BOOK30-Chapter 1 A New Friend

尘世浮萍

棚车少年

The Alden children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny, were in the supermarket shopping for groceries. Henry, who was fourteen, was pushing the cart. Twelve-year-old Jessie was holding the grocery list.

The Greenfield supermarket was crowded. Families went up and down the aisles filling their carts. Benny, the youngest of the Aldens, watched the other shoppers and the food they were buying with interest.

“All this shopping is making me awfully hungry,” Benny said. He was six. He looked hopefully at his ten-year-old sister, Violet, who was in charge of getting the things off the shelves as Jessie read the list. “Could we get some peanut butter, Violet?”

Violet laughed softly. “Oh, Benny, I’m sure there’s plenty of peanut butter at home. Mrs. McGregor always keeps it on hand for you.”

“But we might need more,” said Benny. “Maybe it’s on the list.”

Jessie, who was very organized, looked at the paper in her hand. “It’s not on the list, Benny. But we can get a little more, I think.”

“Oh, good,” said Benny. He hurried ahead to the peanut butter. He studied all the different jars carefully, then chose one and took it back to the cart.

“It sure is crowded here today,” said Henry. “Good thing we’re almost done.”

“Don’t forget the flour, Violet,” Jessie said. She looked down at her list as Henry pushed the cart around to the end of the aisle.

“Oops!” he exclaimed, turning quickly sideways. He had almost run into another shopping cart.

“Wow!” cried Benny. “Look at all that food!”

“I’m sorry,” said Henry to the sturdy, brown-haired girl who was pushing the very full cart. She was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved blue shirt. She looked as if she were Jessie’s age. Her dark brown, chin-length hair was pulled back with a blue headband.

The girl smiled, and her blue eyes crinkled. “That’s all right,” she said. She looked at Benny. “It is a lot of food, isn’t it? We’re new in town, and I’m doing some grocery shopping for my parents.”

“Do you have a big family?” asked Benny. “With lots of brothers and sisters? These are my sisters and my brother, and we have a dog named Watch.”

“We don’t have a dog,” said the girl. “But I like them.”

“Oh, Benny,” said Jessie apologetically. “Hi. My name is Jessie Alden. This is Henry, and Violet. And Benny, of course.”

“Hi. I’m glad to meet you. My name is Beth Simon.”

“Welcome to Greenfield, Beth,” said Violet.

“Thank you very much,” said Beth. “I like it here already. I hope we can stay a while —this time.”

“Why wouldn’t you stay here in Greenfield?” asked Benny.

“My parents are consultants for new companies. We have to move a lot,” she said.

“It must be fun seeing lots of new places,” said Jessie.

Beth paused. “Well, it is. But it’s not always easy to meet people.”

The Aldens and Beth had been walking slowly down the aisle as they talked. At the end of the aisle was a community bulletin board. Benny had stopped in front of it and was studying the signs.

“Help the . . . Help the ho . . .” he read aloud as Beth and Henry pushed the shopping carts closer.

“Hospital,” said Jessie. “The sign says that they’re building a new wing on the Greenfield hospital. They’re trying to raise money for it.”

“How?” asked Benny.

“They’re asking people to donate money,” explained Jessie.

“Can anybody give money?” asked Benny. “Could we?”

“If we had some to give them, we could,” said Henry. He stopped the cart and looked at the other Aldens. “Maybe we could do that.”

“What do you mean?” Benny asked.

“We could earn money to give to the hospital,” Henry said.

“Yes,” said Jessie. “We could hold a car wash.”

“Or baby-sit,” chimed in Violet.

“Or have a bake sale,” said Benny, his eyes twinkling at the thought.

Henry grinned at his little brother. “Those all sound like good ideas.”

“Well,” said Beth. “Why not do them all?”

“What do you mean?” asked Henry. “How could we do that?”

Beth turned her cart up the next aisle and Henry did the same with his. They walked slowly, pushing their carts as they talked and shopped.

“Well, where I used to live, my friends and I made money by having a helper service,” said Beth. “People could call us for whatever they needed—baby-sitting, car washing, leaf-raking, or dog walking. . . .”

“Or errands or cleaning or whatever,” said Jessie excitedly. “What a great idea, Beth.”

Beth’s cheeks turned pink. “Thank you,” she said.

Violet spoke up. “Why don’t you work with us, since you thought of it? It would be lots of fun.”

Beth hesitated for a minute. Then she said, “I’d love to.”

“I’d still rather have a bake sale,” said Benny.

“Maybe we still will,” said Violet, smiling.

“We need to make posters to advertise,” said Jessie. “Beth, could you come over tomorrow? We could all make them together.”

Again Beth hesitated. “I . . . think so. Okay!”

“Oh, good,” said Benny. “You can meet Watch. And Grandfather. And Mrs. McGregor —she’s our housekeeper. And you can see our boxcar.”

The Aldens couldn’t help but smile at Beth’s puzzled look. They explained how they had lived in a boxcar before they’d come to Greenfield to live with their grandfather Alden. They were orphans, and had run away when they’d heard that Grandfather was a mean person. When he had found them and their boxcar, they’d realized how kind he was and how silly they’d been to run away. They had gone to live with him, and they’d been happy there ever since.

“And Grandfather moved the boxcar so it’s behind our house and we can visit it whenever we want,” Benny said.

“I can hardly wait to see your boxcar, and to meet Watch, and to make posters,” said Beth.

“Where do you live?” asked Henry.

When Beth told him, he said, “Good. That’s not far from where we live. You’ll be able to get to our house quickly, especially if you have a bicycle.”

“I do,” said Beth. “Should I bring anything?”

“We have plenty of art supplies,” said Violet. “Can you come around ten o’clock?”

“I think so,” said Beth.

“Who do we give the money to?” asked Benny suddenly.

“The hospital,” said Violet.

“We should find out who’s in charge at the hospital,” said Jessie.

“We can stop by there after we drop off the groceries,” Henry said.

They stopped at the end of the next aisle. Jessie consulted the grocery list. “That’s everything,” she announced.

They waited while Henry explained to Beth how to get to their house. Then Beth looked at her very full grocery cart. “I’d better hurry. I still have some more shopping to do. I hope the grocery store can deliver all this!”

“If we had our errand service, we could do it!” Henry said, laughing. “But the store delivers.”

“Good,” said Beth. She waved cheerfully and pushed her cart back up the aisle. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” echoed the Aldens.

They paid for their groceries and started to walk home.

“Beth is nice,” said Violet.

“And that was a great idea she had,” said Henry.

“I think so, too,” said Jessie. “I hope Beth has fun doing it with us. For a minute, I didn’t think she was going to agree to join us.”

“She’s probably just a little shy,” said Violet, who could understand because she was a little shy herself.

“That’s true. And it’s a little scary to move to a new place,” Jessie said.

“This will be an adventure,” said Benny. “Having lots of jobs and making money for the new hospital wing.”

The Aldens didn’t know it then, but this new project would be not just an adventure, but a mystery.

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