Thanks once again goes to my betas SusanAshlea and bloodofbeckie.

Valentine is a real town in northern Nebraska. Read on to see Grady's POV of his journey to a new land.


Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR.
--Mark Twain, Author's Notice in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time.
--Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Bitter are the tears of a child: Sweeten them. Deep are the thoughts of a child: Quiet them. Sharp is the grief of a child: Take it from him. Soft is the heart of a child: Do not harden it.
--Pamela Glenconner

Grady POV

I followed Mr. and Mrs. Abram to our seats, and they let me sit by the window. When I looked out, I saw Edward still standing there on the platform. All of a sudden, I felt really scared that I was leaving home. When I found out I had to leave, I tried to pretend that I was going on a great adventure, like I was Huck Finn. It helped a little, but once I got on the train, I couldn't remember anything about why an adventure away from home would be so great. Edward said goodbye from outside, even though I couldn't hear him. That made me cry a little, I hate it when I cry. I never see Edward cry, he's so tough. He's so brave, he's even going to go fight in the Great War. I don't think I'll ever be that brave. We waved at each other 'till the train was rolling away, and Mrs. Abram said I should sit down.

She was sitting next to me and saw my tear. She wiped it with her handkerchief, then put one of her arms around my shoulders. It felt a lot like my mom's hugs, but not quite as nice. I hoped I didn't have to wait too long to come back home, I missed my mom's hugs already.

The Abrams' had just one daughter, her name was Anna, I think she was eight years old. She was pretty, with brown hair and blue eyes. She sat in front of me with her dad.

When we were getting out of town, I was still sad, but starting to feel a little better. I took out my new drawing pad that Edward gave me and tried to think of what to draw. There wasn't much to look at outside the windows, just a lot of fields. Just then, Anna turned around to see what I was doing, and the light hit her just right, and I knew she was what I had to draw.

I was working so hard on my picture, I didn't notice how long we'd been on the train. After a while, the man working on the train came down the aisle to announce that we would be stopping soon, so I packed up my drawing pad and pencils to get ready to change trains.

Once we got off in Sioux Falls, I had a little time before my next train left, so I went with the Mr. and Mrs. Abram, and Anna to eat some lunch. We bought some sandwiches and found a bench to sit on while we ate. After a few minutes, it time for me to get on my next train. I said goodbye to Anna; Mrs. Abram gave me another hug and said goodbye. Then, Mr. Abram walked me to my train, and helped me get to my seat with my suitcase. He gave me a pat on the shoulder, and said goodbye, then made sure the man who worked on the train knew where I was supposed to get off so I didn't get lost.

I was on the train for another couple hours. I fell asleep for a little bit, but couldn't sleep very well, with the noises on the train. Somebody had a little baby that was not happy about being here.

I got bored again, so I took out the drawing pad. I hoped I wasn't going to be this bored when I got there, or I would run out of paper too quick. We were going through more fields, and I saw some cows eating, sort of out in the distance. I didn't see them for a long time, so I had to draw them mostly from memory. I couldn't wait to take these back home to show Edward, and my mom and dad.

By the time I got done with that picture, the train was pulling into its stop at Valentine, Nebraska. It's not really a station, just a platform for people to wait on, with a broken up sign that said the town's name. My mom's cousin, Jesse, was waiting for me on his small wagon that was pulled by a horse. I wasn't used to seeing horses and wagons when I was in the city. I was not in the city anymore, I was sure of that. I got off the train with my suitcase, and Jesse came to carry it for me. Neither one of us said very much on the way back to his farm. I had never met him before so I didn't know what to say, and he seemed like he probably never talked, to me or anyone.

When we got back to his house, he introduced me to his wife Irene, and their kids Clara, Louise, and Raymond. Clara was oldest, she was 13; she only just nodded at me before she went back to helping Irene in the kitchen. Louise was my age, she came over and almost whispered hello; she was shy like me. Raymond was 9 years old, he came right over and stuck out his hand and told me to call him Ray; he was very opposite of me, but he was friendly and I knew we would probably be good friends.

Every day, Ray and I went outside right after breakfast and worked on whatever chores Jesse asked us to do that day. When we got done with chores, it was time for lunch, then back outside. Only, in the afternoon we didn't have any more chores, so we went around playing until dinner time.

From their farm, we were surrounded by Valentine to the west, Minnechaduza Creek to the north, and Niobrara River to the southeast; all about a mile away. This meant we had plenty of area to cover and explore while I was here. We made pretty good progress in just a couple of weeks. We weren't allowed to go past the rivers, so we walked all the way along them, tracing the inside of the triangle they formed. A lot of times, I liked to imagine we were Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, finding adventure and trouble and letting them find us.

After about two weeks of roaming around the edges of our borders, we decided walk around the town. Ray introduced me to some of his friends in town, and showed some of his favorite places. The mail came in today, so we went by the Post Office before heading back to his house for dinner. We didn't even look at the pieces of mail he carried until we were already almost back. That's when I saw there was something with my name on it. Why was it from the Chicago Mercy Hospital, and not from my family?


Reader,

Once again, thank you for reading. Questions, comments, or concerns? Feel free to click on the review button and let me hear them.

-Meg