Running Out of Time Read Online Free PDF

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    cracked—"I love him very much, but I think he's forgotten this isn't 1840. At first I thought he was protecting me, not letting me speak of, of anything else. Now . . . it's different."
    Jessie put her hand on Ma's shoulder and it struck her that that was something Ma would have done to comfort Jessie.
    "Ma, that's all right. I can go. I'm good at being brave. Remember?" Jessie's voice sounded scared to her, but Ma smiled.
    "Yes. I can count on you."
    Ma gave her a package of things to carry and told her what she had planned. Ma thought a man named Isaac Neeley could help. He had opposed the founding of Clifton, saying it was unethical. He lived in Indianapolis.
    "I have to walk to Indianapolis?" Jessie asked. She knew Indiana's capital was about thirty or forty miles away.
    "No," Ma said. "If we're lucky, you won't have to walk very far at all. You need to get out of Clifton and find a pay phone to call Mr. Neeley. I've written his number on a piece of paper in this package."
    Ma explained a little more—what a phone looked like, how a phone worked, where to put the money. Jessie listened, but it seemed too incredible. How could she stand by a box just outside Clifton and talk to someone in Indianapolis, forty miles away? It was crazy.
    "Do you understand?" Ma asked.
    Jessie nodded. But she thought that if she had to talk to this Mr. Neeley, she'd have to walk to Indianapolis first.
    "What do I tell him?" Jessie asked.
    "Tell him there's a diphtheria epidemic in Clifton and the authorities are refusing to treat the patients with anything
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    but 1840s medicine," Ma said. "Tell him—tell him children are going to die if they don't get help."
    The words stunned Jessie.
    "Katie? Betsy?" She almost wailed.
    "I don't know. I hope I'm wrong and they all get well. But Jefferson Webster and Abby Harlow are very, very ill, and some of the others may be as bad soon. I'm only telling you this so you know how serious it is—many people died of diphtheria before there was medicine to treat it. And this appears to be a particularly virulent strain. You were all supposed to be vaccinated against diphtheria, but Dr. Fister must have lied to us about that."
    "But why?" Jessie asked. "Why would anyone want children to die?"
    Ma shook her head.
    "That's one of the things I don't understand either. At first, everything was done to be authentic—but this is too much. I wondered if the world outside Clifton had changed, and there isn't medicine available anymore. But I'm almost certain Susan Seward is getting treatment."
    "Because Mr. Seward is on Miles Clifton's side?"
    Ma nodded grimly.
    "Jessie, I'm sending you into a puzzle. It's been twelve years since I've been outside Clifton myself, and Mr. Clifton's men act so strangely. . . . I've tried to figure everything out, but I can't. Maybe Mr. Neeley will be able to explain. I just know we can't let Abby or Jefferson or—or Katie—or anyone die when there is medicine out there."
    The lamp flickered, and Jessie heard an owl far away. She tried to think of the words to reassure Ma, but they wouldn't come. All Jessie could think of was more questions.
    "How will Mr. Neeley get the medicine to Clifton?" Jessie asked. "If Mr. Clifton and his men won't let him in—"
    "Oh, he won't bring it himself. He'll call the board of health and cause a big fuss." Ma sounded more confident, as though she was sure she could trust Mr. Neeley. She even chuckled a little. "And, if I had him figured right, he'll probably call a news conference, too."
    Jessie wanted to ask what a news conference was, but she had begun to feel impatient to begin her journey. It was like the time she'd walked the log across Crooked Creek—she knew if she waited too long she might chicken out. So she asked a more important question.
    "How do I get out of Clifton?"
    Ma smiled.
    "When you children began playing on this rock, Miles Clifton's men got so upset that a couple of us decided we'd better look at