about leaving at first.”
“I think my mother is just afraid. She has no idea
what’s out there. None of us do, I guess.” Eric looked out over the ocean as he said this. And then, a smile began to spread across his face and his eyes lit up. “I know where everything is on the ship. Do you want
to explore it with me?”
Anna hesitated for a moment. The last time she
had gone exploring with Eric they had very nearly
been beaten by an angry janitor. Besides, her father had asked her not to be out too long. But it was so
tempting to go with this boy. And she had already
missed so much being sick in her cabin. She wanted
to make up for lost time. And besides, she felt as if Eric might become a good friend. Now was the time
to seal the friendship. She nodded and the two of
them took off together.
The first stop was to the front of the ship. “It’s
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called the bow,” Eric explained. “And those are the
life boats.” He pointed to a row of small dinghies sus-pended above the deck. “In case we capsize.” Anna
gulped. She knew it was possible for a ship this size to capsize. Hopefully not this one!
Next, he took her down a set of narrow stairs to
another deck, where chairs were lined up side by side and a number of passengers were sunning themselves. “We can play shuffleboard over there,” Eric
explained, pointing to a few people with long poles
who were pushing flat, weighted pucks across the deck.
From there, they moved inside, where Eric showed
her the dining room, an echoing banquet hall larger
than anything she had ever seen. Men in black waist-
coats were moving about with linen and dishes. Eric
and Anna tried to get into the kitchen—Eric swore
he had done it the day before. But a rather large man appeared with a chef’s hat and ordered them to leave.
He brandished a soup ladle in the air like a sword.
They wasted no time in turning around and bolting
out of there.
Up some stairs and down some stairs, through
some narrow passageways and under several arches,
in one set of doors and out another. By the end of
their exploration, Anna had no idea where they were.
She had told her father that she couldn’t go far, but
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she felt as if she had traveled around a small village.
She was out of breath and her cheeks were red. But
this time, it was with a healthy glow and not with the burn of a fever.
“Eric, wait,” she called as her friend was about to
head off down yet another set of stairs. “Stop. I think it’s enough.”
“But if we go down here, maybe we can get into
the engine room. I was there yesterday.”
Anna shook her head. “Maybe tomorrow. But I’ve
got to get back to my room or my father is going to
send out a search party.”
Eric nodded. “Okay. Tomorrow I’ll show you
where the movie theater is.”
Anna smiled. “I’ll see you at dinner.”
z
Anna gasped when she entered the dining room later
that evening with her father and grandmother. When
she had run through here earlier with Eric, it had
looked big, but cold. Now, in the glow of giant chan-deliers, the dining room was elegant and impressive.
The tables were set with white tablecloths, silver forks and knives that gleamed, and crystal glasses. She felt as if she were a princess entering a castle ballroom.
“Has it been like this every night?” she asked,
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wide-eyed. She still couldn’t believe she had missed four full days of sailing.
“It has, my darling,” Papa answered. “But I think
it looks extra special tonight.” Anna beamed with
pleasure.
Papa held the chairs out for her and for Baba. She
sat and looked around. Eric and his family were sit-
ting across the room. She recognized his father from the audition. His mother, a nervous-looking woman
with a pinched face, sat next to him. Eric had said that she wasn’t happy to be leaving Poland. She looked
like a woman who wouldn’t enjoy much of anything.
There was also a little girl at their table, and given her bright orange hair, Anna knew she had to be Eric’s
younger sister. Anna sat up in her chair, straining to catch his eye. When he finally looked across at her, she grinned and waved. He nodded and returned the
greeting. Meanwhile Papa was pointing out other
musicians in the room, famous instrumentalists who
were to be part of the new orchestra as well. “That’s Wolfgang Valk, and there’s Jacob Mishori and Uri
Toeplitz.” Papa was breathless with excitement. The
names meant nothing to Anna, but she was happy to
see how animated her father was.
“There are more than seventy of us here, Annichka,
plus all of our family members,” he added. “From
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Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, and of course,
Poland. There will be some local players from
Palestine as well, but the majority of the musicians are like us, grateful to be leaving Europe at this time.”
At each family table, there were children Anna’s
age, and older adults like Baba. Anna realized that
Mr. Huberman had probably provided hundreds of
extra travel certificates for these family members.
Fuga, Anna thought again, repeating the name of the ship in her mind. She wondered if everyone knew
how important and meaningful that name really was.
And then the food began to arrive, platters of
baked chicken, and roasted potatoes, and cucumber
salads. Baba sniffed suspiciously at each plate that was lowered to their table, and then nodded her approval.
Anna began to eat, as though she were making up for
a lifetime instead of just four days.
“Slow down, Annichka,” Papa warned. But Anna
barely heard him. She hadn’t realized how hungry
she was and each forkful seemed to restore some of
her strength. Finally, there was no more room inside, and she laid her fork on the table and sat back. But the meal wasn’t over yet. The waiters appeared once
again, this time with plates of sweet crepes that were filled with nuts and dusted with icing sugar. When
Baba tasted one, even she had to admit that they
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were as good, if not better, than the ones she used to make. Anna agreed. And even though she thought
she might burst from all the food she had eaten, she managed to find a bit of space for the delicate dessert.
Papa was having his hot tea with lemon when the
captain rose from his table at the head of the dining room and tapped on his water glass with a spoon. The passengers quieted down quickly and all eyes eagerly turned toward him.
“I think you will all agree that our chef has done
another marvelous job of feeding us this evening.”
Applause broke out across the hall as the chef
entered from the kitchen. Several passengers rose
to their feet. Others called out “Bravo!” and “Well
done!” He was the same man who had chased Anna
and Eric out of the dining room earlier
that day, and Anna sunk down in her seat, just in case he saw her.
She glanced across the room and noticed that Eric
was doing the same thing. They needn’t have worried.
The chef was too busy bowing and acknowledging
the ovation.
Then the captain clinked on his glass once more,
and when the room had quieted, he continued. “In a
few short days, we will be landing in Haifa, and I can’t let this opportunity go by without asking if a few of you would give us a small concert. I know you’re not
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really prepared for such a request at this time, but it would be an honor to hear you play.”
In an instant the musicians in the room began
to mutter and whisper, turning to one another and
asking what music they had and what might be pos-
sible to perform. How could they turn down an in-
vitation to play, especially when it came from the
captain? And what an opportunity it would be to hear how they sounded playing together for the first time.
“What do you think, Annichka?” Papa asked.
“Should I join the others? It’s a celebration of sorts.”
“Oh yes, please, Papa,” Anna replied, her voice
trembling.
Papa and the other musicians rose as one group
and left the dining room to get their instruments.
They all returned minutes later and began to tune
up. And then, with a nod to one another, they raised their instruments and began to play. Even without a
conductor, the sound was beautiful to Anna’s ears.
She closed her eyes and let the music wrap around
her like a soft blanket. There were no barnyard
animal sounds among these wonderful musicians.
They played like fields of flowers and twinkling
stars. They played like freedom.
Chapter
23
On the morning that the ship entered the harbor
in Haifa, Anna was at the railing with all of the
other passengers. There was no way she was going
to miss the docking in the way she had missed the
departure. The sky was clear blue and an intense
sun shone down on her and the other passengers.
The weather had been changing, growing warmer
in the last days of the voyage. Here in the port of
Haifa, the air was hot and dry.
“And it’s only going to get hotter as the day goes
on,” Papa said.
The upper deck was packed with passengers all
cheering and waving handkerchiefs as the city came
into view. Anna cheered along with Papa, Baba, and
everyone else. When she spotted Eric standing close
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by, she waved to him as well. In the last couple of
days on board the ship, he had taken her to nearly
every corner of the vessel. She felt she knew this boat almost as well as the captain did.
Eric waved back and then looked out at the sea.
But when she followed his gaze, she was dismayed
to see some boats with guns attached to their bows
sitting in the water close by. The guns were aimed in the direction of their ship. She pulled on her father’s arm and pointed toward the ships. Papa shielded his
eyes in the glare of the morning sunlight as he looked out onto the water. A moment earlier, the cheers on
board the ship had been booming. Now, the silence
was nearly as deafening.
“Why are there guns?” a woman next to Anna
asked.
“It’s like the soldiers back home,” another man
added.
“Why are they here, Papa?” Anna asked.
Papa draped his arm protectively around Anna’s
shoulder and pulled her close to him. “I know that
the British government has not been happy with the
number of ships arriving from Europe with Jews on
board. Some ships are being turned away. They’re
checking everyone to make sure our papers are
in order.”
Anna understood the importance of checking the
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ships to see who was entering. But why guns? Guns meant something different. Guns were unfriendly.
Guns meant stay away. This was not the welcome she had been expecting.
“But what if they turn us away?” she whispered.
The thought of returning to Poland was horrifying.
“Please don’t worry, Anna,” Papa replied. “Our
papers are good.”
Anna stood close to her father as a group of
officials from the British naval fleet boarded the
Fuga to speak with the captain. Anna counted six of them, and they disappeared into the captain’s cabin
while the passengers remained at the railing, wait-
ing to see what would happen. All eyes were trained
on the doorway leading to where the meeting was
taking place.
“How long do we have to wait?” Anna asked.
“The captain has all of our documents. And
those British officials need to go through them. So
patient.”
Patient! Anna had patiently waited after Papa’s audition to see if he got into the orchestra. She had been patient when they were uncertain about Baba’s
travel certificate. And then she patiently waited while the delay had been in place. She had had enough of
being patient. Now she itched to get off the ship. She
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and the other passengers stood on the deck in silence as the minutes ticked by.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but
suddenly, the party of British officials emerged from the captain’s quarters and left the ship. Anna watched as the gunboat turned and headed back to shore. And
at that very moment, the cheers on board the Fuga began again, building from a soft rumble to a joyous roar, rolling across the ship like a wave. Anna joined in, yelling and whooping at the top of her lungs. This time she knew they had made it.
It did not take long for the ship to dock. Anna,
her family, and all the passengers disembarked,
walking down the long platform to finally stand on
the ground of Palestine. Anna’s legs wobbled and it
took a few minutes to adjust to not feeling the waves underneath her. Eventually, she got her footing and
grabbed Baba’s arm, afraid to lose her in the mass
of people who were disembarking. Papa was just up
ahead, pointing out their luggage to a man who was
speaking in Hebrew, a language that was unfamiliar
to all of them. Anna hoped they wouldn’t leave any-
thing behind. In all the commotion, it was nearly
impossible to take in their surroundings.
“We have to get on the bus,” Papa was urging.
“There will be time to look around when we get to Tel
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Aviv.” That was where their new home awaited them.
Anna climbed onto one of the big buses that lined
up for the passengers of the Fuga. Tires crunched on the stones underneath the bus as it revved its motor and pulled away from the port. They were on their way.
The bus traveled through a forested landscape
snaking along a gravel road. The sun poked through
the trees and shifted in the sky with every t
urn. And the canvas of colors in front of Anna’s eyes turned
from deep green to pale yellow to royal blue. There
were a few buildings here and there by the side of the road and a couple of small villages that sprang up
out of nowhere. But other than that, the area seemed pretty deserted.
Once, Anna grabbed her father’s arm and shouted,
“Camels, Papa! Look, there are camels!” Sure enough, the slow-moving beasts were traveling in caravans
along the roadside, led by herders who carried long
sticks and slapped at the back of the camels to keep them moving. At one point, Anna pulled down her
window and stuck her head outside. The air was hot
and sticky, and bits of dirt and grit clung to the inside of her nostrils as she inhaled. Her throat felt scratchy when she swallowed. But she didn’t care. She kept the window open and her head outside for the remainder
of the journey. Finally, after more time had passed,
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she began to see groves of citrus trees. Oranges and grapefruits hung low on the branches. She knew they
had to be close to the city.
And suddenly, there it was. They had arrived in
Tel Aviv. The paved streets here were busy with cars and bicycles and people walking briskly in the warm
sunshine. British soldiers also marched on the streets.
Papa had told Anna that tension between Palestinian
Arabs and Jewish civilians was growing, and the
army was there as a safeguard between the two
groups, which were both claiming this land as their
own. Anna shuddered. She didn’t like the looks of the army. And the soldiers carried guns slung over their shoulders. It was a stark reminder that harmony in
this part of the world was still far away.
Anna and her family climbed down from the bus,
squinting in the afternoon sunlight. All the musicians had been assigned to live in a series of low-rise apartment buildings that were within walking distance of
the Levant Fairground, where the orchestra would
rehearse. Newly planted palm trees surrounded the
area. Papa scanned the buildings and then smiled.
“That’s the one,” he said, pointing ahead. All of the buildings were intensely white and spotlessly clean. It was all so different from the Old World splendor of
Krakow, with its brown and black towering buildings
and steeples.
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The family climbed the stairs to the third floor