Uncle Herbert started running alongside the train muttering no no no no no to himself and trying to jump onto it like they do in movies. But somehow Kate didn’t feel scared. Instead she felt as happy as she ever had in her life.
Like something in her was being released, too. Like her brakes were finally coming unstuck. This was it. This was the something she’d been waiting for.
Uncle Herbert seemed to be finding out that jumping onto a moving train is harder than it looks in movies.
“Come on, Uncle Herbert!” she called.
“I can’t! Jump down!”
“I don’t think so. It’s like you said: Life’s being interesting.”
“But this is too interesting! Like way too interesting!” Uncle Herbert stopped and bent over with his hands on his knees, huffing and puffing. “You’re not ready!”
“Ready for what?”
Kate felt ready for anything. Wind was whipping her hair around. She didn’t know if she was doing something very smart or very stupid, but in that moment she didn’t care, because the thrill of it made her heart want to burst.
This was so much better than Vanimals.
Chuff.
Chuff.
Chuff, chuff…
Chuff, chuff…
Uncle Herbert tried to run after them again, but he stopped almost immediately. He really wasn’t in very good shape. They were leaving him behind.
“I’m sorry!” Uncle Herbert called. “This wasn’t supposed to happen! You’ve got a big job ahead of you, a huge job, so—just do the best you can!”
They were gathering speed now, following the tracks across the lawn as smooth as a blade over ice.
There was just one thing missing.
“How do I blow the whistle?” Kate yelled.
“Dangly thing!”
It was the last thing Uncle Herbert said before they lost sight of him.
There was a wooden handle dangling from the ceiling. Kate pulled it, and the sound blasted out into the night:
FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
The whole neighborhood could hear it. It felt like the whole world could hear it. She did it again. And then, because she was a generous person, she let Tom do it, too.
5
Things Get Weirder
THE TRAIN SWUNG TO THE RIGHT, FOLLOWING THE tracks into the woods behind their house, which just barely saved Kate and Tom from crashing through the fence and annihilating the neighbors’ house and probably the neighbors.
Instead they started smashing their way through the trees.
“I can’t believe this!” Kate shouted. “This is insane!”
“Whoooooo!” Tom whooped. “Whooo!”
“I mean this is really crazy!”
The train snapped branches and shoved aside whole trunks of trees, the headlight blasting out ahead of it like the fiery white breath of a dragon. Green summer leaves flew everywhere. They were going to be in so much trouble. So much. They were going to pay for this forever! But it was totally worth it.