Dutch's Boy

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

The next morning Ma hurried Harry off to the train station before Dutch was due. There would be no stopping his father’s rage if somehow Harry and he managed to cross paths. Harry could tell by the look in Ma’s eyes that she still hadn’t quite puzzled out what she would tell Dutch, but like Reb, she knew it was time for Harry to go.

“Now listen to me. I heard that they are letting people get on these damn trains with guns now. With guns! Can you even imagine such a thing?” Ma said in a panic.

His sister placed her hand over her mother’s unsteady ones and said, “Yeah, but they ain’t loaded, Ma. You only listen to half the story.” Harry’s sister glanced at him, giving him a look they both understood.

“Your gun ain’t loaded, is it, Harry? “ Ma was following him closely and practically yelling at him.

“Ma, the gun ain’t loaded. They take them all before you sit down; they are all put in some safe somewhere. Its fine and I’ll be fine,” Harry said. He pulled his ticket from his pocket and got in line to board the train, wishing his sister would drag their ma away so he could get on with the start of his new life.

“Heaven only knows if I’m doing the right thing, letting you go like this, Harry. But you’re twenty now and your daddy…He might never let you go, if only cuz he loves you so much.”

“Ma, I gotta go.” Harry leaned over and kissed his mother on the cheek. She grabbed him around the neck and pulled him close so that his new cowboy hat almost fell off. “Ma, come on. People are staring.” He looked around and could feel the familiar flush rise to his cheeks.

“I’ll miss you, Harry. Have fun and be careful out there,” his sister said, pulling at their mother so Harry could board the train.

“Will do,” he said with a wink. The whistle on the train sounded. Someone shouted “All aboard,” and the train started rolling. He watched his sister and ma from the doorway until they were little more than specks in the distance. “Here goes nothin’,” he said, making his way inside the train car. He walked up the aisle and peeked into the almost-empty compartments, nodding. He’d have his own; he just had to pick one.

It wasn’t until the train began to move that Harry was able to relax. He kept waiting to hear Dutch’s big, booming voice calling after him, and he settled only when the noise of the train blocked out his thoughts with its steady rhythm that almost lulled him into a trance.

His sister had slipped a note into his pocket when they had hugged at the platform and he could feel it now, tucked comfortingly inside his shirt pocket. He’d read it later like she had instructed, when he might feel a little lonesome. Reb had called earlier, wishing him luck.

The train began to pick up speed, and between the incessant motions and sounds, Harry fell asleep and began to dream.