Illinois and Iowa State Border
June 1890

Countryside landscapes flew by at a dizzying pace as Engine 41 of the Chicago-Des Moines line steamed its way steadily West with a full load of freight, mail, and passengers. Excited children stared eagerly out the windows while their parents regarded the trip with mixtures of resignation and unease. For most passengers, travel by rail was still a novelty...and not necessarily safe.

Newspapers around the country were filled monthly with articles about another train crash. Journalists seemed to take grisly delight in documenting exactly how many people had been killed or injured. Some people vowed never to travel by train at all if they could help it. Others couldn't wait to try out this relatively new piece of transportation technology; if nothing else just to say they'd ridden a train.

For the young man sitting near the window in his worn but decent traveling suit and tie, it could have been just another trip. He had traveled by train over ten times in his twenty-two years and- especially after experiencing the headaches of delays, missed connections, and transferring a grand total of three times this trip alone -the novelty was wearing off. While he appreciated the shortened travel time across the country, Albert Quinn Ingalls would have been perfectly happy never to see another train in his life...though he knew with the path he had chosen in life, that was rather unlikely.

Albert tugged uncomfortably at his tie. He had never like formal clothing very much, but now saw it as kind of a necessary evil. After all, one couldn't very well be a doctor wearing farmer's work clothes.

Doctor Ingalls. Albert smiled and shook his head absently. He still couldn't believe it. After he had gotten his diploma from the New York University College of Medicine, he had to look at it every so often to make sure these last six years had not been some kind of cruel dream. Now that diploma- frame and all -was carefully wrapped in a shirt in the middle of his suitcase.

It had not been an easy haul, to be sure. Most of his classmates had been sent to medical school by way of their parents' wealth. Charles and Caroline Ingalls were better off now financially in Burr Oak, Iowa than they had ever been in the country, but medical school was still an expense out of their reach.

So Albert had paid for his education himself. Working every job he could after school and on weekends for two long years, he had somehow managed to scrimp enough to pay for his first year of tuition and books. Once at college, Albert had worked five different jobs over the next five years, everything from freight hauling to sewer cleanup. No job was too low for him. Despite his ridiculous hours, a broken arm, a bout with pneumonia, and his professors' constant reminders that he was going to kill himself, Albert had graduated at the top of his class.

Now he was going home. Home, to Ma and Pa, whose pile of letters attested to their pride over his accomplishments. To Carrie, the tagalong kid sister who was now eighteen and off to college herself. She had won a writing scholarship and was going to be a journalist. To little Grace, who had grown from a precocious four year old to a shy and serious ten year old in the time Albert had been away. 'Baby' Grace was a baby no more.

Albert's heart held a momentary ache when he thought of his other sisters...Mary and her husband Adam, living the busy lives of lawyer and lawyer's wife in New York City. He had boarded with them once or twice. It was Laura he missed the most. She had been his confidant, his partner in crime, and his stern big sister all rolled into one. Now she, Almanzo, and little Rose were trying to scratch out a living in Dakota Territory. He had not heard from them since Christmas and hoped everything was going well. With Almanzo's permanent limp due to a stroke several years before, it was not easy for them, but they were grimly determined to make things work. If Laura's fiery stubbornness was any indication, they would.

The young man was interrupted in his reflections by the conductor walking the aisles. "State line! Now crossing Illinois-Iowa state line," he called, thumbs tucked into his vest pockets. "Running on time for 2 PM arrival, Des Moines. Next stop-"

Albert nodded in satisfaction and didn't bother listening to what the next stop was. Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, it wasn't yet noon. He had left Chicago at 10 AM that morning. Compared to every other trip he had taken by train, this would be the shortest at about four hours. He couldn't wait to get off that train.

A warm draught blew down the car, making Albert grimace. It certainly was shaping up to be a hot summer. The heat was almost strangling him. He glared at his suit. The blasted thing wasn't helping. I've had it with that lousy tie, he thought, reaching up to untie it and unbutton his stiff collar. He followed up by removing his jacket and inching open the window at his side. He stopped midway and glanced at the three others by this window, who looked equally miserable. "Excuse me. Would anyone mind if I opened this window?"

The people- a middle-aged woman and her elderly parents, nodded in relief. "Go right ahead, young man. This car is stifling!" The elderly man loosened his own collar and took off his jacket. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Albert opened the window. Cool air wafted in.

Albert smiled at everyone's expressions of relief. It was a wonderful feeling to help someone feel better, even if it was from something as minor as a breeze. His mood improved as he settled back into his seat.

The train, as it turned out, was actually several minutes late pulling into Des Moines, and the party waiting on the platform for a particular doctor could hardly stop pacing...at least, one of them could.

Charles Ingalls, his brown hair gone silver over the years, looked up wearily from the bench to regard his nervous wife. "Caroline, wearing a hole in the platform isn't going to make the train come any sooner," he remarked.

"Come sit down, Ma," invited Grace, using her straw hat to fan her face.

Caroline rubbed her arms anxiously and shook her head. "They said it was running on time," she said. "Five minutes late is hardly on time."

Charles pursed his lips and shrugged. "It's a train. Trains are always late. Come on and sit down."

Caroline sighed, regarded her family, and finally sat between her husband and daughter. "Oh, I know I'm acting foolish. I can't help it. Charles, our son is coming home today!"

Charles cracked a smile and took his wife's hand. "I know, darlin'. I miss him, too."

Grace turned to look at him, twin golden braids pinned around her head. "Pa? Is Albert a real doctor now?"

Charles chuckled at his youngest. "Why, sure he is. That's why he's been away at school so long. It takes a long time to learn to be a doctor."

"Does he cut people open and take out their insides?" Grace wanted to know with wide blue eyes.

"Grace!" scolded Caroline quietly. "Don't say such things."

"But Fannie Johnson said that's what doctors do," Grace protested, quite seriously. "She said they cut people open and take things out like tonsils and 'pendixes."

"That they do, Grace," agreed Charles, hiding his grin.

"But only when they need to," added Caroline. She disliked talk of operations and shuddered. "Most of the time, they set broken bones and help the ill feel better."

Grace nodded, accepting this explanation. Presently she turned to her mother. "Ma? What's a 'pendix?"

Caroline thought for a moment, then came up blank. "An appendix? I'm not really sure...I know it's something in a person's middle. From what I've heard they don't serve much of a purpose."

Charles tapped Grace's nose to get her attention. "Hey. Why don't you ask Albert when he gets here? He'll know."

"Okay, Pa." Grace settled back against the bench and was quiet. Generally speaking once she had a question answered, she wasn't much of a talker. Laura had always been the chatterbox of the family. Grace was more inclined to sit and watch rather than join in and could barely manage a polite smile around strangers.

A few minutes later the loud blowing of a train whistle made everyone rise and regard the approaching steam engine with relief. The Ingalls family waited expectantly on the platform. Almost before the train had come to a stop Caroline was searching the crowd for Albert. She clung anxiously to her husband, craning her neck.

"Where is he, Ma?" asked Grace.

"Hold on, he's coming," said Charles with a smile. He wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders and could feel her tense in anticipation.

In minutes a dark-haired head appeared in the crowd. It was a young man, clutching a suitcase and black doctor's bag and searching the crowd himself.

"See? There he is." Charles let out a shrill whistle. "Albert!"

Albert's head snapped to attention hearing the whistle and suddenly spotted his family. Warmth filled his heart seeing his parents and sister waving frantically to him. A broad smile worked its way across his face and he broke into a quick walk, then a jog. The Ingalls family reunion was one of laughter, smiles, embraces, and a few tears, especially from Caroline.

When everyone had composed themselves, Caroline dabbed her eyes. "You must be famished after that long ride."

Albert shrugged. "A little." His growling stomach protested this gross understatement.

Charles slapped him on the shoulder, "Well, come on, then. You should see what your Ma's cooked up for you in the icebox."

Albert lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "You have an icebox?" Those were fairly recent inventions and very expensive luxuries.

Charles nodded proudly. "Yup. Built it myself."

Albert grinned. That was Pa, all right, building things that no one thought possible. "I can't wait to see it." He followed them out to the family buckboard.

"So when can we see your diploma?" asked Caroline.

"As soon as we get home." Albert sighed at speaking the word. Home. It was a place he had been away from for far too long.

"Albert?" said Grace after a long silence.

"Yes, Grace?" Albert turned to his little sister.

"What's a 'pendix?"