. “It smells so good.”
“Chicken,” said Joshua. “There’s a bottle of milk in there, too.”
“I’ll get you a plate right now, Mama,” Angel said. “You need good food to get well.” She disappeared into the kitchen.
Maria climbed onto the couch, leaned against her mother’s arm, and smiled at Joshua timidly.
Joshua looked around at the neat, but shabby room. On a nearby table was a drawing pad and some pencils. “I have some good news, Angel,” he said when she came back with a tray for her mother.
“You do?” She set the tray on the table next to the sofa.
“A friend of mine saw the drawing you did—the cartoon of me on the wagon. He’s going to show it to his boss at the newspaper. They’re looking for a picture like that to use as a trademark. He said they might buy it from you.”
“Buy it from me? How much would they pay?”
“I don’t know. Maybe fifty dollars.”
Angel turned to her mother. “Did you hear that, Mama? The newspaper might buy my drawing!”
“Fifty Dollars!” Mrs. DiPietro beamed. “Basta con le cose cattive! Finalmente tutto va bene!”
“She said, ‘Finally good things are happening.’ It’s been so hard since Papa went away. . . .” Angel’s eyes were bright with tears.
“Papa will come back as soon as he’s better,” her mother said consolingly. “And there’s a chance he’ll have a job soon. Now, Angelina, I’m going to sit here and enjoy this delicious chicken. Why don’t you and Joshua take Maria for a walk in the sunshine. It’s such a nice day.”
“Will you be all right?”
“I’ll be fine. Go up to the playground. It will be good for all of you.”
Angel pulled on a jacket and helped Maria into a sweater and hat. “Do you have time? Will Charlie mind if you don’t get back soon?”
“I don’t work for Charlie anymore,” Joshua told her. “I’m working for myself now. I told Charlie this morning.”
“Oh, Josh, I hope Charlie doesn’t do something mean.”
“I’ll be okay,” Joshua said quickly.
“It’s so warm and windy today. It’s like spring!” Angel exclaimed when they got to the street. “But the smell of molasses is strong.”
“They filled the tank this week,” Joshua explained.
A woman was hanging blankets out to air beside a big brick house. “Good morning, Angelina,” she called out. “Good morning, Maria. Is your mama better?”
“Yes, she’s better, thank you, Mrs. Clougherty,” Angel called back.
A striped tiger cat approached them and rubbed against Joshua’s legs. “Hello, Peter,” Angel crooned. Maria bent down to pat him.
As they walked slowly up the street they passed a policeman. “Good mornin’ to ya, Angelina,” he said.
“Hello, Officer McManus,” Angelina answered.
“Do you know everyone?” asked Joshua.
“Practically everyone. This is a nice, friendly neighborhood.”
At the entrance of the North End Playground, they could see the water and the Navy Yard in the distance. The harbor glistened with blue and silver waves. Now that they were away from the shade of the molasses tank, the sun was bright. Maria whimpered and put her hands over her eyes.
“We’ve been inside for so long, the sunshine hurts,” Angel explained.
The playground was crowded with children. Angel put Maria on a whirl-around and gave it a push. The little girl laughed for the first time since Joshua had met her.
“This park is a nice place. No wonder Mr. Fitzgerald is proud of it,” said Joshua.
“My papa wrote me a letter from Providence,” Angel said. “He told me he was proud of me. He’s sad he can’t be here to help us. I miss Papa.”
“I miss my dad, too,” Joshua said. “I’ll never see him again.”
“He’d be real proud of you, Josh,” said Angel.
“There’s one thing I always wanted, and now it’s too late. I wish Dad and I could have gone to the top of the Custom House Tower. He went up there once when the tower was first built. He promised he’d take me there sometime, but we never got to go.”
“Your papa musta been a real important man. Charlie says they don’t let ordinary people like newsboys up to the very top,” said Angel.
“Dad said you can see all the way to the foothills of New Hampshire from the observation deck.”
“The city must be pretty from way up there. Like bein’ in an aeroplane,” Angel said. “Maybe you’ll go up in the tower someday, Josh.”
“It wouldn’t be the same without Dad. Nothing’s the same without him.”
“That’s how I feel, too,” said Angel. “But my papa is comin’ back sometime. I hope.”
A shadow fell suddenly over the bench where Joshua and Angel were sitting.
“Well, if it ain’t Gentleman Snob!”
Explosion!
“HI, ANGEL,” SAID CHARLIE, NOT looking at joshua. “My ma and my sister sent over more stuff they thought you could use. I saw your mama. She said you’d be here.”
Angel nodded nervously. “Thank your family for us.”
Charlie turned to Joshua. “What a nice day for an outing in the park,” he said bitingly. “Now that you’re your own boss you can take off whenever you feel like it, right?”
“Come on, Charlie. I told you why I had to go on my own. I need the money.”
“Listen, pip-squeak, I’ve got more bones to pick with you. Today I dropped in on Mr. Fitzgerald. And what does he say to me? He says, ‘I met one of your boys, Joshua Harper. He’s a nice kid. You take good care of him, okay, Charlie?’ ” Charlie shoved his face close to Joshua’s. “So now you’re gettin’ in tight with Mr. Fitz. And just what are you tellin’ him about me?”
Joshua backed away. “I never said anything bad about you, Charlie.”
“You keep on pushin’ your way into my territory. First, playin’ up to Mr. Mugg, and now Mr. Fitzgerald. After all I done for you!” Charlie grabbed Joshua’s collar and dragged him to his feet.
“Oh, go chase yourself!” Joshua barked, pulling himself away from Charlie’s clutch.
“Here’s a knockout punch that’ll fix you once and for all, Gentleman Josh!” Charlie socked Joshua in the chest, knocking him to the ground.
Angel stood up and screamed, “Stop it, Charlie!”
Because of his heavy jacket, Charlie’s blow didn’t hurt that much. Joshua picked himself up and was about to wallop Charlie, but Charlie swatted him down again. Maria started to cry and as she struggled to get off the whirl-around, she slipped and fell to the pavement. Angel picked her up, but the little girl’s mouth was bleeding. “Look what you’ve done now, Charlie!” Angel yelled.
“Aw, I ain’t done nothin’—yet!”
“I’m going to get Officer McManus,” Angel exclaimed. “Come on, Josh.” She headed for the street, struggling to carry her screaming sister.
Joshua got up, put his cap back on, and followed her. Angel crossed under the El trestle and marched toward Officer McManus, who was standing at a nearby call box.
“Whatsa matter?” Charlie yelled after them. “Afraid to fight?”
&nbs
p; Joshua was tempted to turn around and bash Charlie. Instead, he yelled, “Oh, go fly a kite, Charlie! I don’t want to fight anyone!”
“Come back here!” Charlie started after Joshua.
RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
“What’s that? It sounds like a machine gun!” Officer McManus yelled.
RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Suddenly a thunderous BOOM! shook the earth and echoed through the street. With a deafening, sucking noise, a blast of hot wind enveloped the neighborhood. Dirt and debris whirled around like a cyclone. CRASH! The sounds of breaking glass and the clatter of toppling houses echoed in the streets. Joshua’s cap flew off his head and blew away. He clapped his hands over his popping ears.
“Is it an earthquake?” Joshua yelled.
“A tornado!” someone else hollered.
WHIR! A huge piece of steel hurtled through the air and slammed into the supporting column of the train trestle. The brace snapped like a toothpick, and the tracks dropped into the street with an enormous CRASH!
Screaming, Angel pulled Maria to the ground and threw herself on top of her. Children and grown-ups came running and shrieking from the playground.
Racing behind Joshua, Charlie yelled, “It’s the tank! The molasses tank is exploding!”
“Run! Get up the hill quickly!” Officer McManus bellowed. “Run!” He grabbed the telephone from the call box and rotated the handle. “Send all available ambulances, all police, everybody!” he roared into the signal box. “The tank has blown! There’s a wall of molasses coming down Commercial Street!”
Joshua and Charlie pulled Angel and Maria to their feet. They all dashed to the side street and up Copps Hill. A deep gurgling sound like thunder followed them.
Angel tripped, almost dropping her sister. Charlie grabbed Maria and hoisted her onto his shoulders. When they were near the top of the hill, they turned.
“Holy Mary, mother of God!” Charlie gasped.
A tidal wave of yellowish-brown molasses was gushing from the broken tank and barreling over the streets. Automobiles, trucks, and wagons were lifted high and sucked down into the sticky sludge.
“There’s Anthony di Stasio comin’ home from school!” Angel screamed. “Run, Anthony!” she called to the boy, waving frantically.
Anthony looked back at the wall of molasses, then tried to outrun it, but the giant wave picked him up on its crest, then as it toppled forward, Anthony vanished.
Men in wagons whipped their frantic horses, trying to get away, but they were quickly trapped in the deepening sea of syrup.
The screams of victims, the clatter of wagons, the roar of the escaped molasses mingled with the cries of the onlookers. “Hurry! Watch out! It’s coming closer!”
The gooey mass swept forward like lava, engulfing everything in its path. A screaming horse and carriage overturned. Joshua could see the horse’s legs sticking out of the mire, then both carriage and horse sank into the shiny liquid.
The great wave of molasses roared its way to the base of Copps Hill, where it surged up another fifteen feet. “The molasses smashed right through Mrs. Clougherty’s brick house!” one of the bystanders on the hillside yelled.
The sharp snap of steel girders and ripping wood rebounded everywhere. Horses dropped to their knees, then disappeared into the gluey muck.
Angel pointed toward the El. “Look! There’s a train comin’! But there’s no track left! If it don’t stop, it’ll crash.”
They watched helplessly as the elevated train clattered directly toward the broken trestle.
“Stop!” Charlie yelled.
“They can’t hear you.” Joshua jumped up and down, waving his hands wildly. Other people began waving and signaling, too.
“He’s slowin’ down,” said Charlie. “He must’ve seen us.”
The train screeched to a stop only a few feet before the crushed trestle, where the broken tracks swung down to the molasses-filled street
A crowd had gathered on the hill. “The machine gun sounds must have been the rivets popping,” a man said. “Then the whole tank blew.”
“We’ve got to help those people!” a woman yelled.
“How?” someone asked. “We’d be sucked right into the molasses.”
“It’s destroying everything!”
The massive tide hurled loaded freight cars through the iron walls of the terminal. The deadly liquid wove its way into basements and alleys, rising higher and higher to the second and third floors, until some of the buildings gave way and collapsed.
“It’s heading for the wharves!” Charlie said.
The fire station toppled on its side in the great surge of molasses, and the shattered building was being carried toward the ocean.
Where are the firemen? Joshua wondered in panic.
“Mama! I’ve got to save Mama!” Angel screamed and started to run down the hill, but Charlie grabbed her. “You can’t go down there. Stay here with Maria. Josh and I will go see what’s happened to your house.” He thrust Maria to Angel, and the two boys raced down toward the sea of churning molasses.
“What’ll we do when we get there?” Joshua called to Charlie. “We can’t get through that stuff! It’s up to the second story of the Public Works. We could get swallowed up in it.”
“We’ll just get close enough to see Angel’s house. There’s nothin’ else we can do.”
The biting stench of molasses was nauseating, and the taste of molasses was thick on Joshua’s tongue.
He and Charlie pushed their way through the crowds and leaped over the scattered debris. From windows, people screamed for help. Horses floundered in the molasses near the stables across the street. “Help us!” screeched clerks from the upper floors of office buildings.
“Oh, dear God,” Joshua prayed aloud. “Can’t we help those people?”
Charlie shook his head. “There’s no way. We can’t cross through. It’s like quicksand. We’d be sucked right in and drown.”
The boys stopped, unable to go any farther. The deep lake of molasses swelled and churned under the broken trestle.
Angel’s house was partially caved in. The first two floors had buckled under the wave of molasses. The third story was sitting precariously on top of the rubble, about ready to topple.
“Charlie, Mrs. DiPietro might still be alive in there.”
“There’s someone in the window!” Charlie yelled.
A figure was standing and gesturing wildly through the broken glass. “Help!” Her faint cries could barely be heard over the wailing of other victims and the shrieks of dying horses.
“We’ve got to help Angel’s mom,” Joshua cried.
“How can we get to her?”
“Let’s go back up the hill. Maybe we can approach the house from the other side.”
The two boys ran back to where Angel waited. She was kneeling by Maria, attempting to calm her.
“We’re going to try to help your mother,” Joshua explained breathlessly. “The house is caving in, but maybe we can get there in time.”
“Oh, please help Mama,” Angel begged. Tears streamed down her face as she crossed herself. “O Dio mio!”
The boys headed down to the other side of the hill only to discover the molasses had totally surrounded Angel’s tenement. They watched as pieces of the house broke and dropped into the gluey liquid. A table floated by, then a door. The more the molasses churned, the more the buildings collapsed, releasing broken windows and stairways into the sticky mess.
“I have an idea,” said Joshua. “There’s junk all over. Maybe I can crawl from one piece to another until I reach the house.
“Then what?” Charlie asked. “Even if you don’t sink into the molasses, the house could cave in, anyway.”
Joshua pointed to a long, wooden ladder that must have broken away from the fire station. He took off his jacket, tossed it onto a broken post, then stepped into the sludge. He waded up to his waist in the molasses, praying he wouldn’t step into a hole. The deeper he w
ent, the more the molasses seemed to paralyze his legs so each step became a struggle until—WHOP!—the molasses sucked off both of his boots! His socks were matted and soggy as he staggered toward the ladder.
Something bumped into his leg—something floating deep in the molasses. He reached down and pulled it to the surface. A cat! It was covered with the slimy syrup, but Joshua could make out the tiger stripes around the face. Peter! Gagging, he thrust the animal aside.
What else was under that awful sludge? Cringing with every step, Joshua climbed onto a broken stairway that wobbled dangerously. At the furthermost point he reached out to the ladder and pulled it toward him.
Charlie clambered after Joshua. “Careful,” Joshua said. “The molasses is going to get deeper the closer we get to the house.”
“I’ll stay behind you,” said Charlie. “We can’t get on the junk out there together, ’cause if one of us don’t sink, two of us will.”
“Hey! You kids!” a man yelled. “Don’t go out there! It’s dangerous!”
But the two boys set the ladder on top of some wood, then aimed it to another piece of lumber closer to the crumbling tenement.
“I’ll hold it steady while you climb out there,” Charlie said.
Joshua lay down on the ladder and began his slow crawl over the rungs toward the house. His clothes, coated with molasses and dirt, stuck to his body and to the ladder, and each motion was stiff and painful. The ladder rocked dangerously. Slowly, he moved to the next rung—then the next—until he finally reached the scrap wood at the front end. Joshua scrambled onto the tippity board. “Come on, Charlie!” he called.
“We’re almost there,” said Charlie.
Joshua aimed the ladder toward another piece of lumber, then continued crawling toward the tenement. The film of molasses in his throat sent him into a fit of coughing, and he paused before moving on. He looked up once toward the broken window. Mrs. DiPietro wasn’t there. Joshua finally reached the house with Charlie right behind him.
The porch and the two lower stories of the tenement had collapsed and were submerged. But the roof of the porch was still attached to the front wall of the building. The two boys slid the end of the ladder to the porch roof and crawled off.
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