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Salomi chuckled when Emile Hubbard asked her if she had her own school.”You can sort of say that. I teach them during the day since the school has closed. It’s a real shame. I have three children and two of them went to school with Emily. My youngest hasn’t even had the chance and who knows when she ever will. Im also teaching two of their friends while their mother searches for a job. So I have 5 kids to teach….”she explained

“That’s a good idea. Its hard to find jobs these days and then trying to find a school on top of it…its been tough”she said,”Its been tough for us. I had to pull her out even before the school closed. I had to choose. Should Emily eat or go to school? It was cheaper to find something to eat. Even that’s hard. I lost my job, we have moved 3 times in the past two months…..we were living in my car for awhile. Then I sold it for $200 and bought an apartment….”

“Im sorry Emile”Salomi said

“I just want Emily to be alright, to have a normal childhood. Its good what your doing for these children, its like reliving the past almost for them before everything, that’s very nice of you….”

Salomi nodded, sensing what Emile wanted to ask,”Emily can come by, if you would like her to. Im sure Michael would love it”

“Are you sure?”she asked with a huge smile on her face,”That’s six children-“

“Whats one more? Believe me, my four year old seems to have the energy of 5 children alone so….Im used to it”

“Do you have a schedule of some sort?”Emile asked

“Not really. I usually start out with the harder subjects which is math and science and we work until I feel they cant anymore and then we move on. I let them play outside when its warm, just so they can get some energy and a break so they can come back and learn another subject. Only for a few hours though. Its not a 7 hour day like actual schools”

Emile nodded,”These books? You use them?”she asked as she picked them up

“Yes I go to the library and pick them up. Thank God books are still free”she said,”And just to let you know Im very gifted at math. My high school diploma can prove it. I was doing accounting at age 14”she said. She couldn’t show her a teaching degree. Could this woman trust her?

“I trust you Mrs. Brewster”Emile said with a smile,”Accounting at 14 is a huge feat”she agreed,”So I can bring her by around what time?”

“We start at 9…sometimes a little later, they can be easily distracted”she admitted

“What children aren’t?”Emile smiled,”Well thank you Mrs. Brewster. You don’t know how much easier this makes me. Its easier to look for jobs when the children are occupied”

“I understand”Salomi said,”And call me Salomi”she said. They shook hands and Emile left after.

And the next morning, Emily was dropped off with Nicky and Kit. Michael was ecstatic to have his best friend around and Salomi could see the same look in his eyes that she had for Gabriel when they first met. Puppy love. But of course Michael was too young to know what it was or why he was feeling that way. It scared her that he had feelings for a girl already but it also made her smile. However, Nicky got bored quickly since Michael and Emily spent more time together and were more eager to learn and asked questions. He just observed quietly. He sometimes played ball by himself while Michael played hopscotch with Emily. Why was Michael acting like a girl? He was bored and when he saw some of his friends on the street he told them about the “school”.

A few mornings later, the five children were starting on their math lesson when four children accompanied by their parents stood at the door. Salomi was shocked that they had heard as well and sang her praises. She didn’t have the heart to say no. Now there were 9 children in her apartment.

Ruth came home a little earlier and was surprised to see so many children. “Whats going on?”

“What are you doing home so early?”Salomi asked her. Ruth was the only one amongst the four adults who had a steady paycheck. If she lost her job, they would be in big trouble.

“It was slow. Lunch is always slow. And no one eats out anymore. Im trying to get the night shift. Theres more money to be made there”she said,”But why are there 10 children running around?”

“They aren’t running and theres nine of them”Salomi said. Ruth just stared at her and she told her the story.”I think they are telling on me, parents are desperate. Its hard to look for jobs with the children. It slows them down. And some of these kids have been out of school since October. That’s a long time without learning anything”

“Well be careful. If word gets out, this place is going to be filled with children”Ruth warned her.

However, it didn’t happen and when summer arrived, Salomi decided to take a break and the parents understood. But they asked if she was going to start up in September and she hesitated.

“I have a job now. I could give you money for it”Emile said. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have found it”

“No, keep your money. Education should be free”Salomi said

“Just take a little something then, please”Emile asked. Salomi agreed. And when September came around, the same nine children were back. Dahlia had just turned 5 years old and this would have been her first day of school. Salomi felt very angry about the fact that her daughter was missing out on something so important. Over the summer, Dahlia made some friends and she told them about “her mothers school” as well. A few days later some parents from the next building were at her front door with their five children, two of them were friends of Dahlia’s. Again, Salomi couldn’t say no. Every child needed an education but now there were 14 children between the ages of 8 and 5 sitting on their living room floor. It was louder and they were harder to control and they ended up having their break early.

Salomi sighed,”Im in trouble”she said to herself.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Gabriel and Robin sat on the side of the pier as they looked out at the Hudson. Robin shook his head,”How long can we do this Gabe?”

“Do what?”

“Odd jobs like this. Catching fish one day, shining shoes another….I need stability. We all need stability”

“I agree, BUT we are going through an economic crisis. We need stability but we have to do what we can, we have to be patient. I want stability too. I had stability at the club in Harlem. But I’d rather be doing this”

“But how long can we survive Gabriel? The lines are getting longer. More people are broke, theres more competition for jobs than ever before. Its getting worse”

But Gabriel shook his head, always optimistic,”We’ll be fine. We’re regulars over here. Why would they pick people they don’t know over us?”

But Robin was right. By the next week, there was a much larger group of men waiting at the fish market and they weren’t picked, the next day the same thing, and the next day. “HEY! JAY! COME ON!”

“Sorry fellas”Jay said as he let the few men in and closed the gates. There was almost a riot but most of them gave up and went looking for someone else.

“Regulars huh?”Robin asked angrily as they walked. It was getting cold again and they couldn’t afford to freeze

“Hey, you two’s looking for jobs?”a man asked them

“Yeah, isn’t everybody?”Robin said back

“Unfortunately. Im Alvin Heather. I work for the IASA”

“IASA?”Gabriel asked

“International Apple Shippers Association. We are in need of workers. Jay is a friend of mine. Ive seen you two hard at work here”

“What do we need to do?”Gabriel asked

“Sell apples for us”

“That’s it? Whats the catch?”Robin asked

“No catch, you wont have to wait in line”he said as he gave them his card. “You come to the warehouse. You buy a crate of apples for 1.75, sell our apples for 5 cents each. A whole crate of apples sell for 1.85….good deal huh?”

“And what if we don’t have the $1.75?”Robin asked

“Well…come by when you do. It’s a good profit”Alvin said. “I hope I’ll be seeing you”

Gabriel and Robin talked about it and they decided to give it a try with Gabriel’s encouragement. They each bought a crate and sold apples for 5 cents each. Magically they sold like hot cakes. They had to go back and buy more. At the end of the day they had some change in their pocket. “See you’s tomorrow”Alvin said to them

“Remember you said that we needed something stable Robin?”Gabriel asked him

“Yeah”

“He wants to see us tomorrow”he said with a smile

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Are you serious? 16 children? Lomi…how could you let it get this far?”Ruth asked her

“I cant say no to them. These kids need an education and for some of them its been a year since they have had any. These kids are a year behind maybe more. I cant deny them from learning”

“I know this but what happens when word spreads and theres 30 children. That’s over capacity. The landlord will have our heads for this”Ruth said

“I just need help”Salomi said honestly,”Theres too many of them now. I cant seem to get their attention at the same time. Some learn slower, than others. They get impatient if someone isn’t fast enough. They want to play all day, some of them are always hungry”

“Some of the parents are paying you?”Ruth asked

“Yes….I get about 20 cents a day”

“We’re going to need more than that”Ruth said

“Some of them don’t have jobs”Salomi said

“What do you teach?”

“Math, science, reading, writing”Salomi said

“How about we split….I’ll teach reading and writing. You math and science”

“No Im not asking you to quit-“

“Im not. I have night shift starting next week. I was going to look for another job. But…Gabriel and Robin are doing really good with this apple business. And I have a feeling more children are coming”

“Oh thank you Ruth, thank you”Salomi said as she gave her a hug.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Sure enough, by next week there were 18 children. Ruth and Salomi made a system. They switched off. The younger children learned reading and writing first, while the elder kids learned math and science. They had breaks at different times, just so it would look like only 8 or so children were at the apartment. They had to be very discreet and quiet.

It seemed to go off without a hitch for about a month, until another set of parents heard and they were up to 20 children by Halloween. The landlord suspected and knocked on the door and asked many questions. They said it was a birthday party. She said keep it down.

They tried to take the children out more often. They went to libraries a lot and it was easier to learn there if they were very quiet. When the children were angels, which were rare, they took them to the movie theatre. The movie theatre showed all day shows for a nickel each. When Rita saw Shirley Temple on the big screen for the first time, she fell in love with her. She saw her tap dancing in a beautiful dress and curls. She longed to dance again. But she knew that she had to practice. Shirley was good and Rita was very rusty. With her mother’s school and Rita sometimes helping out, she never had time to practice for too long.

The children were of good use as well. There was a small yard behind their apartment building and they all taught the children how to plant and water food. The children were ecstatic when the vegetables grew and they were ready to be eaten. They also learned how to recycle and the girls learned how to sew.

However, nothing changed. More people were unemployed and most of the parents had no luck at all. Some lost jobs and found new ones. Mary was having no luck at all. But she still persisted and Salomi was proud of her. They all ate at a soup kitchen that was run by the Red Cross and they gave out bread and milk. Even though there were a lot of charities, people lost hope in the government and President Hoover. He seemed to not care and that businesses will be able to correct themselves if they were just left alone.

Due to more unemployment, the IASA had thousands working for them. It would have been an advantage for any other business in another time. But the apples ran out and so did the jobs and again thousands were unemployed, including Gabriel and Robin.

“Shit!”Robin said as he threw down his hat,”Shit! What are we going to do?! We cant just live off of Ruth’s paycheck. We wont be able to survive”he said

“We’ll find something Robin”Gabriel said,”We have money saved, we just have to be careful until then. We’ll rely on charities and Salomi’s garden for food. We’ll save the money for rent and anything else but in the mean time we will find something”

“Its getting worse Gabriel. Its like no one is working anymore”

“I know. But there has to be something”Gabriel said as they walked down the street, then he saw a familiar face. “Governor Roosevelt?”he asked

The man turned to him and smiled,”Gabriel? How are you?”he asked as Robin looked at them with shock

“Ive seen better days”Gabriel admitted

“We all have”he said with a frown,”How have you been holding up?”

“Not good….lost another job”Gabriel said

He looked at him.”Performing?”

“No I haven’t performed since last year. Been selling apples, catching fish, oddball shit since then”Gabriel said

“Im sorry Gabriel. Im trying my best to make this better. It’s a huge problem”he said,”Stop by my office tomorrow”he said,”We can talk about this”he said as his wife and other men walked out of the building and into a few parked Packard cars. “Good day to the both of you and God bless”he said

“Good day to you Gov.”Gabriel said

“You know the Gov.?”Robin asked

“I performed for him when he first got into office. I hear he’s trying to run for president”

“I hope he does, anyone would be better than that Hoover fucker”Robin said

“But I believe that he can help us. He is governor after all and he must know where the good jobs are. We’ll go there tomorrow morning, bright and early and learn everything we can about whats going on. He may know how long it will last, he can give us advice on what to do til it ends. I know he has ideas, I know how he thinks. He’s very wise and intelligent I have had dinner with him a couple times. His wife too. I believe if he wanted to be president, that he can really make a difference”

“Fine we’ll go, but we cant go looking like this”Robin said, pointing to his dirty shirt and corduroys with holes in them,”We look and smell like shit”

“Hey, it doesn’t matter. He wouldn’t have invited us if we looked and smelled like shit”he said.

They got home and told Ruth and Salomi. Salomi had the same views as Gabriel, she was happy that Roosevelt was running for president and that he could make a difference since Hoover wasn’t doing a damn thing. She said that Hoover wanted the rich to stay rich. She and Ruth offered to wash their clothes while the men waited in line down the hall to use the restroom to shower. The adults talked about politics until very late into the night and Gabriel was too excited to sleep. He felt that Roosevelt could really help them and turn everything around and he wondered why he didn’t think of this before.The next morning the men were up bright and early, washed and cleaned. They waited in the waiting room and soon they were escorted into Roosevelt’s office.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*





Chapter End Notes:
So I finish writing Book 2 and did not have the time to upload all of it. Then my computer crashes and takes the story along with it. Im slowly writing it over again :(




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