Time To Go

Time To Go(Regina Mazur) Time to Go

Today was Katya’s birthday. She turned 13. She had been waiting for this day for a long time. It was a very special birthday, but at the same time very sad. Her Dad promised her that he would take her and all her friends who were invited to her party to the new Video Café that was just built almost across the street from where they lived. The Video Café was a completely new thing to the city of Odessa. The video café was very expensive and hard to get into simply because it was the only one in the city and Katya’s Dad had to book it 3 months in advance.

After the café they were all going to go to the park for the Pony rides which were also rare and had to be booked several months in advance. Katya was not used to celebrating her birthday’s much since her parents didn’t make a lot of money. usually her mom would make her favorite cake or cookies and she would bring them to school for her friends, but this year was very different. As much as Katya tried to concentrate on all the fun that she was going to have on her birthday she couldn’t help but keep thinking that it was her last birthday in Odessa with her school friends, and that in August she and all of her family would be leaving forever to go to the United States of America. They were granted a visa permission to come to America and her parents were ecstatic with joy.

Katya however, was devastated when she first found out about it, no matter how many times her parents tried to explain to her that they were doing it mostly for her own good, and in order for her to have a bright future, in a country where no one would frown upon her because of her religion, which was Jewish. for Katya, that seemed so far away, and she could not understand why they had to leave now when she wasn’t even thinking about going to college yet. why does everything have to be turned upside down and why does she have to leave everything behind. It’s not like they were moving to another street, or city, they were moving across the ocean so far away that she would have absolutely no way to keep in touch with anyone. This was so depressing to think about that Katya cried for a very long time.

The incident happened one day, where her Dad came home with a huge scar all over his face and blood was gushing out. when Katya saw him she didn’t know what to think. usually her parents who were so protective of her, but they decided to tell her the truth, that her father got attacked and beaten on the street simply because he was Jewish and that he was lucky to be alive and the sooner they leave the better it will be. Katya got scared, she loved her parents very much and didn’t want for anything bad to happen to them. She became very mature about their departure and tried not to think about it too much except for when she saw her parents packing their things little by little and selling some of their things on the black market.

So now it was her 13th birthday and she decided to concentrate on having fun and enjoying it with her friends. In the afternoon everyone got together at the Video Café. they were watching a Tom and Jerry marathon. everyone loved this cartoon and they had a blast, also because they got to have all you can eat pastries and ice-cream. The pony rides were also a lot of fun and everyone loved it. It was June and there were two more months until Katya and her family would leave.

Katya tried to concentrate on making the best out of the remaining time in Odessa, instead of crying every time. She tried to have a lot of fun with her friends. On the day of their departure her best friend Marina came to the airport to say good bye. They hugged and Marina kept telling her: “keep in touch, make lots of pictures and send them by mail and in the future if we keep in touch we can visit each other.”

Finally everyone boarded the plane and they were on their way to Vienna Austria, where they would stay for a while until final departure to the United States. For Katya’s family the whole immigration period lasted a year and finally when they made it to New York they had so many different experiences and Katya was so smitten with everything she did and saw that all the sadness didn’t surface so much.

When the family arrived to New York, they lived in a hotel. it was an idle period until everyone would get their feet on the ground. Katya’s parents worked very hard to make some money so that they could rent an apartment and move out of the hotel where they lived since the hotel was paid for by the Jewish organization which was sponsoring immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Nothing was coming easy, even Katya found a job cleaning senior citizens apartments and she helped her family with the little money that she made. She still didn’t have any friends and because her parents were so busy trying to work and get their feet on the ground, no one really had time for her and she didn’t have anyone to talk to about how lonely and sad she felt.

One day as she was walking on the street from her job she was staring at the ground and noticed what looked like something written in Russian. she picked it up and it wound up being a page from the Russian newspaper. Katya was astounded, she ran to the first available newspaper stand and asked if they were selling newspapers in Russian and to her luck there was one. She grabbed it and paid a whole of 25 cents for it, but she didn’t care because she knew her parents would sure be happy to see it. She brought it to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon reading it. She found a page with advertisement for what were called “Calling Cards” where if you buy one you can call anywhere in the world from any phone. She made a goal for herself to save every penny that she made to buy one of those. When her parents came home they were excited to see the paper as well. It had so many advertisements for the apartments in the Russian community in a borough of Brooklyn as well as many jobs.

They finally found an apartment and moved there, and during all of this time Katya kept putting away a quarter at a time to save for the calling card. She finally saved a whole of $10.00 dollars and was so excited about it. She ran to the first newsstand and bought a calling card. As soon as she got one she ran to the first pay phone. she didn’t even realize the time difference between New York and Odessa and she called her best friend Marina. Once Marina realized who was calling the excitement and the laughter and the screams wouldn’t stop and the two girls were talking over each other. Once the conversation was over Katya still had some money left on the card so she promised to call Marina back soon.
This completely changed Katya’s world. She stopped feeling hopeless and knew that if she worked hard and saved the money she didn’t have to lose her best friend after all and that they could keep in touch.

And that’s how it still is. now Katya is much older, she graduated college, made a lot of new friends and has a good job. Marina is very successful as well and they talk every single week for years now. As Marina became older she also understood why Katya’s family needed to leave, along with many other Jewish families. she told Katya numerous times how lucky they are that they left on time and this is why Katya has a future that she does. Katya’s parents are also doing very well, both having good jobs and not having to worry about getting fired for their faith.

The planet is big but the world is small. real friends are forever regardless of where they are, you just have to make an effort and when you do, all of your dreams become reality.