American Rebirth

by Norma Jean Lutz

  “I hate to think what this will do to Stanley and Ernest’s relationship,” Mama said. “Agnes and Linda will be pulling their hair out trying to find ways to make their husbands get along.”

  Papa sighed heavily and pushed his empty plate away. “Let’s just pray that someone finds a solution to the strike very soon.”

  CHAPTER 5

  The Union Prepares

  Come on, Sam,” Rachel said urgently. She stood near the front door, ready to go. “Annalina will be waiting. Let’s go.” “Tell me again what we’re doing,” Sam said. He looked up from the book he was reading in the living room after school.

  “I told Annalina I would take her downtown. She hasn’t even seen Bridge Square yet. And I want to show her the shops.”

  “But it’s getting late. The shops will not be open much longer.” “That’s all right because we’re not really shopping. We’re just looking. But Mama says I can’t go alone.”

  “That’s right.” Mama glanced up from the newspaper. “I’m not sure you should go at all.”

  “Aw, Mama!” Rachel grumbled.

  “There’s an article right here in today’s newspaper talking about the strike,” Mama said. “A lot of people out on the streets are angry. The police have had to break up several fistfights.”

  “We’ll be careful, Mama,” Rachel promised. “I already promised Annalina, and she hasn’t got a telephone. I don’t want to disappoint her.”

  “What do you think, Donald?” Mama asked.

  Papa put down the business section of the paper and looked at Rachel. “I think,” he said slowly, “that Rachel should have talked to us before she made a promise to Annalina.”

  “Please, Papa,” Rachel pleaded.

  “I understand your mother’s concerns,” Papa said. “You will have to be extra careful. Can you promise me that?” “Yes, yes! We’ll be so careful!”

  “Donald, are you sure about this?” Mama asked doubtfully.

  “They’re just children,” Papa said. “They’re not members of any union. I don’t think anyone will bother with them.”

  “But they could get caught in the middle of something.”

  “That’s why we’re sending Sam along,” Papa said. “Between the two of them, Sam and Rachel have enough sense to stay out of trouble.”

  “So we can go?” Rachel asked hopefully. “Yes, you may go,” Papa answered. Rachel looked at Mama.

  “If you insist on going,” Mama said, “at least take a jar of preserves to Mrs. Borg.”

  Outside, Sam and Rachel walked for several blocks.

  “This isn’t the way to Bridge Square,” Sam said after a few minutes.

  “I know. But it’s the way to Annalina’s house.” “How far away does she live?” “About a mile, I think.”

  “So we have to walk a mile in the wrong direction?”

  “It’s not the wrong direction. It’s the way to Annalina’s house.”

  “But then we have to walk all the way back again, and then the rest of the way to Bridge Square. And then we have to come all the way back to bring Annalina home. That’s going to be at least four miles.”

  Rachel shrugged. “We have time.”

  “Under the circumstances, I think Annalina would understand if you did not show up at her house.”

  “There’s no reason to disappoint her,” Rachel said with determination. And she walked a little faster.

  “If we could ride the streetcar, I wouldn’t mind,” Sam said.

  “Look!” Rachel pointed. “There’s a streetcar. And it’s going our direction.” She put out her hand to hail the driver.

  Sam grabbed Rachel’s arm and yanked her back from the edge of the street.

  “Ow!” she protested.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Sam hissed.

  “You said you wanted to ride a streetcar. And here’s a car now. The driver must not be part of the strike.”

  “All the drivers are on strike,” Sam said emphatically. “This driver is a scab.”

  “A scab?”

  “One of the men Thomas Lowry hired to drive the cars in place of the regular drivers. He makes the new drivers promise not to join a union.”

  The streetcar rattled closer to them. The driver glanced at them hopefully. Sam pulled Rachel farther away from the road. The car rumbled on.

  “No one was riding in the car,” Rachel said.

  “That’s right.” Sam nodded.

  “But why is Mr. Lowry paying men to drive empty cars?”

  “He hopes people will get tired of walking and start riding.”

  “But you don’t think so, do you?” Rachel asked. “Just a few minutes ago, you were wishing you could ride a streetcar, but when you had the chance, you wouldn’t get on.”

  Sam shook his head. “It’s not safe. I promised Mama and Papa I would look out for you.”

  “What would happen if we got on a streetcar?” Rachel asked. “If no one else is in the car, how could we get hurt?”

  Sam glanced around. “Do you see those people at the next corner?”

  Rachel nodded. One block away stood a woman and three young men who looked like they had nowhere to go.

  “If we get on,” Sam said, “they’ll get on. They’ll call the driver names and lecture us all the way downtown about destroying everything the union has worked for.”

  Rachel looked at her brother. “How do you know all this?”

  “I talked to Jim.”

  “I thought you weren’t getting along with Jim.”

  Sam shrugged. “I have nothing against Jim. I don’t understand why he’s fighting with Simon, but I’m trying to be friends with both of them.”

  Rachel nodded. She knew how hard that could be. “So what did Jim tell you?”

  “His father is thinking about going back to work, because Jim’s mama is worried they won’t have enough money to pay their bills.” Sam started walking again. “Besides, it doesn’t matter now. There won’t be another car along this way for a long time.”

  It took Sam and Rachel almost an hour to walk to Annalina’s house and then retrace their steps to go to Bridge Square. As they approached the downtown area, Annalina’s blue eyes lit up with a fresh glow. She raced ahead of Sam and Rachel, her braids bobbing over her shoulders. Every few steps, Annalina glanced over her shoulder to make sure Rachel was behind her, but she could not make herself slow down.

  Knowing that Annalina could not understand him, Sam said to

  Rachel, “I’ve never seen someone so excited about seeing a bridge.”

  “Bridge?” Annalina said, repeating the word Rachel had taught her a few days ago.

  “We’ve always lived in Minneapolis,” Rachel said. “We’ve seen the bridges our whole lives. If we visited Sweden, we’d be interested in things that other people think are ordinary.”

  “I suppose so,” Sam muttered.

  They were on Hennepin Avenue now, heading for the heart of downtown Minneapolis. In a few minutes, they would be at Bridge Square. From there they could look at the huge Pillsbury mill across the river. Sam hoped there would be trains on the stone arch bridge that carried Jim Hill’s railroad across the surging Mississippi River.

  Annalina’s blue eyes were bright with excitement. She darted from one shop to another, pointing and questioning with her eyes. Smiling, Rachel answered as many questions as she could.

  Suddenly, Rachel stopped and pointed.

  “Sam, look! Isn’t that Uncle Stanley?”

  Sam peered down the street. “Yes, and it looks like Seth is with him.”

  Rachel quickened her steps. “Let’s go say hello.”

  As they got closer, they saw that Uncle Stanley and his eighteen-year-old nephew, Seth, were not just out for an afternoon stroll. Their hands were full of pamphlets, and they were handing one to every person who passed by.

  “What is it?” Rachel asked.

  “Union literature,” Sam answered. He slowed his steps. “Why don’t we just go
on by? They look busy.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Rachel said. “We can’t pretend that we didn’t see them.”

  “They haven’t noticed us yet,” Sam countered. Just then, Seth waved a long arm.

  “Now they have.” Rachel started toward her cousins.

  Annalina looked confused, but she followed where Rachel led.

  “Hello, Uncle Stanley. Hello, Seth,” Rachel said cheerfully. “I would like you to meet my friend Annalina.”

  “Glad to meet you, Annalina,” Uncle Stanley said. “What brings you downtown on this fine afternoon?”

  “She doesn’t speak English,” Sam said.

  Seth’s eyes widened slightly. “Not at all?”

  “Only the words Rachel has taught her.”

  “Oh, I understand.” Uncle Stanley turned to Rachel. “So I’ll ask you what has brought you downtown today.”

  “Annalina just moved to Minneapolis two weeks ago. I wanted to show her around.” Rachel gestured toward the stack of papers under her older cousin’s arm. “Why are you here?”

  “We have a union meeting in a few minutes,” Uncle Stanley explained. “We’re asking people to come inside and hear a speaker.”

  “Is it about the strike?” Rachel asked.

  Uncle Stanley nodded. “The strike will not be settled if people cannot learn to listen to one another.” “I suppose that’s true.”

  Rachel wondered if Uncle Ernest knew that his son Seth was passing out union literature. Surely Uncle Ernest would not approve. He was already unhappy that Seth had taken a job with the railroad while he got ready to go to college. But Rachel decided not to ask about Uncle Ernest.

  “Are there many people in there?” Rachel asked instead, pointing to a brick building.

  “There is still room for more.” Uncle Stanley reached out and handed a pamphlet to a man passing by.

  “We’d better go in soon,” Seth said.

  “All right,” his uncle replied. He handed a pamphlet to Sam.

  “Here, take this home to your father.” “My father is not a union man.”

  “But he’s not against the union, either,” Uncle Stanley said. “He might be interested in what we have to say.”

  Uncle Stanley and Seth disappeared inside the brick building.

  “What does the pamphlet say?” Rachel asked.

  Sam turned it over and looked at the front. “Stand together,” he read. “The strength of many, the mind of one.”

  “The strength of many, the mind of one,” Rachel repeated. “I like that.”

  Sam looked up from the paper into his sister’s blue eyes.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Rachel asked.

  Sam nodded slowly. “But just for a few minutes. After all, you promised to show Annalina the bridge, and soon it will be time to take her home.”

  Rachel nodded. “I just want to see what it’s like.”

  Once again, Annalina did not understand what was happening, but she followed where Rachel led—into the brick building.

  Inside, they crept down a dark stairwell and came to a set of double doors.

  “It must be in there,” Sam whispered, peeking through the crack between the two doors. His jaw dropped. “There must be three hundred people in that room.”

  “Open the door,” Rachel urged.

  “Are you sure?” Sam asked.

  Rachel nodded. Annalina looked from Sam to Rachel and back again.

  Sam opened the door, and the three of them slipped into the back of the room.

  In the front of the room on a makeshift stage, a man stood on a chair. “The mayor is making promises he can’t keep,” the man shouted. “He promises to protect the drivers. He threatens to arrest anyone who gets in the way of the smooth operation of the streetcar system.”

  The crowd booed and rumbled.

  “This city does not have enough police officers for the mayor to keep that promise,” the man shouted, thrusting his fist in the air. “We have people standing on every corner watching the cars. We know who is riding and who is not.”

  “See?” Sam whispered. “Isn’t that what I told you?”

  “Shh!” Rachel wanted to hear more.

  The man on the chair continued. “This is not the first strike in Minneapolis, and it will not be the last. Organized labor will grow in strength, grow in numbers, grow in influence.”

  The crowd cheered. Sam spotted Uncle Stanley in one corner. He was starting to applaud.

  “The day of management’s power is past,” the man said. “We are entering a more humane era. In the future, a man who gives an honest day’s work will get an honest day’s wage. He will use that wage to care for his family, to bring up his children in dignity.”

  The crowd roared and chanted, “Stand together, stand together.”

  Annalina clutched Rachel’s arm so tightly it hurt. “What mean?” she said. Her blue eyes had lost their glow and become frightened.

  Rachel sighed. “If only I could explain it to you. Your father would understand. It’s the same reason he brought you here—the reason he wants you to go to a good school.”

  Annalina searched Rachel’s face with questioning eyes.

  “We’d better go,” Sam said.

  CHAPTER 6

  Annalina’s Problem

  We sit here?” Annalina asked hopefully.

  “Very good!” Rachel exclaimed. “Yes, we’ll sit here.” With a cotton handkerchief, she dusted off a wooden bench. “Now, I know you’ve never seen a baseball game before, so I’ll try to explain the rules.”

  Annalina peered at the baseball diamond, with the shapeless white sandbags evenly spaced around it.

  “One team will try to hit the ball and run all the way around,” Rachel explained. “They have to touch all the bases. The other team will try to stop them. Each team gets three outs, and there are nine innings.”

  Annalina looked at Rachel, completely confused.

  “I never realized how complicated it is to explain baseball.” Rachel loved baseball games. “You’ll get the idea when they start playing a real game.”

  Sam had talked for weeks about playing the team from Seventh Street. Apparently many of the other players had, too. Quite a few family members had turned out to watch the match. Rachel was surprised to see some of her friends from school. Some of the girls had brothers on Sam’s team. Colleen and Janie were supposed to come with Rachel to the game, until …

  Rachel turned and waved to a row of girls behind her. No one waved back. Instead, Rachel saw several of them put their heads together. She could tell from the way their shoulders were moving that they were laughing. Katherine Jones glanced up at Rachel. But instead of catching Rachel’s eyes, she quickly turned her head back to the huddle.

  “Baseball,” Annalina said very distinctly. She gestured as if she were throwing a ball.

  “Very good,” Rachel said. She gestured as if she were swinging a bat and said, “Bat.”

  “Bat. Bat.” Annalina echoed.

  Behind them, Rachel heard another echo. She twisted around to see her friend Mariah Webster saying, “Baht, baht. Ja, ja, dis ist baht.”

  Mariah and Katherine burst into giggles. “Ja, ja.”

  Rachel stared at Mariah. Mariah stared back.

  “Mariah Webster, you stop that!” Rachel demanded.

  Mariah and Katherine giggled even harder.

  Rachel turned to face the field again, her arms crossed on her chest. “Never mind them,” she said to Annalina. “We have a ball game to watch.”

  Both teams were finishing their warm-ups. Soon it would be time to begin playing. Sam did not seem to be concentrating on the warm-up, however. His eyes were raised to the outfield. Simon had not shown up for the game. Rachel knew Sam must be hoping that Simon was just late. But as the minutes dragged by, Rachel realized that Simon might never come to play on the team again. Simon was their best hurler. Without him throwing the ball, the team could be in for a great deal of trouble on t
he field.

  “I’ll be right back,” Rachel told Annalina. She made her way between the benches to the edge of the field where she could hear the boys’ voices.

  “He’s not coming, is he?” she heard Steve Jones say to Sam.

  Sam shook his head. “I guess not.”

  “Maybe he’s sick,” Steve said.

  “Naw,” said another boy, “I saw him on Bridge Square this morning. He’s fine.”

  “Maybe his parents wouldn’t let him play today,” Sam speculated. “Maybe they had relatives visiting or something.”

  “Naw, they come to all the games. More likely they wouldn’t let him play because they don’t want him on this team anymore.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Sam said. “He’s played on this team for three years. They never minded before.”

  “It’s different now.”

  “No, it’s not. It’s the same team.”

  “Now Jim’s father and Simon’s father are on opposite sides of the strike.”

  “So what?” Sam said. “That doesn’t mean they can’t play baseball together.”

  “Yes, it does.” It was Joe Rugierio’s turn to speak. “My parents didn’t want me to come, either. Most of you are management families.”

  “We’re just families!” Sam insisted. “And we’re the same team we’ve always been.”

  Rachel sighed and made her way back to her seat beside Annalina. The game should have started by now, but most of Sam’s team was still standing around talking. And Simon, the star pitcher, wasn’t there. Of all games to miss, this was the big one with the Seventh Street team.

  “I’m sure the game will start soon, Annalina,” Rachel said.

  “They’re just planning their strategy.”

  Annalina nodded, but Rachel could tell that she didn’t understand. Rachel hunched forward, hoping that the game would start soon.

  “Hey!” called the captain of the other team. “Are we going to play ball or what?”

  “We’re almost ready!” Sam called back. He turned back to his teammates. “So, who is going to hurl today?”

  Rachel watched while they chose Larry Lerner to take Simon’s place on the pitching mound. They would be short one player in the outfield. They scattered to take their positions.