Chapter 3

“I shur we find many jobs for us,” Roberto said, as they walked long the busy streets of New York. Zack shrugged. The two travelers stopped in front of a popular tavern.

“Leet’s try here,” Roberto suggested. Zack followed him inside and they made their way weaving in and out of the crowd. Roberto grabbed Zack’s hand and pulled him over to the bar where a plump red head stood cleaning glasses.

“’Scuse me, ma’am,” Roberto said. The woman raised an eyebrow, but made no attempts to stop her work. “Me friend and I are looking for some work,” he continued. The woman put the clean glass against the bar beside another, filled them to the top, pushed them to Roberto, and walked away. Roberto immediately took a swig of his. Zack looked at his own, carefully.

“What’s tee matta, Zeek?” Roberto asked. “You dreenk?”

“Yea,” Zack replied, and gulped his own down. The liquid burned in his throat and he squeezed his eyes shut. Roberto laughed.

“Too strong for little man?” he said. Zack pretended not to hear, and examined the area around him. Guys laughed and drank and laughed some more. Women danced and gossiped. A band in a corner played bouncy music, their feet tapping in rhythm.

The redhead returned with a man at her heels. The man was short and rather plump himself, and wore small circular glasses. He twitched his mustache as he walked towards them.

“How can I help you boys?” he asked, inspecting them closely.

“We look for work,” Roberto said happily. The man cleared his throat.

“You from around here?” he asked. Roberto shook his head.

“I came from Italy; arrived here just the other day,” he responded. The man cleared his throat again.

“I see. Listen, we don’t hire immigrants,” he said. Roberto looked puzzled.

“Well, whee not? I can work just’s good az anyone else,” he argued.

“Sorry, no immigrants,” the man concluded. He pushed his glasses up his nose, gave another twitch of his mustache, and left the bar.

“I don’t understand, Zeek. What does he ‘ave ‘ginst us?”

Zack shrugged, and stared down at his now empty glass. Roberto finished his off, paid for the drinks, and left the tavern, Zack following close behind.

Back in the busy streets, they continued to look for more work. They spent the day going from tavern to tavern, factory to factory, even to the docks in hopes of finding something. But they were turned down everytime. “No immigrants,” one would say. “What experience do you have?” another would ask, and when Roberto couldn’t come up with anything, they turned away displeased.

The sun was now low in the sky, and was slowly sinking behind the vast ocean in the distance. Zack followed Roberto slowly and weary, yawning every now and then. But Roberto continued on, determined to find a place for him in this city.

They soon came to the edge of the city, where they found a group of men smoking heavily outside of some sort of factory. They laughed and talked and smoked in the twilight moment. Roberto approached them confidently.

“’Scuse me, boys. Where you men work?” he asked. The men looked at each other for a moment, then a rather tall one pointed behind him.

“There. We kill animals and ship the meet off for people to eat,” he said. Zack crinkled his nose.

“Wha’s the matta, boy? Don’t think you could do that, eh?” another asked.

“Uh-“ Zack started.

“We would leek work, ‘ere,” Roberto said. The men laughed.

“You would, huh?” They looked at each other, exchanging glances, and nodded.

“Then come with us,” the man said. The men spat on the ground, stomped on their cigarettes, and made their way inside the factory, Roberto and Zack close behind.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Zack asked Roberto.

“Do you see any otha work for us, Zeek?” Zack said nothing.

Inside the building, the men split up, each taking their own positions. The tall man turned toward Zack and Roberto. He studied them over carefully.

“You, little guy, wha’s your name?” he asked.

“Zack,” Zack replied.

“Zack. I got a job for you.” He pointed towards a group of men with sharp knives. “You head over to them. They’ll tell you what to do. As for you,” he paused.

“Roberto,” Roberto said, rolling his “r”.

“Yes, Roberto. You can come with me.”

Roberto followed the man, giving Zack one last happy look as if to say “Look at us! We got a job!” Zack, on the other hand, wished he could’ve stayed with Roberto, but made his way to his assigned station. The men there watched him approach, exchanging a few words.

Zack watched as what looked to be a dead pig came towards the men, hanging by it’s feet, followed by a few more. The men got to work, slicing off the pig’s skin, slicing it’s neck, blood pouring all over the floor, which Zack noticed he was now sanding in. he ran away from the site, his feet splashing in the red blood, and puked in a corner. He heard the men laugh at the site of him.

“C’mon! Get to work, boy!” they shouted at him. One of the men handed him his own knife and pushed him towards the station, where they continued to cut the meet off of the dead animals. Zack looked in disgust at the dead pig in front of him. He raised his knife, and sliced the pig’s neck, looking away as the blood squirted over him.

“Get used to it,” a man said. “It’s money, aint it?”

The rest of the night dragged by slowly, Zack forcing himself to cut animal after animal. By the end of the shift, he was covered in blood. He found Roberto outside, a tear falling down his face.

“What happened?” Zack asked. Roberto let out a sob.

“They made me shoot animals,” he said. “Whee would they do such a ting? Tee poor peegs,” he said. He looked at Zack, and for a moment forgot his own worries.

“What on these earth was you doing?” he asked.

“They made me cut the skin off of your dead pigs,” he replied. Roberto made a noise of disgust.

“Hey, you wanted to work here,” Zack said. Roberto nodded.

“We need thee job,” he said.

“Well, now what do we do?” Zack asked. “We have no where to stay.”

“No where to stay?” a voice said behind them. The tall man that gave them their jobs approached them. “Why, you boys can stay with me,” he said.

“Really? We wouldn’t want to, er, be a bother,” Roberto said.

“Don’t worry about it. I could use the company,” he said. “I’m John, by the way. You boys just come with me.” Roberto and Zack followed the man as he lead the way to his home, which was about a miles walk from the factory.

They came to a small, cabin; weeds and vines all around. Inside, though, it was warm and cozy.

“Make yourself at home,” Mark said. “There’s an extra bedroom over there you boys can share.” He pointed the way towards the room. He looked Zack over. “There’s a bath over there, too,” he said. Zack mumbled a thanks, and made his way to the bathroom, where he stripped his bloody clothes and washed himself clean. He then proceeded to wash his clothes, redressed himself, and headed into the bedroom, where he found Roberto.

“Thees only one bed,” yea he said.

“That’s okay, I’ll sleep on the floor,” Zack offered. Roberto handed him some blankets and a pillow, and Zack made himself comfortable on the floor. Weary from the long day, he fell asleep instantly.