Whistle-Stop West
happy there.”
    Bert broke in on Ethan’s thoughts. “Remember the day we left on the train to Chicago?”
    â€œSure. I’ve got a picture of it here.” Ethan flipped the pages of his drawing tablet back to the beginning. There stood a long train with children climbing aboard. Smoke rose from the stack, and steam billowed along the ground. People on the platform waved at the passengers.
    â€œBoy … that looks just like us!” Bert seemed impressed. “That’s good. What else have you got?”
    Ethan turned the page. “This is Chicago.”
    Tall buildings rose in the background, and on one side, a blue lake glistened. People crowded the sidewalks, and bridges crossed a river.
    Bert studied the drawing. “I never saw such a big city before. I’m glad we didn’t stay there any longer. Where’s that house we stayed at?”
    Ethan turned another page and pointed out a big building surrounded by people, trolley cars, stores, and houses. He thought back to their time at Hull-House.
    â€œIs this where we’re going to live?” Alice had asked. “I don’t like it here. I’d rather go back to Briarlane.”
    â€œWe won’t be here long, Alice,” Ethan had told her. “Just until the train is ready to take us to our real home. Besides, Matron said we’ll have a nice surprise here. You won’t want to miss that.”
    The days at Hull-House had been exciting. A large room was filled with clothes for all the children who were going on the train. Ethan and the other boys were outfitted in the grandest style they had ever seen. From the high-buttoned, black shoes to the knickers and jacket that completed each suit, every piece of clothing was brand new.
    â€œI never had nothin’ that nobody else ever wore before,” Bert had said in awe. “Do you mean we really get to keep these?”
    Matron assured them that they did. “But you won’t be wearing them until we meet the people who will give you homes. It’s important to look nice then. They don’t want scruffy-looking children.”
    While he was dressed in his elegant outfit, Ethan had offered to be the doorkeeper for the busy Hull-House. He was given permission, and for a day he opened the big door for arriving and departing visitors.
    â€œIt was nothin’ like door duty at Briarlane,” he told Bert later. “I didn’t have to dust or anything. I just had to open the doors and say ‘Good day.’ And people said, ‘Thank you, young man’—like I was somebody.”
    Ethan’s thoughts returned to the present as the younger children awoke and demanded attention. Ethan tucked his drawing book and pencils away in his bag, out of the reach of small fingers.
    Simon knelt on the seat beside him and pressed his nose against the window. “I saw somebody,” he announced.
    Ethan glanced out at the fields and woods rushing by. There were no signs of life as far as he could see.
    â€œWas it a farmer?” he asked the boy.
    â€œNope. A little bitty lady.”
    â€œThere’s no ladies out there, Simon. We’re way out in the country.”
    â€œI saw her. She said, ‘Watch out, little boy. You almost whacked me in the nose.’”
    Ethan laughed at him. “Come on, Simon. You made that up. If there was a lady out there, and if she did say something, you couldn’t hear from the train. Where’d you get that story, anyway?”
    â€œNot a story,” Simon replied patiently. “She was shorter than Alice, and she wore a little bitty hat. But she was old. She had a purse.”
    â€œYou sure had a good dream, Simon,” Bert said, clearly playing along. “What happened to the lady?”
    â€œI don’t know. You made me go away. But I never hit her,” he added quickly. “I just almost did.”
    Ethan shook his head. It wouldn’t do any harm to let Simon

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