Читать книгу Hannah's Journey - Anna Schmidt - Страница 12

“Mrs. Hannah Goodloe, this is my accountant and business manager, Jake Jenkins.”

“Very pleased to make your acquaintance, ma’am,” the small wiry man gushed. He was dressed in a business suit and held a bowler hat that he kept tapping against his thigh in a nervous cadence. “I understand your son is missing?”

“Have you seen him?” Hannah was well aware that she had dispensed with the niceties of meeting someone new and gotten directly to the point. But all through the night and especially in the bright light of day, she had felt that time was of the essence. Either she would find Caleb today or…

“I may have.”

Hannah’s heart beat in quick time. “Where is he?”

“Now, ma’am, I said I might have seen the boy. There was a kid on the grounds in Sarasota yesterday morning as we were loading the last of the wagons. Most everyone was already on board but I saw him hanging around the livestock car.”

“Did he board the train, Mr. Jenkins?” Hannah thought that she might scream if the man insisted on stretching out his story any further.

“I’m not sure.”

“But back there you said…” Levi’s voice was tight, as if each word were an effort.

“I said I might have seen the kid, Levi. You know how it is. We get kids hanging around all the time—granted, usually not at that hour of the morning, but still…”

“Where did you last see him?” Hannah asked, suddenly unable to swallow around the lump of fear in her throat.

“I hollered at him to get going and he ran off toward the front of the train—up where the sleeping cars are. He could have just kept going or he could have boarded one of those cars.”

“Let’s go,” Levi said, taking Hannah’s elbow and ushering her past the dapper little man. “Maybe he’s still there—maybe he fell asleep and…”

“He could never sleep through all of this,” Hannah replied as she practically ran to keep up with his long strides. “Besides, he’s an early riser and…”

“Let’s just be sure.”

But after a thorough search of the sleeping, dining and stock cars there was no sign of Caleb. Levi even spoke to the local authorities to see if they might have spotted a boy obviously on his own in town.

“I’ve alerted the authorities in Sarasota,” Levi told the family when they had all returned to his private car where Hans had prepared lunch for them. “And Hans can arrange for your trip home. However, I’m afraid the earliest train is tomorrow.”

“It’s God’s will,” Pleasant murmured, and Hannah shivered at the very idea that God would be so cruel as to allow a boy to wander alone over yet a second night while his mother was miles away.

“Or man’s failure,” Levi added quietly. “I’ll question my business manager again, Hannah. Perhaps there’s some detail he forgot, something that might offer more information.”

“Thank you,” Hannah replied and stood up. “Please excuse me,” she murmured and did not wait for their permission.

Outside she wandered the circus lot, oblivious to the growing throng surrounding her as people gathered for the matinee performance. But as she found her way around the enormous tent away from the main entrance and the smaller side-show tents and ticket wagon, she began to consider her surroundings through the eyes of her son.

The dining tent was mostly empty now. Only a few of the waiters were left, lounging at one of the tables, cigarettes dangling from their lips as they took a well-deserved break. She followed the sounds of chatter and found herself in what Caleb had described to her as the “backyard” of the circus.

“See, Ma,” he’d explained excitedly, “it’s not so different from home if they have a backyard.”

Hannah watched as a parade of elaborately out fitted animals and performers lined up for their grand entrance into the tent. “The big top, Ma,” Caleb had corrected her when she referred to it as a tent on their tour. “Because it’s the biggest.”

“The big top,” she murmured as she trudged on. She had no idea where she was headed. She only knew that she had to find a quiet place where she could think. She had noticed a little creek near the tracks on their way in. Perhaps…

“Watch it, honey.” Hannah glanced up to find that she’d nearly run straight into a highly made-up woman wearing a skin-tight leotard, tights and a sheer flowing skirt covered in sequins.

Immediately, she averted her eyes. “So sorry,” she murmured. “Forgive me, please,” she added as she and the woman engaged in a kind of dance as one moved one way and the other moved in unison so that they were still blocking each other.

“Hey,” the woman said, “you’re the mother of that missing kid, aren’t you?”

The mention of Caleb took precedence over anything that might have proved embarrassing about being so close to a woman like this. She met the woman’s gaze and saw that beneath the layers of mascara and eye shadow, the woman had eyes that were kind and concerned.

“Yes,” she admitted.

“Thought so. Look, honey, you didn’t hear it from me but some of us were talking and we’re pretty sure we saw the kid. Blond hair, right? Looks like it’s been cut by using a bowl as a cap?”

Hannah nodded, unable to breathe for the rush of hope she didn’t want to allow herself to feel.

“Skinny kid but taller than most. White shirt, suspenders holding up high-water black pants?”

“What are high-water…”

“Too short for him,” the woman explained.

“Yes,” Hannah said, her excitement building. “Where…when…”

“All I can tell you is that kid was on the train last night—like a shadow he was.” She chuckled. “Now you saw him and now you didn’t.”

“And now?”

The woman’s laughing eyes sobered. “Haven’t seen him since we got here, honey,” she admitted. “And from the chatter in the dining tent earlier, neither has anyone else. We figured he must have moved on but then I saw you searching this morning and…well, I’m a mother myself and when I ran into you just now, it seemed like I was supposed to tell you what I knew even if…”

“May I know your name?” Hannah asked.

The woman’s eyes narrowed, then she shrugged. “Sure. That’s me there.” She pointed to the painted side of a large float where the words Lily Palmer, The Girl in the Gilded Cage were emblazoned in gold script.

Hannah heard the band sound a fanfare and slowly the parade of people and animals started forward. “Gotta run, honey,” Lily shouted as she dashed off to climb aboard her float. Hannah watched as the woman nimbly climbed up the side of a three-tiered scaffolding and into an oversized gilded birdcage. From her perch up high, Lily waved at Hannah. “Keep the faith, honey,” she shouted and Hannah realized that she was smiling, and that her breathing was coming in gasps of excitement rather than panic. She waved back to Lily and then headed back to Levi’s private car to share the news with the others.

“I thought you said you saw the kid.” Levi fumed later that afternoon as he and Jake went over the orders Jake would need to place at each stop on their way north.

“I told you I saw a kid, Levi. Blond hair, Amish looking duds—seemed to match what you described. Don’t shoot the messenger, okay?”

Jake and Levi had been friends for years. They had both been stowaways and after spending several months riding the circus train and doing odd jobs, Jake had left to find his fortune in Chicago. A couple of months after Levi inherited the Brody circus from his mentor Jasper Brody, Levi contacted his old friend and the two had worked together ever since. He’d quickly realized that Jake’s talents were exactly the right complement to his own. The man had a head for business, plus he was a crowd-pleaser. That meant he was great at negotiating favorable deals for the myriad list of goods and supplies that it took to keep a circus running.

In the process the two of them had become good friends. Jake’s naturally outgoing personality was a perfect complement to Levi’s reticence and as the years had gone by, Levi had been more than happy to let Jake handle the public and promotional parts of running a circus.

“I just hated to disappoint her,” he said by way of apology for snapping at his friend.

Jake shrugged. “You’ve gone above and beyond the way I see it. It’s hardly your concern if the boy decided to take off.”

“He’s younger than most,” Levi said absently.

“Maybe there was trouble at home. Maybe his ma—or maybe his grandpa—were…”

“They’re good people, Jake.”

His friend shrugged. “I’m just saying. A boy doesn’t take off for no good reason.”

“She thinks he fell for the glamour,” Levi said and then both men laughed. For both understood that life on the road with the circus was about as glamorous as shoveling elephant dung at the end of the parade.

“Then there’s nothing to worry about,” Jake said, clapping Levi on the shoulder. “Give the kid a couple of days—a week at most—and I guarantee you he’ll be begging us to send him back—if he’s here at all, that is.”

“You looked everywhere? Spoke to everyone?”

Jake sighed and nodded. “Lily and some of the gals thought they spotted him on board last night but there was no sign of him. More likely they were all falling asleep when I was chasing the kid and they looked outside, spotted him then dreamed he was running through their sleeping car.”

“Why’d you chase him?”

“Because the train was about to move and he was dodging in and out between cars. The last thing we needed was for a kid to get crushed as we were leaving town. Business is bad enough without adding that to the mix.”

Levi couldn’t debate that point. “I don’t get it,” he said, his attention now firmly back on the figures he’d been studying for days now. “Our last performances in Sarasota were sold out and yet…”

“You gave all those tickets to that charity thing, remember?” Jake reminded him. “You’ll see. Things will start to look better now that we’re on the road. Besides, you aren’t exactly hurting, Levi.”

“You know it’s not about my personal fortune,” Levi snapped. “We employ so many people, Jake. I’m responsible for their welfare—not to mention the welfare of their families. With the way the economy took a nosedive in Florida these past couple of years, I don’t want to have to start letting people go.”

“Trust me, my friend. Everyone knows you’re going to do the right thing when it comes to taking care of the company. Whatever happens, everybody knows that when Levi Harmon gives you his word, it beats any official piece of paper you might ever hold in your hand.” Jake gathered up the orders. “I’ll go send these so the supplies are waiting at the next stop. And stop worrying!”

Levi smiled for the first time since he’d sat down with his friend. Somehow Jake had always had a way of putting a new face on things—a more positive face—and Levi was grateful for that.

Supper that evening was a somber affair. Levi was tired from the stresses of the day. Attendance for the matinee had been good but people had not spent the extra money for the sideshows and cotton candy and popcorn that they usually did. Although the wealthy classes were still thriving, these were hard times for ordinary folks and it did not look as if things were going to get much better for some time.

But the real gloom that hung over the gathering was the fact that there had been no sign of the boy. Hannah kept her eyes lowered as she methodically sipped her soup. Levi doubted she was even aware that she was taking in nourishment. Gunther kept glancing at his daughter-in-law and sighing heavily. Only Pleasant seemed to be enjoying the meal.

“Excuse me, sir.” Hans entered the dining area with his usual catlike grace. He was holding a piece of yellow paper.

“A telegram?” Levi asked, reaching for it.

“Yes, sir. It’s from Miss Ida.”

Hannah looked up for the first time, her eyes flickering with some interest.

“Ida Benson,” Levi explained to his guests. “She’s my personal secretary. She headed straight back to Wisconsin once the company arrived here yesterday.”

Levi read the short message. Then read it again. He glanced at Hannah, then handed her the telegram. “It’s good news,” he said softly.

Hannah felt as if everyone must surely be able to see the beat of her heart under her caped dress. It was hammering away so hard that she thought she could actually feel the blood rushing through her veins. Her hand shook slightly as she accepted the telegram.

Amish runaway in my cabin. Stop. Just crossed into Indiana. Stop. Please instruct. Stop. Ida

She read the words again. Amish runaway. “It’s Caleb,” she whispered as if to assure herself, then she turned to her father-in-law and handed him the wire. “It’s Caleb,” she repeated as relief washed through her like a cleansing dip in the Gulf. She grasped Pleasant’s hand as they waited for Gunther to scan the words.

“Could be,” he said cautiously.

“Must be,” Pleasant said firmly. “Now what?”

All eyes turned to Levi.

“There are several options,” he began slowly. “Miss Benson could put the boy on the next train back to Sarasota or she could get him a ticket to meet us tomorrow at our next stop in Georgia.”

“She could not accompany him?” Gunther asked.

“Miss Benson has a great deal of work to do once she reaches Wisconsin,” Levi explained. “That’s why she has traveled back ahead of the rest of us.”

“Someone else, then.” Pleasant’s tone was less a question than a demand.

“There is no one else. Miss Benson is traveling alone.”

“You said there were several options,” Hannah reminded him. “Allowing Caleb to travel alone seems risky to me.”

“And yet, Hannah, he has been traveling alone since the night he ran away.”

“That’s my point. Caleb ran away and he hates to fail at anything so if he’s put on a train alone my concern is that he will decide to make another attempt and that this time we will have no Miss Benson to watch over him.”

Levi slowly removed his reading glasses and set them on the pristine, white tablecloth as he leaned back in his chair and ran one large palm over his face. He looked so weary and certainly the last thing he needed right now was this. Hannah hated adding to his worries, but this was her son.

“I suppose,” he began, then looked from her to Gunther to Pleasant before continuing. “I suppose that I could instruct Ida to take the boy with her, get him settled with a farm family she knows in Baraboo and keep an eye on him until you can all get there.”

“Baraboo?” Pleasant asked, her eyes suddenly alive with interest.

“Yes. It’s the town where we have our summer headquarters,” Levi replied. “Do you know it?”

To Hannah’s shock, Pleasant blushed scarlet and returned her attention to her soup. “I…no…just a curious name.”

“How soon would we get there?” Hannah asked.

“By commercial train, two to three days depending on when we can get you tickets.”

Hannah glanced at her father-in-law and saw him frown. She was well aware that he was calculating the expense. “I could go and you and Pleasant could return to Sarasota,” she suggested.

“Absolutely not,” Gunther thundered. “The very idea of you traveling alone…”

“Or you could continue as my guests and arrive back in Wisconsin in two weeks,” Levi suggested. “That way you will only encounter the expense of the return trip. In the meantime, I assure you that Caleb will be quite well-provided for and perhaps have the time to consider the error of his actions. The family I spoke of is Amish. The woman is a close friend of Miss Benson’s.”