The Leaving Of Liverpool by Maureen Lee Read Free Book Online

least someone would eventually discover who the girl was. She re-tied the sheet and put a piece of paper in Annemarie’s hand, folding her fingers over it. ‘Hold on to this, darlin’,’ she said. It had her own name and address written on it: ‘Olive Raines, 16 Cameron Buildings, Deptford, London. ’ It meant no one would come searching for the real Olive Raines, least not straight away. According to Ashley, the inspection process took five or six hours. By that time, the real Olive Raines hoped to be safely ashore with Mollie’s handbag and Mollie’s suitcase, and wearing Mollie’s clothes.
     
    Annemarie allowed herself to be pushed and shoved on to the large flat boat. Everyone else was fighting their way on, as if worried they’d be left behind. They spoke in a language she didn’t understand, but their voices were thick with excitement. It was ages before the boat took off and she wondered why they were leaving behind the great white ship they’d sailed on.
    This journey didn’t take long. She bore it patiently, despite being squashed against the side, a little boy clinging to her skirt, sobbing his heart out. It was all very strange. She wondered where the woman had gone who seemed to have taken Mollie’s place. She missed her, and she missed Mollie. Was this a dream? Those buildings she could see, the big, ugly ones that made her shudder with revulsion, could hardly be real. Perhaps she was in hell, along with all these oddly dressed people with their thin, starved faces and haunted eyes.
    Annemarie closed her own eyes and retreated to a place with no people or buildings, just clouds and trees, where she let herself drift, all alone and perfectly safe.
     
    The barge landed at Ellis Island, the eager passengers poured off, and Annemarie was carried along with them. She left behind the bundle of clothes, having forgotten all about it. It was found later by a seaman and thrown into the baggage room where immigrants collected their belongings after they’d been processed.
     
    ‘What’s going to happen to her, Doctor?’ the nurse enquired. She spoke with a strong Welsh accent. She and the doctor were in a small end room off the women’s ward in Ellis Island hospital. Annemarie lay on the only bed, fully dressed, unmoving, her eyes wide open, but expressionless. The ribbon that Gertrude had tied on her plait only that morning had come loose, and her black, wavy hair covered her shoulders like a cape.
    ‘They’ll probably keep her for a few days in case anyone comes to claim her, then send her back to where she came from: Liverpool. The steamship line that brought her will pay the cost.’ The young doctor looked troubled. ‘I can’t discover what’s wrong with her. Her heart’s racing a bit, but apart from that, physically, she’s exceptionally fit, has no known diseases, and her name, Olive Raines, is down on the manifest. But how could someone who’s apparently deaf and dumb have come all this way on her own without speaking to a soul?’ The girl had no identification with her, just her name scribbled on a scrap of paper. Already that day, the doctor had dealt with dozens of unfortunates who’d been transferred to the hospital suspected of suffering from tuberculosis, epilepsy, trachoma, and other ailments that would prevent their entry into the United States. It was all in a day’s work, but there was something about Olive Raines that disturbed him.
    ‘She doesn’t look like your usual immigrant,’ the nurse remarked. ‘Those boots she’s wearing cost more than a few dollars, as well as her coat.’
    ‘Mm,’ the doctor said thoughtfully. ‘Look, keep her in this room tonight. I suspect she’s been traumatized and it might do her more harm than good if she snaps out of it in a ward full of strange women.’
     
    Olive had booked a room in a small hotel within walking distance of the docks. It was clean and would do for a few days until she found a place to live, preferably close to