A New Beginning: My Journey with Addy

A few blocks from school, Sarah says goodbye and heads off, leaving Addy and me to walk the rest of the way alone. Neither of us says much. I keep thinking about how hard Mom and Dad both work to pay for everything we need, something I’ve never really thought about before. A wave of homesickness washes over me, and I sigh without meaning to.

Addy notices and asks if I’m okay. I admit that I miss my family.

Addy nods, and I can tell she understands exactly how I feel. When we reach her building, she leads me into the dress shop below, where a small bell tinkles over the door. Mrs. Walker and a White woman sit at a long worktable covered in cloth, pins, scissors, and thread, a stove keeping the room warm and bright. Addy introduces me to Mrs. Ford, the owner of the dress shop, who peers at me over her wire-rimmed glasses and greets me briskly.

Mrs. Ford asks Addy to run a few errands. Addy nods and says she’d like to use the privy first. Mrs. Ford nods. When Addy leaves, I pull out the brown pages of Addy’s book and quickly ask if maybe they could help me bind the pages together to make a book for Addy. Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Walker both smile. When Addy comes back inside, Mrs. Walker tosses a piece of fabric over the pages, and says Addy should let me rest while she does the errands.

Mrs. Ford hands Addy letters for the post office and a list of supplies from the dry goods store. As Addy heads out, Mrs. Walker grabs some red thread, a needle, and scrap fabric. Mrs. Walker shows me how to thread the needle and bind my pages. I practice a little on the scrap fabric before they tell me to go finish the book upstairs.

The garret is exactly how we left it—cold. I keep my shawl on while I sew. Following Mrs. Walker’s directions, I stitch the heavy brown pages together, poking my finger on the needle more than once. I keep at it anyway, and before long, the book is done.

I look over my drawings and add a few last details. On the page that talks about Addy’s family, I stop and think of my own family, missing all of them, even Danny. I realize I haven’t been nearly as hopeful about being apart from them as I could be, and I decide right then to change my attitude once I get home.

I hear the downstairs door open and close, then quick footsteps pound up the stairs. I hurry to hide my supplies and stand by the table with the finished book behind my back. Addy opens the door, surprised to find me on my feet, and asks how I’m feeling.

“I have a surprise for you,” I tell her.

I hold out the finished book with both hands, and Addy goes completely speechless. She holds it carefully, almost like it’s one of the fancy leather-bound books from the secondhand shop, turning each page slowly, her eyes growing wider, and asks if it’s really for her.

I nod and ask if she likes it. She tells me she loves it, that it’s her very own book, though she doesn’t have anything to give me in return.

I insist she’s already given me so much. She helped me when I felt completely alone here, and she shared her home with me. She has been like a sister to me, and I thank her for everything.

She ducks her head and says it wasn’t anything special. I insist it was, that she helped me see how strong my own family really is, and that she’s shown me I can be strong too.

Addy hugs me so tightly that it’s hard to breathe. I’m grateful for her friendship more than I can say, but right now, more than anything, I want to be home.

I whisper that it’s time for me to go. Addy pulls back, startled, and asks if I’m really leaving.

I explain that my family isn’t coming to Philadelphia, that I have to go to them instead. When she asks if I have far to go, I think about Grandpa’s coin tucked in my pocket and tell her not too far.

Addy nods slowly and tells me she understands, that if I can get to my family, I’ve got to go, and that I’m brave to do it alone.

I think of my grandparents and Danny waiting for me at home, of talking to Dad on the computer, and of Mom waiting up for me. I tell Addy I don’t feel alone anymore, not with a friend like her, and I touch the small cowrie shell at her neck, telling her she’s taught me that family is with me all the time.

Addy looks surprised, then admits maybe we learned that from each other. I ask if I can say goodbye to her mom and to Mrs. Ford before I go, and she agrees, adding that she wants to show them her book too, since she can’t wait to read it to Momma.

As I follow Addy down the stairs, hope rises in me. I hope her family is reunited soon, and that she grows up to become the teacher she dreams of being. I know Addy is strong, and now I feel strong too, ready to face the changes waiting at home and love my family just as they are. Hope is a powerful thing, I think, walking into the warm, sunny dress shop with my friend Addy.