Journey on a Runaway Train

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  Jessie got up too. “Let’s go find her and talk to her. I’m sure she’ll explain.”

  The train began to move again as they went into the library car. The woman wasn’t there, and the lock was still on the trunk. “The only other place she could be is in the observation car,” Jessie said. “It’s the last car on the train. We know she didn’t come through the sleeping car because we would have seen her.”

  Henry yawned. “Yes, let’s go. I want to go back to sleep.”

  The children went into the observation car. It was full of big comfortable chairs next to large windows that lined the sides and back of the car. The four of them walked through the car looking in each chair. All the chairs were empty. At the back of the car, they could see a small viewing platform with a railing on the other side of the door. It was empty too.

  “Where could she have gone?” Violet asked.

  “Are you sure you really saw someone?” Henry asked.

  “Yes! We saw her and we talked to her,” Violet insisted.

  “Maybe she got off the train when it stopped.” Benny went over to a window and looked out. The others joined him, but there was nothing to see but farmland and a few faint lights in the distance.

  “I suppose that’s the only explanation that makes sense,” Henry said. He didn’t sound very sure.

  Jessie shivered. “I don’t like it in here. Let’s go back to our own car.” Everyone agreed. They were all ready to leave the big empty car.

  Back in their berths, Benny said, “Are you sure we shouldn’t wake up Grandfather?”

  “Yes. We can’t do anything else tonight,” Henry said. “The boxes are safe with us.”

  It took them all a long time to fall asleep. Violet woke up first. The train had stopped again. Early morning light came through the windows. She climbed down, intending to get dressed. There was something wrong, but it took her a moment to figure out what it was. Watch was gone. She ran down the aisle, hoping the dog was with Grandfather. The compartment door was open, but neither Grandfather nor the dog was there.

  Just as she woke the others, Grandfather and Watch came in.

  “I took Watch out for a walk while they are doing a crew change,” Grandfather said. “You were all sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to wake you.”

  Emilio came through from the direction of the dining car.

  “Good morning! Breakfast is waiting.” He stared at their faces “None of you look like you got a good night’s sleep.”

  Henry told Emilio and Grandfather about how Violet and Benny saw the mystery porter trying to get into the trunk. “And when we looked for her, we couldn’t find her. We think she got off the train when it pulled over on a side rail.”

  “Who was she?” Violet asked.

  “That wasn’t a Reddimus Society member,” Emilio said, a panicked look appearing on his face. “I need to check the trunk.” He hurried toward the library car. The Aldens followed.

  When they reached the next car, they were shocked to see an empty space where the trunk had been sitting. “She took the trunk!” Emilio said. “I have to tell the engineer to stop the train so we can go back!” He rushed toward the door.

  “Young man!” Grandfather called, hurrying after him. “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

  Emilio kept going. Grandfather followed.

  Benny had a horrible thought. “Do you think she found the boxes and took those too while we were sleeping?” he asked.

  “I hope not!” Violet raced back to the sleeping car, the rest of the children close behind.

  When they reached their berths, they were relieved to see the boxes were still on the seat behind Benny’s backpack.

  “Whew,” Henry said. “Good thing you hid them, Benny.”

  “Yes, but the trunk is still gone,” Jessie said. “What if it was important?”

  Something Out of Time

  Something else was bothering Henry. “I don’t understand how the woman could have taken the trunk. The train stopped and then started again before we came to look for her. She wasn’t here, but the trunk still was.”

  Violet jumped up. “She might have hidden it somewhere else on the train so at the next stop someone else could get it off. Or she might have dragged it out onto the observation platform in the back.”

  “We looked out there,” Benny reminded Violet.

  “I’m going to look again,” Jessie said. They all followed Jessie to the back of the train. When they got there, they could see that the platform was empty.

  “What’s all over the floor of it?” Benny asked. “Those little bits of things.”

  They went out. Violet bent down and picked one up. “It’s a crumb from a cookie or a muffin or something.”

  Jessie picked one up too. “Cookie crumb from a sugar cookie. So that’s where the missing cookies went. She sneaked into the kitchen last evening and took them. She must have been out here waiting for a chance to get at the trunk. It still doesn’t explain where it is now.”

  “I have an idea,” Henry said. He leaned over the railing and looked around the edge of the car. “Train cars usually have a way to get to the roof of each car, like footholds attached to a side or the back. I see some on this one.”

  Jessie shuddered. “I wouldn’t want to climb up it when the train was moving.”

  “Maybe she climbed up there when we were stopped and is hiding,” Henry said.

  Violet leaned over to look at the footholds. “I don’t know how she’d get the trunk on the roof. It’s heavy even when it’s empty.”

  Benny took hold of Jessie’s hand. “That’s creepy. I don’t like the idea of someone sneaking around the train.”

  “I know, Benny,” Jessie said. Something on the road next to the track caught her eye. The train passed a pickup truck traveling down the road. A woman with a blond ponytail looked out the passenger window at the train.

  “There she is again!” Violet cried. “And she’s got our trunk!” The trunk was sitting in the back of pickup. The pickup slowed down and then turned off on a side road. It headed away from the track and went out of sight as the train left it behind. Emilio and Grandfather came through the door and crowded onto the platform with them.

  Henry explained what they thought had happened, adding, “She must have arranged to have someone pick her up at the crew-switch stop,” Henry said.

  Emilio smacked his hand against his forehead “You’re right. And now she’s got the boxes. This is bad.”

  “She doesn’t have the boxes. We have the boxes.” Benny told him what he and Violet had done the night before.

  “Good thinking, you two,” Grandfather said.

  “That’s a relief!” Emilio pulled out a handkerchief, took off his cap and wiped his forehead. Jessie noticed something strange about his face. His nose looked crooked all of a sudden. She didn’t remember it being crooked before, and since it was such a big nose, she was sure she would have noticed.

  “I don’t know how she got on the train in the first place,” Emilio said. “I went all through it making sure it was ready for the trip while you were talking to the Silvertons.”

  “I know,” Violet said. “I thought I saw someone running along side the train when it started. I think she jumped on board at the last minute.”

  “I need to report this.” Emilio took out his cell phone and punched in a number. “Mrs. Silverton,” he said as he walked back into the observation car. They went inside too, but Emilio kept walking, out of the observation car and into the library car. They heard him say something that sounded like “urgent” as the door shut behind him.

  In a few minutes, Emilio came back. “Everything is fine,” he said.

  “But we heard you say the word ‘urgent,’” Violet said. “That doesn’t sound like everything is fine.”

  Emilio frowned. “I didn’t say ‘urgent.’ You just misheard me. Now I have some things I need to do. Breakfast is all laid out in the dining car.” He practically ran out of the car.r />
  The Aldens followed more slowly. When they reached the dining car, Emilio wasn’t there. He wasn’t in the kitchen either.

  “I expect he’s getting everything sorted out,” Grandfather said, helping himself to a pastry. Violet wasn’t so sure. She knew she had heard the word “urgent.”

  When they finished breakfast, Grandfather went to the library car to do some work. The rest of them went back to the Pullman car and got dressed. They folded up their beds and then sat down.

  “I don’t like not knowing what’s happening,” Henry said. “And even though we have the boxes, we still don’t know who we are delivering them to. How are we supposed to figure that out?”

  “Trudy told us we could contact her if we needed to,” Jessie reminded him. “You’ve got her card.”

  Henry got it out of his backpack. “It has her Skype name on it. Emilio said the train has Wi-Fi, so we can call her.”

  Jessie started up her laptop. Trudy answered immediately, as if she had been expecting them to call. They explained what happened.

  “Yes, I heard about it. I didn’t want to worry you before,” she said, “but there is something you need to know now. The Reddimus Society has, well, an enemy of sorts. There’s a greedy family of collectors who run an auction house called Argent Auctions. They want the treasures in the boxes so they can be sold to the highest bidders. I never expected them to send someone to get on our train. From the description, it sounds like it was a woman named Anna Argent. I don’t think Anna will try again though. Even once she figures out the trunk is empty, it would be difficult for her to get back on the train and search it.”

  “That’s a relief,” Jessie said. She sat back in her chair.

  “Trudy, we have another problem,” Henry said. “Who gets the items once we get to New Mexico?”

  “I was planning on calling you today to give you the hint. There is something on the train that will help you. Look for something that is out of time.” She smiled. “I expect Violet will be the one to find it. I have to go now. Bye.” She hung up.

  They all looked at Violet. She shook her head. “I don’t know why I’m supposed to be the one.”

  “Well, we’ve got a whole day and night on the train before we arrive,” Henry said. “Let’s explore. Maybe we will figure something out.”

  “It could be something like an hourglass,” Jessie suggested. “When the sand runs out of an hourglass, it’s sort of like it’s out of time.”

  “Good idea!” Violet said. They went all over the train, having fun examining all the antique objects. They didn’t find an hourglass or anything else that seemed as if it fit the clue. They asked Emilio if he had any idea what the clue meant, but he said he didn’t. He was busy working on his own laptop, and when they came up to him, he closed the lid so they couldn’t see the screen.

  When the children had looked everywhere, they settled back into the parlor car, dejected that they hadn’t figured out the clue.

  “I don’t know what to do next,” Henry said.

  “Out of time. Out of time,” Violet murmured. She was sitting opposite the picture she had noticed the first night, Trudy’s word art. It struck her again that it looked odd amongst all the old furniture and decorations.

  She jumped up. “I see something that’s out of time, at least out of the time of everything else on the train. This is the word-art picture Trudy was working on at the library. It’s too modern for the train.”

  “You’re right!” Jessie jumped up too. “Back when these cars were built and decorated, there weren’t any markers. Artists would have used paint or colored pencils.”

  “Yes, and I don’t think anyone made this kind of word art,” Violet added.

  Henry took it off the wall. “What do the words say?” Benny asked.

  Henry read it aloud. “History is learned in many ways. Sometimes through stories and sometimes without words. The story on the back will help you find her last name. Look for her in the city in the sky, speaking of lost things.”

  “It sounds like we need to find a city in the clouds,” Benny said. He frowned. “There isn’t such a thing, is there?”

  “No,” Jessie said.

  “Let’s google ‘city in the sky’ and see what comes up,” Violet suggested.

  When they did, thousands of images came up, including pictures of imaginary places and real places with that nickname, but they couldn’t find anything in New Mexico.

  Even though there were books and games aboard, the Aldens were anxious for the journey to end, so when Emilio told them, “We are about to pull into Albuquerque Station,” everyone cheered.

  He handed them a small padded duffle bag. It was dark blue and had a strap as well as a handle on it. “This is the bag for all the items.” Jessie placed the turtle and all the boxes inside and zipped it up. “Your rental car is waiting for you,” he continued. “You can leave Watch and your luggage with me. I’ll deliver them to the Albuquerque airport so after you find the Reddimus agent and return the turtle, you can head straight to the airport to go home.” He sounded so sure they would complete the task, they felt more confident about what lay ahead of them.

  “Watch, you be good,” Benny said as he knelt down to give Watch a hug. The other children said their good-byes too.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of him,” Emilio assured them.

  They were about to get off the train when Benny said, “Wait, I can’t find my flashlight.”

  “Look in your backpack,” Jessie told him. Benny did, but it wasn’t there.

  “When did you last have it?” Henry asked.

  “He was using it yesterday while we were exploring the train,” Violet said. “It could be anywhere.”

  “You’ll have to search for it,” Grandfather said. “I need to make a phone call, so I’ll go get the rental car and then make my call. You can meet me in front of the train station when you find the flashlight.”

  The children searched the whole train. Violet finally found the flashlight on a shelf in the library car. “Oh, I remember,” Benny said. “I set it down because my shoe came unfastened and I needed to fix it.”

  “At least it’s found now,” Jessie said. “Put it in your pocket so it doesn’t get lost again. Let’s go say goodbye to Emilio and then find Grandfather.”

  Emilio was cleaning up the kitchen. “All ready to go?” he asked.

  They nodded. “I’m sure I’ll see you again soon,” he said. “Watch and I will walk out with you.” As they went through the dining car, Benny looked out the window. He was startled by what he saw. “There is a whole crowd of people out there staring at the train.”

  “The train is one of the highlights of the railroad festival,” Emilio said. “People are excited they are going to get to tour it.”

  Violet looked out at the crowd too. Behind the crowd, she noticed a white truck parked at an odd angle. The name ARGENT AUCTIONS was painted on the side. It had a logo on it too. The logo looked a little like the Reddimus one, except instead of an R inside a fancy circle, this one had a big silver A inside a plain circle. A tall woman got out of the cab of the truck. She had a blond ponytail. “It’s her!” Violet cried. “Anna Argent. The woman who was on the train!”

  The woman strode through the crowd toward the train, shoving people aside.

  “She’s looking right at us!” Benny said.

  “This isn’t good.” Emilio pulled Violet and Benny away from the window. “You need to get out of here. Go through to the parlor car and get off there on the other side. I’ll try to distract her.”

  The Aldens ran through the dining car and into the parlor car, dodging the sofas and chairs. When they reached the far end, they pushed open the door and went out onto the platform. Jessie peeked around the corner of the car. “I don’t see her anymore. She might already be on the train!”

  “This way!” Henry said. They jumped down, not sure where to go. The station was behind them and there was a commuter train between them
and the sidewalk to get to it.

  “There,” Jessie pointed. “The tracks end up ahead. We can go around the engine to get to the other side.” They dashed around the engine and past the commuter train. Many of its cars were double-deckers, which blocked the view of the Silverton train.

  “She won’t be able to see us with that train in the way. Hurry!” Henry said. They ran partway down the platform, but instead of going inside the station they went around the building. They found Grandfather sitting in a rental car, waiting for them.

  They piled in the car and Jessie said, “We need to leave right now. Anna Argent is looking for us.” As they pulled away from the station, Violet looked out the window in time to see Anna run out the door and stop, looking in all directions. Jessie yelled, “Duck down! We don’t want her to spot us!”

  But Grandfather was calm. “I think we are far enough away that she couldn’t see us,” Grandfather said. “She doesn’t know what the rental car looks like and she doesn’t know where we are going. Everything will be fine. It’s not like the items belong to her anyway. She can’t just come up to you and demand you give them to her. Mrs. Silverton told me she wouldn’t be a problem. I believe her.”

  Henry hoped Grandfather was right. Neither Grandfather nor Mrs. Silverton had seen the angry look on Anna’s face.

  For the next two hours, they drove through a beautiful landscape of mountains and rock formations in all sorts of colors. Some of them even looked gold when the sun hit them at certain angles. When they came to a valley, Benny looked out the window in front of them. “It’s a square mountain,” he said. “It looks like a giant box made out of rock.”

  “That’s called a mesa,” Henry told him. “If you look more closely, you can see buildings on top of it. That’s Acoma Pueblo.”

  “How do we get up there?” Violet asked.

  “There are tours,” Grandfather said, “But we have to buy our tickets at the area below the mesa. He parked the car by a building with a sign next to it that read Sky City Cultural Center & Haak’u Museum.

  Jessie laughed. “We were googling the wrong order of words. It’s not a city in the sky, it’s Sky City. This is the place in the clue.”