Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit

Startled, I jump around to find a squinting woman on the porch, demanding to know what we’re up to or she’ll call the police. Kit says this is her Uncle Hendrick’s house. The woman scoffs. Hendrick has been her neighbor for thirty years and never mentioned a niece.

I reach for Uncle Hendrick’s letter to Kit, but my pocket is empty. I’ve lost it. Undaunted, Kit insists we’re not thieves. When the woman asks if the suitcase is ours, Kit looks at me, expecting me to claim it, but I can’t lie, so I stay silent.

Kit admits it isn’t her house or suitcase. The woman cuts her off. Taking what isn’t hers makes her a thief. She eyes my worn clothes, calls us hoboes she’ll never trust, and says if we put the suitcase down and go back to the jungle, she’ll let us go.

I ask Kit what a hobo is and what the jungle means. She explains hoboes travel from town to town for work, camping near the railroad tracks in what’s called a jungle. I tell the woman we aren’t hoboes, and even if we were, that wouldn’t give her the right to be mean.

The woman gasps at my boldness, but I know a bully only stops when you stand up to one.

It doesn’t work. The woman threatens to call the police unless we go to the jungle with her.