{"id":4220,"date":"2020-12-23T16:10:24","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T16:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=4220"},"modified":"2020-12-23T16:10:24","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T16:10:24","slug":"bubers-basque-story-part-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2020\/12\/23\/bubers-basque-story-part-32\/","title":{"rendered":"Buber’s Basque Story: Part 32"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Kepa and Maite stood in line to board the ferry to Liberty Island. In front of them, beyond the throng of people also waiting in line, they could see the Statue of Liberty. Whenever Kepa turned around, he saw the massive skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan. He couldn\u2019t wait until tonight, when they would hit Times Square and then the show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edurne, who had taken the afternoon off to guide them through the city, stood next to them, staring across the water at the Statue of Liberty. \u201cIt always takes my breath away, you know,\u201d she said, to neither of them in particular. \u201cI always wonder what it would have been like, to be one of those young Basque boys or girls that were coming across the ocean to find a better life. Not knowing English, not having any family to greet you.\u201d She shook her head. \u201cIt\u2019s almost overwhelming to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buber’s Basque Story is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI imagine it must have been exciting and frightening at the same time,\u201d replied Maite. \u201cSeeing that statue rise out of the water as your ship got close must have been inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour parents didn\u2019t pass through here?\u201d asked Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInola ere ez, no way,\u201d replied Edurne. \u201cBy the time they came over, they just flew to where they needed to go. I think you have to go pretty far back when people passed through here when they arrived in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the gates to the ferry opened, they made their way onto the deck, Edurne taking them to a prime spot against the rail to see both the Statue of Liberty as they approached but also the Manhattan skyline behind them. After the last passengers got on the ferry, it slowly turned, plowing through the water toward Liberty Island. The Statue of Liberty loomed above them as they got closer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not as big as I expected,\u201d remarked Kepa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edurne laughed. \u201cNo, I guess not. But, I imagine if you were a young Basque crossing the ocean for the first time, it must have looked pretty impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think these days,\u201d added Maite, \u201cwe are so bombarded with \u2018spectacular\u2019 things that we lose a sense of scale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edurne nodded as the ferry docked at the island. \u201cTime to get off,\u201d she said as she led the three of them toward the exit. \u201cWe\u2019ll take a look at the Statue and the museum and then take the ferry to see Ellis Island.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They strolled along the pathway encircling the Statue, it\u2019s large patina form towering above them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still pretty damn impressive,\u201d said Maite as they stopped in front of the statue, its benevolent face gazing across the waters behind them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Kepa could do was nod in agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kepa and Maite stood in line to board the ferry to Liberty Island. In front of them, beyond the throng of people also waiting in line, they could see the Statue of Liberty. Whenever Kepa turned around, he saw the massive skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan. He couldn\u2019t wait until tonight, when they would hit Times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Artboard-1.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-164","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4221,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220\/revisions\/4221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}