Frank hadn’t been gone more than a few minutes, and now the wind was howling.
The four Aldens walked to the front windows of the bus station-lunchroom. The sky was darker than ever, and the dust was whirling around in the air.
“Here comes the rain,” Benny exclaimed. And sure enough, the raindrops began to fall. The big drops fell slowly at first, and Violet watched them hit the windowpanes. Then the drops began to fall faster and harder. Rain pounded on the windows.
“I wonder where those kids are,” said Henry.
Violet replied, “Well, wherever they are, they are soaking wet. I know Frank said not to let them in, but just the same, I think we ought to.”
Benny laughed. “We don’t know their names. What should we call? ‘Boys? Hey, boys!’ ‘Hello, you boys!’ Or, ‘Come here, you kids!’”
Just then there was a knocking at the door. It sounded very loud, even over the howling wind.
Benny said, “I don’t care! You can’t just leave somebody outside in a storm like this. You can’t!”
Henry went to the door and unbolted it. The wind tore it out of his hand and two very wet boys stumbled in.
The door banged and Henry struggled to pull it shut. Now he was nearly as wet as the boys who’d just come in.
Water dripped in a puddle around each boy. Their hair hung down over their eyes. Water ran from the backpacks they were wearing.
“Thanks very much,” said one of the boys. “It’s a trifle damp outside.”
“So we see,” Henry replied. “That’s why we let you in. You know we weren’t supposed to let you in. Frank didn’t want anyone to come in.”
“Yes, we know,” the boy in the blue shirt said. “But Frank is sure all mixed up about us.”
The boy in the red shirt said, “Don’t worry about us. We’ll get right out as soon as the storm is over. It won’t last long.”
Jessie said, “I wonder if Frank got to his house before the rain started.”
“Sure,” said the older boy. “He had lots of time. Anyway, his house is just as safe as the bus station.”
Benny thought to himself how queer it was that the boy didn’t sound angry at Frank. He sounded almost worried about him.
These boys were not strangers at Plainville Junction. They knew too much about Frank. They were not the new neighbors the old man on the bus had mentioned. The Aldens would just have to keep their ears open. Somehow they were sure they’d find out who Frank’s new neighbors were.
By now Benny was really curious about the boys. They seemed restless and did not sit down. The Aldens watched the older boy wander all around the bus station, even behind the counter where the refrigerator was. He seemed to glance at an envelope.
“Hey, Troy,” he said, talking to his brother. “Guess what? Frank got a letter from Pickett’s Perfect Paints. He hasn’t even opened it.”
“Why should he, Jud?” returned Troy. “Frank probably knows what is in it.”
The boys were right, Benny thought suddenly. Frank had had that telephone call. That was how he had learned what the letter was about. Now Benny was sure the call must have been from someone at the paint factory.
Rain beat against the window and Violet said, “Look at it pour. It hasn’t rained so hard in weeks. Now I know what Grandfather meant about today being a weather breeder. Bad weather.”
Off in the distance the Aldens could hear the thunder roar. The lightning made the sky bright for a moment. Then came the thunder. Benny looked at Jessie just as one bright flash came.
The thunder rumbled again.
“It can’t rain this hard very long,” Henry said. “I think the storm will be over soon.”
One of the boys stared out of the windows. “No funnel cloud,” he said. “It’s a bad storm, but it’s no tornado.”
Just as he spoke, lightning lit up the sky and the bus station. A great clap of thunder sounded, followed by a crash.
“That was close!” Benny said. “Too close!”
“Something got hit, that’s sure,” the boy in the red shirt said.
“We’re safe,” Benny said. “Or as safe as anyone can be in a thunder shower.”
“But that crash was awfully close,” Jessie said in a worried voice. “I hope lightning didn’t strike a tree nearby.”
Henry said, “Who would have thought this day would have changed so quickly? First a beautiful blue sky without a cloud, then suddenly a black sky with nothing but clouds?”
Jessie said, “We’re dry anyway. Come on, Violet. Let’s sit on this bench away from the windows.”
“Yes,” agreed Henry. “You do that.”
But one of the boys peered out into the storm. Then he whistled. “Hey, it was a tree that got hit. The very tree we were lying under. Wow! Are we lucky we’re safe inside. Thanks again for letting us in.”
“You’re welcome,” said Benny politely. “You have just as much right to be here as we do.”
The storm seemed to leave as quickly as it had come. The lightning was not as bright, the thunder not as loud. The wind stopped lashing the trees.
In a short time, the sky became brighter.
Henry went to the window and announced, “The worst of the storm is over now. It’s hardly raining at all. In a few minutes we can go outside and see what happened.”
The two strange boys, Troy and Jud, shook themselves and pushed their hair back. They picked up their backpacks.
“We don’t want to be here when Frank comes back,” the big boy said. “No sense in making him mad all over again. He’s going to be upset enough about losing that big oak tree. It was a beauty.”
“Yeah,” the other boy said. “It isn’t fair. Frank loves trees. He knows all the trees and birds and plants around here.”
“Not like some people who don’t care at all,” the boy in the red shirt said.
Henry opened the door slowly, and they all went out. Branches and twigs were scattered about, blown down by the wind.
“The rain’s stopped now,” Benny said. “Say, how good everything smells. Not the way it did when we got off the bus.”
The boys laughed, and one said, “We know all about that.”
The Aldens walked around to the side of the bus station. They had to step over the deep puddles.
Jessie was the first one to get a good look at what had happened. “Oh, yes! You were right,” she said, looking at the big boy. “Lightning did strike that tree. And it’s taken some wires down with it!”
“Stand back,” Henry said. “Don’t go near any fallen wires.”
The big boy said, “Those are telephone wires, not wires for electricity.”
“Sure,” said Benny. “The lights didn’t go off in the bus station.”
“No telephone!” said Violet. “We can’t make any calls. And no one can call us.”
“Well,” Benny said cheerfully, “nobody but Frank knows we’re here.”
The four Aldens and the two boys walked all around the station. The smaller boy picked up one of the bird feeders and put it carefully back in the tree.
“What time is it, Henry?” Jessie asked.
Henry looked at his watch. “It’s half past twelve. That Oakdale bus is really late.”
Benny said, “Frank told us that the bus would be late. He said we’d have to wait an hour. But it’s more than that now.”
Benny and Henry looked out toward the road in front of the station. They looked to the right and left. They could not see any traffic. No cars, no trucks, no bus.
“What do you think of that, Henry?” Benny asked. “Not a car in sight.”
“Maybe people are waiting to make sure the storm is over,” Henry suggested. “That would be smart.” But he thought to himself that something was wrong.
The two boys said, “We’ve got something to do. You kids stay at the station. See you later.” And they disappeared down the road.
“I thought they wanted the Oakdale bus, too,” Benny said slowly. “Do you think they changed their minds?”
“I don’t know,” Henry said, shrugging. “There’s a lot we don’t know about this bus trip.”
The Aldens went back into the station building to wait for the bus. |