Caught in the Act (17 page)

As soon as Gunter was out of sight, Mike ran back up the steps and slipped into the parlor, seating himself next to Mrs. Banks. Although she gave him a quick, surprised glance, the adults were so deeply into their discussion they paid little attention to Mike.

"You are telling me I don't know how to raise boys?" Mr. Friedrich huffed. "I raise them the way my father raised them, the way I should have raised Ulrich!"

"Boys should not be beaten," Andrew said firmly.

"Beatings are all that boys understand," Mr. Friedrich shouted.

"Obviously we don't agree, Mr. Friedrich," Andrew said. "I can't allow Mike to stay with you. He can gather his own things together, and we'll take him with us to town."

There was a conunotion in the kitchen, which Mr. Friedrich ignored. "A^ein.'" he said. "We have an agreement! The committee—"

Just then Gunter slammed down the hallway yelling, "Papa! Come quick! Michael set fire to the privy! I saw him! He set the fire and ran!" By this time he was inside the parlor, gripping the doorframe and wheezing heavily. "I saw—" he managed to get out before he looked directly at Mike.

"How could this be? Michael has been here with us." Mrs. Friedrich gazed at Gunter in astonishment.

For an instant there was a shocked silence. Then Gunter shouted, "I don't want him to live here! I don't need another brother! When Ulrich was alive he was the most important just because he was the first, and Michael—^you give him special treats. He—" Gunter stopped suddenly, as though he'd remembered something, and mumbled, "The privy really is on fire."

Everyone ran through the house and out the kitchen door to join Marta, who had already beat out a small blaze at one side of the outhouse where an obvious pile of small sticks and leaves lay.

Mr. Friedrich stared at his son with such misery he looked as though he were fighting back tears.

Mrs. Friedrich pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes. "Oh, Michael," she said, "we have been much to blame. Could we have another chance?"

Mike was glad he didn't have to answer, because he liked Mrs. Friedrich. Andrew took Mike's hand and said firmly, "I'm sorry, but I've made the decision. Mike will have a new home. It's better that way."

There were tearful hugs from Mrs. Friedrich and a smiling hug from Marta, who whispered, "Never fear, I'll soon be seeing you again."

Mike turned to give Marta a last wave as Katherine drove the buggy out onto the road to St. Joseph.

He leaned back against the leather seat, watching Mr. MacNair, who rode ahead. Maybe someday he'd be tall and strong, with broad shoulders like Andrew MacNair's

and a horse and saddle to call his own, and he*d ride over the countryside with the sun beating on his back. But that was far into the future.

Mike sighed and turned to Katherine. "Andrew said Fd have a new home, but I'm thinking he'll have a hard time finding someone who'll want me."

Katherine smiled. "There's someone who wants you very much, if you're willing."

Mike sat erect. "Who?"

"Remember Captain Joshua Taylor?"

"I could never forget him," Mike said. "He's a fine man."

"He thinks you're a fine person, yourself. I received a letter from him just a few days ago. His wife has joined him, and they wrote to ask if there were any chance you'd be free to come to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas to live with them."

Mike knew he was gaping and gasping like a fish thrown out of water. "Live in a real fort?" he managed to say. "And with Captain Taylor and his wife? Oh! Wouldn't that be grand!"

"Life on an army post might be more difficult than life on a farm or in a town," Katherine said. "We've never placed a child with a family on an army post, and there may be problems we can't foresee."

Mike saw himself flattened along the back of a small, spotted pony, rifle slung over his shoulder, battered hat pulled over his eyes as he raced ahead of a whooping, battle-crazed tribe of Indian renegades. He had to reach the fort. He had been the only one brave enough to carry the message to the wagon train, and now he was the only one who would dare to ...

Mike brought himself out of his daydream to grin at Katherine as the happiness bubbled up inside of him. "Well now," he asked her, "do you think I'd ever in my life let a few problems get the best of me?"

As Grandma closed the journal, Jennifer reached for it. "What happened to Mike when he went to Fort Leavenworth to live? Can you tell us?"

"Of course I can," Grandma said, and tried to look mysterious. "But some of Mike's story comes much later in Frances Mary's journal. I think you should hear about Megan's new family next."

"Megan—was she younger than Mike?" Jeff asked.

"No," Grandma said. "She was twelve—a year younger than Frances and a year older than Mike—^but I told you Mike's story before Megan's because he was the one who involved his brothers and sisters on that orphan train journey to the west."

"Wasn't Megan the responsible sister?" Jennifer asked.

Grandma nodded. "Yes. Responsible ... in spite of her fears."

"What fears?" Jennifer leaned forward to listen.

"When Megan was very young she was badly frightened by an old woman who grabbed her hand, read her palm, and cackled that bad luck would be with her all the days of her life. 'A bad penny you are,' the gypsy had said and, unfortunately, Megan believed her."

"What happened to Megan?" Jeff asked. "Did she really have bad luck?"

"It depends upon what you call luck," Grandma said. "Goodness knows some terrifying things happened to Megan."

"What?" Jennifer asked.

"Well, there was the time Megan was trapped by hunger-crazed wolves, and another time when she came face-to-face with an escaping outlaw."

Grandma stood and stretched. "I've got some errands to run in town," she said. "Who wants to go with me?"

"Grandma! Don't stop there!" Jeff groaned and flopped over on the sofa.

m "When are you going to tell us about Megan?" Jennifer complained. "I mean, youVe told us this much and—" Grandma put a finger over Jennifer's lips and laughed. "Oh, there's much more to Megan's story than you can imagine," she said, "so Til save it until we have more time. How about tomorrow?"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joan Lowery Nixon is the acclaimed author of more than sixty fiction and non-fiction books for children and young adults. She is a three-time winner of the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award and the recipient of many Children's Choice awards. Her popular books for young adults include the first three books in the Orphan Train Quartet, A Family Apart, Caught in the Act, and In the Face of Danger, as well as Star Baby, Overnight Sensation, and Encore, the books in the Hollywood Daughters Trilogy. She was moved by the true experiences of the children on the nineteenth-century orphan trains to research and write the Orphan Train Quartet.

Mrs. Nixon and her husband live in Houston, Texas.

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