Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo / AntonioGravante
Carmine leaned on the railing as the cold, black waters of New York Harbor swirled around the boat. The Great Lady on Ellis Island stood with her torch blazing and welcoming words at her feet (that he could not read), and the first thing he noticed was she was smaller than he thought, smaller than the pictures he had seen and simply not “such a big thing.” “Really something, eh, Carmine?” the guy next to him said. Not wanting to look any different than anyone else, he nodded and smiled, “Yeah, really something.”
He filed off the boat, went through his physical, and was handed a stack of papers he stuffed into the one bag he had carried from Italy. As he took his first steps on American soil, he was overwhelmed by the busyness of this strange new land—sounds and smells he had never detected before, along with a general hum of activity he could barely tolerate. How he wanted to get back on the boat and return to Mother Italy, where the citrus groves graced the air from the mountains only to be met by the pungent smell of fresh fish on ice in the market for someone’s lunch or dinner; he would always miss home. Somehow, above the din, he noted a familiar Italian dialect and looked about the crowd for that welcome sound. He’d been told to meet a family friend upon arrival through a letter exchange months before. Would the friend remember that today was the day? Was this him? Did his whole existence really hang by such a thread? It did, and luckily enough there was Alberto, much grayer and clearly heavier than Carmine remembered. They embraced and Carmine felt a rush of relief for the first time since climbing on that boat, hoping against hope he would be well received in the new land and not set adrift to find his way alone like in so many stories his predecessors had told.
“Ah, Carmine,” Alberto said, “tonight you stay with my wife and me, and I take you to the carpenter tomorrow to see if he has work for you.” Carmine nodded gratefully. It was clearly a time to do what his father said: “Listen more than talk. That’s how you learn.”