Cora Cartmell and New York City

Chapter 21~ Eva moves

The next day, on the walk to school, Cora went with Eva and Anne as usual.
Cora told her friends all about Nan, and Anne seemed very happy for her. Then Anne started talking about her little sister, who had just turned two, and was getting into a lot of trouble.

As they began walking in the building, Cora noticed that Eva was acting very strange. She was quieter than usual, and looked as if she would cry any minute.
"What's wrong, Eva?" Cora asked her, placing her hand around her shoulder.
Eva wipes her eyes and looked up at Cora with a sad face.
"My momma told me bad news this morning." She said quietly.
"What is it?"
Eva began "She said we-"
But then the bell rang for class to start.

Cora placed her lunch pail under the coat closet. Her pail had a little red ribbon tied to it so Cora would know it was hers. All the other children had the same type of lunch pail as her.
Eva looked sad again.
"We have to get to class now." Cora said. She placed her hand around Eva's shoulder. "You can tell me at lunch."
Eva nodded and hurried up ahead.

In the classroom, Cora saw Eva walk up to the teacher's desk and whisper something to her. She couldn't hear what Eva said, but both Eva and her Teacher looked sad.

As Eva went back to her seat, and Cora began working on her math, she wondered, and even worried a little, about what was wrong with Eva.

At lunch, Eva finally told Cora and Anne what was wrong.
"My Mother and I are going back to England." She said.
Cora was shocked. "What? Why?" Feeling as if she might cry.
"My Mother can't  afford to stay here. She works in the factory which is a hard job, and she gets only a little bit of money for it." Eva replied.
"Oh. Cora said quietly. She looked down at her sandwich, too sad to eat.

The whole lunch time, all she did was stare at her feet. She didn't want Eva to leave. She was her best friend. What would Cora do without her?

After school, Jack met Anne, Eva and Cora down the street.

Anne and Eva greeted him nicely, but all Cora could do was a wimp wave.
Jack bent down by Cora.
"Are you okay?" He asked. Cora nodded her head. She didn't want to talk about how sad she was in front of Eva and Anne.

Once in front of Cora's Tenement, Eva gave Cora a huge hug.
"My ship leaves at five pm. You can come and watch if you'd like." Cora nodded her head, feeling a tear slip down her face.

As Eva and Anne walked off Cora looked up at Jack. He seemed confused as to what was going on.

"Eva's going back to England. Her Mother can't afford to stay here anymore." Cora said.
Jack looked sad.

He picked Cora up without saying a word, and carried her inside.

Rose was washing her dress.
She noticed Cora's sad face and asked "what's wrong?"
"Her friend Eva is moving back to Europe." Jack told her. He placed Cora on his lap, and she began to cry.

Rose sighed a sad sigh, and Nan handed Cora her handkerchief.

"Well her ship leaves at five o'clock, we can still go down to the pier and watch it leave." Jack told her. Cora smiled a weak smile, and took out her homework to start.

At five o'clock, Jack and Cora walked the short distance to the pier.
He lifted Cora up on his shoulders, and she noticed Eva, holding her doll and her mother's hand, at the inspecting area.
Cora called out to her, and Eva looked back and waved.

That was the last time she ever saw her friend, as Eva and her mother stepped into the ship, and Cora lost the sight of the two of them.