Free Finding Grace: A Novel by Sarah Pawley Page A

a little
wash stand with soap and a bucket of water to wash her hands. As
primitive as it would have been to some, she was amazed that such a
thing existed. She wondered what happened when the train was
moving, but right away she chastised herself for such a dirty
thought. The train whistle blew, and the cars began moving as she
made her way back to her seat.
    As she sat back down, another basic urge
began to rumble through her - in her stomach. She hadn't eaten
anything since noon, for she'd run off before supper, and now her
hunger was quite strong. But what could she do? She'd heard of
dining cars, and she was sure there was one on this train, but she
was completely ignorant of how to get there. Besides, there would
probably be ladies and gentleman travelers there, and they would
not want to see a poor little country girl like her. So she sat in
her seat, the car dim now with the night outside, and only a small
light shining above the doorway. She leaned against the window and
tried to rest, for now she found herself getting sleepy as well as
hungry. She was just about to doze off when the porter came by, and
she jumped nervously when he stopped close to her. She looked up at
him as he reached out to her, handing her a blanket.
    "This will keep you warm for the night. And
I thought you might be hungry as well, so I brought you something
from the store room." He handed her an apple, and she smiled
gratefully at him.
    "God bless you, sir," she said sweetly.
    He nodded and smiled back.
    "It's just part of my job, Miss. If you need
anything else, just let me know."
    He moved quietly away, leaving her alone,
and after savoring the sweet taste of her little meal, she pulled
the blanket over herself and let the swaying of the train lull her
to sleep.
     
     

Chapter 5
    “ A
Journey ”
     
    The sun shined against her eyes. She opened
them slowly, blinking against the harsh light of day. Then, looking
out the window, her eyes widened in awe at the new world before
her.
    It was the third day of her journey now. So
far, everything she’d seen outside her window had been somewhat
familiar. High rolling green hills, low lying valleys…thick
clusters of dark woods. But this morning brought a very great
change.
    She had never seen such flat plains…vast
stretches of land crowded with row upon row of young, bright green
corn stalks and mounds of soybeans. The fields seemed to go on
forever, reaching out toward a vast expanse of blue horizon. The
land was only broken here and there by a bright red barn or a
pretty white farmhouse. She'd never seen such wide open spaces.
Though she had lived her whole life on a farm, this was nothing at
all like the cropland back home.
    The porter walked by, bidding her good
morning as he went. He was such a kind man, bringing her fruit to
keep her from going hungry, and inquiring after her to see if she
needed anything. When they’d changed trains the day before, he’d
helped her along, kind gentleman that he was. This morning, she
asked only a question of him.
    "Sir, where are we now?"
    He smiled politely. "We've just come into
Illinois, Miss. We'll be in Chicago by this afternoon."
    Jack had once described all of this to her
in a letter. But until now, she had never been able to quite
picture it. As the hours went by she kept watching through the
window, seeing how things gradually changed from open farmland to
small towns, and then to little villages. There were other changes
around her that she didn't much notice, like the number of
passengers that grew around her with each stop. She was too busy
gazing out the window to pay them much attention. Soon the
buildings began to be closer and closer together, and they began to
rise up in height until some of the structures cast shadows on the
windows, forcing her to crane her neck up so she could see the roof
tops.
    Her mouth gaped at everything she saw. She
was so mesmerized that when the train was suddenly thrown into
darkness, she let out a cry of