The Boxcar Children Beginning: The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm (4 page)

“Yes,” said Benny.

“Lights out, now,” Mama said.

The lights went out. It was quiet for a time. Joe came to curl up next to Benny. Benny put his arm around Joe.

“We won’t see him,” said Benny in the darkness.

On the last day of school, Papa brought home a treasure. At least it was a treasure to Henry.

It was a globe of the world that turned on a wooden stand.

“I found it by the road, next to a house that people had left.”

The globe showed the different countries and the oceans and rivers. Henry showed Violet where they lived.

“Right there!” he said, pointing.

“The world sure is big,” said Violet. “We live in a small dot in a big world.”

“Where did you live, William?” asked Henry.

William slowly turned the globe.

“There.” He pointed.

“Your city is a big dot in the world,” said Violet.

Every so often, Violet reached over to touch the dot that was the town where they lived.

Meg and Jessie whispered excitedly.

“What are you whispering about?” asked Henry.

“A secret for now,” said Jessie. “We’ll tell you later.”

And that night, in their bedroom, with the blanket hung between them and the lights out, the globe sitting on Henry’s desk, the secret was out. They whispered and laughed until Mama and Papa came in, Sarah and Jake behind them.

“What’s going on in here?” Mama asked. “You have chores in the morning.”

“We’re planning something exciting,” said Meg.

“Something to make us all happy,” said Violet.

“What?” asked Papa.

“A circus!” said Violet, grinning. “We’ll have animals and clowns and costumes and juggling …”

“I can juggle,” said Henry.

“I can sew costumes,” said Violet.

“And what about animals?” asked Jake.

“There’s Joe!” said Benny.

“And Betty,” said Meg. “I will get Betty ready for the circus.”

“Ready?” said Sarah. “What do you mean, ‘ready’?”

“You’ll see,” said Jessie.

“You’ll see,” said Henry.

“What will I do?” asked William.

“You’ll see!” the children said together, laughing.

“And who will be a clown?” asked Jake.

“You’ll see!” they all said, shrieking with happiness.

Benny fell backward on the bed in an excited heap. Joe licked his face.

“We’ll invite Rubin and Belle. That’s his wife. And his grandchildren are visiting. And Thomas and Elliot from down the road. Remember? They’re in our class at school. Everyone can come!” said Jessie. “Maybe we could sell tickets.”

“No tickets,” said Papa, shaking his head. “No one has money for such things.”

“
We
can’t even afford tickets,” said Jake with a smile.

“Then it will be a free circus!” said Violet. “I can’t wait. The very first free circus in town!”

Mama laughed.

“You’ll have to wait until tomorrow for planning. Go to sleep! Hush, everyone.”

There was quiet in the bedroom after Mama, Papa, Sarah, and Jake left.

Joe yawned a dog yawn with a squeak at the end. It was still quiet.

“I like living in this small dot of a town,” said William after a while.

“So do I,” said Meg.

“Do you, Henry? Jessie?” asked Meg.

There was silence.

Henry and Jessie were asleep.

More silence.

And then Benny whispered.

“I do.”

It was vacation, but everyone was up. Everyone was busy.

Jessie unrolled her very long list. It almost touched the floor.

“My list has grown!”

“I’ll say,” said Henry, laughing.

Jessie read the list out loud.

“Circus List. One: Costumes for clowns? Who will the clowns be? Two: How do we make clown wigs? Yarn? Does Mama have yarn? Three: How do we make an elephant trunk? Paper?”

“Papa’s big, gray winter socks!” shouted Benny.

“Benny’s right. We can stuff them,” said Violet. “Then sew up the ends,” said Meg.

“What if he’s wearing them?” asked William.

“We’ll tickle him and take them away!” said Benny.

Everyone laughed.

“Can I be the animal trainer?” asked Benny.

Jessie smiled.

“What do you know about animal training?” she asked.

Benny stood up.

“Come, Joe,” he said.

Joe came and sat in front of Benny.

Benny held out his arm.

“Go,” said Benny.

Joe jumped over Benny’s arm, turned around, and jumped over again.

Jessie was so surprised she couldn’t speak. So was Meg.

“I never ever saw Joe do a trick in his whole life,” said Meg.

“Well, he does tricks now,” said William. “I think we should vote Benny as the animal trainer!”

“Yay!” said Benny.

“Yay!” they all said.

Mama and Sarah baked for the circus party. Papa and Jake worked on the barn roof, and the children worked, too.

Violet sewed in the bedroom.

Meg worked with Betty behind the barn where no one could see.

“What is she doing?” asked Sarah.

“Don’t know,” said Jake. “It’s a secret.”

“Even from us?” asked Sarah.

“Mostly from us,” said Jake.

Benny and Joe worked in the backyard, Joe happy with bites of leftover dinner.

Henry juggled with three and four cloth balls sewn and stuffed by Violet.

Jessie and William sat with their heads close to each other, writing and laughing secret things.

The list grew longer.

Two days of this.

Their neighbor Rubin came by.

“I hear there is an event,” he called up to Papa and Jake, who were hammering shingles on the barn roof.

“There is,” called Papa. “How did you know?”

“There’s a sign on my fence post,” said Rubin.

Papa and Jake laughed.

“You coming?” asked Papa.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” said Rubin. “Belle is coming. The grandchildren, too. We’ll bring cookies and a jug of lemonade.”

“Bring a chair for Belle, too,” said Papa.

Rubin laughed.

“And one for me.”

Mama and Sarah brought trays of sandwiches out under the red maple tree for lunch. They spread blankets on the ground.

“Do you have lunch for us, too?” asked Papa, coming down the barn ladder.

“For all of us,” said Mama.

Jake came down the ladder, too, Joe running over to leap up to bite his shoes.

“Joe! I’ll fall!” said Jake, laughing.

Jake jumped down from the ladder and Sarah kissed him.

“I promised you I’d do that,” she said.

“You did,” said Jake, blushing.

Under the tree was cool and quiet.

Joe stretched out and eyed Benny’s sandwich.

“Papa?” said Violet. “I need a wooden box.”

“What for?”

“Secret.”

“How big?” asked Jake.

Violet held her hands out and made the shape of a big square.

“Aha!” said Jake.

“What does
aha
mean?” asked Violet.

“It means I have one in my car. I keep tools in it.”

Violet smiled.

“Could I borrow it?”

“You bet.”

“One more day,” said Henry.

“One more day!” they echoed.

Papa reached out to give Joe a bite of his sandwich.

“One more day,” he whispered to Joe. “Give me a smile, Joe.”

Joe sat up and cocked his head to one side. His tongue hung out.

“Joe
always
smiles,” Benny said.

Wind rustled the leaves of the tree. Sun filtered down over them all. And from the side meadow, Betty looked at them all. She walked to the fence.

“Betty’s going to moo,” said Jake in a low voice.

And she did.

Circus day at last! It was sunny and dry.

No child was in sight, except for Violet. Her sewing was done.

Sarah and Mama carried out kitchen chairs and lined them up for the audience. Papa had brought balloons from town, and Violet tied them to the chairs.

They floated like colorful clouds.

“I wonder where Jake is,” said Sarah.

“Where’s Jake?” Mama asked Violet.

“He’ll be along in a bit,” said Violet with a smile.

“Secrets,” said Mama. “And where are the others?”

“In a bit,” repeated Violet.

“And Joe?” asked Sarah.

Violet took a breath.

“In a bit,” they all said together, laughing.

Rubin and Belle came with their own chairs and two grandchildren. Thomas and Elliot came riding their horse.

Two families from town came, waving the signs that had been tacked on fence posts. And there were others, including a big, friendly brown dog, who sat quietly.

Sarah and Mama served lemonade and cookies. Then everyone sat.

A curtain had been strung from the maple tree to the barn. Suddenly it opened! Jessie and Meg scurried out of the way, making everyone laugh.

And there was Henry, wearing a jacket with gold buttons and the black hat his father had worn on his wedding day. He had a small whip made from twisted leather. He snapped it.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!” he said loudly. “Welcome, children!”

“And dog!” said Thomas in the audience.

“And dog,” said Henry, grinning.

The audience applauded. Elliot put his fingers to his lips and whistled. Jessie and Meg peeked out from the curtain.

“Welcome to our free circus,” Jessie whispered loudly.

“The writer-director speaks,” said Mama to Papa.

“The boss,” said Papa with a smile.

“Welcome to our free circus!” called Henry. “Put your money away! You will see wondrous and amazing things here: jugglers, dancers, acrobats! Clowns, trained dogs, and the most stupendous surprise of all: an elephant! And a small surprise!”

The audience applauded and looked at one another in amazement.

“An elephant?” Mama said to Papa.

Papa shook his head.

“Wait and see,” Papa said.

“But first of all, we present Jake-O and Jess, our clowns!”

Henry snapped his whip. The curtain opened again. And there was Jake with a yarn wig and a huge dress. Jessie was dressed in a suit.

“Where did that suit come from?” asked Mama.

“Your closet,” said Violet.

“That’s my marriage suit!” said Papa.

Sarah laughed at the sight of Jake doing a cartwheel, the dress hanging like curtains around him.

“Those are my old curtains,” said Mama.

“Oof,” said Jake as he clumsily landed his cartwheel. His yarn wig tilted and covered his face.

The audience laughed and applauded.

Jessie and Jake ran around after each other, then collided in the middle, falling down, their feet in the air.

The audience laughed again.

Jessie and Jake-O bowed and fell over again.

More laughter.

Jessie and Jake blew kisses to everyone and left.

“I don’t believe this,” said Sarah with a smile.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Henry, snapping his whip, “the amazing, the spectacular Princess Meg riding bareback on her worthy steed!”

“What steed?” asked Sarah.

Out came Betty, colorful paper flowers around her neck. Meg, dressed in filmy fabric, a gold paper crown on her head, waved at the audience, and the audience waved back at her. “Yay, Betty!” called Rubin, who had always loved Betty.

Betty plodded slowly around the lawn, her wet, black eyes bright in the sunlight. All of a sudden, Meg got to her knees on Betty’s back. And then Meg stood up, her dress’s filmy fabric flying out behind her as Betty began to run, then gallop.

Meg held on to the rope with one hand and waved with the other.

The audience howled and clapped.

Meg jumped down from Betty and bowed. The paper flowers fell from Betty’s neck and she began to eat them.

The audience laughed as Betty looked at them, flowers hanging out of her mouth.

“And now for …” said Jessie from behind the curtain.

“I know. I know. And now for a great treat!” said Henry. “The young trainer with Joseph!”

“Who’s Joseph?” asked Mama.

But before anyone could answer, out came Benny, pulling his wagon with Jake’s toolbox on top.