Tell Them I'll Be There by Gerard Mac Read Free Book Online Page A

Even in the evenings after school. Our mother needed the money.’
    â€˜There are three of you.’
    â€˜My brothers, Tim and Michael. Tim is joining the priesthood .’
    â€˜That so?’ Mr Baker was impressed.
    â€˜We don’t expect to see much of him for the next year or two. He’ll go to a seminary, then when he’s ordained, well, we don’t know. He could be sent anywhere.’
    â€˜So you and your other brother will be looking for work?’ 
    Dan nodded and decided to tell him about Caitlin. How they had found her alone at the dockside and were taking her to her aunt.
    â€˜Poor kid,’ Mr Baker said, again impressed.
    A waiter spoke quietly to Mr Baker. He nodded and stood up. ‘My call came through,’ he said.
    â€˜I reckon my husband was born with a telephone in his hand,’ Barbara said as he went off with the waiter.
    Dan was glad of the opportunity to ask questions. ‘This is all very nice,’ he said first of all, ‘but what am I doing here?’
    She shrugged. ‘Joe works all the time, morning, noon and night. He knew I was bored and he didn’t mind when I went down to see you and your family in steerage. I told him what a fine fella you are and he said he’d like to meet you.’
    â€˜So will he offer me a job?’
    â€˜I think he’s impressed, especially with all that stuff about your brother the priest and the rescue act with the little girl.’
    â€˜Maybe he’s not as cynical as you,’ he said.
    Her chin rose slightly. ‘I wouldn’t count on it.’
    â€˜Got you,’ he said with a laugh. ‘I got her ruffled.’
    Later, when Dan left to go back to the lower deck, he had plenty to tell the others. When we dock in New York, he told them, first class passengers and non-immigration passengers will be allowed off. Then the rest of us will be transferred to a smaller boat and taken to Immigration Control. We have to go through some kind of clearance. When we get settled, he said, I’m to ring Barbara and make an appointment to see Mr Baker. Maybe he’ll have jobs for us.
    â€˜So it’s Barbara , is it?’ Michael said with a grin. ‘I don’t think our Caitlin approves of all this. She reckons this Barbara’s got her hooks into you.’
    Dan smiled at Caitlin. ‘Barbara is Mr Baker’s wife, Caitlin.’

FIVE
    T HE NEWCOMERS FLOODED the main deck in third class to gaze in awe at the hugely symbolic Statue of Liberty as the Olympic sailed majestically into New York harbour. The torch held high seemed like a greeting, a gesture of welcome to those filled with the wonder and excitement of their hopes for the future.
    Dan’s information was correct. First to disembark were the privileged few from the upper decks, the elegantly dressed met by chauffeurs or pre-booked cab drivers. Third-class passengers with unstamped tickets followed and the immigrants waited. And waited. It was almost two hours before what looked like a tugboat arrived alongside and those left aboard were corralled towards lines of rope that led to a gangplank from the liner to the tug.
    An officious-looking, uniformed immigration officer checked tickets and asked the same questions as the passengers shuffled along. ‘Are you carrying any liquor?’
    Michael looked at him blankly.
    â€˜Are you carrying any alcohol?’
    Michael exaggerated his accent. ‘Oh no, sir. I’m Irish.’
    The immigration man eyed him as if mentally noting his face before moving on.
    â€˜Behave, you idiot,’ Dan said. ‘We have to get through this.’
    The entrance examination at Ellis Island was long drawn out but simple enough for Dan and the boys. They were all young and healthy as were the man from Courtown and his family and they all spoke English as their mother tongue. Tim explained Caitlin’s circumstances and produced the letter of introduction to the monsignor