If the Fire Comes: A Story of Segregation during the Great Depression
dozen times so I'd heard all his stories I followed him five blocks without being noticed sly as a real spy and watched him dump his losing birds in the trash behind the mercantile Maya's favorite part is how I waited until he left and then saved the birds bent cages and all I'd heard how pigeons can send messages and I thought Maya and I could use them in our spy games but something's wrong The last few days the pigeons have been lying down not getting up when I bring them the leftover cornbread and milk Maya says they are sick because we aren't feeding them right Today I'm going to make enough money to get real pigeon feed I might have to shine a dozen shoes to do it but I'm not coming home until I can make the birds better I worry that if something happens to the pigeons Maya might never smile again
Joseph McCoy could tell a lot by the shoes a person wore Or didn’t wear Uncle Tanner’s shoes sat by the door of the shop Joseph and his family lived in untouched on a weekday morning Uncle Tanner’s boots a pair of Red Wings worn down to the metal over the toe told the story of a man who’d worked hard once Shifting the boots to set his shoeshine box down by the door Joseph could smell the oil and smoke from the leather Uncle Tanner had been a metalworker before the Depression He’d even been able to save up to have his own shop and tools but he’d been out of work for almost two years now His boots sat by the door more and more often It was rare for Uncle Tanner to even come out of the back room now Joseph checked his shoeshine box making sure his supplies were ready for the day black liquid polishing cloth Griffin shoe polish and several small brushes Joseph was the best shoeshine in Elsinore California He knew how to get every detail right and his hands
didn’t shake steady and sure He never got black on a customer’s socks Joseph could tell the difference between a movie star and an athlete a businessman and a crook or a banker and a lawyer You leaving already Maya asked making Joseph jump I want to get an early start Joseph said walking across the shop to the side of Maya’s bed She slept out in the open Joseph slept on the floor next to her The shop only had one room in the back where Uncle Tanner disappeared to more and more often Maya was two years older than Joseph a ripe old age of thirteen but she still liked to play their spy game And even though she didn’t get around the way she used to she could talk all day fix a clock without thinking and pinch as hard as a crab Joseph was about to sit down next to her when he heard cooing coming from Maya’s feet Not again He pulled the thin blanket up from the bottom and found Simon Maya’s favorite bird He was nestled between Maya’s crooked legs thin as pencils He could see a
spot of blood on her ankles from where she must have dragged her legs across the floor Simon wasn’t feeling well I wanted to keep him warm Maya said sticking her chin out in her stubborn way Are you okay Joseph asked Of course Maya said but Joseph saw her tuck her hands behind her back She got slivers when she dragged herself across the shop no matter how many times Joseph swept Maya was hard to keep down Joseph reached down and patted Simon the smallest of the seventeen pigeons on the head Beside the bird Joseph saw the book they read each night The Thirty-Nine Steps which had been one of Momma’s favorite spy novels It helped them get in the mood for their game and keep life exciting for Maya Their game was to pretend Joseph was going out on a spy mission a shoeshine boy as his cover Joseph wanted to say more about Maya pulling herself across the floor to get to the pigeon cages but Maya gave him one of her looks She pushed herself
