On Track for Treasure by Wendy McClure

Author:Wendy McClure
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2014-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

The prayers were over now and everyone was trickling out of the chapel. From where Jack stood, he could see the other kids. George and Harold were racing to the water pump; Alexander was telling Anka and Sarah a story; and Frances was helping Nicky fix his neck wrap.

Jack watched as Harold won the race to the water pump. “Let’s race back!” Harold shouted. George agreed, but not before he glanced at the house and then down at his clean shirt. He looked nearly as tidy as Sarah and Anka, who stood nearby with Alexander.

“You should’ve seen O’Reilly’s face when he looked in the pail . . . ,” Alexander was saying while the girls laughed. Jack knew he was talking about what Eli had done in the orchard.

Jack hung back. He didn’t want to tell anyone what had happened after Eli’s father found out about the incident.

Just then, Jack saw Ora; she was lugging a heavy cooking pot from the sharecroppers’ shanties over to the pump. She smiled as she passed Jack.

“Wait,” he said. “Is Eli all right? I saw . . .”

Ora stopped walking and sighed as she set down the pot. “I know what you saw. Moses Pike gets that way with the gin. Eli tries to hide when it happens, but his daddy’s temper was too high today.”

“Does Mr. Pike always take it out on Eli?” Jack asked.

“I wish it weren’t so,” Ora said. “But he hasn’t been the same since Eli’s mama died. A terrible fever she had when Eli was just seven. The boy was sick, too, but he lived. After that, Moses took up drinking.”

Jack just nodded. He didn’t know what to say.

Ora picked up the cooking pot and looked straight at Jack. “I’m only telling you the story because of what you saw,” she said. “You will not repeat it.”

“I won’t,” Jack promised.

Ora went on. “Eli’s all right. If he needs anything, he’ll come to our place. My son and his wife keep an eye out for him same as I do. As for Eli’s daddy, he’s sleeping it off now. And you—you ought to get back to the Careys.” With that, she continued her walk to the pump.

Jack made his way back to the yard of the big house, where it was time to be seated for supper. He found a spot on the bench next to Sarah, who was busy reminding Harold to be quiet while the Reverend said grace.

“We have to show that we’re grateful for the food,” she explained. “Do you see that pot of delicious chicken stew and dumplings? We’re thankful for that, you know. . . .”

“Of course,” Frances cut in quickly. “Yes, Harold, we should be thankful.”

Maybe she wasn’t bossing around her little brother as much as she used to, Jack noticed, but he could tell she sure wasn’t about to let someone else do it for her.

Harold’s eyes were big as he stared at the steaming pot. “Wow. We’re really lucky, aren’t we?”

“Yes,” Jack said quietly.

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