Many became Red Caps or porters at Manhattan’s Central Station, one of the few areas willing to hire them. Others, like Smokey and James found work in the garment district, doing whatever needed doing. Ginny took in laundry, washing it by hand whenever the common bathtub was free. In the kitchen sink when it wasn’t. What little free time she had was spent helping various neighbourhood mothers with their newborns which provided her with a great deal of comfort. Perhaps it was her way of compensating for the child she had lost.
New arrivals often experienced culture shock coping with their newfound “freedom”. They had difficulty going from an environment where every aspect of their lives had been dictated by others to now being totally responsible for themselves. It was not always a smooth transition and they often found escape in alcohol – a route too many of them chose. Drink often increases courage and decreases fear. They discovered neither remains long. It soon became an epidemic and resulted in a significant increase in the number of fetal alcohol syndrome cases. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly most hospitals couldn’t cope and refused to provide treatment and it became left to Ginny to be the community’s sole support in this area. It was not unusual for her to bring home infants whose parents could no longer cope. They would stay in the Robinson home for anywhere from a few days to several months until either the parents were able to assume responsibility for them or she would have to find foster homes. The formality of these arrangements were never an issue as the families agreed to them and the authorities were only too happy to be freed of any responsibility.
Smokey found work sweeping floors at Joseph and Joseph, a pants manufacturer in Lower Manhattan and a company that made it a practice to hire newly arrived immigrants. That’s where he met Louis, the floor “supervisor”. This relationship would have a significant impact on the rest of Smokey’s life.
Louis and Smokey would often share their lunches. Louis’ wife Rachel always made an extra sandwich for Smokey in case he “forgot” to bring one. Which occurred more often than not, particularly when Ginny was preoccupied with an overwhelming nursery.
One afternoon during their break, Smokey confided to Louis that what he really wanted was to move to Montreal where many of his friends and extended family from the plantation had escaped to. Unfortunately, he had neither enough money for the fare nor any job prospects there.
He was speaking to exactly the right person. Louis was very familiar with Montreal where his family had originally emigrated there from Ukraine. Louis reacted quickly. Quicker than usual. He called his brother Harry B who was very relieved to learn that Louis was not calling to ask for another loan. Louis had not yet repaid the previous two.
