City of Orphans

Willa follows Maks into the dark and smelly building. Each tenement has four small flats per floor, and the rent is cheaper the closer to the top. They pass children playing, neighbors cooking, and a Polish family, the Vershinskis, who make brooms to earn a living. They are passed by a uniformed police officer exiting the building. Emma has been arrested and taken to the jail by City Hall, ominously called “The Tombs,” accused of stealing a watch from the hotel where she works. Mama, in her anguish, speaks in both Danish and English and explains their father is not yet home from work. All seem paralyzed without him there to handle the situation. Maks impulsively declares he will go get her, but the jail is closed until morning. Plus, Mama points out, she will need a lawyer. Willa is hiding in the corner. Mama makes unkind comments about her appearance. Maks declares, “Dirt ain’t people” (40). He explains how she saved him from harm but also from losing his hard-earned money. His mother apologizes to Willa for her indiscretion, stands, and gathers herself, and they wait for Maks’s father to come home.

Papa and Agnes return home from work, both tired and exhausted.