Chapter 2: Where'd He Go?
Jack opened his eyes. He was wearing dark colored pants that were tight around his knees and a white shirt with a collar. Over it was a black jacket. His backpack was now a leather rucksack.
"Ooh, look at my sleeves!" Annie was next to him in a yellow dress that came down to her ankles. The sleeves were like balloons on her shoulders before becoming tight at her elbows.
"Let me see if the book says anything." Jack turned to look at the book but was distracted. "Annie look! It's the cowboy!"
They both rushed to the window and looked out. There on the grass was the cowboy on his horse, just like on the cover of their book. He was wearing a brown jacket with a fringe and a wide-brimmed hat.
"I can't believe we get to see real cowboys!" Annie said.
Jack opened the book to a picture of a cowboy and started to read.
After the Civil War, meat packing plants began opening in the northern United States. Cowboys would herd cattle to the nearest railroad to sell them. One of the most famous cattle drives, along the Chisholm Trail, was 1,000 miles long and could take the cowboys 2 months to herd the cattle.
"Wow! That's a long way!" Jack said, amazed. He pulled out his notebook and wrote:
Cowboys herd cattle. Sometimes 2 months.
"What's cattle?" Annie asked.
"It's a word for cows," Jack explained, pointing at a picture of a cowboy surrounded by cows.
"Jack! He's riding away!" Jack looked where Annie was pointing. She was right. The cowboy had turned his horse and started to ride away from the tree house.
"We should hurry and follow him." He packed the research book and his notebook into the rucksack and hurried down the ladder after Annie.
When they got to the ground, they ran to where the cowboy had been.
"Oh man," said Jack.
The cowboy was gone.
AN: I realized I didn't mention length or completion in the first chapter, but the story is fully written. I don't post stories until I finish the draft. I'm currently working through edits and will post the chapters as I finish editing them. I'm aiming to have the full story posted by the end of the month. It'll be on the longer side for a Magic Tree House book, around 3500 words across the ten chapters. Hopefully it is still recognizably in the style of Mary Pope Osborne.