How Many Days to America

How Many Days to America? A Thanksgiving Story (Fry Grade Level: Second) By Eve Bunting

Illustrated by Beth Peck

1. It was nice in our village. 2. Till the night in October when the 1. ______soldiers came. 2. ______3. My mother hid my little sister and me under the bed. 4. When 3. ______I peered out I could see my mother’s feet in their black slippers and the great, muddy boots of the soldiers. 4. ______5. When they were gone my father said: “We must leave right now.” 5. ______6. “Why?” I asked. 6. ______7. “Because we do not think the way they think, my son. 7. ______8. Hurry!” 8. ______9. He would not let us take anything but a change of clothes. 9. ______10. My mother cried, “Leave all my things? 11. My chair, where I 10. ______sat to nurse our children? 12. The bedcover my mother made, 11. ______every stitch by hand? 12. ______

13. “Nothing,” my father said. 14. “Just money to buy our way to 13. ______

America.” 14. ______

15. The word “America” was not new to me. 16. I’d heard it whis- 15. ______pered between my parents in the restless hours of the night. 16. ______

17. America. 18. We were going there? 17. ______18. ______19. Others, too, moved silently along the secret streets. 19. ______20. Boats bobbed in the dark water off the quay and men talked behind their hands while gold passed from one pocket to another. 20. ______21. “I must have your wedding ring,” my father told my mother. 22. “And your garnets.” 21. ______23. My mother took the ring from her finger and the garnet 22. ______necklace from its little bag, buried deep in her bundle. 24. She did not speak. 23. ______

24. ______25. My father said we would leave while it was still dark. 25. ______

26. “How many days to America?” my little sister asked. 26. ______

27. “Not many,” my father said. 28. “Don’t be afraid.” 27. ______28. ______29. The fishing boat was small and there were many people. 29. ______30. More kept coming, and more. 31. We chugged heavily from harbor 30. ______to open ocean. 31. ______32. “Can we see America yet, Papa?” 33. All the time my little 32. ______sisterasks questions. 33. ______34. “Not yet,” my father said. 34. ______35. We were an hour from shore when the motors stopped. 35. ______36. The men crowded the engines. 36. ______37. “A part is broken that cannot be fixed,” my father told my mother, and her face twisted the way it did when she closed the door of our home for the last time. 37. ______38. The women made a sail by knotting clothes and when they pulled it high I saw my father’s Sunday shirt blowing in the wind. 39. But the sail carried us back toward our own shore 38. ______and men shot at us from the cliffs. 39. ______

40. At last we got the boat turned in the right direction. 40. ______

41. “How many days to America now?” my little sister asked. 41. ______

42. “More, my small one,” my father said and he held us close. 42. ______

43. I saw him look at my mother across our heads. 43. ______

44. Day followed night and night, day. 45. Our food and water ran 44. ______out and many people were sick. 45. ______

46. At sunset, my father and mother and sister and I huddled in the bow. 47. Then my father sang as he sang at home. 46. ______47. ______48. “Sleep and dream, tomorrow comes

And we shall all be free.” 48. ______49. That was the only time I was not afraid. 49. ______50. By day we fished and shared the catch. 51. When it rained we 50. ______caught the water in our buckets. 52. I slept and dreamed. 53. Of home. 51. ______52. ______54. Of food. 55. Of my favorite uncle who worked with my father in 53. ______54. ______his shop and who had stayed behind. 56. Sometimes I cried and 55. ______then my mother would rock me against her. 56. ______57. Once we saw a whale, gray as an elephant and covered with barnacles. 57. ______58. “Come push us whale,” my mother called. 59. “Push us to 58. ______America.” 59. ______60. But the whale did not hear. 60. ______61. Once a boat came, roaring close on wings of foam, and we were filled with joy. 62. But not for long. 61. ______63. “Thieves!” Fear moved like a bad wind between us. 62. ______

64. Men scrambled from the other boat to ours, waving their 63. ______guns, shouting for money and jewels. 65. There was little to take.

66. But what we had went with them. 64. ______65. ______

66. ______67. Once there was a shout of “Land!” and we crowded the railing. 68. But though we pulled on the sail our boat would go no 67. ______closer. 68. ______

69. “We will swim for help,” my father said and he and two others jumped into the water. 69. ______

70. “No!” my mother cried. 70. ______

71. But they were gone already. 71. ______

72. When at last we saw them rise on the green roll of the surf, saw them carried to shore, we danced and cheered. 72. ______

73. But there were soldiers on the rocks. 73. ______

74. Everyone was quiet and my mother gripped my hand. 74. ______

75. “They are bringing them back,” she whispered. 75. ______

76. Three soldiers with rifles came too, in the small boat. 77. They 76. ______brought us water and fruit, but they did not speak or smile as they tossed it up to our waiting hands. 77. ______78. “Was it not the right land, Papa?” I asked as the soldiers pulled away. 79. “Will it not do?” 78. ______79. ______80. “It would do. 81. But they will not take us,” My father said. 80. ______82. My sister tugged at his arm. 83. “They don’t like us?” 81. ______

84. “It is not that.” 85. He did not explain what it was. 82. ______83. ______86. Our family got two papayas and three lemons and a coco- 84. ______nut with milk that tasted like flowers. 85. ______

87. The sea was rough that night and my father’s song lost itself in the wind. 88. I said the words as the stars dipped and turned above our 86. ______heads.

89. “Tomorrow comes, tomorrow comes, 87. ______And we shall all be free.” 88. ______90. It was the next day, the tomorrow, that we sighted land again. 91. I was afraid to hope. 89. ______92. A boat came. 93. My mother clasped her hands and bent her

90. ______91. ______

92. ______head. 94. Was she afraid to hope too? 93. ______94. ______95. The boat circled us twice and then a line was thrown and we were pulled towards shore. 95. ______96. There was such a silence among us then, such an anxious, watchful silence. 96. ______97. People waited on the dock. 97. ______98. “Welcome,” they called. 99. “Welcome to America.” 98. ______100. That was when our silence turned to cheers. 99. ______

101. “But how did they know we would come today?” my father 100. ______asked.

102. Perhaps people come every day,” my mother said. 103. “Per- 101. ______haps they understand how it is for us.” 102. ______

104. There was a shed, warm from the sun on its tin roof. 103. ______

105. There were tables covered with food. 106. Though the benches were 104. ______crowded there was room for all of us. 105. ______

106. ______107. “Do you know what day this is?” a woman asked me. 107. ______

108. She passed me a dinner plate. 108. ______

109. “It is coming-to-America day,” I said. 109. ______

110. She smiled. 111. “Yes. 112. And it is a special day for 110. ______111. ______another reason, too. 113. Today is Thanksgiving.” 112. ______114. “What is that?” 115. My little sister was shy, but not too shy 113. ______to ask her questions. 114. ______

116. “Long ago, unhappy people came here to start new lives,” 115. ______the woman said. 117. “They celebrated by giving thanks.”

118. My father nodded, “That is the only true way to celebrate.” 116. ______117. ______119. We joined hands and closed our eyes while my father gave 118. ______thanks that we were free, and safe and here.

120. “Can we stay, Papa?” my little sister asked. 119. ______121. “Yes, small one,” my father said. 122. “We can stay.” 120. ______

121. ______122. ______