The Adventure to America
Part One
A Second-Class Boat
Lydia stared at her humble trunk. Ma and Pa didn't make me do this, there's no reason I should be mad at them, she reminded herself. Exhausted, she pushed her tangled mess of hair behind her ear, not bothering to take it all down and put it all up again. It's not that she was lazy, just tired.
Only a few hours ago, Lydia had boarded the boat going from Africa and landing in America. Luckily, her father traded a lot with America and had taught her some of their language, but not so much that she could speak fluently. It was so hard learning a new language, especially one that is completely different from the one you were raised with! But Ma had reminded her that no changes are ever easy.
But one can learn a lot about a boat in a few hours. You can learn that waves are very choppy and bumpy and disagree with your stomach. You can learn that the portions are small and mostly inedible. You can also learn that blacks like her weren't allowed up on deck.
Lydia thought that was unfair. What kind of boat was this? Was it going to be like this in America too? If so, she didn't want to go. Would they even seperate what kids you could play with, or how differently you were treated? Lydia was suddenly scared of this new world. She was a stranger here. A strong gust blew through the windows that didn't close and were always open. Tired and wanting to just fall asleep, Lydia fell asleep, all wrapped up in her woolen blanket at the foot of the ladder leading up to the deck. She dreamed that she was dressed all fancy like the white passengers upstairs, and she was having a party. Little did she know that it would take a lot to get there were she was going. Little did she know that all her worst fears were about to come true.
