Aesop’s Fox: The Tale of a Boy and the Great Baltimore Fire by John Thomas Everett

Author:John Thomas Everett [Everett, John Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781640621282
Publisher: Braveship Books
Published: 2021-09-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

New Lives

Ruddie and Bird half-walked, half-ran down the street. Without trying to draw any more attention than necessary, they followed the policeman’s directions, all the while looking over their shoulders. They hadn’t really expected to see the killers again, but there they were. It seemed obvious where they were going. It also seemed plain why the they were going there. The boys were being hunted.

“If they go back to that neighborhood, there were a lot of people who saw us,” said Ruddie breathlessly.

“Lots of folks out on the street. Do you think they would have noticed us?”

“Bird, think about it—a white boy with red hair, a little black kid and a scruffy mutt of a dog? Someone will remember us.”

That thought didn’t help their anxiety and they picked up the pace. They rushed along the pavement of a busy Calvert Street, full of horse-drawn traffic. A noisy, electric street car labeled “Blue Line” rattled by on rails running down the middle of the cobbled roadbed. They passed a firehouse, stables, hotels, restaurants, a barbershop, and a place that repaired bikes. As they drew even with an imposing church and a school with the letters L-O-Y-O-L-A carved into the stone above the door, they heard the sound of a freight train whistle. It wasn’t very far away. Looking down one of the side streets to their left, they could see what looked like a large rail yard one block away. When the whistle blew for a second time, General Sherman gave a little yip, bounded across the street, under a beer wagon and darted down an alleyway toward the sound.

Bird looked crestfallen when the little beast was gone.

“I guess the General has his own things to do,” suggested Ruddie. “Maybe he’s looking for Mr. James.”

“Yeah, maybe, if Mr. James is still alive,” was the dispirited reply.

In another minute, the boys had reached Pleasant Street. They stood there in confusion. On one corner was a noisy saloon and on another a drug store with people waiting in line outside. The other two corners held a big church and across from it a building that looked like it was crowded apartments.

Ruddie suggested they try the church first, so they dodged traffic crossing the street and climbed the steps of the place. At the top, the redhead struggled to read the marquee next to the big, wooden double doors. He finally said, “Looks like a church alright. Says we can come in, I think.”

Bird scoffed. “Of course it’s a church, Ruddie, look at this place. It ain’t no tavern.” Then he asked, “How do you know we can go in?”

“If it is a church, they wouldn’t have a sign out front saying ‘Stay out’ would they?”

Together, the two pulled open one of the heavy doors and were immediately swathed in the smell of incense and burning candles. When the door swung closed, the noisy street disappeared and they found themselves standing in near pitch black. The boys’ eyes began to adjust and, looking

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