The Running Away of Chester Page #2

"The Running Away of Chester" is a charming short story by Lucy Maud Montgomery that follows the adventures of a young boy named Chester who feels misunderstood and trapped in his mundane life. In his quest for freedom and excitement, Chester decides to run away, leading to a series of encounters that help him gain a deeper understanding of himself and the importance of love and belonging. Montgomery's signature lyrical prose and rich character development evoke a sense of nostalgia and highlight the struggles of childhood, making the story resonate with readers of all ages.

• Short story

								

had ever known, and the boy had a vague wish to carry away with him
some kindly word or look from her. Such, however, was not
forthcoming, and Chester obeyed her command and took himself off to
the garret. Here he sat down and reflected on his plans.

He must go that very night. When Mr. Stearns failed to appear on the
morrow, Mrs. Elwell was quite likely to march up and demand the amount
of Chester's wages. It would all come out then, and he would lose his
money--besides, no doubt, getting severely punished into the bargain.

His preparations did not take long. He had nothing to carry with him.
The only decent suit of clothes he possessed was his well-worn Sunday
one. This he put on, carefully stowing away in his pocket the precious
four dollars.

He had to wait until he thought his aunt was asleep, and it was about
eleven when he crept downstairs, his heart quaking within him, and got
out by the porch window. When he found himself alone in the clear
moonlight of the August night, a sense of elation filled his cramped
little heart. He was free, and he would never come back here--never!

"Wisht I could have seen Henry to say good-by to him, though," he
muttered with a wistful glance at the big house across the pond where
the unconscious Henry was sleeping soundly with never a thought of
moonlight flittings for anyone in his curly head.

Chester meant to walk to Roxbury Station ten miles away. Nobody knew
him there, and he could catch the morning train. Late as it was, he
kept to fields and wood-roads lest he might be seen and recognized. It
was three o'clock when he reached Roxbury, and he knew the train did
not pass through until six. With the serenity of a philosopher who is
starting out to win his way in the world and means to make the best of
things, Chester curled himself up in the hollow space of a big lumber
pile behind the station, and so tired was he that he fell soundly
asleep in a few minutes.

       *       *       *       *       *

Chester was awakened by the shriek of the express at the last crossing
before the station. In a panic of haste he scrambled out of his lumber
and dashed into the station house, where a sleepy, ill-natured agent
stood behind the ticket window. He looked sharply enough at the
freckled, square-jawed boy who asked for a second-class ticket to
Belltown. Chester's heart quaked within him at the momentary thought
that the ticket agent recognized him. He had an agonized vision of
being collared without ceremony and haled straightway back to Aunt
Harriet. When the ticket and his change were pushed out to him, he
snatched them and fairly ran.

"Bolted as if the police were after him," reflected the agent, who did
not sell many tickets and so had time to take a personal interest in
the purchasers thereof. "I've seen that youngster before, though I
can't recollect where. He's got a most fearful determined look."

Chester drew an audible sigh of relief when the train left the
station. He was fairly off now and felt that he could defy even
curious railway officials.

It was not his first train ride, for Mrs. Elwell had once taken him to
Belltown to get an aching tooth extracted, but it was certainly his
first under such exhilarating circumstances, and he meant to enjoy it.
To be sure, he was very hungry, but that, he reflected, was only what
he would probably be many times before he made his fortune, and it was
just as well to get used to it. Meanwhile, it behooved him to keep his
eyes open. On the road from Roxbury to Belltown there was not much to
be seen that morning that Chester did not see.

The train reached Belltown about noon. He did not mean to stop long
there--it was too near Upton. From the conductor on the train, he
found that a boat left Belltown for Montrose at two in the afternoon.
Montrose was a hundred miles from Upton, and Chester thought he would
be safe there. To Montrose, accordingly, he decided to go, but the
first thing was to get some dinner. He went into a grocery store and
bought some crackers and a bit of cheese. He had somewhere picked up
the idea that crackers and cheese were about as economical food as you
could find for adventurous youths starting out on small capital.

He found his way to the only public square Belltown boasted, and
munched his food hungrily on a bench under the trees. He would go to
Montrose and there find something to do. Later on he would gradually
work his way out West, where there was more room for an ambitious
small boy to expand and grow. Chester dreamed some dazzling dreams as
he sat there on the bench under the Belltown chestnuts. Passers-by, if
they noticed him at all, saw merely a rather small, poorly clad boy,
with a great many freckles, a square jaw and shrewd, level-gazing grey
eyes. But this same lad was mapping out a very brilliant future for
himself as people passed him heedlessly by. He would get out West,
somehow or other, some time or other, and make a fortune. Then,
perhaps, he would go back to Upton for a visit and shine in his
splendour before all his old neighbours. It all seemed very easy and
alluring, sitting there in the quiet little Belltown square. Chester,
you see, possessed imagination. That, together with the crackers and
cheese, so cheered him up that he felt ready for anything. He was
aroused from a dream of passing Aunt Harriet by in lofty scorn and a
glittering carriage, by the shrill whistle of the boat. Chester
pocketed his remaining crackers and cheese and his visions also, and
was once more his alert, wide-awake self. He had inquired the way to
the wharf from the grocer, so he found no difficulty in reaching it.
When the boat steamed down the muddy little river, Chester was on
board of her.

He was glad to be out of Belltown, for he was anything but sure that
he would not encounter some Upton people as long as he was in it. They
often went to Belltown on business, but never to Montrose.

There were not many passengers on the boat, and Chester scrutinized
them all so sharply in turn that he could have sworn to each and every
one of them for years afterwards had it been necessary. The one he
liked best was a middle-aged lady who sat just before him on the
opposite side of the deck She was plump and motherly looking, with a
fresh, rosy face and beaming blue eyes.

"If I was looking for anyone to adopt me I'd pick her," said Chester
to himself. The more he looked at her, the better he liked her. He
labelled her in his mind as "the nice, rosy lady."

The nice, rosy lady noticed Chester staring at her after awhile. She
smiled promptly at him--a smile that seemed fairly to irradiate her
round face--and then began fumbling in an old-fashioned reticule she
carried, and from which she presently extracted a chubby little paper
bag.

"If you like candy, little boy," she said to Chester, "here is some of
my sugar taffy for you."

Chester did not exactly like being called a little boy. But her voice
								Rate this book:0.0 / 0 votes