CHAPTER ONE: The adventure begins

The kids were waiting until the train rumbled by.

It was long, with lots of big box cars all whizzing past, their giant wheels making an even bigger noise as they rolled along, clickety clack, clickety clack.

The cars were huge and mostly brown. There were a few tank cars. probably carrying oil, but most were boxcars. On some, the big sliding doors were open.

In one of those doors, Estie saw what she was sure was a boy, almost in the shadows, as the car flashed past. At least she thought she was sure.

He looked a little older than her. But really skinny and scared looking.

She wasn't even certain of what she'd seen, it had been so fast.

"Hey, did you see that? There was a kid in that car."

Jen, the middle sister, had seen him, too.

"What do you think he's doing there? You saw him, didn't you? What do you think he eats? Where's he going. ... That's so high, how did he get up there? You did see him, didn't you?" Jen said all in a rush as she turned to Estie.

Her big sister was only two years older but she had lots of answers and Jen just expected her to know about such things.

Josh, the little brother — he could sometimes be a pest but mom said they had to take him along to the corner shop if they wanted a sweet when they picked up the milk — piped up. "I didn't see anything. When is this dumb train gonna be over, anyway?" he asked.

Their mother had said no sweets until they got home — and those caramels were all gonna just melt into a big brown glob if they didn't get back pretty quickly. And besides, he'd definitely starve to death soon.

To make matters worse for Josh, the train was slowing down. The big rail yard was pretty far away —more than a mile and certainly too far to walk — but this giant freight train was probably so long that it would stop before the caboose arrived, not allowing them to cross the track. They'd really be stuck then. He surely would starve! And die of thirst, too!

"Oh, no," Jen groaned, getting anxious for her share of caramels, too. They'd sit at the table and carefully divide up the sugary little cellophane wrapped cubes, with the older three hiding theirs away in their own secret places, while their mom would give the baby just one, saving the rest of her share for later. She'd get sticky enough with just one, after all.

The train screeched to a halt, groaning and creaking as it finally stopped. It was suddenly quiet.

The train sat.

The kids could see under the cars, almost to their house. They wouldn't have been allowed to walk to the store alone had it been very far, or even if there were a street in between. But the tracks were the only real thing that could get in the way. And trains rattled by only three or four times a day.

This was just bad luck.

"This is yukky," said Jen, the most outspoken of the three girls. Well, they weren't sure about Olivia, she might turn into a chatterbox. She was too little to come out with just the kids and she couldn't really talk in big sentences yet, so Jen was the chatty one, at least for now.

The kids waited. And waited. And waited forever.

CRASH! CLANK!!!

"Yikes!" yelled Josh. Jen screamed. Estie laughed. The train, with a huge rumble and very slowly, finally started rolling again. It probably had been stopped for only five minutes, but that's an eternity when you're hungry.

It was a wait, though, that was quickly forgotten when the caboose passed by. The conductor waved and all three Redmond children waved back. Josh, particularly among the kids, liked the conductors. He wanted to be one some day.

As soon as they could be sure a new train wasn't approaching on the other track from the opposite direction, they raced for home, Estie, with her long legs, leading the way and Jen and Josh trailing behind. They needed to catch up though. Estie not only had the milk, she had the candy!

Suddenly, Jen stopped in her tracks, causing Josh to crash into her from behind, tumbling them both to the ground.

"Estie, Estie!"

An urgency in Jen's voice caused Estie to stop, something she normally might not do just because her little sister and brother had gotten all tangled up. They did that all the time.

Jen, breathless, wasn't hurt.

But she was looking intensely across the road.

"That's him," Estie shouted as she pointed. "That's the boy on the train!"

Estie turned to look across the street just in time to see a boy — and yes, it was him, she was sure of that — turn and limp away behind the scrubby bushes that lined the other sidewalk. He looked scared and hurt.

Then he was gone.

NEXT: Chapter II, Meeting Henry