Chapter 5

He was awakened by a large dog barking outside the ties. The dog had Ivan as his main interest at the time and was trying to get to Ivan by exploring all the openings. Soon he would find the way Ivan had entered, and then he would be upon him. He searched for another way out, however the only way out was the way he came in. Panic began to grip the boy. He felt around for something to defend himself with and found a rock about a pound in weight. This he raised above his head and behind his back, ready to smack the dog in the face once he found his way inside.

“What-cha got there boy?” asked the man outside the ties. “Is it a rabbit?”

“Ivan Yanosh,” the boy called out “Not rabbit.”

“Down boy down,” shouted the man at the dog as he grabbed it by the collar and pulled him away. “It’s alright . . . you can come out now.”

Ivan slowly left the safety of the ties and once outside was face to face with the dog who was still barking.

“Hush,” scolded the man. “Shut your mouth.” He petted the animal and made the ‘Shhhh’ sound. “You want to scare the child?” The man then turned his attention to Ivan. “What are you doing in the rail yards?” asked the man.

“I need station . . . to find click, click man . . . catch train, go west . . . find farm,” Ivan said.

“Indeed,” said the man “More like you’re running away, I bet.”

“No run away . . . go west find farm,” pleaded Ivan. He held up the envelope around his neck. The man looked at it, but he didn’t take it, or look inside.

“You say you need to find the station?” asked the man.

“Yaw . . . find station . . . click, click man he send Ivan west . . . find farm,” said the boy.

“The station is about a mile in that direction,” he was pointing the way Ivan had not traveled before. “Come Duke, we go home.” The man then turned and led the dog away.

It was nearly sundown when Ivan reached the station. He walked along the platform until he spied a man wearing a cap and jacket with the emblem of the rail road.

“Please Sir,” said the lad “You click, click man?”

“What the?” asked the man looking down at the boy. “Who, or what do you want here?”

“Need click, click man,” said Ivan.

“The telegrapher, is that who you mean?” asked the man. He had the tone of someone who was annoyed.

“Yaw, tele-apher,” said Ivan not getting it right.

“That’s me,” barked the man “What is it you want with me?”

“I am Ivan Yanosh, you send me to west, I find farm,” Ivan said.

“What?” yelled the man “where’s your folks?”

“New York,” replied Ivan.

“New York,” said the man in surprise. “What is this some kind of a gag?”

Ivan held up the envelope. The man looked at it then he removed it from the boy’s neck. He stood reading the page of instructions.

“Jumping horny toads,” he shouted. He ran into the station and went straight to the telegraph. He listened as a message was being sent to someone else. When the clicking stopped he pounded out a few clicks, and then listened some more. There were a few clicks then the man began to pound away on the key.

Ivan came into the station and stood by the desk and watched the man on the key. Some times the man would stop and listen to the clicks, but as soon as they would stop he continued with more clicks. As Ivan stood there he noticed an apple on the desk. Suddenly he felt the hunger pains. He licked his lips as he eyed the golden delicious apple all nice and yellow. The man noticed Ivan out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look squarely at the boy and he saw him licking his lips. He realized the lad had the apple in his sights.

“Here,” he said as he placed the apple into the lad’s hands. “We’ll get you some thing else to eat and a place to rest a little later.”

Ivan went to the waiting benches and sat down to eat his newly acquired apple. After about an hour of transferring messages for others, the key man’s inquiry into what to do about Ivan finally was rewarded.

“They say, I’m to put the boy on a train, one that’s headed for Oklahoma,” said the key man. “And then they say, don’t let the rail road head office know any thing about it. Well now it beats me just how they expect me to do that?”

The man went about his business of running the depot. There were trains coming and going ever now and again. There was freight to load and/or unload and passengers to get aboard the right train. Some times people would come in and inquire about schedules. Once the man took out a mail bag to a train and returned with another bag of mail.

About 2:30 in the morning, the man realized Ivan was still there and needed to be dealt with. In the early morning hours there was no one in the place except for the boy and him, so he started sending messages. He was inquiring about which train would be best to place the boy onto. It wasn’t until 4:30 AM that he found the solution to the problem.

“Ivan,” said the man shaking the boy who was stretched out on the bench. The lad was fast asleep. “You got to get up now. There is a train due here in about twenty minutes. I need to put you on it.” Ivan flexed his limbs to get them loosened up. He yawned and suddenly he felt the urge.

“Sir,” he said then placed his hand between is legs.

“In there,” said the man pointing to a door across the room. The lad lost no time in getting to the door way.

When the train arrived, the mail clerk in the mail car was not only given a bag of mail, but also a small lad, complete with baggage.

“What the hell is this?” asked the clerk.

“The boy’s on his way to Oklahoma,” said the key Man.

“This train doesn’t go to Oklahoma,” yelled the clerk.

“Well it goes to Nashville, there you place him with the station master, and they’ll put him on the train to Oklahoma,” explained the key man.

“Why don’t you give him to the conductor, it’s his job to take care of the passengers, not mine,” yelled the clerk.

“He’s a stowaway,” said the key man.

“A stowaway, (gasp) have you taken leave of your senses?” whined the clerk. “Why, I could get fired for this.”

“Just read the instruction in the letter around the boy’s neck,” said the key man and he closed the door on the mail car.

The train was beginning to move down the tracks. The mail clerk quickly reopened the door and threw out the mail bag intended for this station. He closed the door and grumbled something under his breath.

“Let me see the letter,” he said. He took the envelope from around Ivan’s neck. He sat on a stool and read them once, then reread them again. “Damn.” He looked at Ivan standing there in front of him. “Damn,” he repeated. “What am I going to do with you?”

The conductor came into the mail car. Ivan searched for a place to hide with his eyes. The mail clerk placed his hand on the boy shoulder.

“Just stand still . . . maybe the dumb old fool won’t notice you,” said the mail clerk and winked at Ivan.

“Who’s a dumb old fool?” shouted the conductor “and what’s this boy doing in the mail car?”

The mail clerk handed the letter to the conductor. “You’ll never believe me (whew) so read it for yourself, Sam.”

“What?” Sam said as he took the letter. He read them through “Great day in the morning.” He stood there looking at the other man and the lad. “No! No! It can’t be . . . nobody sends a seven year old boy on a mission like this (gasp) it’s got to be a . . . ah . . . ”

“What, a joke?” asked the clerk. “Some joke, here’s the boy and there’s the letter, now what?”

“Now what is right,” said the conductor with horror on his face. He took a deep breath. “What I should do is . . .”

“What?” asked the clerk?

“Turn him over to the law at the next station,” said Sam.

“You out of your mind, a lot of people would loose their jobs over this, including me and you too. You’re due to retire in four months Sam, you’d lose your pension” whined the Clerk.

“What can I do, Fred?” Sam asked with dread in his voice “If the main office ever finds out about this . . . Oh! My God.”

“Sam, now don’t have a seizure on me,” said Fred. “We just need to think about it for a while.”

“What, what?” yelled the conductor.

“I need to get the mail done,” said Fred. “You go do your thing and I’ll keep the boy here until we can think of something.”

“You’re right,” said Sam as he rushed off.

“Ivan, my lad, make yourself at home, such as it is,” said the mail clerk. He went about sorting the mail and stuffing a mail bag to be delivered at the next station. Ivan climbed up on a stool at the sorting table across from Fred. He watched the mail being sorted and placed into different sacks to be delivered along the route. Three towns and three mail bags were collected and three bags were tossed off at the stations as they past.

Sam came back into the mail car all excited. “I got it,” said the conductor. “There are several families of immigrants in the coach just ahead of the two flat cars. They are about a hundred men, women and children, so if I was to put him in with them, no one will be the wiser.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Fred.

“Lad, if you please?” said Sam “this way.” He was pointing to the rear door to the mail car. He led the way as they past through three coaches and into the forth. This one was filled with women and small children. It also stunk to high heaven with the smell of human waste. “Just find a place and have a seat.” Sam quickly shut the door to the coach and left.

Ivan looked at the women as he slowly strolled through the car. They were jabbering about something in a language he did not understand. It was the same way on the ship that brought Ivan and his family from the old county to New York. All the women were busy with small children, feeding, cleaning, rocking, or any number of other motherly things that needed to be done.

By the time Ivan reached the far end of the car he had not found a place to set down, for children were every where. He looked out the small window in the rear door to the flat car coming along behind. Located there were all the men and large children setting on the deck. He decided to join them. At least the air was much better on the outside. He was helped to cross over to the flat car, by a big man much like his father.

“Thank you,” said Ivan. The man said something, but Ivan did not understand the meaning of his words. He continued along to the middle of the car. There he found some straw used for packing from the crates the men were setting on. He pulled the straw into a pile and placed his little frame upon it. A few minutes later a couple of youths came over and spoke. The words did not mean anything to him.

“You speak America?” asked the bigger of the two boys.

“Yaw, I speak America,” replied Ivan.

“Who you?” the boy asked.

“Ivan Yanosh,” he said “you.”

“Me Peppy, he Jock” said Peppy the older boy. “Parents where?”

“New York, me find farm . . . they come to farm,” said Ivan.

“You find farm . . . where farm?” asked the boy.

“Ivan go Oklahoma find farm,” explained Ivan.

“No family here?” asked Jock.

“All New York, Romania,” said Ivan.

The boys carried on a conversation for nearly an hour. It was getting light and in the morning skies everyone could see dark clouds with the promise of rain. The only car they were allowed into was the one with the women. If it did rain, then they would, in all likelihood, get soaked. It was beginning to sprinkle very lightly when the train pulled into a small town in the hills. All the men went to find something to protect them selves from the rain.

The two youths coaxed Ivan into going with them with the promise of getting something to eat. They jogged for three blocks, and then the youths turned into an alley. Behind a hardware store sat a very large box which was empty.

“Ivan, see,” said the bigger boy, Peppy pointing into the box.

As Ivan looked inside, his lights went out and at the same time a pain shot through his head. The two boys pushed Ivan into the box then climbed inside. They made short work of removing his clothing, shoes, money, and the letter. They left him with only his shorts. The first blast of the train blew as they cleared the box. With their plunder they ran for the train. Some men helped them aboard just before the train pulled out of the station.