matt stood on the wharf as the giant ship pulled in

the sailors were on the deck swining the ropes and
yelling in unison to tie the ropes

they worked as a team and in a short while the large
cargo boat was moored to the pier.

it was a cargo boat filled with passengers
many of them would be heading for ellis
the group on the back side would just go through
customs, they were either tourists or businessmen
or american citizens coming back into the country

matt was doing his uncles a favor.
he was supposed to meet his cousin molly
and he had a picture of this girl and he was
trying to match her up with the young girls
coming off the boat.

she was a good looking girl
fom the picture he figured she was
13.

his uncle had called him up and told
him to pick up his cousin and she
would be at such and such a place and
at such and such a time.

he had dropped the picture off at the aprtment
and matt was to pick her up on sunday

nobody said, no to peter
and matt wasn't about to start


the girl in the picture had black hair
and huge dark eyes that seem to stare at
you in a quizzical way
and she seemd to have a smile that played
around the corners of her mouth that made
her whole appearance look sort of quiet

nice looking girl thought matt
how much trouble could it be to
pick her up at the hudson's wharf on
sunday

so here he was on sunday
scanning the crowd holding the picture
out and looking for his cousin

he scanned the people on the gangplank
and one particular lass caught his eye

she was carrying a huge suitcase and
was struggling to get it down the wooden platform

matt made his way through the crowd just as the
young girl reached the wooden flooring of the boathouse

molly, molly, is that you?

the words were hardly out of his mouth
when a young man rushed up to the girl
and took her in his arms and hugged her.

No, that was definitely not Molly thought Matt.

someone was tuggin on his sleeve
and he kind of jerked his arm away
he saw a young girl on his right
holding a boquet of flowers in her hand
and a striped woolen suitcase in the other

go away he yelledd

are you peter mc nevins

now she had caught his attention

are you molly?

yes, i am molly

came the reply

this was not what matt had expected.

this girl looked like a ragamuffin

you're molly, he stammered.

that's what I said, i'm molly.

are you my uncle, she asked.

matt, looked at her and it was his turn to be
wide eyed. do i look like i'm old enought to be
an uncle.

well, as a matter of fact, yes, you do.
back home we breed uncles young

what did you say, said Matt

molly gave him a wide eyed stare
i'm molly from ireland
and i'm supposed to meet my uncle patric
peter mc nevin's brother

matt stared at the girl in front of him
then he stared at the picture in his hand

molly looked at him
and then she looked at the picture

and then she started laughing
oh, they sent you the soulful picture

that's you said, matt

yes, said molly three years ago.

leave it to auntie to confuse the issue.