Haymarket: A Sharlie Adventure Short Story Read online

screaming and I was too. I held onto Dad, and he picked me up in his arms and squeezed me tight. He was looking up at the balloon and watching big pieces of it float down and he kept them from landing on us by moving this way and that.

  Then the balloon was completely on fire and all at once we started to go down. I held as tight to Dad as I could, and he held onto me and onto the basket we were standing in.

  In no time the basket hit the ground. I couldn’t help it! I let go of Dad as the basket tipped over, and I went flying. I landed hard on something and then got tangled up in something and then I dropped the bag with the apples and pears. My arm hurt but I reached out and found one apple and put it back in the bag. I heard lots of screams, but I couldn’t see anything and then I figured out I was under a cloth that had been on a table and I was all wrapped up in it.

  It was hard getting untangled from that large tablecloth. The screaming was still going on, and someone was yelling for people to get out of the way. And then some sirens started. I finally stood up to see if I could see Dad. But there were lots of people in the way, running in different directions, and I wasn’t even sure where the balloon had been.

  I think I was near the stall where we had gotten the apples and pears. But the shade over it was gone and so was the woman who had given us the change. I was trying to keep away from the people. They were bumping into each other and calling out names and I moved back and back until I bumped into a building and found an open door.

  It was a meat market. We hadn’t been to that store and I didn’t know where I could be. The screaming was going on and as I looked out I could see ambulances arriving. No one was in the store. I stayed there so I didn’t get mixed up in the crowd of people. I couldn’t see Dad anywhere but I thought he would come for me.

  Soon the ambulances were leaving and more were coming. Then the crowds went away. The sun was going down. A man came back to the store and asked me what I was doing. I told him I was waiting for my dad. So he didn’t say anything more until he told me it was time to close the store and I had to leave. So I went out onto the brick walkway where the apple stall had been to wait for Dad.

  I was really cold. Dad didn’t come. No one came. The crowds were gone. The man left the store and locked the door.

  I was hungry so I ate the apple. And I found some more apples on the ground near the apple stall and put them in my bag. I was thirsty too but I didn’t know where to find water. I also needed to go to the bathroom and didn’t know where one was.

  After waiting a little longer, in the dark, I went over to the edge of the building and squatted down and peed. I knew I shouldn’t but I didn’t know what else to do.

  And then I looked around. There were no people. A part of the basket I had been in with Dad was on its side across the shopping area. Yellow tape kept people from going there. A policeman was walking back and forth near it. But I didn’t want to bother him. And he seemed so far away!

  There was no sign of Dad. I had no idea where he might be, unless he went home. Maybe he thought I had gone home and he went there to find me! That made sense! He figured out I had gone home and had gone there to find me! I should have gone home sooner! I shouldn’t have waited in the store for him!

  Now that I had it figured out, all I had to do was to find the subway. I knew where it was, back near the first shops we had visited, back beyond the hats and the cloth and the smell of fish….

  I started walking that way. I thought it was that way, though everything was dark. I remembered all the things we had seen, so I kept walking the way we had come. The stalls were mostly closed and the open ones were empty of whatever they had had in them earlier in the day. But I could remember what those things were and I kept walking.

  I was cold and I was shivering. I didn’t really feel scared but it was very quiet in the square and very dark. I kept going until I passed the last stall, which still smelled of fish. Then I went a little farther in that direction, and a little farther, and even farther.

  I turned this way, and then I turned the other way. I was looking for the sign that said Haymarket.

  A few people passed me, some going this way, some that. I kept out of their way and I kept walking. I was sure I knew where the subway was.

  And then I saw it. Haymarket.

  I went in to the place with the stairwell. I didn’t know what to do. Then I saw a man buy something – it looked like a small coin – at a booth and put it into something and the big metal bar moved and he went into the place where the stairwells went down to the subway. So I went to the booth and bought a little coin – a token – with the money in my pocket. I had trouble getting the token in the slot but when I did the metal bar moved and I pushed it out of my way and sent down the stairs.

  Then I didn’t know what to do. The trains were coming and going and every time I decided to get on one, the doors closed. I needed to be faster.

  Then a man came up to me. He had on a big black coat and looked very warm. He said, “What are you doing here, little girl?”

  I said, “I am going home on the subway to see my dad. And mom and baby.”

  “Where do you live?” he asked.

  “Down there,” I said, pointing down the tracks.

  “Where down there?” he asked. “Do you know the name of the town you live in?”

  “It’s on a street near Newton,” I said.

  “Then you need to get on the right train,” he said, “or you will end up in the wrong town. Now tell me, why are you here all by yourself?”

  “My dad went home while I was waiting for him in the store,” I said.

  “What store?” he asked.

  “A meat store. Near where the balloon caught on fire,” I said.

  “What balloon? What do you mean?” he asked.

  “We went up in a balloon and the fire caught it on fire,” I said. “It was near where you get ice cream.”

  “You’d better come with me,” he said. “We need to see if we can find out where you belong.”

  “I belong with my dad,” I said. “And he went home on the train. I need to go tell him where I am!”

  “Do you even know when to get off the train?” he asked.

  “Yes, at the parking lot. That’s where our car is. It’s not far from our house.”

  “Well, stay here,” he said. “I’ll go get a policeman and he can help us get you home.”

  But that didn’t seem like a good idea to me. The policeman didn’t know where we lived. I needed to get on the train.

  So when the next train came, I got on it. It was not very full. I sat down and ate an apple. I kept looking out the window so I would see when I was out of the tunnel. I listened to the man call the names of the towns. I got drowsy. I woke myself up. I got drowsy again. I fell asleep.

  Gentle arms picked me up. A man in a uniform handed me to another man in a uniform. They took me into an office with a desk and a phone. They called the police. The police came. They talked a long time. They put me in the police car. They asked me my name. They asked me where I lived. They took me home.

  Dad wasn’t there, but Mom and Sissy were. Mom grabbed me and hugged me tight. I was very tired and she put me in my pajamas and made me brush my teeth and I got into bed. But I couldn’t go to sleep before I found out about Dad!

  “That’s a story for another day,” said Mom. “But he’s ok. He’s in the hospital and he’ll be home tomorrow. And then he can tell you all about it. I talked to him on the phone and he knows you’re home and you’re ok.”

  “Of course I’m ok, Mom!” I said. And I fell asleep.

  Did you enjoy this story? Find more with Peg Lewis’ full-length novel, Triple Divide. Now on Amazon.

 
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