Authors: Mary Christner Borntrager

Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Juvenile Fiction, #Religious, #Christian, #test

Andy (14 page)

BOOK: Andy

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Page 111

''All right, get out of there," he said, as he slid the door of a boxcar wide open. "Come on, move along. This is no passenger car."

He flourished his billy club as he threatened a seedy-looking character who climbed stiffly from the train. "Don't let me catch you again," he warned as he marched the culprit down the track away from the train.

Andy saw his chance. The door to the boxcar was still open. He ran and climbed aboard. There was some straw in this car, but it smelled of cattle. Andy didn't care, though. He was just glad to be inside something that would travel faster than walking.

Soon he heard footsteps approaching. Andy hardly breathed as he scrunched far into the corner behind straw he had piled up. To his relief the door of the car slammed shut, and he heard the latch hammered home on the outside. He settled down with a sigh.

After a while the train began to groan and rumble as it started on its way.

"Alabama bound!" someone said.

Andy jumped. He thought he was all alone. Quickly he rummaged for his flashlight and shone its beam around the boxcar. There was the roughest-looking fellow he had ever seen in his life!

"Scared you, didn't I?" said the man in a gruff voice.

Andy didn't answer. He was shaking all over. The man flashed an evil grin.

"I ain't gonna hurt you, boy. Just make sure you don't get in my way. When this train stops, I get off first. You hear?"

Andy only nodded.

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"We'll get into Junction Alabama about daybreak. I know. I rode this line before. As we slow down, I'm gonna force the door open before the billy gets here. I've done it many times. Then I'll jump just before the train stops.

"Remember, keep out of my way!"

Andy wouldn't forget. He certainly wanted no trouble from this character.

Page 113

21
Put Your Back to It!

The next afternoon as the train slowed, the intruder lost no time in forcing the latch with an iron bar and sliding the door open. He left in a hurry, and with him went Andy's belongings. This stranger grabbed the pillowcase and all it held.

"Likely expecting to find money in my backpack," Andy mumbled.

He had no time to waste. Looking out the half-open door, he saw the billy coming. The billy spotted Andy as soon as he jumped.

"Hey, you there," he yelled at him. "Don't you ever let me see you around here again. How did you get out of that car, anyway? I'll have you"

Andy didn't hear the rest as he was almost out of earshot and running hard.

Beyond the depot he saw a wooded area. That is where he went, staying behind houses, bushes, and whatever offered protection. In the woods, Andy dis-

Page 114

covered a small flowing stream. The water looked cool and inviting, so he stooped and drank.

Here he was, lapping water like an animal. This wasn't at all like Cloyce made drifting out to be. Things would get better. He was sure of it.

Andy rested for a while. He lay back and enjoyed the song of birds. It bothered him, though, that his belongings were gone.

He thought he might pray and ask God to help him. Somehow that didn't seem right. He was running from troubles at home, but now he realized that he had brought more trouble upon himself. Was it fair to expect God to give him an easy way out?

Andy knew he could find work and buy some clothes and other necessities. But the Bible his parents had given him could not be replaced. Oh, he could buy another one, but it wouldn't mean as much to him.

He remembered what his mom had written on the inside of the front cover:


Sin will keep you from this Book, or this Book will keep you from sin.

Andy got up and ambled into town. His legs felt stiff, and his clothes were getting loose on him. He was glad for his suspenders, but even so his pants looked baggy.

He saw a small wooden sign crudely lettered JUNCTION. This must be the town mentioned by the rover in the boxcar. Andy was walking down the wooden sidewalk when he spotted a sign in the window of a saloon:

Page 115

PICKERS WANTED
INQUIRE WITHIN

Andy hesitated. He had never been in a saloon before, but he was desperate. All he wanted was a job.

Several unkempt men lounged at the counter. They looked up as Andy entered.

"You want something?" asked a large man coming from a side room.

"Ya, I saw your sign. I need work," Andy told him.

"Hey, Rafe," yelled the man, turning to the room he just came from.

At the doorway, the dirty faded curtain parted. Out stepped a short man with an ugly scar on his cheek. Andy thought he looked mean.

"Yeah, what you want?"

"This Baggy Britches wants work."

Was Andy being dubbed with a nickname again? At home it was
Fettkessel
(lard kettle). Now this!

"So!" Rafe eyed Andy. He walked slowly around him and sized him up for a farm boy. Rafe asked, "Ever pick cotton?"

"No, but I'm willing to learn."

They talked a while longer, then Rafe said sternly, "I'll try you, boy, but you'd better put your back to it. Get some pants that fit, or you'll be trippin' all over yourself."

"I can't. My things were all stolen on my way here."

"We will fix you up with something. Can't have those baggy britches hamperin' you. Where you stayin'?"

"I just got here, and I'll be looking for a place."

Page 116

"Jud," Rafe called the big man whom Andy first met. "Take Baggy Britches here down to the shanties and give him a bunk and some clothes that he can work in. Get him started pickin' first thing in the morning. Mind now," he addressed Andy, "you put your back to it."

How often Andy was to hear those words the next few months. He felt worldly, wearing
englisch
(non-Amish) clothes. They were not made like the Amish clothes he was used to.

He felt sinful, sleeping in the dirty shack and eating strange food at the same table with his cursing coworkers. His hair needed cutting, and they gave him a different haircut. He felt so
englisch
.

Andy knew what he would do first thing, once he got paid. Many times he thought of home. He wondered who was helping on the farm in his place.

How did Mother take it when he left? Were Esther and Fannie worried about him? Did Grandpa and Grandma Maust think he was bad? And what about Aire? What had she said?

Two weeks before picking was over, the men were given half of their pay. It was not very much because Rafe deducted most of it for lodging, food, and the clothes he supplied for Andy.

He told the men in no uncertain terms that the rest of the wages would be paid once the fields were clean. Andy took his pay and went straight to the bank and the post office.

Andy needed some postcards. He was ready to let his parents know where he was. A week before, he had stopped at a small church and listened to folks inside

Page 117

singing. He heard the words "Child, come home, Child, come home." It touched his heart. At least he would write.

As Andy waited his turn to have his check cashed, he noticed a poster on the wall to his left. He looked the second time. No, it couldn't be true. But there it wasa picture of Cloyce.

Above the picture was one word: "WANTED." Beneath the picture appeared the words

FOR MURDER

Reward: Five thousand dollars

Clyde Reber,
alias Charles Cater,
alias Chuck Gebert,
alias Cloyce Rader

Andy was shocked. At the post office, he saw the same picture and notice. It was hard to believe. To think that his family had sheltered a criminal!

He had intended to try to get to Kansas or Iowa. Now he felt sick of the idea. Cloyce had painted the drifter's life as pleasant and good. But for him, it was only a way to hide from the law.

Andy was done with it. A sudden homesickness swept over him. He would give up Kansas, Iowa, and any other plans.

Most of his fellow workers were taking their money for an evening in the saloon. "Come on, Andy," a few tried to encourage him. "Live a little. Take some of your money and come to the bar and pool hall with us.

Page 118

You never do anything for fun. Just work, work, work!"

Andy suspected that they just wanted to get their hands on some of his money. He had wisely deposited most of his pay in the bank to save for further travel. Now it would pay his train fare home. This time he would have a ticket and need not fear being put off the train.

He bought as plain a pair of pants and shirt as possible, but they weren't Amish made. How would it be accepted by his family and community? Bending his back to the task of picking cotton had taken its toll. He ate little and was much thinner than when he left.

Would he be a foreigner when he returned? Andy missed the farm and the animals. Somehow his loss of Shep didn't seem so important anymore. Oh, he would still miss his dog, but it didn't seem worthwhile arguing about who killed him.

Andy sent the card off that very evening.

Dear Family

   I'm okay.
       I'm coming home.
           Andy

That was all he wrote.

BOOK: Andy

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