The Boxcar Children Beginning: The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm (5 page)

“Hi, Mama!” he called, waving.

The audience clapped.

Benny stopped.

“Bow!” called Jessie.

Benny grinned and bowed.

And then he opened the box, and out jumped Joe!

“Joseph,” said Papa laughing.

Joe ran around the box and yard. And then Benny picked up a stick and held it out straight.

“Jump!” said Benny.

Joe jumped over the stick.

Cheering and applause.

“I never knew Joe could do that,” said Sarah.

Benny picked up a circle hoop.

“Hush everyone,” said Henry. “This is very difficult and needs complete silence!”

“Or a snack,” said Papa.

Everyone grew quiet.

Benny held up the circle.

“Now, Joe!” said Benny.

Joe sat.

“Now, Joe!” repeated Benny.

Joe looked.

Henry put his hand in his pocket and took out some dog snacks. He handed them to Benny.

Benny held them up, and Joe happily jumped through the hoop, then when Benny turned, jumped again, and then again.

He sat.

Benny gave him a snack.

Then Joe jumped through the last hoop and up onto the box.

Benny bowed.

Everyone clapped and whistled.

And Benny rolled Joe out of the yard and behind the curtain.

“And now,” said Henry, snapping his whip, “for our final act.” He looked quickly behind the curtain.

“Wait just a minute,” he added, “while we get the elephant and the small surprise ready!”

The audience was suddenly quiet.

“Ready?” asked Henry.

“Ready,” came a voice from behind the curtain.

“The master elephant trainer with a surprise!” Henry announced proudly.

The curtain opened and in came the elephant, led by William. The elephant was Boots, with a gray blanket and a stuffed elephant trunk.

“My socks!” said Papa. “I wondered where they were!”

“Elephant!” cried one of Rubin’s grandchildren.

“That’s Boots,” cried another child.

“Elephant!” called the audience.

And then the elephant was followed by a tiny gray-blanketed creature. It was the small surprise.

“A baby elephant!” cried a child.

It was Joe with a stuffed-sock trunk. He walked behind Boots, his trunk bouncing in front of him, while everyone clapped.

And then it was over. They all came out to take their bows: Jake-O and Jess, the clowns, Princess Meg with Betty, Benny with Joe in his wagon, and William, the elephant trainer. The group called for Violet, who came running to join them.

They bowed in a row. Boots, as always, was sweet and silent.

The audience applauded.

“This is the best day of my life,” said William.

Betty mooed.

The friendly brown dog got up and went home.

The circus was over.

Henry, Jessie, Violet, Meg, and William sat on a blanket under the maple tree. Benny was there, too, but he had fallen asleep after the long circus day. Joe stretched out beside him.

Papa had driven his car to town early to deliver buns to the bakery and check the mail.

“You were wonderful, all of you,” said Mama.

“Your costumes were fine, Violet,” said Sarah.

“Meg helped,” said Violet.

“And my box has a new cover now,” said Jake. “Did you do that?”

Violet smiled.

“I used the small screwdriver you gave me. And Papa helped me cut a board the right size.”

“Thank you, Violet.”

“You’re welcome. You were a funny clown, Jake.”

“Thank you again, Violet. Jessie was a good clown partner,” said Jake. “It took lots of practice for us to learn how to fall down together.”

Everyone laughed.

“Betty was good,” said Meg.

“You were good,” said Sarah. “Henry, you were a great announcer. You had to make it all work.”

“Maybe when I grow up I’ll be a circus announcer,” said Henry.

“I’d say, by the look of your globe inside, that you’ll be an explorer,” said Jake.

Henry thought.

“I like that,” he said, smiling. “An explorer.”

“The chief explorer,” said Jake.

“I like ‘chief,’ too,” said Henry.

“I loved being an elephant trainer,” said William. “I really did. You know, there was a time yesterday when I really, really believed Boots was an elephant. And Joe!”

And then William repeated what he had said the day before.

“It was the best day of my life.”

They all looked up as Papa drove his gray car up the dirt road to the driveway. For a moment, Papa didn’t get out of the car. He just sat there in the car. Then, slowly, he opened the door and got out. He walked over to them. He carried a package.

He held the package out for Jake.

“Your part came,” he said.

Everything changed that morning.

In the heads of all the children, nothing was the same.

There would be no more walking to school together and playing tag all the way home.

No more stories of heroes and winged horses, even when the lights were out.

No more sleeping in the barn hideaway.

No more frosting buns in the kitchen.

No more watching Meg’s hair flying out behind her as she rode Betty.

No more circuses.

When Benny woke up and they told him, he burst into tears. He clutched Joe in his arms, rocking back and forth.

When Sarah saw that, she burst into tears, too.

“We won’t be far away,” said Sarah. “You will come and visit us.”

She wiped her eyes and wrote down an address on a piece of paper.

“Here is where we’ll be. Where should I put this so you can find it when you need it?”

“The cookie jar with our money,” said Jessie. “That’s the safest place.”

“That is what I will do,” said Sarah. “Don’t forget. We are in the cookie jar!”

This made the children smile even though they were sad.

“Jake won’t be able to leave today,” said Papa. “Maybe you can fill up today with fun.”

No one spoke.

“Chores first, of course,” Papa said cheerfully. “Go on, go on!”

Henry, Jessie, Meg, and William all went to the barn. Benny and Joe followed behind. Violet went to watch Jake work on the car engine. The hood was folded back, and when she bent over to look, Jake turned his head to look at her for a moment. Then he went back to work.

The barn was dark and cool and quiet.

Joe jumped into a pile of bedding hay. Benny sat with him.

“I’d like to put the smell of this barn into a little jar and take it with me,” said Meg.

No one said anything.

Henry and William began to shovel old hay out of the stalls and throw it out the back door in a pile.

“Maybe the car part won’t work,” whispered Jessie to Meg. “Maybe the car won’t start.”

Meg smiled.

“That would be nice.”

Betty walked into the barn and came over to where Meg stood. Betty nosed Meg’s shoulder, rubbing her long face there.

Meg’s eyes filled with tears.

“I’ll miss this old cow,” she said. “And you can’t put Betty in a jar for me to take along.”

Jessie put her arms around her.

“We will always be friends,” said Jessie.

“We will always be family,” said Meg.

Suddenly there was the sound of a car starting outside. Henry and William looked up and stopped working. Meg and Jessie looked at the barn door.

Violet stood there.

“Jake fixed the car,” she said sadly.

The children slept late the next morning, almost as if they were sleeping so no one would leave. William and Meg wouldn’t get into the car. No one would wave good-bye. Everything would stay the same.

Jake and Sarah, Mama and Papa were at the kitchen table, drinking coffee. They were quiet.

There were several suitcases by the front door, and some boxes.

“Who wants cocoa?” asked Mama. “We have pancakes, too.”

William sat down at the table. He shook his head.

“I’m not hungry,” he said. “Thank you,” he added.

Meg and Jessie and Violet sat down. They looked at one another and shook their heads, too.

“I’m not saying good-bye,” said Benny, getting up on his chair.

There was a silence. Then Benny smiled.

“Not good-bye,” he said. “It is a not good-bye day!”

Everyone looked at him.

“And I’m hungry for pancakes,” he added.

“Benny,” said Papa, “that is a brilliant idea!”

“It is?” said Benny.

“It is,” said Papa. “You’re the smartest person here.”

“I am?”

Benny looked amazed.

“Papa’s right,” said Henry. “We won’t say good-bye because we’ll see each other again soon. I’m hungry, too!”

“Me, too,” said Meg.

“Me, too,” said the others.

“Well,” said Mama, “let’s have a very splendid breakfast.”

“And we won’t say good-bye!” said Violet.

“And remember,” said Jessie, “Jake and Sarah, Meg and William are in the cookie jar!”

“Joe, too,” said Benny.

“And Joe!” said everyone.

The breakfast was long and noisy, with lots of laughter.

And when Jake and Sarah packed up the car, and Meg and William packed their things, Henry showed William and Meg where they were going to live on the turn-around globe.

“There,” he said. “You’re only this far.”

He held out his fingers to measure.

“Only this far. Three inches away.”

“Not good-bye,” said William and Meg outside.

“Not good-bye,” said everyone.

It was Joe who now looked sad, walking to the car with Meg and William, turning to look back at Benny as if waiting for him.

“It’s all right, Joe. Not good-bye, Joe,” said Benny, his eyes beginning to fill with tears.

“Remember the cookie jar,” called Sarah, waving.

And they were gone.

It was very quiet at Fair Meadow Farm. Everything seemed to move more slowly, silently.

Henry and Jessie missed their walks to school with Meg and William. Benny missed Joe.

“I’d like to have Joe,” he told Mama.

“Well, Joe belongs to another family,” she said. “Maybe when we have enough money to feed a dog, we’ll get one.”

“When I am grown up, I will have twenty-seven dogs,” said Benny.

“That’s a lot,” said Mama.

“Twenty-seven,” said Benny proudly.

Now, at night, Benny slept with Bear.

School ended and it was a hot summer.

Other people who’d lost their jobs and houses came by the Alden farm. A family lived out in the meadow in their tent for a while. A man and his wife stayed in their car for a week. The man had a guitar, and some summer evenings at dusk, they would hear his soft music.

“Hard times,” Henry said to Jessie.

“I hope the hard times end,” said Jessie.

But they didn’t that summer.

And one day a man and his wife stopped, looking for the hospital. His wife was about to have a baby.

“The hospital is in the next town over,” said Mama. She looked closely at the woman.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Milly,” said the woman. “My husband’s Matt.”

“Well, Milly, I think you’re not going to make it to the hospital. You’d better come into the house.”

And that night, in Mama and Papa’s bedroom, a baby boy was born. His name was Thomas.

Benny was happy to have someone younger than he was. He sang to Thomas and told him stories.

“Could Thomas sleep with me?” he asked Milly.

Milly smiled.

“I wish he could, Benny,” she said. “He’s a little young for that.”

“And Thomas isn’t a dog,” said Violet.

“I wish you all lived with me,” said Milly. You are the very best family in the world.”

“You are,” said Matt.

“When Thomas is older I will tell him about that wonderful place where he began his life,” said Milly.

“I could be Uncle Benny,” said Benny.

“You
are
Uncle Benny,” said Matt.

After a week, Milly, Matt, and Thomas left. And it was quiet again.

Rubin came over and cut the first crop of hay, and when it dried, Henry and Jessie and Papa gathered it for winter storage. He gave Rubin half for his work.