THE AFTERMATH
Chapter Six
As the miles sped by, Rose
fingered the money she had tucked away into her pocketbook. She snapped it
closed as a thought came to her. How hard could getting off the train and
taking one in the opposite direction be? Not really hard, Rose guessed.
"I need to excuse
myself." Rose stood.
"Just wait, Rose," her
mother instructed. "We are pulling into the next station. You may powder
your nose there."
Rose waited and walked off the
train when it stopped. "Do you need anything, Cal, Mother?" she
asked.
Ruth and Cal shook their heads.
"We’ll stay here and discuss wedding plans. You go ahead."
Rose knew that this was the
perfect station to switch back to New York at because the next leg of the
journey would be an hour-and-a-half-long express to just outside Philadelphia.
Rose walked up to the ticket
window and asked for a one-way ticket to New York. She paid for it and boarded
the train in the opposite direction. The train sped off, with Rose on it.
*****
Meanwhile, Cal and Ruth were
beginning to wonder where Rose was. The call came for all-aboard and soon the
train was underway. Rose had paid a porter to come to Cal and Ruth and tell
them that Rose would be there in a moment; she had to sit down further away
because the train was starting up. Cal and Ruth were satisfied with that, and
got back to wedding plans.
As they came to a stop more than
an hour later, they realized that Rose hadn’t returned. "Where did she
go?" Cal was exasperated.
Ruth shook her head. "You
don’t suppose she went back to New York?" she queried.
"She must have--to get that
dirty rat out of prison!" Cal exclaimed. He rushed over to the ticket
window. "Two tickets to New York City, quickly!" Cal demanded.
"When does the next train leave?"
The ticket man handed Cal the
tickets. "You just missed one by about ten minutes, sir. The next one
doesn’t leave for two hours, at least."