Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday.

Welcome back to Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday, where writers come together to share 8 sentences of whatever they wish. This is Week 3 for me.

This is another excerpt from FORTY YEARS IN A DAY. In last week’s scene, Victoria sneaks out of her home located in a small village in Italy with her four small children. In this scene, they have reached the seaport in Naples, Italy and are granted passage on a steamship to America. They are directed down a ladder to the cramped, windowless, steerage dormitories. Metal-framed, triple-tiered bunks lined the confining compartments that extended the length of the ship.

 

          They were entitled to three bunks for the five of them, and Victoria piled their belongings at the base. A wall of woolen blankets draped over a rope and narrow tables lined with benches, separated the men from the women and children.      

          Acclimating to the creaking, compartmentalized quarters, Victoria thought it was eerily quiet for the number of passengers who were crammed into the small area. She knew some were fortunate to be joining family in America, while others had no guarantee there would be a bed or a roof over their heads. Exhausted and bewildered, she sat with her children on the bottom bunk, absorbing what was happening around them. Her mind twisted apprehensively as she reflected on all that she had just left behind. She was suddenly struck with amazement how she had come this far, but simultaneously, she felt alarmingly alone in a room full of people. Hugging her children, she tried to draw strength from their naiveté.

        
          The engines vibrated, and the ship lurched forward, signaling the beginning of their lengthy passage across the Atlantic Ocean.

Thanks for stopping by!
Mona