CONNECT Emma's New Beginning By Jessica Gunderson stone arch books
Chapter 1 A New Beginning 1910 My father’s voice rings loud and clear in the tiny room We are going to America he booms smiling I do not smile I hold my breath to keep in my sobs My ribs feel like they’re going to crack into a million pieces I cannot imagine leaving home I cannot imagine journeying over the ocean to a place so far away My little brother Karl pipes up Where is America Is it far away Father nods and grins down at Karl Yes It will take many days to get there We will travel on a big ship It will be a great adventure Karl’s eyes gleam in excitement Can I bring Zizzy my little sister Helene asks Zizzy is a small wooden horse that she carries everywhere Father grins at her Of course I glance at my older sister Katarina She is staring stone-faced at Father Finally she blurts out I don’t want to leave Russia Katarina and I rarely agree We don’t have anything in common
But this time she’s taken the words right out of my mouth Father’s smile drops He looks at me What do you think Emma I am surprised As the middle child I’m often overlooked caught between my older siblings Gustav and Katarina and my younger siblings Karl and Helene Overlooked until someone needs me that is And now Father needs me to side with him to join his enthusiasm I don’t want to leave Russia either I tell him Odessa is my home Katarina flashes me a sideways look She’s surprised I agreed with her Sometimes we disagree just to disagree even if deep inside we really do agree But this is different This time I had to speak up No Emma Father says Odessa is not your home We are a people without a home Katarina and I look at him surprised Even Karl and Helene quiet their excited murmurs That’s not true Katarina argues We’ve always lived here How can Russia not be our home We listen as Father explains the history of our German people Over a hundred years ago in the late 1700s our ancestors left Germany to settle in a German colony in Ukraine part of the Russian Empire The Russian czar Catherine the Great promised our people we could keep our language and customs And we would never have to fight in the Russian Army But one hundred years later the Russian czar broke Catherine’s promise and placed new rules on us We had to go to Russian schools and were forbidden to speak German in public Our men and boys had
