ABSTRACT
Early one morning, while I was engaged in closing the account of the previous day at work, I unexpectedly received a letter from my brother Kaloust, who lived in the United States. One can imagine how happy I was. I tore the envelope open with tears in my eyes. In the letter, my brother expressed his joy that I had escaped the deportations, told me that he would help me with any financial issues I had, and asked about my health. Soon, I also received another letter, this time from my sister in the United States, which contained a check for $20. I was overjoyed. I kissed the letters and began pacing up and down the store, my coworkers congratulating me heartily. Two months later, I received another letter from my brother, containing another check for $20 and also informing me that he was making arrangements for me to immigrate to the United States. My brother wanted me to travel right away and also hoped I could find him a bride from the old country, as he wanted to remarry, since 82his wife Nazeli and son Karnig had been killed during the Genocide. Although I had been separated from my brother for eight years, I did my best to ask around, gather some information regarding potential wives, and sent this information to him. I even visited several orphanages to find young Armenian girls, but Kaloust would not approve any of them. I also sent pictures, as well as my observations regarding each of their personalities. During this time, by coincidence, I met an impoverished local woman, who, alongside her daughter, barely eked out a living washing whites for the city’s public hospital. When I mentioned that my brother was looking for a bride, the poor woman, having heard of the wealth of America, and hoping to provide her daughter with a better life, suggested her as a candidate. I was not sure, since the girl was barely eighteen years old and my brother was much older, but the woman replied to this objection by saying that she, too, had married an older man at the same age and that older men are more likely to appreciate a good woman. I agreed to send a picture of this girl to my brother too, and less than a month later, the latter sent me $500 for the two of us to travel to America. Her name was Marie Keushkerian.
