Confessions of a Lab Rat

Chapter 29

A few hours later, the train comes to a halt.

"Are we there?" Paprika asks, rubbing at his eyes.

"Go back to sleep, kid," Kat says, but she tousles his hair playfully and I think I see a smile on her face.

Not quite a smile. Perhaps the ghost of a smile that was once there?

Then it disappears.

"How much farther to South Dakota?" I ask.

Beech looks at the watch around his wrist.

"Not long, Pepper."

Not long.

The words make my heart beat faster.

Not long.

"Wow," I say.

"What did I tell you?" Beech asks, putting his arm around me. "You're going to make-"

"Shhh..." Kat interrupts him.

"What?" I hiss.

"Be quiet!" she snaps. "Don't you hear that?"

We listen for a few seconds.

"Someone's coming," she says. "Hide!"

 Paprika squeezes himself behind some boxes and Beech follows after him.

I look around frantically for a place to hide.

"Hurry, Pepper," Beech whispers.

Kat jumps behind a stack of cleaning supplies.

Now I can hear the voices. I scramble for a hiding place, lowering myself into an empty shelf. My leg catches on a can of paint and it clatters to the floor.

The voices are discernable now.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Someone's making a ruckus in there."

Someone steps into the box car.

The shelf that's holding me creaks slightly under my weight.

From my hiding spot, I can see a pair of boots stop in front of Kat's red backpack. They pick it up and rummage through the contents.

My shelf creaks again. 'Please don't,' I pray silently, squeezing my eyes shut.

Another creak.

The shelf gives way in a sudden tumble of cans and boxes. I scream as my body is jolted forward into the stack of cleaning supplies and straight at Kat.

She screams to as I knock her over and we land in a heap of broken boards and cardboard boxes.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" the pair of boots appears in front of my face.

Kat shoves me off of her.

"What did you find, Gary?" a voice outside calls.

"It's just a couple of kids, Mike," the guy with the boots replies. He grabs my shoulder and hauls me to my feet.

The guy named Mike comes in and lifts Kat to her feet.

"Get your hand off me!" she screeches.

"Let's take them to my office," Gary says.

"No way," Kat shouts and tries to break free.

I feel like a deer in the headlights.

Gary and Mike pull us out of the box car and across the train yard.

My ribs hurt a little from my fall and I keep tripping, but Gary's tight grip on my arm keeps me upright.

They bring us to a small building and seat us in a room that must be Gary's "office".

It's a desk with a telephone and a lamp, a few pictures of children and a woman who must be his family.

Mike leaves us with Gary and closes the door.

I note the way Kat is slouched in her chair, her hands gripping the arms in white-knuckled rage. She catches my gaze and I receive the message.

'This is your fault.'

"Would you ladies like to explain why you were on that train without tickets or any sort of payment?" Gary asks.

"That's none of your business," Kat growls, her grip on the chair's arms becoming tighter.

"I believe it is," he replies. "I'll need to know your names and how old you are."

"I'm not telling you that," Kat says.

Gary sighs and taps his fingers on the desk.

He picks up the phone and dials a number.

"Hello?" he says. "This is Gary, from the train depot... Yeah, I have two kids in my office. We found them hiding on one of the box cars. Can you send someone to pick them up?...Yes... No... Okay, thank you. Goodbye."

Kat's eyes have gone wide, but her death grip on the seat remains.

There's nothing but silence in the office. The clock above Gary's head reads three thirty in the afternoon.

"What about you, Miss?" Gary asks, and it takes me a moment to realize he's addressing me. "You haven't said a word. Can you give me your name and age?"

I look at Kat. She shakes her head. I look back to Gary. He's looking straight into my eyes and I have to look down at my shoes.

I shake my head.

"Can you at least tell me how old you are?" he sighs.

"No," I say. "I-... I don't know."

"You don't know if you can tell me?" he asks.

"I don't know how old I am," I say.

His eyebrows come together in scrutiny.

"You don't have a birthday?"

"No," I say.

"What about your parents?"

Kat shakes her head harder.

I don't answer his question. The laces of my tan boots suddenly seem very interesting and my cheeks are hot.

Blue and red lights flash outside the window.

"Well, ladies," Gary says, standing up. "That's your ride."