The Cats in the Doll Shop Read Online Free PDF Page B

first.”
    â€œDid you have to go through Ellis Island, Mama?” Trudie wants to know.
    Mama repositions the fabric under the needle of the sewing machine. “I did, and so did Papa, and so does almost everyone else who lands here.”
    â€œWhat do they do there?” asks Trudie.
    â€œThey ask a lot of questions. There are some forms to fill out. A doctor examines you to make sure you don’t have a contagious disease.”
    â€œWhat if you do?’ Trudie wants to know. “Have a contagious disease, I mean.”
    â€œSometimes the officials won’t let you in,” Mama says.
    â€œWhat if that happens to Tania?” I ask. It would be terrible if after coming all that way she were not allowed into the country.
    â€œIt won’t,” Mama says firmly. But somehow, the way she says it makes me think she is trying to convince herself as much as she is trying to reassure me.
    â€œMama, is Tania all alone on Ellis Island?” Trudie asks. Her voice sounds a little frightened, which is just how I feel.
    â€œNo,” Mama says. “She’s not. Aunt Rivka’s friend is with her.”
    Trudie sighs and clomps upstairs. I follow her. A whole night and day to wait. It seems like Tania will never, ever get here.

6
    S HANNON
    Our room has been scoured in anticipation of Tania’s arrival—furniture dusted and shined, floor mopped and waxed, curtains pressed and starched. And the new beds are here! Last week, Papa went uptown, to a furniture store on Fourteenth Street, and ordered two white, enameled iron bunk beds. This morning, just before we left for school, a scarlet truck with gold lettering on the side drove up to our building. All of our neighbors gathered round or poked their heads out of their windows to watch the deliverymen bring the new beds upstairs.
    There are new mattresses on each bed, springy and firm, and new pillows, too. We still have our old blankets, but Mama sewed each of us a new coverlet to spread over the blanket during the day. Mine is red-and-white checks, Sophie’s is gray-and-white checks and Trudie’s is pink-and-white checks. But Mama ran out of checked material, so Tania’s is just a pure, deep blue, the color I imagine her eyes will be.
    I stretch out on the top bunk of my new bed, ready to settle in with my library book—it’s about unicorns—when all of a sudden, a loud, rumbling sound erupts from my stomach.
    â€œWhat was that ?” Sophie says.
    â€œI guess I’m a little hungry.” I say.
    â€œI guess so!” Sophie says.
    At lunch today, I was so excited telling my friends Esther and Batya about Tania’s arrival that I barely even touched my lunch. By the time I got around to eating it, the bell had rung and I had to scoot back to class. So now, starved, I climb down from my new bed and head to the kitchen. Dinner won’t be ready for a while, so I fix myself a snack of bread and butter sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and pour a glass of milk. Sitting down at the table, I stub my toe on Trudie’s satchel, so I lug it out of the way. It’s so heavy. What does she keep in there anyway—lead weights?
    I take a big bite of the bread. Just then I get an idea—it’s a brilliant idea, too—about what kind of doll I will make. Gobbling my bread quickly, I rub my sugar-coated lips with the back of my hand. Good thing Mama is not here. She would scold me for not using a napkin. But I am in a hurry.
    Still, I stop to cut off a teensy-tinsy slice of cheese for Ginger Cat. I am only supposed to use scraps, but I don’t see any right now, and I want to leave something in her dish. Then I run downstairs, leave the cheese in the box outside, and step into the doll shop.
    I find Mama bent over her machine, sewing a batch of doll clothes. Kathleen is attaching the caps to the heads of some Nurse Nora dolls. Her husband Michael is piling some boxes on a shelf, and Papa is at his