Poor little caterpillar climbing up a tree
Wishing every day to be pretty as can be
The world thought her ugly, and called her slow
But her faith in God gave her the courage to go
She was special… she was fine,
To this lowly creature, God would be kind
Shelter to sleep the hurts away
Until there came a better day
Then in spring under skies of gold,
Her wings begun to unfold
Away she flew, with pride in flight
Leaving behind despair and fright
~ Gemini Joe ~
M
y mom was the loveliest person in my life. Her name was Florence, and she had two sisters, Jenny and Marie, and two brother’s Frank and Albert. Grandma was Carmella.
When she only had to work half a day, she sometimes took me to this big, brick building with windows all around it. My mom said it was a factory, but some people now would call it a sweatshop.
Inside, the hum of the machines was loud, and I had to cover my ears at first, but I was distracted by the rows of tables, each with a sewing machine and a lady worker. The needles bobbed up and down as they fed the fabric through at lightning speed.
“Why are their hands blue, Momma?”
“That’s just the dye from the pea coats,” she said.
She scrubbed her hands after work every day, but I the dye stayed in her skin. I think back at that time and wonder if the blue dye is what gave her cancer.
Anyway, I loved going to work with her. I was a little guy, so when my mom took me there everyone made a big fuss over me.
Finally, the boss came out of the office.
“Okay girls,” he said. “He’s a cute guy, but let’s get back to work.”
All the girls started up their machines and went back to their sewing.
My mom said, “Joey, go around and pick up the pins for all the girls.
So there I was for four hours on the floor, picking up all the little pins and giving them to the girls. They laughed and told me I was a good boy. Boy, it was hot in there, but it was fun.