Trapped on the D.C. Train! (3 page)

KC giggled. “My feet want to go one way, but my body has other ideas!” she said.

Marshall opened the final door, and they were back in the vice president’s car.

“Hurray, coffee!” Mary Kincaid said. “Any problems?”

“Only the lights going off,” Marshall said.

Robert took the cardboard tray from KC’s hands. Janet passed out the coffees and the vice president’s sandwich. KC took her juice and sat facing forward, across from Marshall.

KC pulled off her cap. Then she remembered the five-dollar bill. She stood up and walked back to Mary Kincaid. “Here’s the change,” she said. “Stuff on the train is expensive! I tipped the lady seventy-five cents. Was that okay?”

“Perfect,” the vice president said. “Thanks for doing that, KC.”

KC walked back to her seat. “Where’s your pizza?” she asked Marshall.

He grinned. “Gone to tummy land.”

“Already?” KC asked.

Marshall let out a small burp.

KC sat back and sipped her orange juice. She took a book out of her backpack. It was a nonfiction book about Pennsylvania. “We’re going to Lancaster,” she said. “That’s where Ms. Kincaid’s farm is.”

She leaned forward to show Marshall some pictures. “There are these people there called Amish,” she said. “They don’t have electricity or drive cars.”

“How do they watch TV and use computers?” Marshall asked.

“They don’t,” KC said. “And instead of
cars, they have horses and buggies. When it gets dark, they use candles or kerosene lamps. Look, here’s a picture of one of the buggies. Read what it says about no electricity.”

“I can’t look,” Marshall said. “I’ll puke if I try to read.”

“That’s because you’re riding backward,” KC said. “Sit next to me so you’re facing the same way the train is traveling. You won’t get sick. Here, you can be next to the window.”

Marshall sat next to KC. Now they were both facing the door.

“I wonder if blind people get sick when they read Braille on a train,” KC said.

“What made you think of that?” Marshall asked. “That guy in the next car?”

KC nodded. “Yes,” she said. “He’s facing
this car, the same direction you were sitting. Most people sit facing forward, the same direction the train is moving. But he’s sitting backward.”

“But if he’s blind—” Marshall started to say.

“And you know what else?” KC said. “The woman across the aisle from him is sitting the same way. They’re both facing this car.”

“So maybe they know the vice president is in this car, and they’re just curious,” Marshall suggested.

KC shook her head. “Nobody knows she’s here,” she said.

“I think the conductors know,” said Marshall.

“Well, maybe, but no one else,” KC said.

The kids rode in silence for a few
minutes. Outside the windows, scenery flashed by. KC held her book, but she wasn’t reading.

“You’re still thinking about it, aren’t you?” Marshall asked.

“Thinking about what?” KC asked.

He laughed. “You know what. It’s bugging you that two people are facing the wrong way on a train,” he said. “You’re trying to make some mystery out of it, the way you always do.”

“I do not make mysteries,” KC said.

“Do too.”

“You always accuse me of that,” KC said.

“That’s because it’s true,” Marshall said. “Even your mom says you have a very active imagination. I’ve heard her!”

KC tried not to smile. She lifted her book and began reading.

“How long before we get there?” Marshall asked.

“Over an hour,” KC said. “Why didn’t you bring a book to read?”

“I told you, I get sick when I read on trains,” Marshall said.

KC looked at him. “Marsh, you said this was your first train ride!”

“It is, but still.” He shrugged.

KC kept reading.

Marshall sighed. He bent down and tied one of his sneaker laces. Then he breathed on the window glass to make it fog over and wrote his name. He wiped his name away, breathed on the glass again, and drew a picture of a spider. “I should have brought Spike,” he said.

“Spike? I don’t think you can bring tarantulas on a train,” KC said.

“Why not? That guy in the next car brought his dog,” Marshall said.

KC laughed. “That’s different,” she said. “It’s a Seeing Eye dog. The man needs him.”

“Well, I need Spike,” Marshall said. “He keeps me company.”

“Don’t I keep you company?” KC asked. “Do you like your old spider better than me?”

“Spike is a tarantula, not a regular spider,” Marshall said. “And no, I don’t like him better. I just like his … furry legs.”

KC let out a laugh. She turned around. The vice president and the two agents had their eyes closed.

“We could go for a walk,” KC said quietly.

“Where?” Marshall asked.

“Let’s count how many cars there are,” KC suggested.

Marshall hopped up. “Okay, anything is better than watching you read.”

“You should’ve brought a book,” KC said.

Marshall let out a big, fake sigh. He opened the door that led to the next car. Stepping forward, he nearly bumped into a man in gray work clothes. The man was crouched on the floor with a wrench in his hand. Next to him was an open toolbox.

The man looked up at the kids. “Always something to fix,” he said, shaking his head. He had lifted out part of the platform floor. Looking down, KC and Marshall could see the ground rushing beneath their feet. Dusty wind blew up around them.

Stepping past the man, KC opened the door, and they moved into the next car. Marshall nudged KC and made a goofy face. The sleeping woman still slept, facing
the kids. Across from her, the blind man was also asleep. KC could see her reflection in the man’s dark glasses. His dog was snoozing on the floor.

The other people were still napping or reading or working on laptops. Near the end of the car, another man in gray work clothes was fixing something inside an electric panel on the wall over an empty seat. The door to the panel was open when KC and Marshall walked past. KC saw about a thousand tiny wires of all different colors.

The kids went into the snack car. It was empty. The tablecloths had been removed, and the tables were bare. KC saw a small sign on the counter. She read it out loud: “THE ATTENDANT WILL RETURN SHORTLY.”

“Wow, she just left all this food sitting
out here,” Marshall said. The candy, chips, and peanuts were on the counter. There was also a tray of ketchup and mustard bottles from the tables.

“Don’t even think about it,” KC said.

“I wasn’t thinking about taking anything!” Marshall said. “Talk about people accusing other people of things!”

“Let’s keep going,” KC said. They walked through the next couple of cars. Passengers slept or read or chatted with each other. Some had earbuds in their ears, listening to music. One woman was knitting something blue. It wasn’t quite dark outside, so some people stared out at the scenery.

“How many cars have we been in?” Marshall asked.

“This next one is six, I think, if we count our car,” KC said.

At the end of the last car, they came to a door that wouldn’t open. A small brass sign read, NO ADMITTANCE. ENGINEER ONLY.

“I guess this door must lead to the engine,” KC said. She tried peeking through the small window, but it had been blackened.

“I wonder what it’s like to drive a train,” Marshall said.

“I don’t think I’d want to try it,” KC said. “Too fast!”

“Bet you’d like a horse and buggy,” Marshall teased. “Like in your book—”

Suddenly the lights went out. KC felt the train begin to slow down. Then there was a shudder, and the floor jerked under their feet. The train stopped moving.

“Not again,” Marshall said.

“At least there’s still a little light coming through the windows,” KC said. “We’d better sit down.”

They took two empty seats.

“The windows are gross,” Marshall said. He tried to wipe the window next to his seat, but the grime was on the outside. “Hey, look out there!”

KC leaned over Marshall and peered through the dim glass. She saw people on the ground, running toward the back of the train. Two seconds later, the runners were out of view.

Something tugged at KC’s memory. Even seen through the dirty glass, one of the runners looked familiar.

Just then KC heard the door behind her open. Two conductors raced past the kids, heading down the aisle. One was
bald, and the other had a mustache and curly hair. One side of his mustache hung crookedly over his lip.

“What’s going on?” Marshall asked KC.

KC kept her eyes on the conductors as they disappeared into the next car. “I don’t know,” she said.

Other passengers began to talk to each other. A few had gotten out of their seats.

“Come on,” KC said. “Aunt Kitty will wonder where we are.”

KC and Marshall hurried down the aisle. They had to excuse themselves several times because people were standing in the aisle, trying to figure out what was happening.

They passed through the snack car, but Mandy was still missing. Her sign was on the counter. A couple of passengers were standing there, wondering how to get served.

The lights came on suddenly, and soon the train began moving. A few people clapped and whistled.

The kids walked through the final car before their own. The two conductors were there, blocking the aisle. The bald one held up his hand as KC and Marshall approached.

“Whoa, where are you going?” he asked.

“To our car,” KC said. “It’s the next one.”

The conductor shook his head. “You must be mistaken,” he said.

The second conductor, the one with the mustache, nodded. “This is the last car,” he said.

KC couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But we were in that car,” she said. “The … my aunt is in there. She’s waiting for us!”

“Sorry, kid,” the bald conductor said.
“There is no other car. Look for yourself.”

He stepped aside so KC could see through the little window in the door behind him. KC peered through the glass. Without thinking, she pushed back her baseball cap so she could see better. She gasped at what she saw—railroad tracks falling away behind the train, with trees and bushes on both sides of the tracks.

But there was no cute caboose car. There were no blue leather seats. No little tables. No vice president or secret service agents.

Marshall looked, too. His mouth fell open.

KC felt like she was having a nightmare and she’d wake up any second. But it wasn’t a nightmare. A whole train car had vanished. And with it, so had the vice president of the United States!

KC turned quickly and looked at the two seats nearest herself and Marshall and the conductors. The blind man, his dog, and the sleeping woman were gone.

KC stood staring at the empty seats, thinking. Then she turned back to the conductors. She smiled. “I feel like a dope,” she said. “You’re right. We’re in the wrong car. Come on, Marsh.”

KC grabbed Marshall’s arm and pulled him up the aisle.

“KC, what’re you doing?” he protested. “Those guys—”

“Shhh!” KC said. She yanked Marshall into the next car. KC ran up the aisle, past the
snack counter, still clasping Marshall’s arm.

“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Marshall said.

“We have to hide!” KC whispered.

At the end of the car, KC shoved open the small door that led to the platform. Warm air blew into their faces.

“KC, what are we doing?” Marshall asked. “What’s going on?”

“I think they kidnapped the vice president, Marsh!” KC hissed.

“What? Are you kidding? Who kidnapped her?” Marshall asked.

“Not now!” KC whispered back.

She pulled Marshall through the next door. Slowing down, they walked along the aisle. KC looked at each person they passed. When they came to a bathroom, she yanked Marshall inside. It was barely
big enough for them to stand facing each other. KC flipped the door lock to the “shut” position.

“I don’t know how they did it,” KC said. “But they took the car off the train. Our car is gone!”

KC’s heart was racing. Her hands felt cold, and she couldn’t get them to stop shaking. In the mirror, she saw her face. It was white, and her freckles looked bigger than normal. Some of her hair had escaped from under her cap. She tucked it back and yanked the cap on tighter.