We are arriving at the port. I can catch glimpses of enormous boats docking at the port. We waited in a long line, and when I boarded the ship, I looked at my sisters one more time, praying it would not be the last. Even as I entered the wild, rocking boat, I vowed that I would be able to survive the journey. My bed was below deck and there are only two privies. I found that there was only enough room for me to sleep on my side. Suddenly, I heard a pitiful yowling. At first I thought it was the baby on the bed next to me, but then I realized it was Ivyheart, my cat. She must be hungry! I fed her a bit of dried beef jerky and she calmed down a bit. When she had settled down to sleep, I decided to make a few friends. Looking around, I saw a little girl whose mother looked very sick. The girl didn’t look very good herself. When I looked harder, I saw that the little girl had a younger sister and a bigger brother that seemed to be soothing the youngest. I started to get up when the ship’s whistle sounded. I sat back down immediately. I shall have to talk to them later.
Later...
I have just woken up from a fitful sleep. ‘Tis nighttime, and I began to have nightmares of the sea, threatening to sweep me away. I am writing by candlelight, but I am cautious not to wake anybody else. I feel a bit queasy and I hope ‘tis not seasickness or hunger. I shall eat a bit of my mother’s best rice cakes. Then I must use the privy. I hope the fresh air above deck shall help me feel better.
December 4, 1915,
After a few days of eating stale bread and drinking ale, I have decided to introduce myself to the two girls, their brother and their mother that share three beds directly across from me. I crept over to them, ignoring the people that yelled at me as I tripped over their belongings. I finally reach the family. When I ask for their names, the mother lifts her head wearily and tells me that the youngest girl is Anika, the second youngest is Caroline, the boy in named Samuel(but he insists on being called Sam), and that I should call her Mrs. Brooke. I told them I was Isabel Cooke. I learned that they had spent all their money buying the tickets to travel to America, and they didn’t even have a mere halfpenny to buy food. I offered to share my food, but she only accepted a small rice cake, however hungrily Anika and Caroline stared at the fatty beef jerky. There was a commotion at the front of the ship, and while Mrs. Brooke’s back was turned, I secretly gave some beef jerky to Sam, Anika and Caroline. You’d never imagine how their faces lit up. Then I turned to the commotion as the children ate the beef jerky ravenously. There was a group of men wrestling a thin and frail looking man out of one of the many barrels of food that lined the boat. I heard him wailing, “Please! I beg you, please don’t send me back! I must get to America and I don’t have enough money for a ticket! My family! Please! Please...” The pitiful man dissolved in tears. The group of men showed no mercy as they dragged him above deck. All was silent for a couple moments, and then there was screaming like I’ve never heard before! ‘Twas the sound of something...no, someone being tortured! The ship captain came down and said there was nothing to worry about, that they were just punishing a stowaway that snuck onto the ship. I could hardly keep from protesting that there was something to worry about. They were hurting that poor man! Mrs. Brook put a firm hand on my shoulder. “Tisn’t anything you can do,” she whispered sadly. Now, I lay on my cold, cramped bed, gripping my own ticket tightly, banishing any thought that those men would do the same to me if I lost my ticket.
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