Strange School, Secret Wish by Bernice Gold

Author:Bernice Gold
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2001-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Seven

“Dad!” Brian shouted. “Here! These seats are the best.”

“Why?” Mrs. Merrill asked.

“ ’Cause they’re near the observation platform.”

Meg drew a deep breath. “Real trains smell different.”

“Like better,” Brian asked, “or like worse?”

“Like going far, far away.”

“Oh, Glendale’s not that far,” Mr. Merrill said. “Maybe six hundred miles.”

“But they’re big miles,” Meg insisted.

“Let’s turn the seats to face each other,” her mother suggested.

“So we can talk,” Brian finished.

“There’s only room for four, so I’ll sit behind you,” Jenny said. “I want to, anyway.”

She moved to the window seat behind them, pleased to be by herself. Already they were buzzing away, and the train hadn’t even started.

“Can I swim tomorrow? Did you bring my bathing suit?” Meg asked.

“Feels good, eh, Edith?” Mr. Merrill said.

“I’m hungry, Mom. Have we got any sandwiches?”

Jenny thought about the cucumber plants in the baggage room. She’d packed them in wooden boxes and had marked FRAGILE and PLANTS on all sides. Still, she thought, maybe she’d better go and make sure they were all right.

She strode through seven cars, enjoying the sense of freedom it gave her. In the baggage room the big doors to the platform were open, and the baggage men were still busy loading. One of the men looked up. “I know you. You’re one of the Merrills. Saw your plant boxes coming in. See what we did? We put them together over there and then we walled them off with these cases. Safer that way. What are you planting?”

Jenny told him about the cucumbers.

“Timing’s right,” he said. “Good luck with them.”

There was no hurry going back. She might as well enjoy being on a “real” train. As she strolled by the other passengers, Jenny wondered where they were going and why. Maybe the old man with the cello case on the seat beside him was a famous cellist. Maybe he was on his way to his last solo performance. The audience would clap and beg him for an encore...

As Jenny slid back into her seat, the conductor shouted “All Abooaard!” The train shuddered, jerked, and rolled on its way. Settling into her seat, she half heard the little tendrils of talk drifting back.

Mrs. Merrill sighed happily, “Oh, Matthew, isn’t it grand? Nothing to do but—”

“Mom, did you pack my running shoes?”

“When I get to the cottage—”

Dimly Jenny heard their voices. She closed her eyes, listening to the wheels pulsing On the way, on the way, on the way, and fell asleep.

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