Chapter 16

• Chapter Sixteen
• It felt like they had spent a full day on the train on their way to New York. Michael thought he was still dreaming when he woke up, but it was the coolest dream ever. He didn’t even bother to ask how he got there; he was just excited about being on a train. He kept looking out the window and making zooming sounds whenever they passed something, when he got bored with that he ran around. Maria was exhausted, but she wasn’t about to let Michael wonder around alone. Children were kidnapped in the strangest places, and knowing Michael, he might just decide it would be cool jumping off a speeding train like he’d seen in the western cowboy movies.
• She was relived, but still a little reserved when the conductor offered to baby sit while she slept. Of course, like a paranoid parent, she pinched his wallet and copied all his details before she put it back in his pocket—something she had to learn to get her money back from Ricky. She was glad he was an old man, or he could have felt her fingers. But Michael provided a good distraction, excitedly asking questions about trains, the conductor was only too happy to answer, he too loved trains and from what she’d gathered he had worked on trains for close to thirty two years.