[Double Crossing 02] • Cursing Columbus

*The dream was always the same: I was back in Russia. My family was sitting around the Sabbath table: Mama, Papa, baby Hannah and my brothers Lemmel and Shloyme. I was telling a story about America there were gold streets and chickens roosting in trees. Suddenly, Papa and I were on board a ship sailing far away. Ahead I saw the Statue of Liberty towering over the harbor of New York, but she raised her hand high above her head to stop us. I looked around for Papa. I was all alone.*

*Then I woke up and remembered.*

*Papa and I had arrived at Ellis Island. For three years we had been living on the Lower East Side of New York. Papa worked in a sweatshop earning money to bring over the rest of the family, while I worked after school. I dreamed of the day our family would be together again.*

*And tomorrow, it would finally happen. Would they love America like I did or would they say "a curse on Columbus" because the New World brought them nothing but trouble and hard work?*

**Eve Tal** was born in the United States, but lives on Kibbutz Hatzor in Israel. *Cursing Columbus* is her second young adult historical novel and is the sequel to *Double Crossing*, which is based on her grandfather's emigration story from the Ukraine.

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