Emily's Fortune Read Free

had hoped he would never come back. Now, of course, there was nothing for him to come back
for
.
    After Rufus had crawled around a bit, Emily gently put him back in his box. “You are all I have in this world, and I’ll take care of you forever,” she promised.
    Except for church on Sundays, Emily had never been with so many people all crowded together. Was everyone in the world going to Trumpet Junction? she wondered, looking at the dozens of bags and boxes tucked beneath the seats.
    The man beside Emily was falling asleep. His head tipped back and his mouth fell open.
Sssnnnoooggghhh
, he went.
    The woman next to him was knitting a cap.
Click, click, click
, went her needles.
    The small child at the end of the row was wailingloudly,
Wah, wah, wah
, and wiping her eyes with one smudgy fist.
    Row after row of people filled the train car, and a potbellied stove in the middle kept some passengers too hot, while those around the edges of the car were too cold.
    Every so often the train jerked, or rocked from side to side. If it rocked to the left, Emily tipped against the sleeping man. If it tipped to the right, the sleeping man leaned over on Emily and almost flattened her against the window.
    After several hours, the small child who had been wailing wanted to see out the window, and Emily kindly agreed to change places. Now the mother and child sat by the window, and Emily sat at the end of the bench on the aisle. And next time, when the car tipped, everyone toppled over onto Emily, and Emily landed on the floor.
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    Once, when Emily opened the lid of Rufus’s box and let him crawl around her lap, a short woman across the aisle looked at her in disgust.
    â€œThrow that slimy creature away, child!” she scolded. “Did your mother teach you no manners?”
    â€œMy…my mother gave him to me,” Emily tried to explain, but the short woman shook her head.
    â€œDon’t lie,” she told her, and Emily put Rufus back in his box. It was no surprise to her that many grown-ups didn’t listen.
    As the hours went on, the air grew stale and smelly. Some people were eating supper. Some of the men were smoking cigars. At different stops, vendors would hop aboard and race up and down the aisles, selling soap or soup or bread before the train moved on again.
    Emily had no money to buy food, but she did have the lunch bag the neighbors had given her. She opened it up and found a feast: a piece of cold chicken, a sausage, a round of cheese, a half loaf of bread, some carrots, an orange, and a thick slice of caramel cake. She ate the chicken but saved the rest, and gave Rufus a tiny bite of carrot.
    As darkness fell, the conductor lit the oil lamps so that passengers could see their way to the foul toilet ina closet at the end of the car. Emily held her breath when she used the closet. She couldn’t imagine wealthy Miss Nash, who had liked things clean and tidy, ever using such a dirty closet at all.
    When it was time to sleep, Emily wondered if she possibly could. But she placed her carpetbag on her lap as a pillow, laid her head on it, wrapped her arms around it, and fell into a deep slumber.
    The next morning she was awakened by the conductor calling, “This is as far as the train goes, folks! All out for Trumpet Junction.”
    The weary passengers picked up their squabbling children, their bawling babies, their boxes and bags and coats and bonnets, and started for the door.
    Emily got off the train with the others, but she wasn’t sure where to go next.
    Wagons were rattling back and forth in front of the train station. Horses and riders, carts and bicycles.
    She was following the crowd to a building with a sign that read OVERHILL STAGECOACH COMPANY when suddenly her heart began to pound, her hands beganto sweat, and her knees began to tremble, for a carriage was rolling right toward her.
    And who in
creepin’ creation
do you suppose