The Boxcar Children Beginning: The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm by Patricia MacLachlan Read Free Book Online

brought a stew and put it on the stove and heated it for them. She set the table without saying anything. Belle didn’t talk very much.
    “Thank you, Belle,” said Henry.
    She looked at him. She took some money from her pocket and handed it to him.
    “From Rubin. He owed your father,” she said.
    “Thank you,” said Henry.
    “You’ll be fine,” she said.
    “Yes,” said Henry. “We will.”
    Belle started to cry then.
    Benny put his arms around Belle’s waist.
    “Don’t cry, Belle,” he said, which made her cry more. “I’ll draw you a picture. And we’ll come back.”
    Belle wiped her eyes.
    “I will wait for that,” she said.
    She looked at all of them and went to the door.
    “I’ll come clean up tomorrow and pick up my stew pot,” she said. She opened the door and looked back at them once.
    “You’ll be fine,” she repeated.
    They ate silently, early, while there were still hours of light yet.
    It was after dinner that Benny disappeared.
    “Benny! Henry, is Benny with you?” called Jessie.
    Henry ran inside the house.
    “No. Where’s Violet?”
    “I’ll check all the bedrooms,” said Jessie.
    “I’ll look for Violet,” said Henry.
    “Violet! Violet!”
    Violet came around the house.
    “I’m here.”
    “Where’s Benny? Have you seen him?”
    Henry’s voice didn’t sound like his voice. He couldn’t remember ever being so frightened.
    Violet shook her head.
    “Where should I look?” she said.
    “Go through the barn, then out in the field. Maybe he went to Rubin’s.”
    Jessie came out of the house. She shook her head.
    “Not inside,” she said.
    Her eyes were big.
    “It’s going to get dark in another hour,” she said. “We have to find him.”
    Together they searched their meadow and down by the stream that trickled there. They called his name over and over.
    “Benny! Benny!”
    “He couldn’t go much farther than this,” said Jessie.

    They turned back. It had been an hour. Benny had never been gone for an hour. Benny had never been gone at all.
    And then they saw Violet waving to them at the edge of the meadow. Beside her was a small figure. Benny !
    Henry grabbed Jessie’s hand, and they ran. Benny looked tired.
    “I found him in the barn hideaway. Sleeping. He never heard us calling,” said Violet.
    Henry took Benny in his arms and they walked back to the house.
    No one spoke.
    There were no words.
    Jessie slept with Benny and Benny’s bear.
    “I should help you with the packing,” Jessie said in a low voice.
    “Benny needs you,” Henry whispered to her in the darkness. “Having you near will make it easier for him.”
    “Having us all together will make it easier for him,” said Jessie. “For all of us,” she added. “We can’t lose Benny again.”
    “Remember? Mama called us lambs before she left?” said Violet from the other bed. “She said to take care of one another.”
    “Violet, you’d better go to sleep,” said Jessie. “Tomorrow’s a long day.”
    Henry sat on Violet’s bed.
    He held her hand.
    “You’re right, Violet. We do know how to do this. We will be a little herd of lambs.”
    “And I will be the fixer lamb,” said Violet, yawning.
    “You will,” said Henry.
    Benny turned over in bed.
    “Jessie?” he cried out.
    “I’m here, Benny. Go to sleep now.”
    “I will,” said Benny, already partway back to sleep.
    “Good night, Jess,” said Henry, touching Jessie’s hair. “I’ll be through with the packing soon.”
    “Good night, Henry.”
    At the doorway to the bedroom, Henry turned.
    “We’ll be all right, Jess.”
    “Yes,” whispered Jessie. “Remember, Mama once told us we were the best family of all.”
    They all ate breakfast in sunlight.
    “It’s almost too bright,” Jessie whispered to Henry. “Too cheerful.”
    “It’s better for Violet and Benny,” said Henry.
    The food was packed. The clothes were packed.
    “We can pack one very small bag of things you want to take,” said Jessie to