Later that night, while the rest of the town slept, Nelson
was running as fast as he could down the street, daring not to look behind
him. With no true friends, Nelson was
often bored and desperate enough to do practically anything to be accepted by
his classmates. This had caused him to
get into trouble, but nothing too serious that his father couldn’t excuse
away. Not until tonight, that is.
Becky had been bored with him all night. She didn’t even try to hide it. She mingled with other people and yawned
loudly when she was with him. He had
finally given up and excused her so she could get some rest. He suspected she sneaked out to meet up with
Jake. Nelson ended up leaving with the
more popular kids from his class. They
were goofing off together. One thing led
to another, and they dared him to steal money from a traveler at an inn. And he took it.
Nelson hated that the more he grew up, the more he resembled
Jake, and Jake was starting to become the good guy. With Jake in the way, there was no way he had
a chance with Becky. This flurry of
jealous thoughts and hatred are what drove him to slip the money he had stolen
through the crack in Jake’s window. The
envelope bounced gently off his hay bed and partially peeked out from under
it. Nelson crept softly away.
The next morning, Jake crawled sleepily out of bed without
even noticing the envelope of money and went straight to work with starting the
morning chores. However, his boss had
needed to get a tool from one of the boxes he kept in Jake’s room, and he saw
the envelope on the floor.
“Jake, lad” he spoke in a hurt tone as he walked out with
it, “I thought you had changed.”
“What do you mean?”
“I found this in your room.”
Jake gasped. “I
didn’t steal that, I promise! I gave up
that life. Someone must have framed me!”
He shook his head. “I
trusted you.”
“You gotta believe me!”
“I’ve already called the constable. Wait, Jake, stop!”
But it was too late, at the mention of “constable” Jake fled
from the blacksmith’s shop as fast as his feet could move. He even though he was innocent, it was clear
to him that no one would believe him. He
didn’t want to go to jail for something he didn’t do. The best thing to do was hide out until he
could prove his innocence. He wanted to
go to Becky, but there was no time. He’d
meet up with her soon. His feet took him
to the docks, the place were he was always mysteriously drawn. A crane was loading the last of a ship’s cargo
on board. Barely thinking, Jake crept
under the blanket that was covering the crate and felt himself being lifting
onto a ship bound for the Atlantic.
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