Yossi's Goal (9 page)

“You'd better be, or else you're through here. Is that clear?” the supervisor said.

“Yes, sir,” Yossi and Abie said together.

The two of them got their bundles and went back into the hallway. “Whew,” Yossi whispered. Then his eye was caught by René's frantic hand motions. He was pointing down the hallway.

Yossi and Abie turned. Midway down
the hall was a small storage room where Steiner kept scraps and odd pieces of fabric. Farther down the hall was a door to a stairway that led up to Steiner's office. At the end of the hall was a door to the sweatshop floor.

Voices could be heard from the end of the hallway. But the door to the scrap room was open, and it was blocking the speakers from view.

Yossi exchanged a panic-stricken look with Abie and René. Then he motioned them to follow. The three boys tiptoed down the hall and hid behind the open scrap room door, Yossi and Abie silently shrugging off their bundles. Yossi felt a tug on his sleeve. René was pointing again. On the floor was a pair of hockey skates—brand-new hockey skates—and a smart black winter coat with brass buttons.

Max Steiner!

What's he doing here
? Yossi wondered. “Listen, they're planning a big protest today,” a voice said in Yiddish. It was
older…high-pitched…familiar… “Don't know exactly when, but someone is going to give a signal.”

“Who, Jonah?” Max said.

Jonah Fishkin!
Yossi thought. That dirty rat!

“I don't know,” Jonah grumbled. “Couldn't get the inside information this time.”

With a pang of guilt, Yossi remembered that he had meant to warn Daniel about Jonah, and had forgotten—again. At least Jonah didn't know who was behind the plan.

“But it's going to be big,” Jonah went on. “Something about refusing to work—”

“What! We've got to stop them!” Max cried. “Sound the alarm!”

“No, no,” Jonah said, “that'll tip them off that we know. Better to warn your papa on the quiet. That way he can get men in place before they start. That'll stop them, all right.”

“Yes, that's it!” Max said. “I'll go tell Papa right now.”

“Don't forget to tell him who told you,” Jonah added slyly.

You weasel!
Yossi thought, exchanging an angry glance with Abie.

“I won't. Good work, Fishkin,” Max said.

“I'd better get back before I'm missed,” Jonah said. “See you later.”

A door opened, and for a moment the hallway was filled with the roar and screech of the factory floor. Then it clicked shut and the noise subsided to a muffled hum. Yossi thought frantically. They had to stop Max Steiner from getting word to his father. But how? If they grabbed Max, he'd start screaming, and that would alert everybody.

Yossi heard footsteps. Max was heading for the door that led up to his papa's office. They had to do something—now. Yossi glanced about, desperate for an idea, and again saw the skates and coat.

Yes!

Still hidden behind the scrap room door he said loudly in Yiddish, “Oh, look,
somebody left a pair of hockey skates. Guess he didn't want them anymore. I sure could use a new pair—”

“What's that? Who's there?” Max's voice said, sounding startled.

Yossi was ready. As Max flung back the scrap room door to see who was on the other side, Yossi grabbed Max's fancy winter coat, flung it over Max's head and wrapped it around him, pinning his arms to the sides. René held the hood against Max's thrashing head, while Abie and Yossi kept Max's arms pinned to his body. Max tried to yell, but his cries were muffled by the thick wool, and even though he twisted and kicked, Yossi and Abie were able to keep him from getting away.

They hustled their prisoner into the scrap room and threw him face down onto soft piles of felt and gabardine, muslin and cotton. Yossi could feel Max's fear in his desperate thrashing. Despite himself, he felt sorry for the other boy. He would have been scared too, if he'd been grabbed
like that. He knelt close. “Don't worry,” he whispered, “we're not going to hurt you.”

Max's squirming grew less frantic, but he was still twisting about, clearly trying to escape. Yossi tied his feet together with a length of burlap, doubling the thickness so it wouldn't hurt, and Abie did the same with his hands. Yossi grabbed several pieces of felt for a gag. Soft and fuzzy, they'd be just the thing to muffle any noise that Max might make.

The boys rolled him over and Yossi slapped the felt pieces against his mouth.

“You'll never get away with this!” Max managed to get out. “Just wait until my papa—”

“But your papa's not going to know,” Yossi said, pushing the fabric against Max's lips and motioning Abie to tie a sturdy length of cotton around his head to hold them in place. “Because you're not going to tell him. Because you're going to stay here, nice and quiet.”

Max made a muffled noise that Yossi was sure wasn't at all polite.

“We just need you out of the way for a while,” Yossi told him. “We'll let you out soon, I promise.”

Max glared at him, but Yossi saw that there was relief in his eyes, as well as anger.

Yossi motioned to René and Abie. The three of them crept to the door and peeked out. The two bundles were where the boys had left them. There was no one in the hallway. Saying a silent prayer of thanks, Yossi waved his arm forward. He and Abie helped each other on with their bundles, and the three boys tiptoed down the hallway and out the door.

Fresh air! Freedom! Safety!

Yossi hurried across the street, followed by Abie and René. Benny, Louie and Milton had joined the French boys under the maple tree, and now they all rushed forward.

“Where were you?”

“
Qu'est-ce qui a pris si longtemps
?”

“What's going on?”

Yossi grinned. “We're fine! It was a close call, but everything's going to be all right.”

“Everything
what?”
Benny asked in an agonized voice.

Yossi and Abie laughed. “You'll see— soon. Come around here and watch.”

They led the others to the foot of the broad steps at the front of the factory—and they didn't have long to wait. After several minutes, a piercing whistle shrieked over the din of the sewing machines. Yossi caught Abie's eye. “The signal!” he said.

Another whistle. Another. A minute passed. Nothing happened. Then, gradually, the factory's noise began to change. It grew a little quieter, such a small change that Yossi wasn't sure if he really heard it. Then quieter still. Slowly the roar changed to a drone, the drone to a hum.

Men began to appear at the sides of the sweatshop. At first one or two, then half a dozen, then a steady trickle. In pairs and groups, they came down the stairs at either side of the building and marched
around to the front, where they gathered at the base of the staircase, in front of the boys.

“They're…walking out!” Benny said in amazement.

“
Mon dieu!
” Jean-Paul said.

Yossi and Abie just grinned at the others.

The din of the machines grew even softer and quieter. Still, the men poured out the side doors and others began to come around from the back. The noise of the factory faded, faded. The massive double front doors swung open, and men began to pour down the front steps. Supervisors appeared at the top of the stairs, pointing back toward the factory and yelling, but the workers ignored them, continuing to file outside in an unbroken stream.

With a final whir, the machines fell silent. A cheer arose from the men gathered outside. They slapped one another on the back.

Craning for a better view, Yossi spotted a familiar tweed cap at the top of the
stairs. “Daniel!” he shouted, waving his cap. Daniel turned, flashed Yossi a grin and waved his cap. Then Yossi saw Papa waving. “We did it, Papa!” he yelled, and even though he couldn't hear Papa's reply, he laughed as Papa waved his cap back.

“There's
my
papa!” Abie said. “Papa!” he hollered, and Herman turned and pumped his fist in the air.

“Papa!” Jean-Paul shouted, and a short man waved back, grinning.

“Look!” Milton cried, and Yossi turned. Women and girls of all ages were coming down the side streets leading to the factory. When the men saw them, a shout went up, a deep rumble that was answered by a high female cheer. Yossi saw Miriam, Mama and Sadie, and he waved madly. Miriam waved back, and then Yossi lost sight of her as she pushed into the crowd. A few moments later, her blue-kerchiefed head appeared beside Daniel's shoulder.

There was a commotion at the top of the stairs, and a heavyset man in a long black topcoat and fur hat emerged. Mr.
Steiner! Even from this distance, Yossi could see that his face was red. He waved his arms, gesturing toward the factory, but the workers ignored him. He lifted a bullhorn to his mouth and bellowed, “You men, get back to work!”

No one paid attention.

“You think you can just walk out on the job? Well, you can't.”

“We just did, boss,” someone yelled, and there was a chorus of laughter.

“I'm warning you, get back to your machines right away!”

“We're not going, Steiner,” Daniel shouted, stepping forward.

Mr. Steiner pointed at him. “You! Bernstein! I should have known you'd be the ringleader.”

Yossi swelled with pride. His almost-brother-in-law, the ringleader! But then a thought struck him. If Mr. Steiner knew that Daniel was behind this, he might fire him. And Papa and Solly and Herman and Josef too. Then what would happen?

The next moment, one of the garment packers yelled, “He's not the ringleader, Steiner. I am!”

“No!” Another man waved his arm in the air. “I am!”

“No! It was me!”

“I'm the ringleader!”

“I started it!”

One after another, dozens of men—and women too—hollered out that they were responsible for the walkout. Mr. Steiner turned to look at first one, then another, his face growing redder and redder.

“It was all of us!” Solly yelled. A great shout went up. As if on signal, hundreds of men and women linked arms with the people on either side of them.

“You're going to have to fire us all, Steiner!” yelled Herman, and cries of agreement rang out.

“Then that's just what I'll do!” Mr. Steiner bellowed. “There are plenty of others to take your place—”

“I wouldn't count on it, Steiner,” Josef shouted. “Our comrades walked out of
two other sweatshops today. No one's going to put up with these conditions anymore!”

A look of shock came over Mr. Steiner's face.

“That's right, Mr. Steiner,” Daniel shouted. “No more starvation wages.”

A cheer.

“No more dust and damp that make us sick,” yelled another man.

A shout.

“No more working from dawn to dusk with hardly a break,” added another.

A holler. “And we're not coming back to work for you until you agree,” Miriam shouted.

Her hand, clasped in Daniel's, shot into the air, and a roar went up from the workers that was even louder than the factory at full production.

Mr. Steiner stood there, staring at the crowd. He raised the bullhorn to his lips, then lowered it. His face grew redder. He turned on his heel and stomped inside, followed by his thugs.

Hundreds of caps flew into the air, and the cheer that rose out of hundreds of throats seemed to shake the very bricks of Steiner's Garment Works.

Yossi cheered along with his friends. Then he hurried around to the side entrance and snuck into the scrap room. Max Steiner was sitting up. When Yossi came in, his head whipped around. For a moment there was fear in his eyes. Then he glared.

Yossi untied the gag.

“You—you dog!” Max snapped, twisting from side to side.

“Hold still! I'm trying to untie you,” Yossi said. He couldn't blame Max for being angry, but the least he could do was let Yossi free him!

Max kept still long enough for Yossi to loosen the burlap around his hands, then untied his own feet. He jumped up with a sneer. “Just wait till I tell my papa what you did. He'll fire you—you and your whole family! And your stupid
friend too. All of you. You'll never work here again!”

Yossi smiled. “That's what you think. All the workers walked out of all the sweat-shops in the neighborhood today. It's not going to be so easy to replace them.”

Max's hand flew to his mouth. “All the workers…? They can't!”

Yossi stepped forward, eyes blazing. “Yes, they can—and they did! Your papa is going to have to treat us better from now on—like decent human beings.” He strode to the door. “I'm sorry I tied you up. I had to. But I'm not sorry I helped, no matter what happens to me. Not one bit!”

The door slammed behind him as he ran down the hall.

Yossi carried an armful of books down the three flights of stairs and dumped them in a wheelbarrow sitting outside the front door. On his way back upstairs, he passed Daniel coming down carrying a box of dishes, followed by Miriam with an armload of clothing. Yossi made another trip with more books, filling the wheel-barrow to overflowing.