molly stepped out on the deck
and held tightly to the hanrails
the wind whipped around her blue kerchief
and blew it's tattered ends to the four winds

she pulled her brown belted coat a little
more tightly around herself and tucked her
chin into the front of her collar.

she rubbed her ankles together as if
she were rubbing two sticks together and
she might get some heat from their friction.

she scanned the port looking for a familiar face
and seeing none
she squinted to her left hoping to see her uncle
in the crowd.

she pushed her lips together and slid her tongue
along her bottom lip.

there was a growing fear in her stomach that she had
made the wrong choice in coming to america

she was 15 and she had packed her bags on friday
and was out of the white clay house early sunday morning

she had said a smothered good bye to her aunt and had
left without a bacward look.

she was glad to be rid of the place
not that it didn't hold some fond memories for her
but they were just a handful and she could stuff
them into the pocket of her brown coat.

she was an american citizen
not like these others
she didn't have to join the group that was going to
ellis island.

she had been born in america and her mother had taken her
to ireland when she was just a baby
a fact she had only found out a few years ago

she had always thought her aunt was her mother
so it had been a hughe shift in her life when she
found out that it was her mother's sister raising her
and not her real mother.

she had been full of questions.
where is my real mother
what happened to her

she had died when she was one her aunt replied and
they thought it better not to tell her

what about my father
who is he
better yet where is he

he's in america
her aunt had replied

well, why couldn't he come and get me
her aunt hadn't replied
and it had left molly with a longing to
come to america and find her fahter and some answers.

things were different after that
she wasn't close to her aunt anymore
it was like she had slammed a door shut

not that her aunt didn't try to talk to her
shd did
but molly would have none of it

a glaze would come over her eyes and she wouldn't talk.

she started making plans and behaving differently
she vowed she'd never milk another cow
or darn another boy's socks.

when her cousin andy presented his
weekly yarning to her she threw the basked at him and
yelled 'm through with putting a needle
to your socks fidn your own woman.

"oh, molly, don't be that way."

"don't be what what she had retorted, brown eyes glaring
wide at him."


Molly, we have been friends for a long time. we grew up
together.

well, things change she had retorted. she was 12 and she knew
when she was 15 she was getting out of there. i'm leaving in
a couple of years and i am never coming back here.

where,will you go said andy

i'm going to america.

america, how will you get there.

i don'tknow i'll figure a way.

you need money, molly, where are you going to get money to
book a passage.

i dunno. all i know is i am leaving.

andy shook his head.
she was a defiant one this cousing of his
but if anybody could figure a way to get to america
he knew she could

three years later a letter had come to her from america

her aunt handed the posted letter to mollie
and said, it's from your father

molly snatched it and ran to her room and locked
the door behind her.

she sat on single bed with its blue cover sheet and wool blanket
and she turned the letter over in her hand.
she closed her eyes and felt the edges
the letter was real.

she knew what it was before she opened it

it was a letter from her fahter inviting her to american
and five one hundred dollar bills fell from between the pieces of
paper.

her prayers had been answered

thank you blessed mother
thank you

i knew you would hear my prayers

now, i'll get myself out of here and begin my new life.