Whispers in the Wind (31 page)

Suddenly Dane Weston came to Tharyn’s mind, and a lump formed in her throat. She pictured him there in the dismal, dirty Tombs, living in a cramped little cell.
O dear Lord, everything would be so good if only Dane was coming with me
.

Pain gripped her heart and moisture gathered in her eyes.

Please, God, with Your mighty hand, clear him of the crime You know he didn’t commit. Let us be together again one day soon. He said he would come and find me when he gets out. He’s my big brother, Lord. I miss him, and I want him close to me
.

Tharyn sighed deeply and brushed the tears from her cheeks. In her heart, she vowed to make Dane proud of her in her chosen profession of nursing.

Hearing the sigh, Leanne turned. “Tharyn, are you all right?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You just made a sad sound.”

“Oh. I did, didn’t I? I was just thinking about Dane. I really miss him.”

“From what you’ve told me, he’s really been an excellent big brother to you. No wonder you miss him. Don’t give up, honey. Like you’ve said over and over, the Lord knows he’s innocent, and the Lord is going to set him free.”

Tharyn sniffed and wiped away a tear. “I have to hold onto that.”

“Just don’t let go.”

The city sounds surrounded them, punctuated by the clopping noise of the horses’ hooves on the street.

Leanne squeezed the hand that still held hers. “Tharyn, could—could I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“I’ve never had a friend like you. Could we sort of adopt each other as sisters?”

Tharyn squeezed back. “We sure can. I’d love to be your sister.”

The other children in the wagon smiled as they watched Leanne lean close and kiss Tharyn’s cheek. “I love you, sis.”

Tharyn turned and kissed Leanne’s cheek. “I love you too, sis.”

Soon the train of wagons filed into the parking lot at Grand Central Station and came to a halt.

The driver of the wagon bearing Leanne and Tharyn lifted Leanne from the seat and stood her on the ground. She thanked him, then took hold of Tharyn’s arm as the five adults led the children inside the terminal. Since Leanne had never been to Grand Central Station before, Tharyn described as much as she could as they were being guided to the track where their train was waiting to be boarded.

Eva Newton, Barbara Justman, and Millie Voss ushered the girls toward their coach.

Russell Mims left the other boys long enough to slip up beside Tharyn. “You okay, Tharyn?”

She smiled at him. “Yes, Russell. I’m fine. A little nervous like everyone else in this group, but I’m fine.”

Not attempting to lower his voice at all, he said, “I love you, Tharyn.”

She smiled again, but did not voice the same sentiment.

Russell gave her a big grin. “I know. We’re too young. But I love you, anyhow.” With that, he hurried to catch up with Mark Newton, Colin Justman, and the other boys as they were starting to board the coach.

As Tharyn was helping Leanne climb the steps of the small platform that led into the girls’ coach, Leanne said, “You haven’t told me about your romance with Russell.”

Tharyn giggled. “I don’t have a romance with Russell. We’re both too young for that. Especially me. I’m only thirteen.”

Leanne chuckled as they passed from the platform into the coach. “Sounds like Russell feels romantic toward
you
.”

“He’s too young, Leanne. At fifteen, he can’t possibly know what it is to be in love, yet.”

Leanne shrugged. “Maybe not.”

Eva and Barbara moved farther back in the coach, directing girls to various seats.

Millie paused at a seat about a third of the way into the coach, turned, and smiled at Tharyn. “How about this seat?”

“Looks fine to me, Miss Voss.” Tharyn turned to Leanne. “There’s room on each seat for two people. Do you want to sit by the window, or would you rather sit on the aisle?”

Leanne chuckled. “You sit by the window, honey, so you can see out when we’re traveling.”

Tharyn’s features flushed. “Oh. Sure. Okay.”

“You can describe it to me all the way to Denver.”

“Unless she is chosen by a foster family before you get to Denver, dear,” said Millie.

Leanne pressed a smile on her lips. “I’m praying hard that the Lord will keep Tharyn from being chosen before we get to Denver, ma’am. I want her chosen there too, so we can be close to each other. I really believe the Lord is going to do it.”

Millie patted the blind girl’s arm, “What’s your name, dear?”

“Leanne.”

“Well, Leanne, God says without faith it is impossible to please Him. I sincerely hope He does it for you.”

“Thank you, Miss Voss.”

Tharyn sat down, then took Leanne’s hand and guided her onto the seat. Millie moved to another pair of girls.

Tharyn leaned close to the window. “I see lots of people out there, sis. Most of them are boarding the other coaches ahead of us. Some are telling others good-bye. No doubt family members and friends.”

Leanne’s mind went back to the day she stood at New York Harbor with people from their church and told her parents goodbye just before they boarded a ship that would take them south around the tip of Florida, then west to Tampico, Mexico. A hot lump rose in her throat.
Little did I know
, she thought,
that I would never see them again in this life
.

Tharyn continued to describe the scene on the depot platform until the engine’s whistle blew and the bell began to clang. As the train chugged out of the station, she described what she saw as it picked up speed and rolled westward across the trestle spanning the Hudson River toward New Jersey.

She grew quiet as she watched the familiar scenery slip away. Memory suddenly carried her back to the warm, loving home she had known until her parents were killed that awful day in front of their apartment building.

Hot tears welled up in her eyes. The home she grew up in was a loving place. The Myers family had been poor by many people’s standards, but they were rich in love and in taking care of each other.

Leanne noted her friend’s silence, but thought possibly Tharyn was having a hard time leaving the only place she had ever known as home and decided not to disturb her.

Tharyn pressed her forehead against the cold window pane and softly whispered, “Good-bye, Mama. Good-bye, Papa. I will never forget you. I will always love you.”

As she let the tears fall freely for a few minutes, the pain in her heart began to ease. She closed her eyes, trying to picture what lay ahead for her in the wide open spaces of the West.

After a little more time, Tharyn began describing for Leanne what she saw out the window as the train rolled westward across New Jersey in a beeline for Pennsylvania.

When lunchtime came, Mark Newton and Colin Justman went to the dining car near the front of the train and were given two carts loaded with hot food. They pushed them back to the girls’ coach, and began to hand out the lunches as they moved slowly down the aisle.

When Mark and Colin drew up to the seat where Tharyn and Leanne were sitting, they found a problem. How was the blind girl going to hold her soup bowl, plate of bread, and cup of lemonade while she ate?

As they discussed it, Tharyn said, “It’s really not a problem, gendemen. Just hold my meal on one of the carts and bring it back to me later. I’ll help Leanne eat right now.”

Colin frowned. “But, honey, your soup will grow cold if we wait very long.”

“I don’t really care. The main thing is that Leanne gets to eat her soup while it’s hot.”

“But that isn’t fair to you, sis,” spoke up Leanne.

Tharyn patted her hand. “It’s all right. Really.”

The two men smiled at each other, then Colin said to Tharyn, “You are truly one sweet girl. We know you came from the streets and have been undernourished for quite some time. Mr. Brace pointed you out to us this morning after the meeting. He said you were taking care of this little girl and told us about your life on the streets of late. Yet, here you are, willing to delay your own meal so your friend can have her soup while it’s hot.”

“You’re to be commended,” said Mark. “I believe Mr. Brace said your name is Tharyn.”

“Yes, sir.”

Leanne pointed her blank eyes at the voices. “I haven’t known Thaiyn very long, gentlemen, but she is the best friend I’ve ever had.”

Colin nodded. “I believe it.”

“Me too,” said Mark.

Tharyn noted a tea towel draped over the handle of Mark’s cart. “Mr. Newton, could I borrow that towel, please? It will help with the situation.”

“Of course.”

Mark handed her the tea towel, told her that one of them would be back later with her lunch, and moved on.

Tharyn tied the towel around Leanne’s neck so that anything she might spill would fall on it, rather than on her clean, starched dress.

“With this towel, I can probably feed myself,” said Leanne. “I’ve been blind all my life, and have lots of practice feeding myself. Why don’t you catch up with the men and tell them to give you your lunch right now?”

“Honey, what about the sway of the train? You’re liable to have a problem, don’t you think?”

Leanne shook her head and smiled. “Oh yes. The sway of the train. I hadn’t thought of that. Okay, you’d better help me.”

Newton and Justman pushed their carts on through the girls’ coach, handing out meals to their wives and the orphans, then pushed them out onto the platform of the boys’ coach.

By the time the boys had been served, almost half an hour had passed since they started handing out lunches. They turned the carts around and went back into the girls’ coach with one lunch left on Colin’s cart.

When they came to Tharyn and Leanne, Millie Voss was entering the coach from its front door.

Leanne was just finishing her lunch with Tharyn’s help. She
drained her cup of lemonade. “That was really good.”

While Mark took Leanne’s empty bowl, bread plate, and cup, Colin handed Tharyn the bowl of lukewarm soup, along with her cup of lemonade and piece of bread. “I wish the soup was still hot, honey.”

Millie paused and frowned. “Why is Tharyn just now getting her lunch?”

Mark quickly explained it to her.

Millie set admiring eyes on the redhead. “That was a very unselfish thing to do, sweetie.”

Tharyn looked up at her. “Oh, it’s no problem, ma’am. I’m just getting practice for what I plan to do when I grow up.”

“And just what might that be?”

“Well, ma’am, I plan to be a nurse just like you, and I figure helping people will be a big part of it. So I might as well start now. Besides, it just plain makes me feel good to lend a hand when it’s needed.”

Millie looked at her with obvious admiration. “With that positive attitude, Tharyn, you will make a very good nurse. Just hold on to that dream.”

Tharyn’s mind flashed back to the last time she saw Dane, and he said essentially the same thing. “Yes, ma’am. I will. I’ve been given that advice before. I’ll never let go of that dream.”

Millie patted Tharyn’s shoulder and moved on down the aisle. Mark and Colin both commended Tharyn for her nursing ambition, and moved on out of the coach with their carts.

Tharyn began eating her lunch. The fact that the soup was cold made no difference to her. It was an absolute feast after what she had been existing on the past few months. She savored every morsel, thanking God in her heart for supplying it.

When Tharyn was finished with her lunch, she left Leanne long enough to return her bowl, plate, and cup to the dining car, then as she returned to the girls’ coach and sat down, she saw
that Leanne’s head was bobbing.

“Leanne, the seat is wide enough. Just lie down here with your head on my lap and take a nap.”

“Thank you. I am pretty sleepy.”

When Tharyn had made sure Leanne was comfortable, she watched her relax totally. The rhythmic click of the wheels and the steady sway of the coach soon lulled her to sleep.

While the train rolled across Pennsylvania toward Pittsburgh, Tharyn let her mind go once again to her parents and how much she missed them.

Her thoughts then drifted to her future, and she let her imagination take her out West where she invented her own foster parents and formed a mental image of what they were like, and the kind of house they would have.

It wasn’t long until the rhythmic click of the wheels and the steady sway of the coach took their toll on Tharyn. Soon she was fast asleep.

T
haryn Myers was running across a field of grass and colorful wildflowers near a jagged range of mountains. The sun was lowering slowly behind the majestic peaks.

A soft breeze was blowing and her long auburn hair danced in the breeze.

Earth and sky were bathed in the hue of sunset. There was a dense forest just ahead of her, and she marveled at the beauty of a swift-moving stream as it wended its way across the land toward the forest, reflecting the glorious light of the setting sun.

The mountains were a dark purple mass framed in sunset gold. Tharyn was in awe as she took in the all-embracing immensity of the mountains, magnified by the golden fringe of God’s sunlight.

As she neared the stream, she saw a young man sitting on its bank, gazing into the water. When she drew up close, the back of the young mans head looked familiar.

Hearing her footsteps on the lush grass, he turned and looked at her.

It was Dane Weston!

He stood up, smiling, and opened his arms to her.

“Oh, Dane!” she gasped and dashed into his arms. “Dane! How did you get out of prison? Did they find the real killer?”

Dane did not answer her question, but kissed her forehead. “I love you, little sis.”

Suddenly Tharyn was awake. The dream vanished, and the clicking sound of the steel wheels beneath the swaying coach met her ears.

Blinking her eyes, she gasped for breath. Her heart was pounding.

The dream was so real!

While her heartbeat was slowing down, Tharyn’s thoughts ran to Dane there in that horrible prison. She looked down at the sleeping Leanne Ladd with her head in her lap, then closed her eyes and said in a low whisper, “Dear Lord, please do whatever has to be done to show the law in New York that Dane didn’t murder that boy. I’m glad that Dane has been able to lead souls to You in the Tombs, but he shouldn’t have to go on living behind bars in that awful place for something he didn’t do.”