Authors: June Ahern
THE AIRPORT TERMINAL’S windows shuddered from the vibration of the airplanes as they roared into and out of Scotland. Cathy and Granny B, sitting close to each other, didn’t notice. The older woman, still wearing dark mourning clothes, held her daughter’s hand. “I’ll miss you and the girls so much,” she said sadly.
“
It’s already settled. Jimmy will have a secure job with no worry about some proddy taking it away,” Cathy replied as she watched Maggie and Mary chase each other back and forth, giggling. Mary was hugging a doll. It was a special doll. Three days earlier Granda B had given it to her for her seventh birthday. She lovingly carried it with her everywhere. Annie was taking June for another walk down the corridor, trying to keep her amused.
Granny B looked at her in desperation.
“It’s just that I’m afraid, hen, you’ll no come back home to me again. I’m no getting any younger, you know.”
Resolutely, Cathy looked into her mother
’s eyes. “Well, Mam, you made sure you got me home before.”
The old woman looked away. Her fingers fumbled over one another and settled on her wedding ring.
“You’ve no forgiven me, have you?” Granny B asked sadly. “There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t say a prayer to Our Lady for peace between us.”
In an effort to avoid any more talk with her mother Cathy strained her head to look toward her husband who was waiting at the ticket counter. She could see Jimmy was reading the list he made earlier that day of the tasks to c
omplete and information needed for their move.
Jimmy held tight to the list because it also contained the telephone number of his friend
, Sandy Jordon, in America. He had been a good pal to Jimmy since they were children, and the two wrote to each other after Sandy had emigrated a few years ago. He had encouraged Jimmy to join him, promising a good job. The very day Jimmy confirmed his family would move, Sandy secured a job for his pal alongside him at the shipyards. Jimmy had told Cathy that moving to the United States was the best chance they had for a new start. “Life will be better there,” he assured her.
Looking away from her husband,
Cathy said a silent prayer her husband would never learn of her secret about Dr. MacFadden making a substantial contribution to help the family have that new start. She knew he would never have taken the doctor’s money. A few weeks after her emergency visit to the hospital, Jimmy forbade her to ever talk to Doctor MacFadden again, since he felt the doctor had too much influence over his wife. Paralyzed by grief, she didn’t question his command, although secretly she confided in her mother where the money had come from. As a precaution, she asked her mother to say the money was a gift from her and Granda B. Her mother agreed to keep the secret assuring Cathy it really wasn’t a lie since Granda B had already promised to give them some money to help with their move.
S
he saw her husband walking toward them, smiling and waving tickets. He started to collect the luggage and handed his three oldest daughters their small carry-on bags. “Okay girls! Come on now. We’re off!” he said cheerfully.
He took hold of Granda B
’s hand. He wanted so badly to express how much the old man had meant to him; that he meant more to him than his own father had.
“You’
ve been like a father to me,” he said sincerely. “I can’t thank you enough for everything.”
“
I only wish I could have done more,” Granda B said sadly. He respected his son-in-law for being a hard worker and good provider. He kept hold of Jimmy’s hand a bit longer. Tears formed in his eyes.
“I promise you
, I’ll pay you back,” Jimmy said.
“
Och, you’ll do no such thing,” Granda B said, dismissing the idea.
“
We’ll write when we’re settled. Then I’ll bring you both out for a grand holiday in America.”
“
Oh, aye. We’ll be sure to do that! Good luck, son.” Granda B forced himself to smile.
Jimmy turned to the three older girls and didn
’t see his father-in-law grimace with pain as he touched his stomach. Like the pied piper, Jimmy led Annie, Maggie, and Mary outside under a glorious full moon to board the plane. The girls hesitantly followed him. They were torn between the excitement of going on an airplane for the first time and the fear of leaving their home and grandparents.
Granny B held onto her daughter. Cathy stood stoically, feeling only numbness in her heart. She had cried so many tears over the years that her eyes couldn
’t shed any more.
She gently pulled away from her mother. Staring at Granny B
’s lined face she said quietly, “Mammy, I know you did what you believed was best for the family and for that, I hold nothing against you.” She glanced over at her forlorn father as he stood staring out a large window at the plane she would soon be boarding. “Tell Daddy cheerio for me,” she said, her lips trembling slightly.
She picked up her bag with one hand and took June
’s hand with the other. Turning away from her mother she followed her family to board the plane without once looking back.
* * * * *
Chapter 7
REACHING THE SHORES OF AMERICA
THE AIRPLANE’S RUMBLING engines churned loudly during takeoff. Cathy sat between Mary and June. As the plane left the ground, Cathy felt Mary squeeze her hand hard. June pressed her face against the window. Her breath coated the Plexiglas as the shores of Scotland faded and could no longer be seen.
Jimmy and Cathy had decided that a night flight would be best. Their hope was that everyone would sleep during the
first leg of the long journey, but sleep was elusive. The power of the plane’s vibration as it ascended into the sky left them all feeling lightheaded and queasy.
Maggie was the first to cry out for help.
“Daddy, I’m going to be sick!”
Neither parent was prepared to deal with four pitifully sick children. Hearing their cries, a stewardess rushed forward with brown paper bags.
The cough June had before leaving Glasgow, worsened into spasms. A doctor had said it was the whooping cough. The medicine he prescribed didn’t help and June continued to cough. Cathy and Jimmy fretted. They knew that if their daughter’s cough caught the attention of the American immigration officers, the family could be detained until she was declared healthy enough to enter the United States. Or, worse yet, they could be sent back to Scotland.
The night was very long and seemed even longer with the loud rumbling of the propeller plane. Jimmy and Cathy prayed for daylight, while the girls moaned and whined, asking
“Are we there yet?”
Cathy couldn
’t rest with June sleeping fitfully on her lap, her little legs twitching and giving small kicks. Once she jerked awake, shouting “Mammy, don’t leave me!” Cathy rocked her as she did during the weeks following Helen’s death when June had shouted the same concern in her sleep over and over.
June
’s restlessness started to get the best of Cathy’s patience. She looked back to see if Jimmy was awake, but he wasn’t in his seat. She debated whether to ask him if he’d take a turn with June. But in the past he had often protested about caring for June, saying that she was such a handful with her constant chattering. Finally, in tired desperation, she struggled out of her seat, telling the girl to hold still.
Cathy wobbled down the aisle of the plane to find Jimmy. She found him standing at the back, smoking and talking with another passenger. She stood next to him, listening for a moment as the men reminisced about why they were leaving and the uncertainties of what lay ahead. Quietly she made her request.
At first he was irritated but he wanted to make the journey easy for his wife, so he went back to his seat and picked up June. Hoping to keep her quiet, he opened one of the children’s books that they had brought along. A picture of a sailboat cruising through the water caught her eye. Pointing to it, she asked her Daddy, “Did I fall off this boat?”
“
No,” he answered, sharply.
When he started to turn the page, she put her hand on the picture.
“Where are the people on the boat?” she asked.
“Will you
just listen to the story?” he said, slapping her leg.
She quickly stopped talking. He continued reading until her small chest heaved a deep sigh, signaling the beginning of sleep. With his daughter cradled and asleep in the crook of his arms, Jimmy soon fell asleep, too.
At the New York airport immigration inspection line, their hope of being welcomed into their new country was dashed as their worst fear was realized. The beefy immigration officer had laid out on a table
every article in their suitcases. It embarrassed Cathy and made Jimmy angry. They felt vulnerable. June’s face was flushed red as she hacked and shook while coughing.
“
Hi-yeh, how you feel-un?” the officer asked, drawing out the syllables in hopes of being understood by the new arrivals.
June didn
’t understand his strange language. She hid behind her mother. Cathy was glad when her daughter pressed her face into her coat, which muffled the coughs.
“
She’s caught a wee cold coming over. That plane was terribly chilly,” the nervous mother answered the officer with a slight laugh. She hoped to sound nonchalant about the coughing.
The officer pressed his lips tight, saying,
“Hmm.”
June peeked out from behind her mother. The family stood frozen in place as they waited for the decision. The customs officer looked at the redheaded girl and then at Jimmy, Cathy and the other girls, who huddled together and stared back at him. As immigrants, their entry or denial into America was at the mercy of this man, who could quarantine them if he deemed that June might be carrying a contagious virus.
The officer looked intently at the bright, blue-eyed child. Suddenly, June gave him a big grin, widening her apple-red cheeks. In an unprofessional moment, the officer put his feelings into his job, “Yeah, alright. Put your things back in,” he said gruffly. He then stamped their passports and turned his attention to the next passengers waiting for inspection.
Cathy felt Jimmy
’s hands shake as he took her elbow, moving her forward. She could see sweat on his brow. At a safe distance, he whispered in her ear, “Our Lady heard your prayers.”
She fingered the rosary beads in her pocket.
The moon was only a grayish outline in the chilly dawn sky when the family left the
airport lounge and boarded the airplane that would take them to their final destination. Shortly after takeoff, June developed a piercing earache.
Cathy was prepared. On the previous flight a stewardess had given her little square packets wrapped in colorful paper and said,
“Bubble gum. It’ll help if your girls’ get earaches from the pressure of the plane.”
While Cathy unwrapped the gum for June, Annie wobbled up the aisle to see if she could help comfort her little sister. Her mother told her to bring the other girls so they too could have a square of gum.
After chewing the gum to soften it, Mary was the first to discover she could blow bubbles. She blew and blew, making a spectacular big, pink, round bubble before it exploded with a “bang!” to the amusement of her sisters.
The girls entertained themselves blowing bubbles, some small and some big. Annie was the fi
rst to notice the extra bonus inside the small colorful gum wrapper. It was a funny cartoon about a boy named Joe Bazooka. The girls delighted in their first experience with the sugary American treat. The stewardess came down the aisle and asked the family if they’d like a refreshment. Cathy and Jimmy took tea and the girls were thrilled with the new experience of Coca-Cola, an American drink.
June
pointed out the window and said, “Mammy, look, the moon lady’s face.”
Cathy looked out to the bright
full moon––so large it appeared close enough to touch. She said, “Man in the moon, it’s called.”
“Did you see
he followed us all the way?” June asked.
“
I did, hen.”
“
It’s a lucky sign. That’s what Annie said.”
“A good omen
it is, for our new life,” Cathy agreed.
The family was disoriented. They
didn’t know whether they felt tired or awake. The drone of the plane, combined with the long hours of travel finally caught up with the MacDonalds. Eventually, one by one, sleep came to each member of the family.
Jimmy’s voice woke the family. “Girls, quick look,” he said pointing out his window. Sun spilled through clouds that encircled the top peaks of a grand bridge. There it was…The Golden Gate Bridge! They were almost at their new home in San Francisco.
The girls rushed over to join their father at the window. Jimmy started singing the song he taught them on the b
us ride to the Glasgow Airport. “San Francisco, open your Golden Gates.”
Cathy joined the others looking at the spectacular view. She stared, captivated by the sight of the bridge.