Secrets of the Old Barn

Jan put both feet down to stop her bike. She stood for a minute looking down the hill she had just climbed. This was her third time up, and she needed to catch her breath. With a little sigh, she hopped back on her bike and was soon sailing downhill.

It was a hot day, the first of July. The sun made shimmers on the street. Jan relished the breeze fanning her cheeks and lifting her damp brown curls off her forehead.

She had gone on her bike ride to look her new neighborhood over. But even though coasting downhill was fun, she wished she had someone to ride bikes with her. This was her first day in the new house, and she had not met any new friends yet, and her twin sister, Julie, wouldn’t come with her. Julie was at home carefully arranging her things in her dresser drawers. Jan had all of her clothes put away in half-an-hour.

As she neared the bottom of the hill, another bike rider suddenly appeared on the cross road. He seemed to be thinking about something else. At any rate he did not see Jan flying straight toward him. She was going too fast to stop so she let out a yell. He looked up just in time to swerve away but Jan’s bike skidded. She lost her balance and fell, scraping her knee painfully.

The boy came over to where she was sitting on the pavement biting her lip. She was trying not to cry in front of him.

“Very sorry,” he said with a thick accent. “I think other thing.”

“Well, why don’t you watch where you’re going?” she asked hotly.

She saw his look of concern turn to anger. He bowed from the waist like a grown-up and walked stiffly away.

He looks Chinese, she thought, or Japanese maybe. New around here too, because he doesn’t speak English very well.

She watched him get on his bike and ride away. Already she felt sorry for her rude words.

She stood up slowly and brushed herself off. Her knee hurt, but it wasn’t bleeding very much. She got on her bike and pedaled around the curve toward home. A band-aid would feel good.

She was about to turn in her own driveway when she caught sight of a moving van down the street a couple of houses. Forgetting about her sore knee, she decided instead to ride by and see who was moving in. Just then a boy and girl came out of the front door. Each took a box from a man at the back of the truck.

They looked about her age so Jan rode onto the sidewalk and stopped.

“Hi, I’m Jan Davidson,” she called. “I live in the white house across the street.” She pointed. “Are you just moving in?” She knew it was a silly question, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Yes, we are,” the girl answered. She set her box on the ground and walked over to where Jan was. “I’m Susan Baker.”

Her brother had disappeared into the house with his load, but he came back in time to say, “She’s my little Sis, aren’t you, Suzy?”

“Fred,” Susan almost squeaked, “I’m only a year-and-a-half younger than you are.”

“Maybe, but look how much shorter,” he said patting her on the head and twisting his whole face up like it was a piece of rubber.

He was teasing, but Jan couldn’t help giggling. His rather homely face looked so comical twisted up like that.

Fred was several inches taller than Susan. His lanky build and long arms and legs made him seem even taller than he was. Susan was tiny with light hair and freckles that stood out just now because she was blushing.

Susan was saying, “Don’t mind him, Jan. I’m really glad you came over. We just got here, but we’ve been wondering who our neighbors would be.”

“We moved in three days ago. Actually Mom and Dad did. We kids stayed a couple of nights with our grandparents while everything was being moved,” Jan told them.

Susan nodded. “What grade are you going into?”

“Fifth,” said Jan. “What about you?”

“I’ll be in the fifth grade too. Wow, I’m glad I’ll know someone.”

“There should be a lot of new kids. Dad said the first people moved into this allotment in May,” Jan told her.

At some point while the girls were talking, Fred left to carry more boxes into the house. He even carried the one Susan had set on the sidewalk.

Soon he came over to the girls. “Dad says there is nothing else for us to do now until it is time to start unpacking.” He was wiping his hands on his jeans as he spoke.

“Hey, why don’t you both come over to my house for awhile? It’s so hot and I know we’ve got some juice in the refrigerator. Anyway, I want you to meet my twin sister, Julie,” Jan said excitedly. “How about it?”

“I’d like that,” Susan said. She looked at Fred.

He nodded. “Sounds good to me. “I’ll go tell someone where we’re going.” When he reappeared, the three crossed the street, Jan pushing her bike. She led the way into the Davidson’s side kitchen door.

“Hi, Mom,” Jan said a bit loudly. “I’ve brought some new friends, Susan and Fred Baker. They’re just moving in across the street.”

“Softly, Dear,” Mrs. Davidson said. She was at the kitchen counter putting cookies on a baking sheet. A slim, dark-haired woman, she stopped working and smiled at Fred and Susan.

“I’m glad to meet you. Jan and Julie were hoping they would make some friends their own age. And I see they did.”

Jan left them munching fresh cookies. She ran upstairs to the room she shared with Julie. It was a large, pretty room with pale pink walls. The flowered curtains had ruffles, and bedspreads that matched were on the twin beds. The girls had only to hang their pictures on the walls for the room to be really home.

“Julie, come quick and meet Fred and Susan,” Jan shouted as she burst into the room.

“Good grief, Jan,” Julie said, looking up from the book she was reading. “Do you always have to yell? I’m not deaf, you know.”

Jan felt her temper rising. First Mom and now Julie. “What’s wrong with being excited?” she demanded. “Hurry, will you? They’re waiting.”

Julie started to say something, then shrugged and followed her twin downstairs.

The family was still not really settled in the new house. There were boxes sitting in the hall and pounding could be heard coming from the basement. Dad was paneling some of the walls to make a recreation room.

Fred and Susan said, “Hi,” together as Jan and Julie came into the kitchen. They looked from one girl to the other in surprise.

Rolling his eyes at them, Fred asked, “Are you two really twins? You don’t even look like sisters.”

Jan and Julie laughed at his expression. They were used to that question though. Julie was tall for her ten years. She was slender and had long honey-colored hair.

Jan was a couple of inches shorter and more sturdily built. Her hair was curly and dark brown. They really looked different. And they had different likes and dislikes as well.

“We’re twins, but we’re not identical twins,” Julie said in her soft voice.

“No kidding,” Fred said with a grin.

“Could we have some juice, Mom, please?” Jan asked.

“Yes, but you’ll have to use paper cups, I’m afraid. I still don’t have all the dishes unpacked,” Mrs. Davidson said. “You can sample a few more cookies too. Now scoot out to the picnic table, please. I can’t get to the oven with all of you underfoot.”

No one argued. Saying, “Thank-you,” in a chorus, they went outside.

The icy cold juice really tasted good and the fresh cookies were soft and delicious.

For a few minutes no one spoke. They were too busy eating.

After a bit Fred said, “Wow, was that good! Any time your mom needs help getting rid of a few cookies, tell her to call on me.” Then he asked, “Do those two belong to you?”

He was looking at a younger boy and girl who were playing on a gym set back further in the yard.

Jan nodded. “That’s Steve and Candy. Candy is short for Candice. She was named for our great-grandmother, but Candy is a good name for her anyway. She says candy is her favorite thing.” Jan said this last with a smile. Everyone in the family loved the little girl.

“They’re cute,” said Susan.

“Poor Steve,” groaned Fred, “all those sisters.”

“What about poor me?” retorted Susan. “All I have is brothers. We have a younger brother named Michael,” she explained to the twins.

Then Julie asked, “Where did you two live before?”

“New Jersey,” Susan answered. “Dad works for a rubber company, and he was just transferred to the office in this area. Mom likes this neighborhood and North Falls is close to where Dad works. Are you from around here?”

Jan nodded. “We are really just moving across town. Mom said we needed more space. I have to admit that it’s nice to have our own room. Before we had Candy in with us.”

Fred went over to push Candy and Steve on the swings. Soon he had them squealing with excitement.

After awhile he came back to where the girls were still talking. “Hey, do you see that barn over there?”

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing. Jan and Julie’s house was on the last street of the new housing development. The back edge of their yard sloped down to a creek. On the other side of the creek was a field that was grown over with weeds. The barn Fred saw was in the middle of that field.

“I saw it before when I came outside to get my bike,” Jan said.

“Let’s go explore it,” Fred suggested.

“I’ll ask Mom.” Jan was already on her way as she said it.

The Barn

Jan was soon back. “Mom says we can go, but we should remember that dinner is at six o’clock. She is strict about being home in time for dinner,” she explained to Fred and Susan.

Julie looked at her watch. “It is only a little after three o’clock now. We have plenty of time.”

Jan and Julie had received watches as gifts for their last birthday. They were expected to use them to be on time.

The children ran down the slope to the creek.

“I guess no one will drown here,” Susan said looking at the creek.

Jan could see she was right. The children were easily able to find places to cross it. Mostly it was marshy with cattails growing tall on both sides.

There were a few squeals as one or another of the girls sank a tennis shoe in squishy mud. But Fred seemed to be enjoying himself. He just plowed right up the bank of the creek. Mud-covered shoes don’t bother him one bit, Jan giggled to herself.

When at length they were on dry ground, Jan pointed to a footpath. “Look,” she said, “I’ll bet this goes right to the barn.”

The others thought so too. But it was a bit difficult to tell for certain. The ground sloped up again from the creek. And it was all overgrown with weeds nearly as tall as the children, or so it looked to Jan.

Even the little path was hard to follow. The children had to push weeds out of their way. These were full of sticky burrs which clung to hair and clothing.

Finally they came out at a small clearing. Everyone was slightly breathless. Jan was surprised, when she looked back, how high up they were from the creek.

Then she caught sight of Fred and gasped, “Oh, look at Fred!”

The girls all started to laugh. Poor Fred was full of burrs. His reddish hair was matted with them. He began to do a high stepping jig, hopping around madly. He pulled his face this way and that. He grinned, he frowned, he rolled his eyes, he wrinkled up his nose, he stuck out his tongue, and all the time letting out the most awful whoops and shrieks.

“Stop it, please!” Julie begged at last wiping her eyes. “My sides hurt.”

They all flopped down on the ground. It took a little work to get rid of the burrs, but by helping one another they were soon done.

At last Jan jumped up. “Come on, you slowpokes. Let’s see if we can get in the barn.”

The barn was on their right. It was facing that direction too. To their left and at the barn’s back was a huge old apple tree. It was bent and lumpy and would be fun to climb some day, Jan decided.

But just now she was more interested in seeing the barn itself. The children walked around to the front of it. It was not a very big barn even to Jan’s eyes and looked awfully old. There was not a scrap of paint on it. Yet it was not falling down either. In fact it looked very sturdy. The large double doors were open, and the children went in.

Julie was last. “I’ll bet whoever lives in that house owns this barn,” she said looking at an older house a short distance away. It was close to the road on the far right corner of the field.

“Do you think they’ll care if we’re in here?” Susan asked. Fred shrugged. “I don’t see why,” was all he said.

There was a stout rope hanging from a center beam. He already had one foot on the large knot at its end as he spoke. Now he put the other foot on and pulled himself up. Soon he was swinging back and forth scratching himself like a monkey.

Julie and Susan started to laugh. Jan giggled too.

“Aren’t you ever serious, Fred?” Jan called to him.

He only grinned for an answer. Jumping down he bowed to Jan. “Would you care to be next, Madam?”

He held the rope until she pulled herself up then gave her a good push. She caught her breath as the rope twirled and soared through the air. “Not so hard!” she screamed. But soon she was laughing and enjoying herself.

Julie and Susan had to be coaxed. While they took their turns, Jan walked around. There wasn’t anything in the barn except a broken down stall and a couple of old bales of hay. There wasn’t even a hay loft. She wondered what the barn had been used for. Perhaps a horse or two had lived in it at some time. She didn’t know.

When everyone tired of swinging, they sat down on the floor to rest a minute and talk. Suddenly a wonderful idea popped into Jan’s mind. “Let’s have a club,” she said excitedly. “We could use the barn for our clubhouse.”

“Wow, Jan, that’s a great idea!” exclaimed Fred.

For a few minutes everyone talked at once. Each had a different idea about what kind of club they should have.

“Hey, we’ll never get anywhere this way,” Fred yelled over everyone. From one pocket of his jeans he produced a stub of a pencil. From his shirt pocket came a scrap of paper. “Now, tell me your ideas one at a time and I’ll write them down,” he said.

This seemed like a good idea to the others. Jan spoke first, “I don’t know just what I want to do in a club. But I like to have fun, no work for me, please.”

Everyone laughed at that. Fred wrote FUN on his paper.

“Who else has an idea?” he asked. No one answered right away so he said, “I’d like to have adventures in a club.” He jumped up and swished the air with his arm like a sword. On the paper he wrote ADVENTURE.

“I enjoy crafts,” Julie volunteered softly.

CRAFTS followed the other two ideas on Fred’s paper.

“I like crafts too,” Susan now spoke up, “but I also like other things, games and stuff.”

“How about I write THINGS TO DO?” asked Fred.

Susan nodded.

Fred studied his paper for a few minutes. This is what it looked like:

FUN

ADVENTURE

CRAFTS

THINGS TO DO

“Say,” he said, “the first letters spell a word.”

The others crowded around to look.

“You’re right,” said Susan, “it spells FACT.” She thought a moment. “Why don’t we call our club the FACT Club? That way we can do all the things in our club that we wrote down. But it will be our secret what FACT means.”

“Why Suzy-Q, that’s brilliant, absolutely bril...liant,” Fred said in admiration. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Susan turned quite pink. But even though he was teasing her, it was nice teasing, and she looked pleased.

Everyone liked the idea. For awhile they talked about what they would like to do in the club. They decided to each write their ideas down to talk about whenever they came to the barn the next time.

Something had been bothering Julie. “I think we ought to get permission from the owner to come here,” she said quietly.

Jan gave her a scornful look. “Julie, you would think of that. Suppose he won’t let us play here? Then what?” She was more than a little angry. Julie has gotten to be such a goody-goody, she thought crossly.

“Boy, what a hothead you are,” Fred teased. He gingerly touched the top of her head. “Yow!” he yelped. “Hot, just as I thought.”

Jan giggled. She felt a bit sheepish.

“I think Julie is right,” said Susan. “If we don’t ask, they might send us away the first time they see us here.”

Everyone agreed, Jan a bit reluctantly. She hoped fervently the owner wouldn’t spoil things by saying no.

Julie was saying, “Look what time it is, Jan. We have to get home or it will be Mom who won’t let us come back.”

Jan Worries

The next day was Lord’s Day. Jan wiggled a little in her seat. Mom and Dad were on one side of her, Julie was on the other. Candy and Steve had gone downstairs to their Sunday School class.

Jan sighed a tiny sigh. Mr. Murphy was reading from the Bible. His words flowed over her like warm water, but she was not really listening.

Her thoughts were busy though. She was thinking about the FACT Club and planning the kinds of things she would like to do. She thought the barn would be such a good place to have a club.

Thinking of the barn made her frown a bit. Hopefully the owner, who they learned was named Mr. Hinkle, would let them play there.

Mom had known who owned the barn. She had been a history teacher at North Falls High School before Jan and Julie were born. She was interested in local history and sometimes told the family little things she learned about North Falls. Mom said that the Hinkle family had owned that barn and the house old Mr. Hinkle lived in for over a hundred years.

“Over a hundred years!” Jan had exclaimed. “Wow, I thought that barn looked old.”

She decided to take a closer look at it the next time she went there. A barn that old must have seen a lot of history.

That is if I go there again. If Mr. Hinkle lets us. She frowned again. Really Julie was to blame. No one else had even thought of asking. She glanced sideways at her sister.

Julie was sitting very still. Her gaze was intent on the speaker. She seemed not to want to miss anything he said.

Jan’s frown turned into a scowl. She looked down at her hands so no one would see her face. Julie had always been the more serious of the two girls. But since she had had a talk one Lord’s Day with Mr. Murphy, she had changed somehow. Jan couldn’t explain the difference in words. Yet she felt the change in her twin. She didn’t think the old Julie would have wanted to ask before playing in the barn.

Not that the girls hadn’t talked it over. They had. Julie, in fact, seemed anxious to tell Jan. She had said things about Jesus being in her heart now, and how He had taken all her sins away.

“I’m a new person now, Jan.” Julie was solemn. “The Bible says so.”

Mom and Dad were very pleased. They had tried to explain to Jan too. She had listened. But she just could not understand. Why did Julie need her sins forgiven? She was not so very bad. And neither am I, Jan thought to herself stoutly.

There was more reading from the Bible again. That meant the meeting was nearly over. Jan felt guilty. She had not heard one word of it. Now she tried to listen to make up for all her daydreaming.

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’
“Jesus wants us to walk in light, not in darkness. We will be in the light if we follow Him, as He says in this verse and as we have tried to share this morning. Yet no one can follow Jesus unless he first receives Him as his Savior.
“Those of you who may not know Jesus yet in a personal way ponder these words that He spoke in His Word as we go our separate ways. Let’s pray.”

Jan bowed her head with everyone else. The words from the Bible bothered her somehow. The prayer ended. Everyone filed slowly outide.

The sunshine was blinding after the cool darkness inside. The words, I am the light of the world, jumped into Jan’s mind. She wondered what it meant.

Her thoughtful mood left her in the car. She and Julie spent the short ride home discussing the club and wondering aloud what sort of person Mr. Hinkle was.

Lord’s Day dinner was a large meal at the Davidson house. Mom always made it a special meal by cooking foods the family especially liked. She also made certain that dessert was extra delicious. Today, Jan noticed happily, a large chocolate cream pie was on the menu.

When the roast beef was done to Mom’s satisfaction, she called, “Jan, Julie, come set the table.”

The twins clattered downstairs from their bedroom. They felt much cooler since changing their dresses.

Soon everything was ready. Dad looked around the big dining room table. Everyone was in his place. Then Dad bowed his head and thanked the Father in a very simple way for the food.

Today Jan could not help noticing that Dad spoke to God as though He really was his Father. Prayer was offered at every meal in the Davidson family. But for some reason Jan had never been struck by it as she was this time.

Meals were always lively. This one was no exception. Candy and Steve each began to tell what had been said and done in their Sunday School class. Jan and Julie were still talking about club plans.

Talking about the club reminded Jan of Mr. Hinkle.

“Mom,” she said, “could Julie and I go see Mr. Hinkle after dinner today? We can’t start our club until we have asked Mr. Hinkle for permission to use his barn.”

“Don’t forget there are dishes to be done first,” Mom answered. “Then I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t go, do you, Chuck?”

Dad shook his head. “I think the sooner the better, myself. You probably shouldn’t have been there yesterday without asking. Tell me more about this club, girls.”

“Well,” Julie said slowly, “it is called the F.A.C.T. Club, and we’re going to say it FACT like the word. But what the letters mean is a secret.”

“Aw, Julie, tell us what it means,” said Steve. “We won’t tell anyone, will we, Candy?”

Candy shook her head. Her pretty hazel-colored eyes were even bigger than usual. “Cross my heart,” she said.

Jan and Julie laughed at her unusually serious expression. But Jan’s voice was firm, “Nope, sorry Honey, but it’s a Club secret, and we can’t tell.”

Candy’s face fell.

Steve said, “We’ll have our own club and secrets. And we won’t tell you two smarties anything.”

Mom thought it time to say something. “All right, let’s be a little kinder, please. You can have as many clubs as you wish unless it causes fighting. If there are going to be too many disagreements, the clubs will have to end right there.”

The children knew Mom meant it when she used that tone of voice. Nothing more was said.

The pie was as delicious to eat as it looked. Jan savored each rich bite for a minute before swallowing it. Chocolate was her very favorite!

The twins did not waste any time getting the table cleared after dinner. One happy part of the new house was a shiny dishwasher. The dishes were soon rinsed and in it.

Afterward they crossed the street together and knocked on the Baker’s door.

Susan answered it. “Hi, come in a minute and meet my Mom and Dad,” she said holding the door open for them.

Mr. and Mrs. Baker were reading the Sunday paper at the kitchen table. Mrs. Baker was a little plump woman with red hair like Fred’s. She had a twinkle in her eyes when she said, “Hello,” to the twins.

Jan thought probably Fred and his mother had more in common than just their hair color. In the next minute she knew she was right.

“You must be the un-twin twins Fred told us about,” her voice was teasing. “My, my, he was right. You don’t look anything alike, do you?” She didn’t expect an answer because she went right on without stopping, “Could I get you girls something cold to drink? It’s an awfully warm day. I was just telling Dad here,” she nodded toward Mr. Baker, “how much hotter it seems today than yesterday, wasn’t I, Dear? Dan, say hello to our new neighbors.”

Mr. Baker looked over his paper and said good naturedly, “Well, I’m sure I would, Cathy, if you’d give me a chance. Hello, Jan, Julie,” he went on gravely, “I’m very glad to meet you even if you don’t look like twins are supposed to.”

Everyone had to laugh at that.

“Were you saying something about a cold drink, Cathy?” he continued. “If you were, I would take one myself.”

At this Mrs. Baker got up rather slowly and took some bottles from the refrigerator.

When everyone was settled with a glass at the table, Jan told their plan. “The barn belongs to Mr. Hinkle, Susan,” Jan said. “He lives in that older house we saw yesterday. Julie and I would like to go now and ask him about using the barn for our club.”

While she was speaking, Fred came into the kitchen. Now he joined the conversation by saying, “Good idea. Can we go, Mom?”

“Can’t think of any reason why not. We won’t be having dinner until later, maybe much later if it stays so hot. Yes, go on if you wish,” Mrs. Baker said in her round-about way.

The children finished their drinks. After thanking Mrs. Baker politely, the four crossed the street. They ran down the little hill, crossed the creek, and followed the path to the barn. This time they stepped on the weeds whenever possible to avoid the burrs.

As they walked the short distance from the barn to the house, Jan said, “Oh, I hope he says yes!”

No one had to ask who ‘he’ was.

Gramps Hinkle

In the end it was Fred who knocked on the Hinkle’s door. The girls all became shy and wouldn’t do it. Even Jan, who usually could be counted on to take the lead, hung back.

“You are all just chicken, cluck, cluck, cluck,” Fred squawked as he flapped imaginary wings.

He looked so foolish that the girls had to laugh. But none of them would knock on the door.

“Oh, all right, here goes.” He sighed and rolled his eyes. Then he took the porch steps two at a time and boldly knocked on the door. The girls followed at a safe distance.

It was a neat looking little house, painted white. Jan remembered seeing farm houses that looked the same, sort of like a capital letter ‘L’. The large porch wrapped around the front of the house.

Then footsteps could be heard inside. The next moment the door was opened by a small plump woman. She had short curly gray hair and might have been one of the children’s grandmothers, Jan thought. Except for the frown she had just now.

“Well, what can I do for you?” she asked in a snappy voice.

“Oh, we thought ... that is, does Mr. Hinkle live here?” Jan answered instead of Fred. She forgot shyness in her surprise at a woman answering their knock.

“Yes, he does. Why do you want to know? If you’re selling something, he can’t be bothered with it. That’s my job, to see he’s not bothered too much.”

“No, no, we’re not selling anything. We’ve just come to ask ... I mean we wanted to know if ...?” Jan’s words trailed away. She looked at the others for help.

Fred came to her rescue. “What Jan is trying to say, Ma’am, is that we have come to ask Mr. Hinkle if we can play in his barn. We’re going to have a club there if he says it’s O.K.”

“Oh, I don’t think so...,” the woman began doubtfully.

“Martha, who is at the door?” a wavery voice came from inside.

“Some children who want to play in your barn, Mr. Hinkle. Should I send them away?”

Jan held her breath. Then Mr. Hinkle said, “Of course not. Invite them in. Invite them in. You know I enjoy young people.”

The woman held the door open although she still looked disapproving.

The children filed into the dim entry. They followed her into the next room. This was an old-fashioned sitting room. At least that’s what Jan thought it was.

It looked like pictures she had seen of olden days. The furniture was all of an older style except a large comfortable rocker. In this sat a very old man. He was so thin that blue veins stood out on his hands and his legs were covered with a blanket in spite of the warm day. There were only wisps of white hair left on his head. One of his hands rested lightly on a cane, and the fingers that held it were bent and knobby.

“Come in, come in,” he was saying in that wavery voice. “What is this about my barn? No fire out there is there, Martha?”

“No, no, of course not, Mr. Hinkle.” Jan was surprised how soothingly the woman spoke to him.

“Then what can I do for you young folks? Martha, see if we have some lemonade or something for our guests.”

She hesitated a minute, then shrugged and went away.

“Well,” he said, “why don’t you sit down and tell me why you’ve come. Call me ‘Gramps’, by the way. Most people do, except Martha, that is, Mrs. Ray.” His eyes were twinkling as he said this last.

Encouraged by his kind words, Jan found her voice. “I’m Jan Davidson and this is my twin, Julie. They are Fred and Susan Baker. We live down behind you in those new houses.”

Suddenly everyone felt more relaxed. They all tried to tell Gramps at one time about the barn and the idea they had for a club. In the middle Mrs. Ray came in with a tray of frosty glasses of lemonade and a bowl of pretzels. She had stopped frowning and seemed to accept Gramps’ guests.

After awhile Gramps held up one hand for silence. He chuckled a bit as he said, “Nothing like young people to chatter, is there, Martha?” He didn’t want an answer as he went on, “Now what you want is to use my barn for your club, eh?”

The children nodded. Jan held her breath.

“Well, I don’t see any harm in that. I have just one rule. Two actually. First, please don’t leave a bunch of papers and trash lying around. Looks messy and I’m too old to clean it up, all right?”

Everyone agreed.

“Second, and this is most important, no fires. Everything is dry this time of year. Fires have a way of getting out of hand too. Worries me every summer. When I was a youngster like you, I got caught in a brush fire. I thought sure my time was up. Been careful of fire ever since. So no fires. I’ll not let you come around if I find out there have been any fires started. Do you understand?”

“We understand, Sir,” Fred spoke for all of them. “I don’t know about the twins, but our parents don’t allow us to start fires when they are not around anyhow.”

Jan and Julie said, “Ours either.”

“Good, good,” said Gramps. He was quiet for several moments. He seemed lost in his own thoughts.

Jan was beginning to think he had forgotten they were there when all at once he spoke. “I have a story I might tell you. Thinking about the barn puts me in mind of the things my Grandad used to tell me when I played there. That is if you would like to hear?” Jan saw the twinkle was back in his eyes. She was beginning to really like the old gentleman.

“Oh, please do, Gramps,” she cried. “We would really like to hear.” The others added their pleas to hers.

Gramps chuckled, “One thing I like about young people is their excitement about things.

“Well, now this story goes back many years to the time in 1855 when my Grandad bought this house and the barn. There was more land with it in those days than there is now. Where your houses are was part of the old farm.”

He was thoughtful for a few minutes. When he spoke again it was very slowly. “Those were very bad times for our country. Soon there would be Civil War. Signs that war was coming were everywhere. Northern men hated the slavery in the South. Southern men believed they had the right to own other men as slaves. Tempers flared. Unwise laws were passed by the United States Congress.” Gramps shook his head thinking about those hard days.

“People were not happy. Some men broke the laws they thought were not fair. Other men just broke the law because they were not honest people.
“My Grandad bought this property at a public auction. After he had lived here awhile, he asked the few neighbors that lived here, about Mr. Roberts. Mr. Roberts was the man who owned this place before. Grandad naturally felt a little curious about him.
“It seems that Mr. Roberts lived alone, and he kept pretty much to himself. That is, he didn’t make friends of his neighbors. But things went on here at night. Wagons and people came and went in the dark. Lights could often be seen near the barn.
“The neighbors wondered, but no one said anything. ‘After all,’ they told Grandad, ‘a man has a right to his own business.’
“Suddenly, one day, Mr. Roberts was arrested. Before his case could be tried, he sickened and died. His property was auctioned off to pay his debts.”

“But Gramps, what was he arrested for?” Jan wanted to know.

“That is a mystery, Jan. Grandad couldn’t seem to find anyone who knew or would say.

“People had their ideas. There were some pretty wild notions, I can tell you. One man had it that Mr. Roberts was making counterfeit money in the barn.” Gramps chuckled. “I guess that’s what comes of not making friends with the neighbors.

“When I was a boy,” Gramps went on after a pause, “I was certain I could discover why Mr. Roberts had been arrested. The barn seemed always to be part of those old stories. I searched that old place over from top to bottom. But I never even found a clue.” Gramps eyes held a far away look remembering.

“Wow, a mystery!” Jan’s eyes were shining. She could feel a tingle go up her back.

Gramps chuckled and nodded. “That will give you something to think about when you are playing in the barn.”

Soon after the children said their good-byes and promised to come again to visit.

The tingly feeling was still with Jan when the children started home. She looked at the barn with new eyes as she passed it. Maybe, just maybe, she and the others could solve that old mystery. Right then she promised herself that she would try.

The children reached the Davidson’s house a few minutes later. Before parting, they agreed to go to the barn right after breakfast the next morning.

Jan and Julie burst into the kitchen where Mom was cooking supper. They were so excited that they both tried to talk at once.

“Easy, easy. Now what is all this?” Mom laughed. “Goodness, you two are popping up and down like popcorn.”

“It’s the barn...” the twins said together. Then they had to laugh too.

Mom said, “Why don’t we talk about it while we have supper? Maybe by then you two will have calmed down a bit. Scoot into the bathroom and wash up. Then come set the table for me. These pancakes are about ready.”

Lord’s Day supper was a light meal. The Davidsons often had pancakes or waffles. The smell of pancakes frying reminded Jan that she was hungry.

Soon she and Julie had the table ready. Mom brought a platter of pancakes to the table. There were also hot slices of ham and cold milk.

As they ate the twins took turns telling the family Gramps Hinkle’s story. Even Candy listened.

“You’re so spoiled,” Steve said with envy in his voice.

“Why is that, Stevie-boy?” Julie used her old pet name for him.

“It’s the mystery, of course. I wish I had a mystery.”

He looked so downcast that Candy said, “Maybe we will have a miss-tree too, Steve. Ask Daddy to get us one.”

This brought shouts of laughter from the rest of the family. Candy always did her best to make Steve happy.

“The word is mys-ter-y, Candy,” Dad said the word slowly. “What Mr. Hinkle told the twins about Mr. Roberts and the barn is like a puzzle. Only so far no one has been able to find the answer.”

“You girls know how interested I have always been in the history of North Falls,” Mom said. “You remember also that I have told you the best place to find answers to questions about history is the library.”

The girls did remember.

“Some day this week when we go out to do errands, we will all go to the library. Perhaps we’ll find some clues there.”

“Right now we had better finish up here. It is nearly time to leave for the evening gospel meeting,” Dad reminded them.

There was no more time to talk about the mystery the rest of the day. But Jan’s last thoughts were about it when she fell asleep that night. “I wonder what Mr. Roberts could have been doing in his barn,” she thought sleepily. “Counterfeiting?” The idea gave her funny little shivers up her back. But it didn’t keep her awake, for the next minute she was sound asleep.

The Pocket Knife

Sunlight streaming in the window woke Jan the next morning. She lay still trying to think why today was special. Then she remembered, the barn and the FACT Club.

“Julie, get up. It’s morning.” She bounced on her twin still asleep in the other bed.

“Huh, what’s going on?” Julie said sleepily.

Jan threw her pillow at her sister. “Wake up. This is the day we’re starting our club. And maybe we can find a clue to the barn’s secret.”

Julie groaned and sat up. “How can you be so wide awake, Jan?”

Soon both girls were dressed and had their beds made. Julie sat on her bed for a few minutes and read her Bible. Some days she forgot, but usually she read a little.

Jan waited for her impatiently. She could not understand Julie’s new interest in the Bible. So she was relieved when Julie was done at last and they could go downstairs for breakfast.

Mom was having a cup of coffee at the kitchen table. Candy and Steve were already eating a bowl of cereal.

“Good morning, girls,” Mom smiled at them.

“Morning, Mom,” Julie gave her mother a smile in return.

“We told Fred and Susan we would be over after breakfast,” said Jan as she got herself a bowl for cereal. “We’re going to the barn to start our club.”

“That’s fine, but first there are a couple of things I want you both to do that will be a great deal of help to me,” Mom said.

Jan stamped her foot. “Work, work, that’s all we do around here. I’m tired of it.”

“Really, Jan,” Mother said sternly, “moving is hard on everyone. Now work first, then you may do what you want. And I’ll hear no more arguments, young lady.”

Jan didn’t say anything else. But she set her bowl down on the table rather hard. And she ate her cereal and toast in silence.

Mom had a few chores for them to do. Not really very much, Jan had to admit to herself.

When they finished, Mom let them pack a picnic lunch to eat at the barn. Then they walked across the street to get Susan and Fred.

Susan made some sandwiches for herself and her brother. Fred went to his room to collect a couple of things. Soon he came back with an old leather covered box his mother had given him. Inside he had put paper, pencils, pens, a stapler, glue, and some other odds and ends.

“For the club,” he explained to the girls.

Together they started toward the barn, although not too hurriedly. It was another hot, sunny day - the kind of day when it is easier to move slowly if one must move at all.

They laughed and talked as they went. Even the heat could not stop Fred from acting silly. He put the box of club things on his head to cross the creek. “I wouldn’t want it to get wet in this deep water,” he said seriously.

This remark caused a lot of giggling and funny replies. They finally arrived at the barn out of breath.

“Whew, I’m hot,” Jan said fanning herself. She threw herself down under the big old apple tree.

Julie and Susan sat down with her. But Fred climbed up the tree.

“Hey,” he called, “you can really see a lot from up here. Maybe we can use this tree for a look-out tower.”

“You’re crazy, Fred! A look-out for what?” Susan demanded.

“Spies and robbers,” he replied at once. “What else?”

Susan rolled her eyes. “See what I have to put up with?”’ she asked the twins.

Fred dropped from the last branch.

Jan stood up. “Let’s walk around the barn and look at it better,” she suggested. “Maybe we’ll find some clue to the mystery.”

The apple tree was at the back of the barn. From where the children were it was two stories high. It had a stone basement. In the stone wall was a solid looking door.

“It looks like a walk-out basement,” Julie remarked.

The children tried to open the door. The handle turned, but the door was stuck.

“It probably hasn’t been opened for years,” Fred said.

They gave up and went around to the front. Jan realized why she hadn’t noticed the barn’s basement before. The barn had been built into the side of the hill it sat on. It was only one story high in the front. But of course none of these things gave Jan any ideas about the barn’s secret. It was silly to feel disappointed, she knew. After all, Gramps had said he had spent hours looking for clues without any success. Nonetheless she wished that something would give her just a tiny clue. She couldn’t help sighing.

The children went into the barn.

Right away Julie exclaimed, ‘What’s this!” She was holding a shiny object in one hand.

The others crowded around her to look. It was a brightly polished pocket knife. The outside was beautifully carved.

“Now where did that come from?” Jan wondered aloud. “It wasn’t here the other day, was it?”

“I don’t think so,” Julie said slowly. “I saw it as soon as I came into the barn today.”

“Someone must have been here since we were,” Susan said in a little voice.

“Aw, Suzy-Q, you’re not scared, are you?” Fred asked teasingly.

He took the pocket knife from Julie and turned it over in his hands. “That is some pocket knife,” he whistled. “I don’t think I have ever seen one as fancy as that is. Hum, maybe we’ll need that look-out tree after all.” He opened the club box and dropped it in.

After that it was forgotten as the children began talking over plans for their club.

“A club needs a treasury, I think,” said Jan. “How can we earn some money?”

“We can have club dues,” Susan offered, “most clubs do.”

“Susan, get some paper and a pencil out of the club box, please,” Jan said. “Someone should write our ideas down.”

“Let Suzy do it,” Fred said. “She can be our club secretary.”

“Stop calling me ‘Suzy,’ Fredrick Baker or I’ll...” Susan sputtered. She was blushing furiously.

“Fredrick, is it? Whew! She really is angry,” he said in mock horror. “O.K., O.K. you win. Miss Susan, will you kindly consent to be Madam Secretary of our humble club?” He stood up and bowed to her.

The twins began to giggle. Jan was certain no queen had ever accepted a lower bow. And Fred’s eyebrows were raised making his face look very solemn.

“Oh, give me that paper and quit being so silly.” Susan snatched up the paper and pencil. She wrote neatly on the paper: 1. club dues.

“We could do some errands to earn money,” Julie suggested in her soft voice.

Susan wrote: 2. errands.

“How about a car wash?” asked Fred.

3. car wash, was added to the list.

“We should do something big to earn money. You know, like grown-up clubs have. A-a-a bazaar or...” Jan stopped to think. “I’ve got it!” She jumped up in her excitement. “How about a carnival? We could have a fish pond and a fun house and everything!”

“Jan, that’s really a good idea. It sounds like fun too,” Julie said.

They all thought so. It would take some work, though, to get a carnival ready. That meant time. Also, they would have to use either the Davidson’s or the Baker’s backyard. So they would need their parent’s permission. All this they talked over together. But still, it seemed the best idea anyone had had.

All of a sudden Fred said, “I’m starving. It must be lunch time.”

It was. They got out sandwiches, corn chips, crisp apples, and cookies. Jan and Julie had brought a thermos of milk. As everyone began to eat, Jan caught a glimpse of Julie swiftly bowing her head to pray. Jan pretended she hadn’t noticed.

The food seemed to disappear by magic. Then all at once Julie shrieked, “Oh! Who was that?”

Everyone looked where she pointed. The children were sitting on the wooden barn floor. Julie was facing the barn’s only window. It was not very large, and the glass was partly broken out. What glass was left was very dirty.

“Someone’s out there,” she said, her eyes very big. “I saw a part of his face in the window just for a minute.”

“His?” Fred asked. He was already at the barn’s door looking out. He didn’t wait for an answer but went around the corner.

Jan was a bit slower but she soon followed Fred. Julie, however, stayed with Susan who was really frightened.

When Jan caught up with Fred, she asked breathlessly, “Do you see anyone?”

“Shush,” he hissed putting a finger to his mouth.

Jan listened, but she couldn’t hear anything.

Fred said quietly, “I thought I heard someone in the bushes over there when I first came out.” He motioned down the hill. If someone had been there, there was no sign of him now.

The two went back inside. Jan saw that Susan had a couple of tears on her face and was trembling. Julie was talking softly to her.

“Did you find anyone?” Julie asked.

Fred shook his head. “Nope, but I thought I heard someone going downhill in the weeds.”

“Probably whoever left that pocket knife came back to get it,” said Julie.

“He could have just come in. We would have given it to him,” Jan said.

Everyone was silent as they finished lunch. Susan was still looking scared. Jan was wondering about the owner of the pocket knife. The others seemed thoughtful too.

They were careful to pick up all the papers when they were through eating. Then they decided to head for home.

As they followed the path downhill, Jan said, “Hey, I just remembered. Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Didn’t Mom say we’re going on a picnic, Julie?”

Julie thought about it. “Why yes, we are. I had forgotten. It’s a picnic with the Christians where we meet to remember the Lord,” she told Susan and Fred. “We will use one of the park’s big shelters for the day.”

By this time they were crossing the creek. They ran uphill and were in the Davidson backyard.

“What plans do you two have for tomorrow?” Julie asked Fred and Susan.

“I don’t think we’re going anywhere,” Susan answered. “Dad says there is still a lot to be done to get settled. I heard him telling our Mom that he wanted to spend the extra day working around the house.”

“Besides, he doesn’t like picnics,” Fred added.

“I’ll bet you could come with us. I’ll go ask Mom right now.” Jan was on her way as she finished talking.

Soon she was back. “Mom said it’s fine with her if it is O.K. with your parents. She said to bring your swimsuits and towels. There are two big swimming pools there,” Jan explained.

“Wow, I don’t remember the last time I went swimming. It is sure nice of your Mom to let us come along,” Susan said.

“Right now we have to go to the store,” Jan went on. “We need picnic food, I guess.” She laughed. “It won’t be much of a picnic without it!”

With friendly waves the children parted promising to see one another the next day.

It was not until dinner that the twins had a chance to tell Mom and Dad about the pocket knife and the face in the barn window.

“Sounds to me as though another child has been playing in the barn,” Dad said thoughtfully. “Did you say it was a boy you saw, Julie?”

“I’m not sure, Dad,” she answered, “but I thought it was a boy.”

“Maybe he was too shy to come in with all of you there,” Mom suggested. “Julie should be able to understand that.” She smiled at her daughter.

Julie nodded. “I never thought of that, but I’ll bet you’re right, Mom. I would never go in some place with four people I didn’t know. Now Jan wouldn’t mind at all,” she said teasingly.

“Julie!” Jan said indignantly. But it was true. She was not usually the least bit shy of strangers.

“Perhaps you girls should keep an eye out for that boy and invite him to play too,” said Mom.

Julie agreed, but Jan said nothing. She liked the club the way it was. Besides they had found the barn first.

Later she would remember the advice her Mom had given that day ... and wish that she had paid more attention to it.

The Fourth of July Picnic

It was shortly after three o’clock the next afternoon when the Davidson’s reached the park. Dad drove the family station wagon down the narrow road that led to the picnic area. He parked near the shelter they had rented for the day. Then everyone piled out. Mom gave each child something to carry.

In the shelter each family group was arranging their picnic things on a table. Mom chose one for them, and everyone set what he or she carried on the table. Dad took a large bag of charcoal over to the area outside where the grills were.

When everything was done to Mom’s satisfaction, she said, “I believe we are going to start supper about five o’clock. You children have almost two hours if you want to go swimming.”

It was yet another hot, sunny day so no one needed a second invitation. They raced to the car to collect their swim things.

“Steve, Candy,” Mom called after them, “you two must wait for Dad and me.”

“Aw, Mom, I can swim,” Steve cried.

“Not too well yet, Son. You wait here. It won’t be very long before we’re ready.”

The twins with Fred and Susan headed toward the swimming pools.

“Last one in the water is a rotten egg,” yelled Jan when they reached the dressing rooms.

They scrambled into their suits. One by one they came out of the dressing rooms and jumped into the larger of the two swimming pools. The smaller pool was actually deeper. It was mostly for those who wished to use the high-diving board.

Julie came out last. She was still tying the string to her swimsuit at the back of her neck.

“What a slow poke,” shouted Jan, “and a rotten egg too!”

At this Fred grabbed Jan’s leg and dunked her. This caused a wild water fight which only ended when the life-guard blew his whistle.

Afterward they swam and dived off the board. Soon a group of children from the twin’s Sunday School class joined them. Someone had brought a ball.

“Let’s play ‘Keep-away’,” one of the newcomers suggested, “boys against the girls.”

With shouts of approval, the game began.

In the middle of a loud splashing match to get the ball, Mr. Davidson was suddenly there. He reached a long arm out and grabbed the ball himself. Jan cheered when he stayed to help the girls’ side.

Everyone was enjoying the water, so much that the time sped by. It was with surprise that Jan saw her Dad motioning to her from the side of the pool.

When she swam over to where he was, he said, “It’s almost five o’clock, time to head to the shelter for supper. Help me round up the others, please.”

Mrs. Davidson had seen him signal and brought Candy and Steve from the shallow end where they had been swimming. But Jan had to go to each of the others and tell them it was time to be leaving.

“Food,” gasped Fred. He staggered around holding his stomach. “I’m starving.”

Jan laughed. “Come on, I’ll beat everyone dressed!” she shouted as she tore off in the direction of the dressing rooms.

In no time everyone was in dry clothing and walking toward the picnic area.

And what a feast met their eyes! Each family had brought their own meat.

But salads and desserts were spread out on two long tables. These were to be shared by all.

Someone prayed. Then everyone took his plate and helped himself.

Jan piled her plate with jello, potato salad, pretzels, hot dogs and all sorts of good things. She could see the others doing the same. Yummy, she thought, picnic food always seems to taste better than regular food.

When no one could eat another bite, Mr. Murphy stood up. As soon as it grew quiet, he said, “What a land of plenty we live in! We have so much to thank God for on this birthday of our country, don’t we?”

Around the group, several thankful “Amens,” could be heard.

“But most of all, we are thankful for Jesus Christ and what he has done for us. He died on the cross for us. His blood was shed there to wash away sin, your sin and my sin.
“God says in His Word, the Bible, that sin is like darkness. Romans 3:23 says, ‘For all have sinned ... ’ That means that everyone has disobeyed God and lives in the dark. But we can praise the Lord Jesus that He is the Light. When we believe in Jesus and receive Him as our Savior, He sends the darkness of sin away. He washes us from our sins in His own blood. His Light comes into us instead.
“Jesus gives us power, power not to sin. Oh, we may still do things that are wrong, but we have power from God to do right. Before Jesus comes in, there is no power; we cannot please God. With Jesus as our Lord, with Him to light our way, we can be different. We can do things that please God.”

He went on talking for several more minutes, but Jan was busy thinking. The talk about darkness bothered her. Was she in darkness? She didn’t like to think so, but somewhere inside of her the answer was yes.

She wiggled on the picnic bench and was glad when Mr. Murphy stopped talking.

Then it was time to clean up. Mom said if everyone helped just a little, no one would have to work very long. And she was right. Soon their table was all cleaned up.

As they were finishing, Mr. and Mrs.Murphy came over. They had another family with them.

“Hello, Chuck, Lucy,” said Mr. Murphy. “I want you to meet the Huas.” This is Dr. and Mrs. Hua and their son Quang. This is the Davidson family: Mr. and Mrs. Davidson and their children, Jan, Julie, Steve, and Candy.”

Everyone exchanged greetings. Mr. Davidson introduced Fred and Susan.

Jan, meanwhile, tried not to stare at Quang. He was the boy who had caused her to fall off her bike just a few days ago. He gave no sign that he knew her.

Mr. Murphy was saying, “Dr. and Mrs. Hua and Quang come to us from Vietnam. Their government just recently permitted them to leave. A work of God, there is no doubt. Not many leave these days, especially not doctors.”

“That is correct, Mr. Murphy. We have much to thank God for. It is good to be here.”

Dr. Hua spoke good English, but it sounded a little strange to Jan. He was a slender man with very dark hair. Quang looked like his father only not as tall. Mrs. Hua was a tiny person. She only smiled and nodded. She seemed very shy.

While the adults talked, the children tried to talk to Quang. “Tried” because he wouldn’t answer any of their questions or say anything at all. He just looked down at the ground frowning a bit.

Jan was the only one who made no effort to talk to Quang. She felt badly about the way she had treated him after her bike accident. But she didn’t know how to say she was sorry.

Then she heard Dr. Hua telling how they had lost a child while coming to America. The child, a little girl, had been ill at home. But the Huas had been afraid to turn down the chance to leave when it was offered. So they came anyhow. The trip was too difficult for the sick little girl. She had died before they arrived.

Mrs. Hua looked so sad. Jan could not help feeling sorry for her. Yet they were so glad to be in America. They were sad to lose their little daughter, but they trusted in God. They had nothing but praise for Him.

Dr. Hua noticed Quang. “Quang, can you not speak?” He said it ‘kwon’. Quang answered something in Vietnamese.

“I must apologize for my son. It is difficult for him, you understand. He does not yet speak English so plainly. So he does not make friends at school, and he is not happy.”

Jan could believe it. But she thought how rude she herself had been to him. She frowned.

Someone had asked Dr. Hua when they had come. He answered, “April.”

“They live near you people,” said Mrs. Murphy. “On Greentown Drive, isn’t it?”

Dr. Hua nodded. “Yes, I have large home where I hope to have office, some day. First I must pass Ohio Medical Examinations. Then I can again practice medicine.”

Jan saw Quang scowl. Why is he upset about that? she wondered.

She was so interested in the talk of the grown-ups that she did not at first notice the other children leaving the group one by one. Then she heard Fred call to her, “Jan, come on. Some of us are going to play softball.”

Thinking this might be a safe way to make friends with Quang she asked, “Quang, would you like to play?”

She thought he would say ‘yes’, but then he shook his head. Without answering, he turned and walked away.

Jan shrugged and felt better. She had tried. Then she ran over to the others. She liked to play softball. She was pretty good at it too.

Sides were being chosen.

“Julie, aren’t you and Susan going to play?” asked Jan.

Julie shook her head and Susan answered, “Nope, I can’t hit a ball if someone throws it right to me. Julie and I will cheer.”

Although Julie was not the best softball player, she usually joined the game when one was being played. Jan supposed she was not playing so that Susan wouldn’t be alone. The game began, and Jan forgot everything else. She played hard because she liked to win. And their side did win.

Fred pounded her on the back and shouted, “Great game, Jan! Say, you can really run.”

It was high praise, and Jan was pleased.

The twins with Fred and Susan walked slowly over to where Mr. and Mrs. Davidson were sitting on lawn chairs. Steve and Candy were already there sitting on a blanket spread out on the ground.

“Come, sit down,” Dad called to them. “The fireworks will be starting soon.”

The four children hurried over and sat down. Jan was glad to rest after the game. Fred, too, seemed tired.

It was almost dark. Then a boom was heard. A beautiful shower of reds and blues was seen in the evening sky. There were “oohs” and “ahs” from those watching.

Jan gave a contented little sigh and made herself more comfortable on the blanket. Another boom and a rocket of brilliant white flashed in the sky. ‘A perfect end to a perfect day,’ she thought. ‘Well, almost perfect day.’ She was remembering Quang.

Noises

One morning about a week later, Mom stopped Jan and Julie on their way out the back door. “Where are you two going?” she asked.

“We were going over to get Fred and Susan,” Julie answered.

“Well, come home in half-an-hour, please. We’re all going out to do some errands then,” Mom said.

“Oh, Mom,” Jan cried, “why do Julie and I have to go? We wanted to go up to the barn for a club meeting.”

“I’m sorry about the meeting, but it can’t be helped. There are several things I must do, and I don’t want to leave you home alone that long.”

Jan stamped her foot angrily, tears came into her eyes. “You always want to go somewhere when we’re ready to have our club. I hate to go on errands.”

“Jan,” said Mother sternly, “we’re going and that is all there is to it. You may go and tell your friends that you’ll see them after lunch.”

Jan stomped outside letting the screen door slam shut behind her. Julie followed.

The children agreed to go to the barn that afternoon. By the time they came home, Jan had cooled off. She climbed into the station wagon without any further fuss.

First stop was the North Falls Library. The Davidson children participated in the Summer Reading Program every year. If they read a certain number of books over the summer months, they could go to a special program and event the library gave just before school began. The children enjoyed this very much and were part of it every year. This year even Candy could read, so all four children picked out some new books.

“While you children get your books, I’ll go back into the Adult Department,” said Mom. “I thought I might see what I can find out about Mr. Roberts and your mystery. When you are through checking your books out, come join me. I’ll show you where I’m looking.”

“Oh good,” said Jan. “We certainly haven’t found any clues, have we, Julie?”

“No, but we still would like to,” she answered.

But later when they went to the part of the library where Mom was, she said, “I’m sorry, but neither I nor the librarian could find anything. I hoped to find some newspaper clippings about Mr. Roberts’ arrest or something. But it seems the town of North Falls didn’t even have a newspaper until the early 1900’s. I’m not giving up yet, though. Maybe I’ll think of somewhere else to look.”

Then she showed the girls the file drawers and old books she had looked through. Jan and Julie were disappointed, but neither of them said anything.

Mom needed a few things from a department store. So from the library they went to a nearby shopping mall.

They were walking past the radio department when Jan said, “Look at this, Julie.” She had stopped in front of a large display of Walkie-Talkies. “Aren’t those Walkie-Talkies?” Julie asked.

“Yeah, wouldn’t those be great to have for the club? Look, this is Morse Code printed on the front. It even has a beeper to send it. Let’s ask Fred and Susan if they would like to have some for the club.”

Julie agreed. “They cost a lot of money, though,” she said. “How will we get enough to pay for them?”

“Don’t forget our carnival. That should earn quite a bit of money for the club treasury.”

“Girls,” Mom called. “Stay with us, please.”

The twins hurried to catch up with the rest.

It was lunch time when Mom finally finished all her errands. Instead of going home, she drove into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. “How about hamburgers and french fries for lunch?” she asked smiling. “Whoopee!” the children shouted.

When they arrived home later, Mom had a question for Jan. “That wasn’t too bad, was it?” Her eyes were twinkling at her daughter.

Jan smiled a little sheepishly and shook her head. She always felt sorry for her temper afterward. Somehow it didn’t seem to help the next time. “Could we go to Fred and Susan’s now?” she asked.

The Bakers thought Walkie-Talkies would be fun to have for the club. “Where can we get enough money to buy them?” Susan wanted to know. “Why worry?” Fred asked. “We’ll think of something, Suzy-Q ... You are a Worry Wart.”

“Fred, you stop calling me names,” Susan said indignantly.

“Hold it, hold it,” Jan put up both hands for silence. “Don’t forget our plan to have a carnival.”

“That’s so,” said Susan. “Have you two talked to your Mom yet?”

“No, but we can right now,” Jan answered.

No sooner said than done. Mom was busy vacuuming in the living room, but she stopped to listen to their idea.

“Hmm, a carnival sounds like fun,” she said. “Also a lot of work, I’m sure you know that.”

They did. Mom was silent for a couple of minutes. At last she said, “It’s fine with me.”

“Yea!” the children shouted.

“Wait a minute,” Mom said laughing. “Before you get too excited, you had better let me finish.” When they were quiet again she went on, “First, we had better ask your Dad what he thinks. I don’t expect he will mind, but he may have plans that we don’t know about or something. Then, I still am busy trying to get settled here. I would like to have you wait a couple of weeks or so to have it. Is that agreeable?”

“We have a lot of planning to do anyway, Mom,” Julie answered. “It will take awhile to get all of the booths ready.”

“Good. Now one other thing. I’ve been wanting to have Mrs. Murphy give a puppet show in the neighborhood. How would it be if we combine the two? Maybe she could give a puppet show after the carnival. I’ll have to talk to her and set a date, but she knows I want her to come sometime this summer. How does that sound to you children?”

“Wow, that’s a great idea, Mom. You’ll love Mrs. Murphy’s puppets,” Jan said to Fred and Susan. “She always tells stories about a jungle monkey. They are so funny.”

There was some excited talk with ideas for the carnival flying thick and fast.

At last Mom said she would talk to Dad that very evening. If he had no objections, she promised to call Mrs. Murphy in the next day or so and arrange a date with her.

The children decided to go to the barn and do some serious planning. “Keep an eye on the sky,” Mom cautioned. “It looks like it might storm.”

“Could we take a snack?” Julie wanted to know.

Mom nodded. “There’s some cheese and crackers, and I baked cookies yesterday.”

“Guess I better run home and tell Mom where we are going,” Fred offered. “I’ll get the club box while I’m there.”

Soon they were following the path to the barn. It seemed to Jan that the sky was getting darker. Then she felt a drop of rain.

“Looks like Mom was right about that storm. I’ll race you to the barn,” Jan called.

They arrived breathless but only a little damp. Just in time too. It was as though someone had unzipped the sky. Rain fell in buckets.

“Whew, just made it,” Fred whistled. “Look at that rain come down.” They stood at the door watching for a couple of minutes.

“Well, nothing to do but eat. All that running made me very hungry,” Fred hinted.

The girls laughed and opened the paper bag of cheese, crackers, and cookies. Julie had carried along a thermos bottle of fruit juice too and four paper cups.

They made themselves comfortable on the barn floor and munched their snack.

“I think we’re going to be here awhile,” Fred commented.

As soon as he said it, there was a flash of lightning, then a clap of thunder.

Susan made a squeek. “Oh, I hate thunder,” she said, her eyes round.

“Suzy-Q, you are something else,” said her brother. He was unrolling a newspaper he had brought with him, then he stretched out on the floor to look at it.

Julie came to Susan’s defense. “Fred, it’s mean of you to tease Susan when she is frightened.”

He popped another cracker in his mouth. His eyes danced as he ate the cracker, but all he finally said was, “I suppose you’re right.”

“What is that?” Susan asked in a scared voice.

“What’s what?” Fred sounded disgusted. “For crying out loud, Susan, what is it now?”

“Th-that noise,” she stuttered.

“I can’t hear anything but the rain. You’ve really got an ...” The words died in his throat as he heard it too.

Somewhere there was a tapping sound. It sounded to Jan like metal striking something. Just what she couldn’t tell.

By this time they were all on their feet except Susan. She had bunched herself up in a ball. The other three walked around the inside of the barn listening.

The noise seemed loudest to Jan’s ears in the back of the barn. But she had to admit to herself that the storm was making the sound hard to locate. Suddenly the noise stopped. Listen as she would, Jan could no longer hear it.

“Hey, it stopped,” Fred said. “Maybe it was a bird in the rafters or a mouse. Barns always have birds and mice.”

No one said anything. But none of them thought it was an animal. Julie gathered up the cups and papers. She put all the trash into the paper bag.

Susan had stopped looking so scared. She began to help Julie clean up. Fred went back to looking at the newspaper he had brought.

Jan opened the club box and took out pen and paper. She wrote a list: Funny things about the barn.

1. Gramps’ story

2. pocket knife

3. face in the window

4. tapping noises

She sat and chewed on the cap of the pen thinking. The pocket knife and face seemed to mean someone else was playing in the barn. Was the noise made by the same person? If so, where was he that the tapping could be heard in the barn? Did any of this have something to do with the story of Mr. Roberts? Jan shook her head. It was certainly a puzzle.

All at once Fred said, “Hey, listen to this. It’s an article in the North Falls Town Press. I’m going to become a carrier, so I brought this paper along to look at. Anyway, this article is part of a series on the history of North Falls and the area: “ ... slaves fugitive from the South followed the Underground Railway through Ohio to the port of Cleveland and then to Canada. There were seven routes to Cleveland along which conductors aided slaves to freedom. One of these routes went from Massillon through North Falls to Greentown and on to Cleveland. It is believed that the route used Greentown Drive through North Falls on its way...

“What caught my eye,” said Fred, “was ‘Greentown Drive.’ Isn’t that the road right out here? The one Gramps’ house is on?”

Jan looked startled. “Yes, I’m almost sure it is. We can go and see.”

She went to look out the barn door. “It has nearly stopped raining. Come on. Let’s go up to the corner and find the street post.”

The others followed her. Everything was wet after the rain. The weeds squeaked when the children stepped on them. Everyone’s feet and legs were soaking wet when they finally found the street sign. It was nearly hidden in the brush. The words were faded but readable. It said: Greentown Drive.

Softball

The children did not go back to the barn. It was too late to work on plans for the carnival any more that day. They decided just to call it a day and come back the next morning.

Jan was busy thinking. She could not decide where she had just heard of Greentown Drive. Someone recently had been talking about that street, but who? Maybe Mom would remember, she thought all at once.

“Fred,” she called. He was ahead of her on the path. “Could I use your newspaper? I’ll give it back tomorrow.”

He waited for her to catch up. “What is this about my newspaper?”

“I thought I’d ask my Mom to read that article in your newspaper. She used to be a history teacher at North Falls High, you know.”

“A teacher! Here I thought your Mom was such a nice lady too!” He shook his head sadly and wrinkled up his whole face.

Jan had to laugh. Sometimes Fred’s face seemed made of rubber.

The four parted with promises to start plans for the carnival next day without fail.

Jan ran up the side steps and burst into the kitchen. “Mom, please read this article. It’s about Greentown Drive.” Jan was hopping up and down.

“Wow, Jan,” said Mom wiping her hands on a towel, “calm down. Now what is this about?”

“Fred read us this article about the Underground Railroad. The story said that Greentown Drive was part of it,” Julie answered.

“Hmm, now that is interesting. What newspaper is it?” Mom wanted to know.

“The North Falls Town Press,” Jan answered. “Fred begins as a carrier this week so he got his copy early.”

It was just a weekly paper. Most of the people of North Falls got their daily paper from the large city nearby.

Mrs. Davidson took the paper from Jan and sat down to read the article. “That certainly is interesting,” she said a few minutes later, “let me think for awhile. Then at dinner I’ll try to tell you what I know about the Underground Railroad in Ohio. Right now, how about you two go wash your hands and set the dinner table.”

Soon thanks was given and everyone was served his dinner. Then Mom said, “While you girls were setting the table, I looked up some facts in one of my history books.”

She thought a minute. “I don’t want to bore you with a lot of details. Stop me if you don’t understand something I say, all right?”

The twins nodded. Jan was eager to hear. She wished Mom would hurry up.

“It is hard to put a date on the Underground Railroad. But it was very busy all of the 1800’s right up to the start of the Civil War.”

Jan interrupted, “But what is the Underground Railroad, Mom?”

“Well, you know that one cause of the Civil War was slavery in the South, don’t you?”

The twins did.

“In the Northern States where there was no slavery, people felt that no one should own another man. Southern people disagreed, of course. Anyway, whenever a slave managed to escape his master, usually he would try to get to Canada.”

“Why not just a Northern State?” Julie asked.

“There was a Fugitive Slave Law that the Congress had passed. This law made it illegal to help escaped slaves in any way. Then too, the Southern men, who had lost the runaway slaves, came looking for them. The slaves were their property by the law. So Canada seemed the only safe place.
“This is where the Underground Railroad comes in. Northern people wanted to help slaves escape from slavery. But they could not just help them get a home and a job. So Northern men and women opened their homes as ‘stations’ and used their carriages and wagons to help slaves get to Canada and freedom. Each person along the way did his part to help. These people were called ‘conductors’. The routes of escape were called ‘lines’ of the Underground Railroad.”

“Oh, I see,” said Jan, “it wasn’t a real railroad at all.”

“No,” said Mother laughing.

Here Mr. Davidson spoke, “It seems to me, Lucy, that one of the actual causes of the Civil War was that Fugitive Slave Law. Didn’t the Congress pass a stricter law or something?”

“I think you’re right, Chuck,” Mom answered. She left the table and went into the next room. Soon she came back with a large book in her hand.

Everyone was quiet while she leafed through the pages. Finally she said, “Yes, here it is. I’ll read it: “‘The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was more stringent than the old law of 1793. Those who aided fugitives were given heavy fines and up to six months in jail. Slave owners could sue anyone convicted under the law for one thousand dollars per slave lost.’

“It goes on to say that the law increased the number of people against slavery. They were called ‘abolitionists’ because they wanted slavery abolished or done away with.”

“And to think Greentown Drive was one time a route of the Underground Railroad,” said Jan. “Wow, that makes history seem so real.” Then she remembered what had started her interest in the first place. “Who was talking about Greentown Drive not too long ago, Mom?”

It was Dad who knew. “I believe Mr. or Mrs. Murphy said the Huas live on that road.”

Through all this Candy and Steve were quiet. But now Candy said, “I’m through eating. What’s for dessert?”

Everyone laughed. Nothing could make Candy forget her sweets.

The rest of the family had finished dinner too. So Mom served frosty bowls of orange sherbet.

Then, as he did each evening, Dad opened the Bible. He began reading from the book of Proverbs.

Tonight Jan felt less interested than usual. Her mind was very busy thinking about the Underground Railroad. She tried to picture wagons full of poor runaway slaves rumbling over Greentown Drive late at night. It gave her tiny shivers up her back.

Dad was reading, “‘Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.’

“You see children, God is interested in the things you do, too. He cares about the actions of children the same as grown-ups.
“One thing you must do is receive Jesus as your Savior. Then your works can be pure as it says here. O.K., I guess that is enough for tonight.”

Someone was pounding on the back door. Jan ran to answer it. It was Fred looking excited.

“Jan, you know the empty lot down at the corner and across the street?”

“Yes, what about it?” she asked.

“Well, my Dad says the builder told him no houses will be put there. It is to be used for recreation. So I asked him if he thought we could play softball on it. He said he couldn’t see any reason why not. Come on, let’s see if we can find enough other kids for a game,” he finished.

“That would be fun. Julie and I have to help with the dishes first then we’ll come.”

“Will Julie play? I know she didn’t at the Fourth of July picnic,” Fred remarked.

“Maybe she will. Sometimes she does. Anyway I’ll see if I can talk her into it,” Jan answered.

“I’ll get my ball and mitt and meet you down there,” he said.

“All right. See you later.”

With both girls working, the dishes were soon rinsed and in the dishwasher.

Julie agreed to come with Jan. “But I’ll just watch,” she said.

When they got to the empty lot, Fred was there and a few other children. Jan saw Susan too. They were already choosing teams.

“Come on, Suzy, be on my team,” Fred was half pleading, half teasing.

“Fred, stop calling me ‘Suzy’. You know I can’t hit a ball or catch one either,” Susan said.

“We don’t care. We need a few more players or we won’t have enough,” he answered.

“I’ll play if Julie will,” Susan said. She surprised herself and Julie too.

“All right, I will,” said Julie.

“My hat is off to you, my lady,” said Fred. He bowed low and swept an imaginary hat off his head.

Julie blushed and giggled. But she did play and so did Susan. Not that they played very well. Once a ball was hit to Julie and instead of trying to catch it, she ducked. And neither Susan or Julie were able to get on base.

Jan couldn’t help laughing when Julie ducked the ball. But Julie was a good sport about it and joined the laughter. Everyone seemed to be having a good time playing.

It was while Jan was waiting for her turn at bat that she saw Quang. He was standing near the street watching the game.

“Quang,” she called on impulse, “come play.”

She thought he looked surprised. Then he came toward the children slowly. He seemed fearful, yet Jan could tell he wanted to play.

“This is Quang,” Jan told the others. She told him the names of as many players as she herself knew.

The game went on. When Quang had a turn at bat, he hit the ball hard. And could he run. Those on his team pounded his back as he came into home plate.

Then it happened. Quang’s team was in the field. The person at bat hit a high fly ball. Quang raced to get it. Just as he reached out, his foot slipped. The ball bounced away from him.

“Too bad,” Jan called as someone else got the ball and threw it to base.

“You dirty, stupid, yellow boy!”

Jan gasped as one of the bigger boys yelled insults at Quang.

Quang turned pale. Then without saying anything, he threw down the mitt he had been wearing and walked away.

“Quang, wait,” Julie tried to stop him.

But he never looked back.

Some of the kids were laughing and saying other mean things. Jan heard one boy say, “That Quang is so dumb. He was in my class at school part of last year. He can’t even speak good English.”

The boy who had yelled in the first place pulled his face stiff like Quang had. The others around him laughed.

But the game was spoiled for Jan and Julie. Soon Fred and Susan joined them on the sidewalk.

“Whew,” said Fred, “that sure took a nasty turn.”

“I guess,” said Jan.

They walked toward home in silence.

As they parted Julie said, “No wonder Quang doesn’t want to be friends with anyone.”

When Fred and Susan were out of sight, Jan told Julie about her bike accident the first day in the new house.

“I guess I was mean to Quang, Julie,” Jan said slowly. “You know how angry I am when I get hurt.”

Julie nodded. “Perhaps we can find a way to show him that everyone doesn’t hate him.”

“Maybe,” Jan said, but she couldn’t see how.

The Note

At breakfast next morning Mom said, “With all the talk last night about the Underground Railroad, I forgot to tell you that I called Mrs. Murphy.”

“Oh, good. What did she say?” asked Jan.

“She said she would love to have a puppet show at our house. So we arranged a date. Let’s see now ... ” Mom got up to look at the kitchen calendar.

“Here it is. She is coming at three o’clock on the 25th of July. That’s a Tuesday afternoon a little less than two weeks from today. How does that sound?”

Jan and Julie looked at one another. Then Julie said, “Sounds great, Mom. That doesn’t give us much time to get everything ready, though. We better get started today.”

“If your room is straightened up and your beds are made, you can go after breakfast dishes are done,” said Mom.

“Could we pack a lunch and take it to the barn, Mom?” asked Jan.

Mother nodded.

Soon the girls were knocking on the Baker’s side door.

Susan made sandwiches while Fred hunted for a few things to use at the barn.

When they were leaving, he said, “I couldn’t find the club box. We must have left it at the barn yesterday.”

He had a couple pairs of scissors and some felt marking pens in his hand. “I was going to put these things in the club box, but guess I’ll have to carry them. They are so heavy I don’t know if I can do it without help.

“Jan, lend a fellow a hand, will you?” He was bent over double with his hands nearly touching the ground. Grunts and moans were the only sounds he made for the next few minutes.

The girls in turn laughed and teased him. They were still giggling and acting silly when they reached the barn.

Jan was first in the door. She stopped suddenly and stared. The others joined her one by one with exclamations of horror.

The contents of the club box were strewn around the barn. The pencils were broken in two. The stapler was smashed. Papers were everywhere.

Silently they picked up the mess. Susan spotted the club box in a corner. “Hey, there’s a note taped in here,” she called.

Everyone came to look. A note neatly printed was taped inside the lid. Jan read: FACT CLUB: DO NOT COME TO BARN. I AM HERE FIRST. That was all. There was no name.

“Someone has taken a dislike to us,” Fred commented.

Susan was looking scared. “Maybe we shouldn’t come here. Every time we do, something bad happens,” she whispered. She looked like she might cry.

Fred opened his mouth to say something. But before he could Julie said quietly, “Don’t worry, Susan. I know God won’t let anything terrible happen. He loves us and I trust Him.”

“But how do you know, Julie?” asked Susan.

“Well, He says in His Word, the Bible, that He cares for us. It’s in the book of First Peter some place.”

“You’re never afraid, are you?” Susan said in a small voice.

Julie looked embarrassed, but she answered, “I can’t say ‘never’, but I know Jesus as my Savior. And I know He is always with me.”

Susan was silent thinking. Fred had gone to look out the barn door. Jan was pretending not to listen. She was picking up the few remaining papers.

As Jan put the things that weren’t spoiled in the club box, she made a discovery. “Do you know what? That pocket knife is gone.”

Though the children searched in every corner of the barn, the pocket knife was nowhere to be found.

“It must have been the owner of the knife who made this mess,” Julie said. “I think we should go see Gramps for a few minutes.”

“Why?” asked Jan.

“Don’t you think he should know about this?” Julie said. “Anyway he asked us to come see him again and we never did.”

The sun was blinding after the cool, dim barn. It was going to be a hot day.

The children walked the short distance to Gramps’ house and knocked on the door.

Mrs. Ray opened the door as before, but this time she smiled. “Why, hello. Gramps, that is, Mr. Hinkle was talking about you children yesterday. Come in, come in.”

“He will be glad to see you,” she added as she led the way to the sitting room.

As on that other day Gramps was sitting in his rocker, a blanket over his knees. His eyes lit up when he saw who his callers were. “Hello, there and welcome,” he said. “Martha, see if we have something for these young people to drink.

“Sit down and tell me what brings you to see an old man.” His eyes twinkled.

“Now Gramps,” Julie protested, “you asked us to come see you.” He laughed. “So I did,” he said.

Jan explained what they had found in the barn a short while before. After looking at the others, she also told him about the face, the knife, and the noise. “And today the pocket knife is gone,” she finished.

Gramps looked thoughtful. “Sounds like someone else wants to play in the barn too. Only he or she was not polite enough to ask first. Well, you young people can still have your club in the barn, but keep an eye open for this other person, please. I would like to have a talk with him.”

They agreed.

Mrs. Ray brought some iced tea in tall glasses just then. It was very warm in the little sitting room and Jan, for one, was thankful for the cold drink.

As they sipped their tea, they told in turns their plans for a carnival and puppet show.

Gramps was interested. “You’ll have to let me know how it turns out,” he said.

“Jan,” said Julie suddenly, “we didn’t tell Fred and Susan what Mom told us last night about the Underground Railroad.”

“What’s this?” Gramps asked.

“Fred saw an article about North Falls and the Underground Railroad in the North Falls Town Press. The article said Greentown Road was a route for the Underground Railroad,” Julie said. She went on to explain what Mrs. Davidson had told the twins about Ohio and the Underground Railroad.

“I couldn’t understand everything Mom said, could you Julie?” Jan asked.

Julie shook her head. “There was a lot of stuff about Fugitive Slave Laws too. But Jan and I thought it was like having history come alive. Wow, when you think that slaves were hurried to freedom right on this very road ...” she let the sentence hang unfinished.

“Well,” said Gramps after a short silence, “well, well. I wonder if Grandad knew that. If he did, he never mentioned it to me.”

Shortly afterward they left. Talking about newspapers reminded Fred that he had to deliver those same papers that afternoon. The children still wanted time to plan the carnival that day, so they left with promises to come again soon.

“I’ll bring you a newspaper, Gramps,” Fred promised, “then you can read that article for yourself.”

By the time they got back to the barn it was noon. They decided to eat their sandwiches first.

When the lunch things were at last cleared away, Fred found paper and pencil that were still whole. “Susan, as our Club Secretary, would you please take notes?” Fred said it so seriously that Susan looked at him with suspicion.

“We should have a Treasurer too,” he went on.

“I think Julie would be a good one for the job,” Jan said loyally.

The others thought so too, so Julie became Club Treasurer. Someone suggested Fred be President and Jan, Vice President.

“Madam Secretary, do you have all of this written down?” Fred asked in an important sounding voice.

“Yes, Mr. President,” replied Susan trying hard not to giggle, “but I have a question.”

“Yes, please go on,” said Fred.

“Well, Mr. President, who will be the members of this Club?”

The children looked at one another. It was true, they each were an officer. Susan started to giggle. Soon they were all shouting and laughing.

It seemed very funny for a club to have no members!

Finally Fred said, “Will the meeting come to order!”

His tone of voice sent everyone into fresh whoops.

At last they calmed down. Susan held her pencil and paper ready. “We wanted to have a fun house, I think,” said Julie.

“How about games?” asked Jan.

“We could have a bean bag toss.” Fred jumped up and threw a pretend bean bag.

“Does horseshoes or ring toss sound like a good idea?” asked Susan.

“Fred has a set of hard rubber horseshoes that we play in our yard sometimes.”

Someone suggested a fish pond. And they decided to have popcorn and juice for refreshments.

“We’ll need to advertise somehow and make tickets,” Fred reminded them after it was quiet for awhile.

“Wow, there’s a lot to do,” Jan remarked. “Maybe we should ask Steve and Candy to help.”

“Hey, that’s a good idea. I’ll bet Michael would like to help too,” said Susan.

That decided, they each picked a game to be in charge of. Fred wanted to do the fun house. Jan said she would help him. Julie thought she would do the bean bag toss.

“I’ll paint a big clown face on the bottom of a box,” she said. “Then I’ll cut out his eyes, nose, and mouth to throw the bean bags into. I’ll have to make bean bags too.”

“Not only is she pretty, but she’s talented too,” said Fred. Julie turned pink.

“Fred,” Susan squeaked, “do you always have to embarrass people? I’ll help you make the things, Julie. But for the carnival I’ll be in charge of the horseshoe game.”

That left the fishpond. The twins were certain Steve and Candy would like to man that.

“What are we going to use for prizes?” Jan asked suddenly.

“And money to buy them?” Fred wanted to know.

“We’ll need money to buy art supplies too,” put in Julie.

“I guess we’ll all just have to rob our banks and pool our money to get started,” Susan said.

Everyone agreed to see what money he or she had at home to put in the carnival fund. Then they would ask a parent to take them to buy supplies.

“Whew, there’s more to this than meets the eye,” Fred remarked. “Wow, I’ve got to get home and deliver those papers,” he said jumping up.

“There’s a lot to do all right,” said Julie, “but I can’t wait to get started. It’s going to be so much fun.”

Tapping Noises Again

The next ten days were happy, busy ones. The children worked on the coming carnival with a will.

First there was a shopping trip. Mr. Baker took the children to a large store where they bought art supplies and penny candy for prizes. Naturally Candy had suggested the sweets for prizes. She said there wasn’t anything better, and the older children thought she was right.

The girls worked on the Clown Toss Game, the Fish Pond, and tickets. Fred, meanwhile, drew a very neat advertisement for the carnival. Mr. Davidson took it to a place that made copies. Then the children put the thirty or so copies at doors around the neighborhood.

Working together Jan and Fred came up with several good ideas for the Fun House. Mr. Davidson agreed to let them use the garage as the Fun House. Even with the garage door shut and the windows covered, it wasn’t very dark. So Fred and Jan decided to blindfold children who wanted to go through it.

Jan would lead people through two at a time, and Fred would make funny sounds. He collected some whistles and his little brother’s rhythm band cymbals to use for scary noises.

They set up ramps to change the slant of the floor. That would really be funny to walk on blindfolded, Jan grinned to herself as she thought about it.

Somewhere Fred got an old mattress. He added this to the path saying, “Everyone can fall over and bounce a time or two.” To prove his point, he did it a couple of times to “see if it would work.”

They also planned to have a large bowl of cooked spaghetti and one of peeled grapes. This would be a gooey thrill. Everyone would put his hand in to feel. Jan shuddered. Ugh! she thought.

Of course, they could only collect the things and wait for the day of the carnival to come. In the meanwhile, Mr. Davidson needed his garage for his car.

Even the weather seemed to help. Each day dawned hot, sunny, and dry. Jan hoped it would last until after the carnival. Rain would spoil everything.

Sometimes they worked at the barn. On those days they took a picnic lunch and all the things they wanted to work on that day. Nothing was left at the barn overnight. No one wanted to risk having someone smash the carnival things.

But they saw no one or no sign of anyone either. In fact the whole mystery of the barn was more or less in the background. Everyone was just too busy.

Several evenings they played softball on the empty lots. Quang never came back. Jan could hardly blame him. But she was glad to see that the older boys who had been so mean to Quang didn’t come either. She, for one, didn’t miss them a bit!

From all the practice, Susan and Julie improved. Soon they could hit and catch the ball as well as the others.

All at once, or so it seemed to Jan, it was Monday. The carnival was to be at one-thirty the next day.

It was a hot sultry day. The children gathered around the Davidson’s picnic table.

“Whew, it’s too hot for me,” said Fred.

“Too bad Mom can’t take us swimming today,” said Jan. The park was over four miles away, too far for them to ride their bikes.

“Is everything ready?” Julie asked.

They went into the garage to check once more.

“Tickets, games, prizes,” Susan counted off on her fingers. “Looks to me like everything is ready.”

“Why don’t we pack a lunch and just go play at the barn today?” suggested Jan.

“Good idea,” Fred agreed, “it’s usually nice and cool in the barn. Tell you what. Dad bought us a few new books. I’ll bring those and some old ones to read.”

“Great,” said Jan. She was already up the steps to the kitchen door. “Meet you two back here when you’re ready.”

Soon they were on the path to the barn. Today they didn’t bother to walk on stones across the creek. They splashed across, grateful for even that little bit of coolness. Not that there was much water in the creek. The very hot weather plus no rain in nearly two weeks had caused most of the water in the creek to dry up. In fact everything seemed dry to Jan.

It was too hot to hurry. They just sort of straggled into the barn one at a time and flopped down on the floor.

“I sure hope we have enough energy to have a carnival tomorrow,” Jan remarked. “This heat makes me feel like a limp noodle.”

“And you look like one too,” Fred said his eyes dancing. Then he had to duck as she took a swing at him.

“Careful what you say about me, Fred, I’m the one who brought the lemonade,” she warned. She was busy pouring a glassful for each of them. The icy liquid felt so cool and delicious in her throat.

Fred spread out his books on the floor. For awhile no one spoke.

They sipped lemonade and read peacefully.

Suddenly Fred sat up. “Listen,” he hissed.

Jan heard it at once. It was that same tapping noise they had heard on that other day nearly two weeks before.

“I think,” Fred whispered, “it is coming from under the floor. You all keep very quiet. I am going to catch our unknown visitor.”

So saying he slipped out the door. For a minute there was no sound. Jan found herself holding her breath. Then a shout was heard. In a minute all three girls were on their feet and out of the barn.

Jan tore around the corner of the barn to see Fred wrestling with - Quang! She heard Julie catch her breath as she too saw who it was.

Fred was larger, but Quang was wiry. Still in a few minutes Fred had pinned the smaller boy down.

“What are you doing here?” Fred demanded panting.

Quang just glared at him.

Suddenly Fred jerked him up and shouted, “Are you the one who smashed our club box and wrote that note?”

For a long minute the two boys just stared at one another. Fred was really angry, Jan could see. Quang’s eyes were blazing with his anger too.

Then Quang wriggled away from Fred and said huskily, “I come to this barn before you. I discover. You find some other place.”

He turned and started to run away. But he stopped at the corner of the barn and threw back, “For today you win. But I get you for this.” Then he was gone.

The children could only stare after him uneasily.

The Cellar

Julie was the first to break the silence. “Poor Quang. He needs to know Jesus as His Savior,” she said softly more to herself than to anyone else.

Fred said, “Ha!”

Jan exploded, “Julie, must you always?!” She felt disgusted and perhaps a little guilty at the same time.

Only Susan was quiet. But in a minute she said in a small scared voice, “What do you suppose he’ll do?”

Jan had been thinking the same thing but hadn’t wanted to say so. It was Fred who answered with a shrug, “What can he do?”

“Hey, look,” Julie called, “the door to the barn’s cellar is open.”

“Yeah, that’s where I found Quang. He was tapping on some rocks with a little hammer. But he dropped it fast enough and jumped me when he saw me looking in the door.” Fred could only shake his head. “I didn’t want to fight him. After that ball game I felt kind of sorry for him. But not any more.”

Jan was curious. While Fred was talking she went in the cellar door.

It was dim and very cool inside. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the gloom after the glare of outside.

She guessed the cellar had been used to store fruits and vegetables at one time. There were a few wrinkled, dried-up apples lying in one corner.

The others had followed her inside. Now Julie said, “This must belong to Quang.” She was looking at a small pile of rocks, a funny shaped hammer with a pick on the other end, and a cloth bag all lying together on the floor.

“I’ll bet he’s a rock collector,” Fred said. “I have a friend at school and he has stuff just like this.”

Jan wasn’t really interested. She went over to the back wall of the cellar where something odd had caught her eye.

The walls of the cellar were made entirely of rock set in thick mortar. Jan remembered noticing that from the outside. But what had caught her attention was that one rock had fallen out of the back wall. It lay on the dirt floor in pieces. It looked as though Quang had broken it with that funny shaped hammer.

“Hey, everybody, come here,” Jan called. “What is this, do you think?” She pointed to the hole left by the rock.

The children crowded around to look. Fred was the first to see what was puzzling Jan. “There should be dirt behind this rock not a hole, is that what you mean?”

Jan nodded.

Fred explained to Julie and Susan. “This barn was built into a little hill. If you go outside you can see. This wall should be right against the dirt of the hill. But it must not be or there wouldn’t be a hole here.”

He fished in his pocket. “The only flashlight I have is this penlight. Not much help, probably.”

He held it to the hole. To Jan’s surprise the light reflected on something shiny.

Julie saw it too. “There’s something in there!” she said excitedly.

Fred put his hand in and tried to pull whatever it was out. But his fingers could not find a hold. Suddenly the object fell out-on the other side! The dull thud it made as it hit somewhere on the opposite side of the stone wall could be plainly heard.

For two full minutes all any of them could do was stare stupidly. It was so unexpected.

Finally Jan whispered, “There must be a room or at least a space over there.”

Unlikely as it seemed, there seemed to be no other explanation. A babble of excited talk broke out. But Jan for once was quiet. Her mind was buzzing with ideas. ‘The mystery! This must be the secret of the barn!’ she thought excitedly.

Fred had the same idea. “A door. Somewhere there has to be a way to get into that room. If it is a room. If this is the secret of Mr. Roberts and the barn Gramps told us about.”

Now excitement was at a high pitch. Everyone began feverishly to tap on the remaining rocks. Next to the opening another rock fell out into the other side. But no real door could be found. The wall was otherwise very solid.

At last, discouraged, they gave up and left the cellar.

Back in the main part of the barn Julie looked at her watch. “No wonder I’m so hungry. It’s one o’clock,” she said.

While they ate sandwiches and drank the rest of the lemonade, they tried to figure out where a door to that room could be.

“All right, FACT Club members,” Fred said in a stern voice, “let the ‘T’ in FACT be for ‘thinking’ today. Club Secretary, take notes.”

“On what, Mr. President?” Susan asked giggling.

No one had brought the club box. But as usual Fred found a piece of paper and a stub of pencil by fishing in his pockets.

“O.K., now what do we know?” he asked.

“There’s a space behind that stone wall and there has to be some way to get into it,” Jan answered.

Fred looked disgusted. “I know that, silly. I mean, where do we know the door is or isn’t?”

“Oh, I see,” Julie said, “you mean it isn’t in the stone wall. At least if it is, we couldn’t find it.”

Fred nodded. “What we need is ideas on where to look.”

Everyone was silent. ‘Where could a door be?’ Jan wondered. Aloud she said, “Outside along the front or side of the barn?”

No one thought so. The foundation was only about three stones high in the front of the barn. Only as the ground sloped down at the back was it gradually high enough to be the walls of the cellar.

Fred took a deep breath. “It has to be in here somewhere.”

“In here!” Susan squeaked.

The twins acted surprised too. But they quickly realized he had to be right.

Jan jumped up. “What are we waiting for? Let’s get looking.”

“Hold it, hold it,” Fred said, “let’s use our heads. It will be easier that way.”

He took the paper from Susan and drew a crude picture of the inside of the barn. Since the paper was so small, everyone had to crowd around to see. This is what he drew: “The way I see it, that cellar only goes about half-way under the barn. Agreed?” Fred asked.

Everyone nodded.

“That means the hidden room or space or whatever must be under the floor of the front half of the barn. So, let’s divide the front part of this room roughly into four sections. Each of us can look our part over very carefully for a hidden door, probably a trap door in the floor.”

No one had a better idea. They quickly did as he suggested. Soon all four children were crawling around on hands and knees looking for anything which could prove to be a door.

But look though they would, no one could find so much as a crack in the boards.

At last Jan said, “I give up. It is just too dark in here to see well.”

It was true. The dimness of the barn that made it so cool on hot days now was making it hard to see. With only the barn door and one small window, there was simply not enough light.

Julie looked at her watch, “Wow, Jan, it’s five o’clock. We’ll have to get home for dinner soon anyhow.”

“Dad has a couple of strong lanterns which we use when we go camping,”

Fred offered. “Maybe we’ll have time tomorrow after the carnival to come with good light and look. I’m sure that door must be in this room somewhere.” They walked home slowly, each busy with his own thoughts.

At home it was nearly time for dinner, and Mom wanted Jan and Julie’s help. So it was not until they were eating that the girls were able to tell the events of the day.

Mom and Dad seemed troubled when they heard that it was Quang who was the unknown visitor at the barn. But neither parent was inclined to be worried by Quang’s threats.

“All of us make rash remarks when we are really angry,” Dad said. “I feel sure he will be sorry for his behavior once he gets home and thinks it over.”

Mom was almost as excited as the twins about the hidden room. She wondered aloud what it could possibly mean. Both she and Dad agreed the girls should spend as much time as they needed to find the trap door.

Midway through dinner fire sirens could be heard close by. Jan and Julie and indeed the whole family went to the kitchen window to see what they could.

“The fire trucks are at Gramps’!” Jan yelled. “Dad, can Julie and I go see?” She was bouncing up and down in excitement.

But Dad said very firmly, “No, you can not. I don’t want you near a fire. And I don’t want you in the way of the firemen either.”

“Oh, Dad,” Jan cried, “please!”

Dad shook his head. “I’m sorry, but the answer is no. Go out in the backyard and see what you can.”

Jan stormed out and slammed the back door. She was so angry that tears stood in her eyes. “Why does Dad have to always say no?” she yelled at Julie.

They really could not see much from the yard, just a puff or two of smoke and some figures running around. Fred and Susan came on their way to the fire and promised to come over later and tell what they saw. They then dashed down the Davidson hill toward Gramps’ house.

Finally Jan and Julie gave up trying to see anything and went back inside to finish their dinner. Julie said, “I hope the fire doesn’t do much damage. It is so dry from no rain.”

When dinner and Bible reading were over, Dad had a suggestion. “Let’s leave the dishes until later and go for a ride. It is such a warm evening. I thought we might stop and buy ice cream cones.”

“Yippee!” shouted Candy, “ice cream cones!”

Everyone had to laugh. But they were glad enough to go for a ride. It really was hot.

First Dad drove past Gramps’ house. They could not see much from the road. The fire had not been in the house, Jan could tell. All the firemen were in the field near the barn.

For the next half hour or so, Dad drove slowly along back roads. At last he stopped the car at an ice cream stand and bought everyone a cone. The sweet, cold ice cream really hit the spot, Jan thought as she licked every drop of hers out of the cone.

But later in bed, the events of the day came back to trouble her. At least one mystery was solved: Quang was the unknown person who had been coming to the barn. Jan felt sorry for him and angry by turns. He certainly had threatened the FACT Club.

Then her restless mind turned to the problem of the hidden room. Would they be able to find a door? Or maybe there wasn’t a room there after all? No, there had to be. Something had fallen through.

She turned over and pounded her pillow which seemed lumpy and uncomfortable. The heat was not making sleep come any easier.

As she finally began to drift off to sleep, she remembered the fire at Gramp’s. Sleepily she realized that something about it bothered her. What was it?

The Carnival

With morning Jan forgot the worries of the night before. It was the day of the carnival! She ran to look out her bedroom window. The sun was already shining brightly.

“Julie, get up,” she shouted bouncing up and down on her twin sister’s bed. “It’s the day of the carnival, and the sun is shining!”

Julie moaned and turned over. “How you can wake up shouting I’ll never understand,” she said yawning. But she too got up and looked out the window.

It had been so humid the day before that Jan and Julie both had worried it might rain. It was good to see the sun in a clear blue sky.

Susan and Fred came over right after breakfast. There were a few last minute things to do.

Suddenly Jan remembered the fire. “Fred, Susan, what happened at Gramp’s house?” she asked.

The two just stared at her.

“The fire, sillies,” Jan prompted.

“Oh, yeah, the fire,” Fred answered. “It didn’t do any real damage. Just burned part of the brush on the side of the barn closest to the house. Funny place for a fire to start. I mean, in the middle of nowhere like that.”

“I heard one of the firemen say it was lucky the housekeeper saw it when she did,” Susan added. “He said it was so dry from no rain the last couple of weeks that the barn would have burned easily.”

Jan was frowning. “I keep feeling like there’s something wrong. It, bothers me.”

“What bothers you?” Julie wanted to know.

“Something about that fire. I just can’t think what,” Jan said frowning still more.

But there was a lot to do to get ready for the carnival. Jan was soon busy with the others. They set up the games around the yard. Then they arranged everything for the Fun House. It was lunch time when all was ready.

“Eat fast and come right back,” Jan ordered Fred and Susan.

“Anything you say, Madam,” Fred joked. “Any other orders before we leave, Madam?”

“Aw, Fred, cut it out,” Jan tossed a roll of scotch tape she had in her hand at him.

He ducked and made a face. Then he ran to catch up with his sister.

They were back in half an hour. Michael was with them. He was going to sell tickets as the children came. Each ticket was five cents, and every game or attraction was one ticket.

Steve and Candy were there too. They were going to run the Fish Pond. Candy was really excited, but Steve tried to act as though he didn’t care. He didn’t fool anyone.

Jan and Julie were popping corn and preparing the juice for the refreshments. When the first children came at one-thirty, everything was ready.

From the beginning, it was easy to tell the carnival was a success. Jan had not expected so many children to come. The whole yard was full of laughing children throwing, tossing, fishing and snacking all in a tangled mass. Jan was very busy, but also happy for the large group that had come.

As she was taking yet another pair of children into the Fun House, Mrs. Murphy came. It was two-thirty, Jan saw looking at her watch. Nearly time for the carnival to end and the puppet show to start.

Then her eyes opened wide in surprise. Quang was getting out of the car too. Jan could not believe what she was seeing. And after what he said yesterday, she thought angrily.

He did not come to the carnival. Instead he helped Mrs. Murphy carry her things into the Davidson’s house.

Jan went back to her job with the Fun House. It seemed only a few minutes later that Mrs. Davidson came outside. She invited all the children to come into the basement to see the Bible Puppet Show.

“How many tickets?” piped up a little voice.

“None at all,” laughed Mrs. Davidson. “We want all of you to come.”

And many children did come, Jan saw. Only a few went away. Jan was glad to go inside. She loved Mrs. Murphy’s puppet shows and she was tired!

Benches were lined up on one side of the basement. These were nearly filled when Jan got downstairs. Mrs. Murphy was standing near her puppet stage at the front ready to begin.

Then the music began and the lights were turned out. Soon Jan found herself laughing and enjoying the puppets.

It was an amusing story about a monkey who wanted to be a lion. The silly monkey thought he could be a lion if he put on a lion skin. All the children laughed a great deal over the monkey and his tricks.

When the story ended, Mrs. Murphy came out from behind the puppet stage. “We all think poor Monkey was very silly to try to fool others that way, don’t we?” she began.

“Yes,” the children answered together.

“But do you know, boys and girls, that many people try to fool others and God the same way? Some boys and girls think they can fool God just by acting like Christians.
“God says in His Word, the Bible, in Proverbs 15:3, ‘The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good.’ That means you cannot fool God. He knows if you are truly a Christian.
“The only way to become a Christian is to believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son. He died on the cross for you and for me. If you receive Him as your Savior, you will be a Christian, a new Creature.
“God says in Second Corinthians 5:17, ‘If any man [woman, boy, or girl] be in Christ, he [or she] is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.’
“Let’s all bow our heads a minute to pray. With our eyes closed, would anyone like to belong to Jesus? Would you like to stop trying to act like a Christian and really be one?”

Jan heard a movement behind her. She turned her head in time to see Quang slip up the basement stairs. A minute later the back door clicked, and he was gone.

Before she closed her eyes again, she saw Susan put her hand up. Jan thought, Susan is such a scaredy cat. She needs to be a Christian. She’s not from a Christian home like Julie and me. I’ll bet the Bakers don’t ever hear God’s Word preached.

A little nagging voice reminded her of her temper. But I’m not really bad, she reassured herself. I’ve never done anything so terrible.

When Mrs. Murphy finished praying, Jan went outside. What a mess met her eyes! She went straight to work cleaning it up. Soon Fred joined her. For once he had no funny remarks. Neither he nor Jan spoke while they worked.

After awhile Susan and Julie came outside. Both began to help. Jan stole a look at Susan. She seemed to be very happy. Her face did not have that half fearful look like before. Jan shrugged and worked even harder.

Mrs. Murphy came out carrying some of her cases. She put them in her car, then came over to the children. “Did any of you see Quang?” she asked. “He came along to help me.”

Jan and Fred exchanged looks. “I saw him leave right at the end, Mrs. Murphy,” Jan answered.

Mrs. Murphy frowned. But she didn’t say anything, she just went back into the house. Fred went with her to help.

When all her things were in her car, she spoke to the children again.

“If Quang should come back, tell him I’m sorry I left without him, will you?” The children nodded.

“He had promised on Lord’s Day to help today. But when I stopped to pick him up, I don’t think he wanted to come,” she seemed to be talking to herself.

Jan started to say something, but Julie pinched her. “Ow, Julie!” she exclaimed.

“What’s that, Jan?” Mrs. Murphy asked.

“Uh, nothing, I guess,” Jan made a face at Julie.

“Well, I hope you won’t misunderstand me,” Mrs. Murphy went on, “but I worry about Quang. He’s so moody and unhappy most of the time. I guess some thoughtless children have teased him and called him names.

“Then, too, he can’t understand why his father can’t be a practicing doctor until he is tested. It hurts his pride for his father to work as a hospital orderly when he is a doctor. Some of these things he has tried to tell me.

“Well, guess I had better go. Be kind to him if you can, will you?

“And Susan, welcome again to the family of God. I’m so happy for you.” She smiled first at Susan than the others.

They watched as she drove away. Then Fred remarked, “That Quang is a funny guy. One minute he has me hopping mad. But the next thing I know I feel sorry for him.”

Jan knew just how Fred felt.

Then Julie said, “Hey, we better get this mess cleaned up. I think it is going to rain.”

She was right. The sky was growing dark and the wind was beginning to blow. Everyone scurried to put things away.

It wasn’t until later as Jan watched the rain hit the windows that she remembered. The barn! They had planned to look for a door after the carnival. It would have to wait.

The Trapdoor

The wait turned out to be longer than Jan liked. It was still raining hard next morning. Every few minutes she went to the window and looked out. Then with a sigh she would wander away for awhile. But soon she was back looking up again at the sky.

Finally Julie said, “Jan, can’t you do something besides look out the windows? I’m trying to count this money and you’re mixing me up.”

“Sorry,” Jan said in a huff.

The girls were upstairs in their bedroom. Julie, who was treasurer for the FACT Club, was counting the money from the carnival. Jan could not settle down to anything though. She tried to read a library book, but her mind kept wandering. Then she worked a line or two of a crossword puzzle. Finally she gave up.

“It’s no use, Julie,” she sighed. “All I can think of this morning is the barn. I wish it would stop raining,” and with this she went again to look out the window.

“Wishing won’t make it stop,” Julie snapped. “Guess I feel a bit cross myself,” she added.

Jan went over to where Julie had the coins neatly stacked in piles. “How much did we make, Julie?” she asked.

“If I’ve counted right, there is more than eleven dollars here.”

“Wow, that’s great. We ought to be able to buy two Walkie-Talkies with that much money,” Jan said.

“Don’t forget we owe Dad and Mr. Baker some money for art materials and things,” Julie reminded her.

The children had not had quite enough to buy everything they needed for the carnival. So they had borrowed a little from both parents. Still Jan and Julie were very happy with what was left.

“Jan, Julie,” Mom was calling. “Lunch.”

The sky began to brighten while they were eating. And by the time lunch dishes were done the sun had come out.

They lost no time in going for Fred and Susan. Fred brought out an armload of tools. There were two lanterns, a crow bar, and a couple of screw drivers.

“We’ll need this stuff if we’re going to find a trap door,” he explained.

Today the grass and weeds on the path to the barn were squeaky wet. It felt good to Jan to have cool, wet feet after the heat of the past days.

The sky was clear blue after the rain. And the air smelled fresh and clean. Jan breathed deeply. She was happy and excited.

When they reached the barn, they were shocked to see the large blackened part of the field. The fire had come very close to the barn indeed.

“Wow, I’ll bet that fire upset Gramps,” Julie said.

Jan remembered Gramps saying how much fires worried him. “I’ll bet you are right, Julie,” she said. “I had no idea it had spread so far.”

“I wonder what started it?” Susan asked of no one in particular.

Again Jan was aware of a nagging worry. But she soon forgot it as the children all went into the barn.

Each person took the same section of the barn floor as before. But with the strong camp lanterns, they could see much better.

It wasn’t long before Susan yelled for the others to come. She had found several boards that had a fine cross-line in them.

“Now Suzy, don’t be too excited. It could be just the ends of the boards,” Fred said.

Susan opened her mouth as if to say something when Fred called her ‘Suzy’. Then she seemed to change her mind. Jan was surprised. She knew how Susan disliked that nickname.

They got the screw drivers and began to hunt for a fingerhold which could be used to open a trap door. Time had worn the boards smooth. Even with the lantern it was several minutes before Jan saw the dents. They were along the side of one of the boards. So cleverly were they cut that they looked like part of the board.

Fred got the crow bar and put it under the cut-out part of the board.

He leaned with all his weight. There was a great deal of creaking. At last it began to give.

They were all very intent on what Fred was doing. Jan found herself holding her breath. No one noticed Mrs. Ray enter the barn until she spoke, “How dare you children come here!”

At the sound of her voice everyone jumped. “Why it’s Mrs. Ray,” said Julie who managed to find her voice first. “Hello, you surprised us a bit. You see we’ve....”

But Mrs. Ray cut her short, “Ha! I’ll bet I surprised you. So nice with your talk. Well, you have some nerve to come here after what happened.”

Her face was flushed with her anger. It was so unexpected that Jan could only stare. No one else could find anything to say to her either.

“Put those things down and get along up to the house with you,” Mrs. Ray commanded.

No one moved. They were too shocked by the turn of events. “Come on, now. Mr. Hinkle wants to see you right away.”

She wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer. Slowly the children laid down their tools. Fred turned off the lanterns. Then they followed the short, angry figure of Mrs. Ray to Gramp’s house.

No one said anything on the way. Jan felt dazed by Mrs. Ray’s angry words. What’s going on? she wondered.

Then they were all in Gramp’s living room. The old man sat as before in his rocking chair. But this time he had no smile for them.

“I find myself very disappointed in you young people,” Gramps said. Jan thought he sounded both angry and sad.

“I suppose you recall my rule about starting fires?” he asked sternly. All at once Jan knew why the fire had bothered her. Gramps next words made her certain that she was right.

“The firemen tell me that brush fire was set,” Gramps went on. “They found a box of partly burned matches.”

Jan could feel the shock of surprise that went through her friends. They all began to talk at once. Only she was quiet. Quang, she thought. He said he would pay us back. Such hatred for him poured through her that it frightened her a little.

“....and we watched from our kitchen window,” Julie was saying earnestly. “Honest Gramps, we’ve never even had a match near the barn.”

Fred and Susan both denied having anything to do with the fire. “If I had set it, I sure wouldn’t have come to watch,” Fred declared.

Gramps was silent for a minute. Then he said slowly, “I guess I believe you. I really hated to think you young people had anything to do with it. But when they told me it was set, I couldn’t think well. I haven’t had anything upset me so much in years.”

It was quiet for a few minutes. Only Mrs. Ray sniffed from the kitchen. She thinks we did it, thought Jan. Again hate burned in her heart toward Quang. It was all his fault.

“I guess I will have to ask that you stay away from the barn for awhile. At least a week or two until the fire department has a chance to find out who did set the fire,” Gramps said at last.

Jan opened her mouth to tell him about the trap door. Then she closed it again. What’s the use, she thought. He probably would say it could wait a week or two.

It was a quiet group of children that finally left Gramps’ house and headed for home. No one felt like talking. Even Fred for once was silent. They reached the Davidson’s yard and sat down at the picnic table.

“It was Quang, you know,” Jan said suddenly.

“Jan,” Julie gasped, “how can you even think such a thing?”

Jan turned on Julie. “You’re such a goody-goody, Julie, you can’t see what’s as plain as the nose on your face. He said he would get us back.”

There was a shocked silence. Everyone was remembering the scene at the barn.

“Poor Quang,” said Julie softly.

“‘Poor Quang’ my foot,” Jan said hotly. “Poor us! We get blamed for what he did. Not only that, but we’re about to get into that hidden cellar. What about that? And you say, ‘Poor Quang.’ You make me sick!” With that she ran into the house and slammed the door.

Down the Trapdoor

At dinner Julie told the rest of the family what had happened, though she didn’t tell what Jan had said to her. Even so, Jan could see she was mad. Julie didn’t get angry very easily, but Jan had really been mean. She knew it too, but she didn’t care. She was still too angry herself.

“Well, I hope you’re wrong about Quang,” Mother said.

Julie nodded. But Jan looked at her plate. She knew he had done it.

Now Dad said, “It’s hard to be blamed for something you didn’t do. That is just what happened to Jesus though. He took the blame for our sins.”

Dad opened the Bible and read, “‘But He was wounded for our transgressions [our sins], He was bruised for our iniquities [the evil we do]: the chastisement [or punishment] of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed’ (Isaiah 53:5).

“Jesus took the punishment for our sins so we won’t have to. But we must believe in Him. We have to receive Him and what He did for us.
“If you children were willing to take the punishment for setting the fire, what would happen to Quang?”

“Why nothing, Dad,” Steve answered.

“Right, Son, Quang would go free. It is the same with God. He has punished Jesus to put away sin. Now we can be free of the punishment. “Suppose Quang insisted that he did it. Then what?” Dad asked.

“I guess then he would be punished,” Julie answered.

“Probably so,” said Dad, “and if you or I refuse what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross, it is the same. God will give us the punishment we deserve. We will be away from God forever in ‘outer darkness’. A terrible punishment when we could be with Him in heaven.”

While Dad was talking, Jan felt a prick somewhere inside. But she wouldn’t listen. She was still too angry with Quang.

Bible time over, Jan and Julie began to clear the table.

“Jan,” Mom said gently, “I know you are very disappointed. I am too. I’m almost as anxious as you are to get into that cellar. But be patient. It isn’t going anywhere. Soon you’ll be able to go back and open that trap door.”

Jan nodded, but in fact she hadn’t given up. A plan was forming in her mind.

Fred gave her the chance to carry out her idea. When dishes were done, he came to the door. “Jan, Julie, let’s play softball,” he invited. “No jokes tonight.”

“All right,” said Julie. “Want to, Jan?”

Julie was trying to patch up the quarrel, but Jan wasn’t ready yet so she shook her head. “Not tonight,” she mumbled.

She saw Fred and Julie exchange glances. Let them, she thought. She hoped her growing excitement couldn’t be read on her face.

She waited until Fred and Julie had been gone about five minutes. Then she called, “Mom, guess I’ll go down to the corner after all. I won’t play, I’ll just watch.” She said she would watch in case later someone wanted to know if she had been there. Probably no one would be certain if she had watched a long or short time.

It was not really a lie, she reasoned. She was just leaving out the first part. After awhile she would go and watch the game. But first ... first she was going to the barn.

She walked slowly toward the corner. Then looking around to make sure neither Steve nor Candy were nearby, she ran between two houses. She raced down the hill and crossed the creek. Making sure no one had seen her, she followed the path to the barn.

As she hurried along, she looked at her watch. Just seven o’clock. She would have over an hour yet of daylight.

At the barn she bent low and rushed inside. She didn’t think anyone from Gramp’s house had seen her. Being sneaky bothered her a bit, but she put those feelings out of her mind.

It was dim in the barn. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she saw she was right about one thing. Fred had forgotten the lanterns and crow bar. There sat everything just as they had left it.

She knew it was a risk to turn on the lantern. But she had no choice. She hoped nosy Mrs. Ray wasn’t looking out the back windows.

Fitting the crow bar under the groove the children had found earlier, Jan leaned hard. The boards creaked but didn’t give. She felt a bit desperate. What if it wouldn’t open? This thought gave her strength. With a big push, suddenly the door opened.

Once she had it up, it was easy to see why it had been so hard to open. The hinges were very rusty. In fact the door would only open so far. She wondered how she could keep it up while she went down into the hole.

Holding the door open with one hand she held the lantern over the hole. She shivered. It certainly was dark down there. She gave herself a shake. This is what you came for, she thought. You can’t chicken out now.

She found she could prop the door open with the crow bar. Then putting the lantern into the hole, she could see a wooden ladder going down. But she couldn’t see much beyond that. If she wanted to know what was down there, she would have to go down and look.

Taking a deep breath, she started down the ladder. Suddenly, bang, the trap door slammed shut. Jan let out a tiny scream and hurried back up. She wished very much for the other FACT Club members.

The door pushed open. Jan breathed a sigh of relief. She had been afraid it was stuck again.

In the end she laid the crow bar across the top of the hole. Then she let the door be propped on it just that much. It made it even darker below. But the door just would not stay open.

As she once more went down the ladder, it seemed to her that the rungs bent under her weight. But once down she forgot that.

She didn’t know exactly what she had expected to find, but here she was in a good sized room. Against one wall stood an old table and two broken chairs. On another side of the room were the remains of what must have been a bed. When she looked closer she could see only pieces of wood and cloth. The rest had rotted away.

Small wonder. It was very damp and musty in the room. The stone wall was slimy wet. She suddenly thought that she was probably the first person to be in it in well over a hundred years.

It gave her an eerie feeling. Quickly she flashed the lantern on the far wall. It didn’t take her long to find what had fallen through that day. It was a small metal box. But when she tried to open it, she found it was locked. Fooey, she thought.

Then the lantern flashed over a scrap of paper on the floor. She bent and picked it up. When she tried to open it, it fell apart into three pieces. By laying it carefully on the table, she could just make out the words. It said: Mr. Joseph Greene: Please forward immediately the U.G. baggage this day sent to you.

Yours truly,

Newton Roberts

Roberts. The name might have been written in red. Mr. Roberts had written the note. But what did it mean? What was he sending to Mr. Joseph Greene? Something he had stolen? Some kind of baggage the note said.

She was puzzled. She had solved one mystery only to find two more. A box that wouldn’t open and a note that she couldn’t understand.

With a start she thought she better go home. Flashing the lantern on her watch she saw it was after eight o’clock. “Oh dear, now I’ll have to explain where I’ve been. Well, no help for that now. Anyway, there is this box and note. I can’t leave them here,” she said aloud to herself.

Quickly she started up the ladder. It was hard to hold the box, the paper, and the lantern plus keep her balance. So when half-way up one of the rotten rungs on the ladder cracked under her weight, she could not catch herself. She felt herself falling and reached out her left arm to catch herself. The lantern flew out of her hand and smashed.

Her arm was hurting so badly. She felt lightheaded. There seemed to be pinpoints of light and then darkness.

Rescue

Jan awoke dizzy and cold. For a minute she couldn’t think where she was. She tried to sit up. A terrible stabbing pain went up her left arm. She cried out. Tears came to her eyes and with them memory flooded in.

She was alone in the secret cellar of the barn. Alone and hurt in the pitch darkness. The ladder had broken under her weight letting her fall.

And the lantern had smashed.

She got to her knees and tried to stand up. Her head spun. There were flashes of white light in her eyes. Moving made her arm hurt so badly she thought for a minute she would be sick. Abruptly she sat down again biting her lower lip.

Even if she could stand, could she climb that rotten ladder in the dark? Panic rose in her. “Help, help! Someone, help me!” she called over and over until her throat ached.

Whoever would hear her? No one came to the barn from Gramps’ house. And he had told the children not to come either. Fred and Susan wouldn’t disobey. She knew Julie wouldn’t either. How Jan longed for her twin!

Fear swept over her in waves. Never had she been so afraid. She was so alone and it was so dark. If only it weren’t so dark. “Shall not walk in darkness...” What was the rest? She tried to think. “...but shall have the light of life.” That was it. Now where had she heard that?

Suddenly she began to cry, great sobbing cries. For she remembered that those words were from the Bible. Jesus had said that about Himself. He is the light of the world. But Jan knew she didn’t have Jesus’ light. She hadn’t thought that she needed it. So here she was hurt, alone in the dark.

And the darkness was more than the dark cellar. It was inside of her as well. Why did she let her temper get the best of her? Why had she disobeyed Gramps and come here? Why did she lie? As all the wrong things she had done rose up in her mind, she cried even harder.

It seemed so plain all at once. She had been fooling herself, telling herself how “good” she was. But look what she had done! Why she was just like that monkey in Mrs. Murphy’s puppet show. Hiding behind her own idea of goodness to be a Christian was like the monkey hiding under the lion’s skin to be a lion. It didn’t work!

Then more words from the Bible came to her mind. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.”

“Dear God, I’m like that monkey,” Jan found herself praying. “I need to be a new creature like that verse says. Help me find out how to really be a Christian. And please send someone to get me out of here.”

Strangely she felt better inside, though her arm ached and throbbed horribly.

She had no way to tell how long she sat there huddled up. She might have slept a little. Later she would not be able to remember.

After awhile she heard something. Was it mice? The idea made her shudder. No, it sounded like soft footsteps. For a moment her mind refused to believe her ears. Who could be in the barn at night?

“Help, please help me!” she called. The footsteps stopped.

“No, don’t go away! Please help me!” she yelled louder, panic again in her voice.

Tears sprang to her eyes as she heard an answering call.

“I’m down here. There’s a trapdoor in the floor,” she tried to explain.

For what seemed a very long time there was no sound. Jan found herself holding her breath. She let it out in a long sigh as the trapdoor creaked open. A light flashed in her eyes blinding her for a moment.

She heard a gasp as a dark face appeared over the edge of the trapdoor. It was Quang.

For a minute neither spoke. Both were too surprised at seeing the other.

Jan found her voice first. Her relief at seeing someone, anyone, made her words tumble out. “The wood was rotten and I fell. My arm hurts so badly. It’s awfully dark down here. Please get my Dad.” The last came out in a little sob.

Quang seemed dazed and didn’t answer at once. But at the word “Dad” he nodded and smiled. “I go get Father. He help.” His voice was proud.

The light disappeared.

“The light, please leave the light,” she called in fright.

He managed to prop the trapdoor up with the crow bar. Then he set the light near the opening. The next minute he was gone.

It seemed hours before Dr. Hua was there peering over the side. Then her own father was there too. The sight of her dad made her cry again.

They had brought a stout ladder which they carefully lowered into the hole. Soon Dad was down lifting Jan in his strong arms.

“Wait, Dad. There are two things on the floor that I want, a slip of paper and a metal box.”

Dad shone the light on the floor and soon found both things.

Jan gave a watery chuckle as he handed them to her. After all this trouble she was not about to leave what she had found!

Dr. Hua reached down and helped Mr. Davidson and Jan up the ladder. Then by the light of the lantern he took a look at Jan’s arm.

“Broken without doubt,” he said. From somewhere he produced a bandage and a sling. With these he expertly wrapped her arm.

“That should make her more easy until you can get her to hospital,” Dr. Hua told Mr. Davidson.

And help it did. Her arm still hurt, but the terrible pain was partly eased. She sighed in relief.

Then Dad carried her across the yard to where he had parked his car behind Gramp’s house. Gently he seated Jan in the front then turned to thank Dr. Hua.

Jan could see Gramps was there too, leaning on his cane. While Dad said a couple of words to him, Jan whispered to Quang, “Thank you, Quang. I ... I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t helped me.”

Even by the dim light of the car’s headlights, Jan could tell he was embarrassed. He looked down at the ground and kicked at a stone. “Is O.K.,” he mumbled.

Then they were off to the hospital. Here things blurred in Jan’s memory. There were bright lights, gently prodding fingers, and a trip to X-ray. Lastly the terrible pain of setting the broken bone. At last it was at an end.

It was very late when Jan and Dad finally got home. Mom met them at the door. She had a hot drink ready. Tenderly she tucked Jan into bed like she had when Jan was just a little girl.

In spite of the now dull pain in her arm, Jan closed her eyes and was soon asleep.

A New Creature

It was very late in the morning when Jan finally awakened. She could tell that by where the sun was shining through her bedroom window.

For a few minutes she didn’t even try to move. Her whole body felt stiff and sore, and her arm ached in its cast. She just lay quietly thinking over all that had happened the day before.

Candy poked her head in the bedroom door. Seeing Jan awake, she clattered down the stairs. “Mom, she’s up,” she called.

A few minutes later Mom appeared carrying a tray. On it was Jan’s favorite breakfast, a stack of crispy waffles with syrup. There was bacon and orange juice too, Jan noticed when Mom set the tray down.

“Good morning, Honey,” Mom said in a cheerful sort of voice. “Looks like you were able to sleep. I was afraid maybe your arm would keep you awake. The children, especially Julie, have been wanting to waken you. I shooed them outside.

“Here, let me prop you up with this extra pillow.” Mom matched her actions to her words. Then she set the breakfast tray on Jan’s lap.

Jan picked up her fork and slowly took a bite. There were some things she needed to settle, and she knew it.

Mom sat down on the other bed. But she didn’t say anything more. She seemed to know that Jan would talk when she was ready.

Jan took another bite. The waffles were delicious, but she didn’t even notice. A tear welled up in her eye and splashed onto her plate.

In a minute Mom had her arms around her daughter. “Why don’t you tell me all about it, Jan. You know I love you,” Mom said hugging her tightly.

“Oh, Mom,” Jan wailed, “I’ve been so awfully bad. I lied and disobeyed Gramps and everything. And even though Quang helped me, I’m still mad at him. I’m so mixed up!”

For a few minutes all she could do was cry. But at last on a hiccup she said timidly, “I ... I asked God to send someone to help me. I told Him I needed to be a new creation like the verse says so I won’t lose my temper and stuff. And do you know, Quang came not too long after that?” She said it in a wondering voice. “Do you suppose God answered my prayer and sent Quang?”

“Why, yes, I’m sure He did. God does hear and answer prayer. And if you really do want to be a new creation, we can tell Him right now. He’ll answer that prayer. He wants you to belong to Him.”

So right there Mom and Jan bowed their heads together. And Jan told the Lord Jesus very simply that she wanted to belong to Him. She told Him about her temper and the lie she told and her disobedience. She thanked Him for the forgiveness He offered based on the blood He shed on the cross. She knew she had been made a new creation in Christ.

Mom helped her and then she prayed too. She thanked the Father for watching over Jan when she was hurt. And she thanked Him for making Jan His child.

Afterward Mom hugged Jan. Her eyes were bright and she was smiling.

Jan could feel herself smiling too. It seemed a long time since she had felt like smiling.

Suddenly she realized how hungry she was. That stack of waffles just disappeared!

Mom stayed to talk. Between bites Jan told her about finding the trapdoor. She explained how she went back to the barn after supper and got the door open. She told about going down into the cellar; and she described what she had found there. Then she told how she fell going up the rotting ladder.

Some of this Mom already knew, some she heard for the first time. She let Jan talk uninterrupted and then she said, “Well, it was very wrong of you to lie about where you were going and disobey Gramps. But God used all of it to bring you to Himself.”

She was silent for a bit. “I can’t help being excited about what you children have found,” she said at last. “Your Dad showed me that metal box and the message you brought home. The box we can’t open without breaking. And it belongs to Gramps. So he will have to break the lock or give someone else permission to do so.

“But that note interests me. It seems to be some sort of hidden message. As though it says one thing but means another. I have an idea what it means but I’m not sure, of course.
“Anyway, I have already talked to Gramps this morning on the telephone. He called to ask how you were. Then he told me he wanted everyone to come over on Lord’s Day afternoon. He said he had a guest coming who could tell us more about that secret cellar you found in his barn. I told him about the metal box and the message. He seemed really excited. So I promised him your father would bring them to him tonight.”

“Lord’s Day!” Jan cried. “That’s four days from now!”

Mom just laughed and went downstairs.

Jan was thoughtful as she got dressed. She didn’t feel different exactly. But something was different, she knew.

For one thing she was no longer mad at Quang. He had helped her, it was true. But he had started the fire and caused all the trouble in the first place. She had tried to tell herself this morning that she would not have gone to the barn alone if Quang had not started that fire. Maybe that was so. But she had lied and disobeyed all by herself. Somehow now she could admit it. And by admitting she was wrong, her anger with Quang had gone away. In fact she found herself feeling sorry for him.

“It must be true,” she said aloud, “I must really be a new creation.”

It was hard to get dressed with one arm. But finally she managed to get on her clothes. Then she went downstairs to see where Julie and the others were.

She found Julie in the backyard with Fred and Susan. They greeted her with a babble of questions. So she had to tell again everything that had happened. The Bakers and Julie were excited and open-mouthed by turns.

“Wow, what do you suppose Mr. Roberts was using that cellar for?” Susan asked, her eyes round.

“For crying out loud, Suzy, that’s what everyone wants to know,” Fred teased. Then he had to duck as Susan took a swing at him.

There were guesses but no real answers. The children decided they would have to wait until Lord’s Day when Gramp’s guest came. Perhaps he would be able to clear things up.

Meanwhile time seemed to drag. Jan could not do all of the active things she usually did. She had to watch while everyone played softball and other outdoor games. And of course the barn was strictly a forbidden place to go.

The only thing that happened during that time was a surprise visit. Jan was alone in the living room trying to read a book. The other FACT Club members were down at the corner playing softball.

It was a bright Saturday afternoon and Jan longed to be outside playing with the others. But today she just didn’t feel like watching. So she had stayed at home when they all went to play.

She was reading the same page over for the third time when there was a knock at the front door.

“I’ll get it,” she called jumping up.

She opened the door to see Dr. and Mrs. Hua with Quang.

“Please come in,” she invited feeling shy.

Mom came out of the kitchen drying her hands on a towel. “Why, hello,” she said smiling. “Do come in and sit down.”

Mr. Davidson, hearing the knock at the door, came upstairs from the basement to greet the visitors.

Dr. Hua was saying, “We have come to see how Jan goes on. Also, Quang wishes to speak with her.” He nodded to his son.

Quang cleared his throat. He shifted his feet, then finally he said bravely, “I come to make apology for trouble.” Here he seemed to get stuck for a minute. “I ... I set fire to Mr. Hinkle field.” He hung his head and was silent.

“Quang, my son, tell them the rest,” his mother said gently.

Jan could see what an effort it took for him to speak. What he had to say was hard enough. But also it was difficult for him to speak English. Her heart warmed to him and the last little bit of anger went away. She smiled at him in a friendly way.

He caught her look and went on in a rush, “I want to make trouble for FACT Club. I not want you in barn. But then you get hurt, Jan. Father say you go there alone because Mr. Hinkle forbid.” Here he had to laugh because he realized what he said didn’t really make sense.

Laughing broke his tense look. He went on more easily, “English very bad. When I see you hurt Jan, I hurt too.” He pointed to his chest. “I see is my fault a little.”

He looked at his father. “Well, maybe much my fault.” His look was mischievous.

Now it was Jan’s turn to laugh. “Much my fault too,” she said. Everyone joined her laughing.

Dr. Hua came to Quang’s rescue. “Quang came to me and explain. He is truly sorry for what he did. Already we have been to see Mr. Hinkle.”

Jan’s admiration for Quang grew. She could never admit what she did wrong to so many people!

Dr. Hua went on, “Quang came to know Jesus after we talk.” There was real happiness in the look he gave his son.

“Why, so did I!” Jan couldn’t help exclaiming.

Then everyone started to talk at once. Jan and Quang went out in the backyard and left the grown-ups.

They found a lot to talk about. Jan said she was sorry for the way she talked to him the day of the bike accident. And she told him how awful everyone felt when those boys were mean to him at softball. “We were glad they didn’t come again to play. They were not friends of ours,” she said firmly.

Quang, it turned out, had thought they were. “I thought they are your friends,” he said surprised.

No wonder he had disliked the FACT Club, Jan thought.

With that out of the way, he became really friendly. He told her about his rock collection and all the interesting rocks he had found at Gramp’s barn and field.

“Quang,” Jan began as she was reminded of something she had wondered over, “how did you know about Gramp’s fear of fires?”

He looked mischievous again. “I hear all your talk from cellar of barn where I work on rock collection.”

Jan’s eyes opened wide in surprise, but then she nodded. “Of course, I never thought about it. What else did you hear?”

But he only grinned.

Then she told him about finding the secret cellar, the metal box, and the note. By the time his parents came to get him, Jan and he were acting like they had been friends for years.

“I see you at Mr. Hinkle’s tomorrow?” Quang asked as he left.

Jan nodded and waved to him. But she thought, Is it just tomorrow? I can hardly wait!

Mr. Taylor Explains

It was Lord’s Day morning. Jan once again sat with her family to hear God’s Word. Sunlight filtered in through the windows, but this morning Jan did not notice. She was surprised to find how interesting Sunday School and God’s Word were today.

She listened closely as various ones spoke of Jesus Christ as the Lord. Some things were too difficult for her to understand. Yet Jan could see now that Jesus wanted her to live to please Him. Jan was mostly used to pleasing herself. She was glad when she heard that Jesus was always there to help His followers do what is right in God’s eyes.

She heard of the importance of reading the Bible every day and praying. Jan was amazed how much sense these things made to her. Just a short time ago she had laughed at Julie for spending so much time reading her Bible.

Outside afterward, Jan had to explain over and over about her broken arm. It was kind of fun to be the center of so much attention.

But the drive home seemed to take forever. And dinner dragged on and on. Jan didn’t know or care what she was eating. All she wanted was to go to Gramp’s house!

“Jan,” Mom said, “it won’t help to hurry dinner, you know. We’re not supposed to be at Mr. Hinkle’s until about three o’clock anyway.”

“Can we go too?” Candy wanted to know.

“Yes, we’re all invited,” Dad answered.

“Oh, goody,” said Candy who was always happy to go.

“Nuts,” was Steve’s feelings on the visit. “Michael wanted me to come over after dinner. He has a new car racing set.” Steve frowned.

“I believe Michael is going to Mr. Hinkle’s also,” said Mom. “Aren’t the Bakers, invited?”

Julie said they were, and Steve’s frown disappeared. “Oh, that’s O.K. then,” he said.

After dessert, the twins and Mom quickly cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. Mom checked to see that all four children were neatly dressed and clean. After what seemed like hours to Jan, it was finally time to go. The whole family followed the path over the creek and up to the barn.

They were met at the barn by Gramps leaning on his cane. Jan saw that the Bakers and the Huas were already there. The children greeted one another eagerly just as though they had not seen each other only the day before.

Quang hung back a little. But Jan had told the others of his visit and apology, so he was soon convinced to join the rest. Everyone seemed willing to forget the past and be friends.

“I’ve left the ladder you gentlemen brought in the cellar opening,” Gramps was saying. He led the way into the barn. Jan saw he had taken the trapdoor right off.

“Perhaps some of you would care to go down and see the place,” Gramps invited. “Myself, I’m too old for such things.” He chuckled and stood back.

Only Jan stayed with Gramps. She could hear eager remarks floating up. But she had no interest in going down there, at least not right away.

“How’s the arm, Jan?” Gramps asked kindly.

“Oh, it doesn’t hurt much any more, thank you,” Jan answered politely, “but I can’t play some of my favorite games for a long time to come.”

“Perhaps you should come visit me when the others are busy with their games,” said Gramps. “I have a trunk full of old clothes that belonged to my Grandad. I believe his old Civil War uniform is in it. And I know there are some very old dresses of my grandmother’s.”

“Oh, Gramps, I would love to look through that trunk!” Jan exclaimed her eyes shining. She clapped her hands fogetting her arm in her excitement. “Yeow!’” she yelped.

Mrs. Davidson came up the ladder just then. “What’s the matter, Jan?” she asked hurrying over.

“It’s all right, Mom. I just forgot and tried to clap. But Mom, Gramps has invited me to come look through an old trunk of his. Please say I can!” Jan begged.

“Why, that’s very kind of you, Mr. Hinkle. I can see no reason why not,” Mom replied.

Jan gave her mother an awkward but excited hug.

By then everyone was up. Gramps led the way slowly toward his house. Grown-ups and children alike were busy talking about the secret cellar. Jan heard the same question asked over and over. What had Mr. Roberts used that room for?

Gramps’ house was cool after the heat of outdoors. Mrs. Ray was ready with tall glasses of iced tea for the adults and ginger ale for the children. Everyone sipped the cold drinks gratefully.

Jan heard a knock at the front door and saw Mrs. Ray hurry to answer it. Soon she came back with a man of slight build. He had dark hair and large glasses that made him look like an owl.

“Hello, Mr. Taylor, glad you could come,” Gramps said in greeting. “Now if everyone could find a place to sit down. I know it is a bit crowded, but perhaps the young people could sit on the floor.”

The young people could, for Gramps was right. The small living room with its large, old-fashioned furniture was bursting with people. At last everyone had found a seat and the room grew quiet.

“I have invited Mr. Taylor here today because he knows a great deal about the history of North Falls. As the editor for the North Falls Town Press, he has written a series of articles about local history. When I called a few days ago and told him what had been found in my barn, he was as excited as I. He said he would be happy to come and tell us what he could. So Mr. Taylor, let me introduce you to all these people and then I’ll allow you to take over.” Here Gramps went around the room and gave everyone’s name.

“So you’re the Jan who found the cellar?” Mr. Taylor asked when Gramps came to her.

She blushed. “Well, sort of. Actually my twin, Julie, and Fred and Susan were all part of finding it. I went down when I shouldn’t have,” she finished holding up her arm.

Mr. Taylor had to laugh. “I guess Mr. Hinkle did tell me about that.”

He paused a minute. “It appears from what Jan found in the cellar that Mr. Hinkle’s barn was used at one time as a station on the Underground Railroad.”

His words caused a surprised murmur from the grown-ups.

Gramps handed Mr. Taylor the metal box Jan had found. Mr. Taylor opened it and pulled out several sheets of very yellow paper. “We had to break the lock to open the box, but it was worth doing.” He took a deep breath before he went on. “These pages are lists of names, dates, and destinations of over one hundred escaped slaves whom Mr. Roberts helped over a period of ten or so years. The note Jan found seems to be a sort of introduction of the runaways to other ‘conductors’ along the way. By this means the fugitives were certain to reach the proper person to help them escape to Canada.

“I wrote in an article a few weeks ago that Greentown Drive was supposed to be one of the routes used by the Underground Railroad. I guess these findings prove it was.”

He looked around the room. “I can see you children are still puzzled by all this. Let me see if I can help you to picture it.

“Suppose you were a slave. Someone owned you, said you belonged to him. If you disobeyed, he could beat you with a whip or whatever he wished. Then, you hear it is possible to escape and go north to Canada. There you will be free.
“Somehow you and a few others manage to escape. Hiding during the day and traveling at night, you finally find people to help you.
“These kind people have nothing to gain by aiding you. In fact if they are caught they may go to jail and be fined a great deal of money. Still they give their help freely.
“They are part of a system that came to be called the Underground Railroad. Each ‘conductor’ along the way does his part. He may hide you in his wagon and drive you a few miles to the next ‘station’. Or he may use his home or barn as a ‘station’ where you as a runaway can hide and rest and have a meal.”

All at once Jan interrupted to say, “Julie, this is the same thing Mom was telling us that night at dinner, remember?”

Julie did remember, but Mom said, “Jan, you are interrupting Mr. Taylor. What she says is true though, Mr. Taylor. We did discuss the Underground Railroad one night after the children saw your article about Greentown Drive. We never dreamed that Gramps’ barn might have been part of it though.”

Mr. Taylor nodded. “Neither did I when I wrote that article. But to go on with my explanation, it is true that Gramps’ barn was one of those stations. Mr. Roberts hid slaves in that secret cellar. There they could rest in peace and perhaps have a meal before going on with their journey. And they were hidden if someone came looking for them to take them back to their owners.”

“Whew,” Fred whistled, “so that’s what happened to Mr. Roberts. Imagine helping a hundred slaves!”

“Yes,” Mr. Taylor agreed. “Perhaps he knew he was about to be arrested, or maybe he always kept those lists in the cellar. Whatever the reason, he hid the metal box down there before his arrest. And it has been there until you children came along and found it.”

“Wow,” Susan said, awe in her voice.

Jan felt the same. History seemed to jump out of the past. No wonder Mom finds it so interesting, she thought.

“We too have escaped from slavery of a different sort,” Dr. Hua spoke softly. “That is why we are so grateful to be where God’s Word can be freely preached.”

Jan heard his words in surprise. She knew there were many places in the world where people were not free. But it really had not meant very much to her until she had met the Huas.

Candy sighed a big sigh. “Now can we go outside?” she asked.

The grown-ups laughed. All the children were glad to escape outside. They had been sitting long enough.

“But don’t go into that cellar!” Gramps warned as the children went out. “Don’t worry,” Jan answered.

She heard the adults chuckling as she closed Gramps’ front door. She followed the other children to the barn. Steve, Michael, and Candy took turns swinging on the rope.

The older children sat down away from the rope swing on the barn floor.

“What my father say is true,” Quang said. “At first I not believe. But God has changed my heart.” He shook his head in wonder.

Everyone was silent.

Finally Julie said in her soft way, “Well, we aren’t perfect. But those who love the Lord Jesus especially love true freedom.”

“Yes, I see,” Quang said.

Fred cleared his throat. “I think maybe Quang should be in the FACT Club. That is if he wants to be?” Fred looked at Quang.

“Yes, thank you. Is an honor,” Quang answered with a big smile. Again silence. But for Jan it was a nice, friendly silence.

All at once Fred exclaimed, “Hey, you know what, fellow officers? The FACT Club finally has a member!”

He jumped up and pumped Quang’s hand up and down hard.

“Oh, Fred!” shouted Jan.

Everyone joined her laughter.

Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.

Secrets of the Old Barn