"Excuse me?" A female voice with a thick Polish accent asked. Cora, Helga, and Rose gasped and pulled their heads up from the floor. Rose immediately began to wipe the dirt off of her face. Helga and Rose blushed when they realized they fell asleep holding each other's hands. Cora was nestled on Rose's torso.
"Uhhhh," Helga stuttered out, trying to give an excuse for why three girls were sleeping together in an alleyway.
"You poor things! Please come to my apartment for a few minutes." The woman said. Then she outstretched her hand. "Hello, my name is Tzipora Kaminska. I'm from Krakow. Please allow me to help you. I have to leave for work in a few minutes. I have so many questions! Follow me!" The woman was speaking fast, poor Helga couldn't understand a word.
Rose grabbed Cora's hand, and follow Tzipora who was walking away from the alley and into the building to the right. Helga followed her. Tzipora would frequently turn around and smile at the three girls before opening the door to the apartment building.
"You're very friendly." Rose remarked as she followed Tzipora up the tall staircase.
"I work at the shirt factory a few blocks away. We need more workers. You three were sleeping in the alley, you must need work." Tzipora said as she was fiddling with the lock on her apartment door. Her apartment was simple, a small bed, a table with a large bowl and pitcher, a large wooden chest, a stovetop, and a table with a chair.
"Oh, sorry it's such a mess!" Tzipora exclaimed walking to the table. The table had a Havdalah candle, Kiddush cup, and a spice box. Tzipora swiped the objects from the table and walked towards the chest, opening it with her other arm.
"You say you work." Helga stumbled through her sentence. Tzipora looked up from the chest, she was holding a gold, white, and purple stripped ribbon, but buried back in the chest.
"Yes, I'm leaving right now." Tzipora said, pulling a jacket from the same chest before closing it. "Just follow me outside, you'll work next to me."
"Thank you Ms. Kaminska." Cora said. Tzipora gave Cora a small, friendly pinch of her cheeks. Tzipora opened her apartment door and gestured for Helga, Rose, and Cora to follow her.
"What are your names? And what brings you to New York? Sorry for being so rude, making you walk up and down the stairs in the same minute, but we are running late." Tzipora asked, looking back to the three girls as they walked down the staircase.
"I'm Rose Dawson, this is Helga DeRossi, and Cora Cartmell... we are survivors of the Sinking of the RMS Titanic." Rose said, looking down at the ground. Tzipora stopped dead in her tracks, looking back and forth at the three girls.
"The morning papers." Tzipora whispered to herself. "Thank goodness no one died!"
"What?! My father died, Helga's parents died, Jack and Fabrizio died! Less than half the people survived!" Cora exclaimed. Rose and Helga were also shocked.
"Never trust the newspapers here." Tzipora said, her jaw dropped. "Keep following me." Tzipora walked slowly down the stairs, as the three survivors followed her.
"What is the work like?" Cora asked as the four of them made it down the staircase, and outside in the streets of Brooklyn.
"It's... greuling at times, tedious, but not challenging." Tzipora responded with. Then she looked at the three girls' outfits. "I'll make sure you three are clothed and fed properly."
A few blocks layer, the four girls found themselves standing in front a large, square brick building. The sound of running machines was deafening as the many, many workers flooded into the building. They were mostly young women, a few men, and a surprising number of children.
The air was thick and muggy. Despite the fact it was a cool, April day, it was warm from the poor ventilation and coal run machines. A man in an expensive suit approached Tzipora, Helga, Rose, and Cora. Rose could tell Tzipora was annoyed, but she was trying not to show it.
"This coat and dress seem a little... expensive for a seamstress." The man, looking Rose up and down. Helga pulled Cora closer to her skirt.
"These three new girls are Titanic survivors." Tzipora responded to the man.
"Well then, show them how to make a shirtwaist, Tzipora. You'll all get your wages at the end of the week." The man said before walking away.
"That's Mr. Green, he's in charge. You just follow the sewing patterns exactly, and try not to get blood on the shirts, or he'll cut your pay in half."
"Blood?" Asked Helga. However, Tzipora was already moving to a sewing machine, and showing the three girls the sewing pattern. Then the work begun. Cora struggled trying to follow the pattern, Helga was so scared of pricking her finger she could barely follow the pattern, and Rose was not used to this kind of labor. Tzipora was making twice as many shirts as them.
The work was impossible. The sweat began to run down the girls' faces, and their fingers free tired as the hours continued on. On their feet all day, trying to diligently sew, breathing in the arm, thick air. The toil lasted until the end of the work day, and Rose gazed at the pile of women's shirts she had made, although Tzipora's was twice as tall.
"Let's go home." Tzipora said. The four girls could barely move, but they made the journey back to the apartment building.
"Now I see why Mother was terrified of becoming a seamstress." Rose muttered under her breath as the three exhausted girls tried to stumble up the tall staircase. Tzipora looked at Rose and nodded. Helga was also exhausted. When the women finally made it to the apartment, a few minutes later there was a gentle knock on the door.
"Hello?" Cora asked, opening it.
"Hello, Alice Johnson, Women's Temperance Union." The woman began, she had a large, full basket under her arm. Tzipora smiled and waved at the woman, who waved back. "I heard from Tzipora that we have three Titanic survivors here. I'm deeply sorry about the tragedy, so we decided to help. It's a shame you left Ellis Island so soon. If you waited only thirty minutes more, my girls and I would've been able to distribute these to you."
"Thank you, so much!" Exclaimed Rose as Alice handed the basket to Helga.
"Also, Tzipora, I'm so glad you can make it to the protest next week." Alice Johnson said with a smile as Helga began to look through the basket of supplies.
"Protest?" Helga asked after Alice Johnson closed the door.
"I want women to vote. White men can vote in this country, they have been for the longest. Black men have only gotten the right to vote recently, around forty years ago." Tzipora began. "I want white women to vote, black women to vote, I want Native Americans to be citizens, I want equal rights for immigrants like me. Equality for all men, and women." Tzipora smiled as she finished her speech.
"I agree with you." Rose said. "My former fiance was vocally opposed to women's suffrage. He also didn't seem to support equality between all the races."
"One day, I want the labor forces in this country to have good wages, good hours, and safe conditions. We tried to strike last month, but we were shut down." Tzipora said, frowning. "Cora, you can have the bed tonight, us three grown women will make do on the floor."
"There is a quilt here." Helga said, pulling a decorated, roughly seen quilt out of the basket. "Rose, be next to me tonight."
"Of course." Rose responded with.