Emily's Fortune Read Online Free PDF Page B

Ready would say: “The wrong sort of people might be looking for her.”
    Mrs. Aim would ask: “So how can she hide until she gets to Redbud?”
    And before Emily could think what Mrs. Fire might answer, Jackson grabbed her arm.
    â€œCome on,” he said, and pulled her back to the barn. There he crumpled the newspaper and hid it under the hay.
    â€œHere’s what we’ll do,” he said, taking a pair ofsheep shears off a hook on the wall. “I’ll cut your hair short to make you look like a boy, and you can have one of my shirts, my cap, and a pair of britches.”
    â€œBut…but it’s all you have!” Emily said, looking at the small parcel he carried under his arm, knowing it could not hold much more than that.
    â€œIt’s all right,” said Jackson. “You shared your lunch with me, didn’t you? When the Child Catchers get me again, they’ll give me another set. They always give you more clothes, new or not, when they send you off to a different family.” He held up the shears. “Ready? Should we do it?”
    Oh, dear!
Emily thought.
If only the neighbor women were here
.
    â€œIf she looks like a boy, it might keep the lawyers from finding her and giving her the money,” Mrs. Ready might say worriedly.
    â€œBut if people know who she is and she’s traveling alone, isn’t she putting herself in danger?” Mrs. Aim might ask.
    And Emily felt sure she knew what Mrs. Fire wouldsay: “Then let her look like a boy till she gets to Redbud, and her aunt will sort it out.”
    She had to trust someone, and one thing she did know: Aunt Hilda had invited her to come and live with her before she knew anything about the ten million dollars. And Jackson, despite his teasing, had been her friend too before he knew about her fortune.

    Might as well get it over with.
    â€œReady,” she said, taking off her bonnet…. She sat down on a wooden box. “Aim,” she said…. And then, holding perfectly still, “Fire.”
    Jackson took the shears and began.
    Snip, snip, snip
, went the shears. Locks of brown hair began falling down around Emily’s shoulders.
Snip, snip, snip
, the shears went again. Around her head, behind her ears, across her forehead.
Snip, snip…snip, snip
…When Jackson had finished, Emily’s head felt very cool indeed, and when she ran her fingers through her hair, all her curls were gone. She swallowed.
    â€œOkay. Now the clothes,” said Jackson. “Here.” He opened his parcel, and out fell a pair of britches and a shirt without a collar. He gave them both to Emily, as well as the cap on his head.
    â€œI’ve got to go help the innkeeper if I want any extra for supper tonight,” he said. “Change into my clothes,and when you come out, I’m going to call you Eli.”
    And Jackson went away.
    Emily slipped off her dress and petticoat and put them and her bonnet at the bottom of her carpetbag. Then she put on Jackson’s faded yellow shirt. It wasn’t exactly clean. She pulled on his britches. They were rough and scratchy, but they fit. A pair of blue suspenders hung from the waistband, and she slipped them over her shoulders. Her own socks and shoes were gray, so they did not seem to matter. Finally she put on Jackson’s cap. Then she left her bag and Rufus’s box and started for the inn.
    The innkeeper was looking around. “Here, lad!” he called when he saw her. “Could you carry this hatbox into the parlor for the lady in the red dress?”
    Emily was relieved that he mistook her for a boy. “Sure,” she said. She took the large hatbox from the innkeeper and followed the woman in the red dress into the tavern and over to the parlor.
    â€œThank you, son,” said the woman, giving Emily a nickel. “Just set it there on the table.”
    Emily dropped the nickel in the pocket of herbritches. On her way out