Free Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson Page A

and he wanted to be back there, back there with Nina. At least at home, he knew how to do things. He knew if he needed to, he could go over to Nina’s house for dinner. Or he could walk to Ten Tables restaurant, where the owner was a friend of his mother’s. There he’d be pulled into the kitchen and fed something yummy. Here in Bar Harbor, there was no one to help him.
    Another woman came into the room. She walked behind Jack and sat at a computer at the far end of the table. The mom next to him greeted her. “Hey there. Was work crazy this weekend?”
    “You know it! You wouldn’t believe what happened yesterday,” said the woman.
    Jack recognized that voice — it was the woman from Sherman’s! The one who had seen him steal the elephant! The one who knew his name.
    Jack huddled closer to the computer, turning his back toward both women. “I’m glad summer is over,” the woman continued. “I’m tired of the crowds.”
    He held his breath. Would she mention a boy who had shoplifted? And if she did, would the mother suddenly look over, wonder who this kid was, sitting here in the middle of a Tuesday morning?
    Jack wondered if he should try to sneak out another way. Was there another way? Or maybe he should move back into the book stacks until the woman left.
    “I’m so tired of the restaurant business,” said the woman.
    Restaurant?
Jack got up the courage to look at the woman and let out a long breath. She wasn’t the woman from Sherman’s. She was the waitress from Geddy’s. Laurie.
    So it wasn’t so close a call after all. But he knew one thing. He’d go crazy if he stayed in Bar Harbor.
    He searched for directions from Bar Harbor to Jamaica Plain and pulled down the arrow to walking time. According to the site, it would take him three days and thirteen hours to walk home. Of course, he’d have to stop and sleep. But still, he could probably be home in a week. He had his sleeping bag. Who knew — maybe he would even get brave enough to hitchhike.
    But wait! The Island Explorer! The free bus didn’t just go around the island. It went over to the mainland, too. Jack typed in
island explorer,
and sure enough, there was a bus leaving the village green for Trenton every half hour. Trenton was the town just on the other side of the bridge, but it was a start. He’d bring Mrs. Olson her milk, collect his things, and be on the mainland by tonight.
    He searched for
food pantry bar harbor,
and a link popped right up. It was in the basement of the YWCA — and it was only two doors down! He remembered passing the sign.
    He thanked the librarian, grabbed the vegetables, and went next door. To access the food pantry, he had to go around to the back of the brick YWCA building. There were discarded screens and a Dumpster back there, but there was also a little parking lot, making it easier, Jack figured, for people to pick up food without feeling like everyone in the whole world knew they needed it.
    According to the website, Tuesday morning was one of the few days that the pantry was open, and there were lots of older people and mothers with little children waiting to sign in. When it was Jack’s turn, he explained that the vegetables were from Mrs. Olson and that she needed powdered milk.
    “She’ll need lots more than that,” said the man, pulling out the vegetables and placing them in plastic bins, “now that the growing season is over. Come on,” he said. “We’ll refill her bag.”
    Jack followed the man around as he filled the bag with pancake mix and syrup, spaghetti, toilet paper, and canned tuna, turkey, and salmon.
    “We won’t need to give her canned vegetables; she’ll have her own. But we’ll throw in some of this fruit cocktail.”
    Jack knew he’d be tempted to take a can of something from Mrs. Olson’s bag on his walk back to her farm, but he wouldn’t let himself do that. The pantry was counting on her having this food. And who knew how long this food had to last her? He was