Free Little Lion by Ann Hood

slaves!” Maisie shouted. “It’s immoral! These are human beings, you know, you can’t—”
    A strong hand clapped over her mouth from behind, silencing her. Another hand gripped her arm and dragged her, kicking, out of the yard and into the store.
    Once inside, she was released. She spun around and found Alexander Hamilton standing there.
    â€œAre you a slave trader?” she demanded.
    â€œMy boss Cruger is,” he said.
    â€œBut you must stop it. Did you see how sick those men are? How hungry?”
    Alexander set his violet-blue eyes on her, his face solemn.
    â€œDon’t you think I know that?” he said quietly. “I live here. I see how these poor men have to live and the work they have to do, while the rich men sit in their fancy houses on their mahogany chairs, eating French cheeses and drinking French wine. But Nicholas Cruger is my employer. And I need this job.”
    Maisie remembered what the man had told them last night. Alexander was an orphan, alone in the world.
    â€œStill,” she said.
    â€œSaint Croix is a neutral Danish port,” he continued. “Cargo can move through here without fussing with British laws, which tax everything that passes through there.”
    â€œCargo?” Maisie said. “They’re human beings. They have mothers and fathers and . . .” She stopped herself. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know that your mother died.”
    â€œWhat of it?” he asked angrily. “Do you believe that being an orphan dictates my life? That I’ll be sitting here on that stool forever?”
    â€œI just meant—”
    â€œYou just need to mind your own business,” he said. “And keep your mouth shut with all your opinions about how things should work here.”
    With that, he stormed off.

The Royal Danish-American Gazette
    â€œI hate Alexander Hamilton,” Maisie said when Felix met her outside Beekman and Cruger.
    â€œSure you do,” Felix said. He felt queasy after what he’d just seen. Of course he knew that people used to own slaves. He knew they treated slaves brutally. But he had never imagined anything like what he had witnessed out back.
    â€œYou okay?” Maisie asked gently. “You’re pale.”
    Tears welled up in Felix’s eyes. “I can’t stand how people treated one another,” he managed to say.
    â€œIt’s terrible,” Maisie said, wrapping her arm around her brother.
    â€œI want to go home,” Felix said through his tears.
    â€œWe are. There’s a ship tomorrow, and we’re going to be on it.”
    Felix freed himself from her grasp. “No!” he said. “I want to go back to Newport. I want it to be the twenty-first century, and I want Mom making dinner and you across the hall on the computer—”
    â€œAnd Dad across the world in Doha?” Maisie said.
    Felix took a deep breath. “I don’t want that, but that’s how it is, Maisie. And we have to get used to it.”
    â€œUsed to it?” Maisie said angrily. “I’ll never get used to it! I don’t want Mom and Dad to be divorced. I hate it!”
    Now Maisie was crying, and it was Felix’s turn to comfort her.
    â€œI’m not saying I like it,” he said softly as he patted her back. “I’m just saying we have to accept it.”
    â€œNo!” Maisie said even more adamantly than before.
    A shadow fell across them.
    â€œWhat’s wrong this time?” Alexander Hamilton said.
    Maisie glared at him. “Get lost!” she said. “You’re . . . you’re . . . disgusting!!”
    Alexander grinned. “Quite a temper on this one,” he said to Felix.
    â€œNothing is fair,” Maisie cried. “Not what’s going on out back or what’s going on in my family.”
    Alexander’s face grew serious. “You’re right,” he said.