Yossi's Goal Read Online Free PDF Page A

your daughter and I want to marry her. We work as hard as we can. We save every penny. And still I can’t support her. Do you know how that makes me feel?”
    Yossi thought he knew how it made Daniel feel—just the way he’d felt when Max Steiner taunted him.
    â€œAnd it’s going to go on and on, unless we do something about it,” Daniel continued. “I’ve been talking to workers at the other sweatshops, and they all agree. The owners have to change—and we have to make them.”
    â€œDon’t be crazy, Daniel!” Papa said. “It’s dangerous, getting mixed up in labor agitation. You’ll bring trouble down on all of us!”
    The two of them stood nose to nose. “I’ll be careful, Avram,” Daniel said, more softly, “but I won’t stop struggling—”
    Miriam took his hand. “We’ll struggle together.”
    â€œAnd we’ll win,” Daniel said.
    There was a silence.
    â€œAnd then you and Miriam can get married and do your kissing somewhere else,” Yossi said, and everyone laughed.
    Yossi grinned, glad to have broken the tension. But as he left the room, he wondered what danger Papa was talking about. And he wondered what it would take for Daniel and Miriam to win.

Chapter Five
    Arm in arm, Yossi, Abie, Benny, Louie and Milton skipped down the street, kicking up little mounds of fresh snow. The Rebbe had been called away to sit with a sick relative, so they had an afternoon free of lessons.
    Benny started humming “My Rumania, My Rumania,” a popular Yiddish song, and soon the others joined in, singing loudly. When women on the street wagged their fingers, the boys burst into laughter and sang louder.
    They strolled down several streets of tenements, then turned onto a street of shops past Rosen’s, the chemist’s…Abramowitz’s Dry Goods…Fogelman’s Kosher Butcher. They stopped, gazing at the huge joints of kosher meat that hung in the window, turning slowly on strings.
    Yossi’s mouth watered. “I bet I could eat that whole roast,” he said, pointing to one large piece.
    Abie sighed. “Last time I had meat— real brisket, not just scraps—was Rosh Hashanah.”
    Four months ago, Yossi thought. Poor Abie. At least Yossi’s family wasn’t quite so badly off. Once in a while, Mama and Sadie were able to pool their pennies and buy a chicken, or even a piece of meat, for Shabbas dinner.
    â€œMmmm…can’t you just smell it, a beautiful roast, all brown on the outside and pink on the inside?” Louie said.
    â€œAnd roasted potatoes, crisp and crackling…,” Milton added.
    â€œOh…,” Abie groaned, “I can taste it.”
    Yossi turned away from the window. “Stop! This is torture. Come on, let’s get something we
can
afford.”
    He led them to a pickled herring cart around the corner. Moishe, a young man with a drooping brown mustache, stood behind the cart, shuffling from one foot to the other and clapping his mittened hands to keep warm. When he saw the boys, he smiled. “Good afternoon, young gentlemen. What can I do for you?”
    Two Herrings a Penny
, said the sign.
    Yossi hesitated. There were five of them. They had enough money for two servings, but not three. Oh well, he’d go without. “Four herrings, please,” he said.
    â€œCertainly.” Moishe ladeled four small fish onto a piece of parchment paper, then, glancing at the boys, added another to the pile. “Two pennies, please.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œThat’s all right.” He smiled and the sides of his mustache rose like wings. “One little herring I can spare.”
    Yossi paid him, vowing to himself that he’d repay him the extra penny. Moishe, he knew, had two babies at home, andeven a penny made a difference when you had so little.
    The boys wolfed down the herrings, licking their fingers. They