Summary

When Sofia turned 12 she got her first period, which the girls expected from Miss Finn's lecture on reproduction. She brought her menstrual rags to dry in Marta's room while their fathers played poker at the factory late into the night. The girls overheard Joey talking to their brothers in the yard below their window, telling them that he saw a small human foot and toes while picking through meat scraps on a barge. Soon after, Joey got a job loading the "filthiest, most corrupted, stinking garbage that ever traveled New York" (65). Landing a job was still a feat during the depression, and it is implied that Joey's brothers had ties to organized crime and used their influence to help Joey.

One day in school, Sofia revealed her knowledge of world geography when she located Ukraine on the world map. Sofia learned world events...