He can’t have our boxcar, can he?” asked Benny.
“No, Benny,” said Jessie. “It’s our boxcar and we’re going to keep it!”
Henry clapped his hand to his forehead. “Oh, no! I almost forgot. We’re supposed to go to the grocery store for Mrs. McGregor.”
Putting the rather strange Mr. Chessy out of their thoughts for the moment, the children hurried into the house.
“You didn’t forget, did you?” Mrs. McGregor teased.
Henry’s cheeks turned red. “Well, not exactly,” he said. He was glad when Benny spoke up.
“What are we going to get at the grocery store?” Benny asked. “Is it for dessert tonight?” He looked hopeful. Benny was always hungry.
“No, I’ve already made dessert for tonight, Benny,” answered Mrs. McGregor. Her merry eyes twinkled. “But if you don’t like apple pie, I might be able to make something else.”
“Oh, no!” exclaimed Benny. “I love apple pie.
His brother and sisters laughed. Mrs. McGregor laughed, too. Then she bent over the kitchen table and wrote something else on her grocery list. She picked up the list and handed it to Henry.
Henry folded it and carefully put it in his pocket. He checked to make sure he had enough money for groceries.
Violet asked, “Are we shopping for our Founders’ Day dinner already?”
Mrs. McGregor nodded. “That you are,” she said. “I may not have to begin cooking it yet, but I want to start getting ready.”
“It’ll be like Thanksgiving,” said Benny. “I’m going to get all my favorite foods at one time!”
The four children got their bicycles and rode to town with Watch trotting beside them on his leash. When they got there, the sidewalks and streets were very crowded. So they decided to walk their bicycles along the sidewalk and look in the windows until they got to the grocery store.
Suddenly, Jessie stopped. “Look,” she said. “A parade!”
Henry stopped behind Jessie and read aloud from the sign posted in the window of the hardware store: “‘The Founders’ Day Parade: A Parade to Celebrate the Founding of Greenfield. Come see the parade — or be in it.’”
“Wow,” said Jessie. “That would be great, to be in a parade!”
“I don’t know,” said Violet. “Parades are fun to watch, too.” Violet looked a little worried at the idea of being in a parade. She was very shy.
“Let’s at least find out about it,” said Henry. “Then we can decide.”
“How will we find out?” asked Benny.
“Let’s ask inside the hardware store,” suggested Jessie. They all went inside.
“Could you tell us more about the parade?” Henry asked the owner of the store.
“It’s on the sign in your window,” added Jessie.
The hardware store owner said, “Of course. In fact, I can tell you everything you need to know.” She reached over to the counter and picked up a colorful folded piece of paper. “This flyer will tell you all about the parade and how to join it.”
“Thanks!” Henry said.
“You’re welcome,” said the hardware store owner. “See you at the parade.”
“Or in it!” said Benny.
The Aldens walked outside. Henry read from the flyer as they walked. He read about how to enter the parade by filling out the form on the back of the flyer and mailing it to the Greenfield Parade Committee. “We have to tell them our names and what we are going to do in the parade,” Henry said. “They’ll let us know when to meet and where. Anybody can be in the parade, but listen to this: ‘Parade members are encouraged to choose a costume or build a float that reflects some part of the history of Greenfield,’” he read aloud.
The children were quiet for a moment. Then Violet said, “Costumes would be fun. I could make a beautiful purple costume.” Purple was Violet’s favorite color.
“But what kind of costume?” Jessie asked. “Greenfield is very old. We have to think of something that goes with the history of our town.”
The children thought and thought all the way to the grocery store. But they couldn’t come up with an idea. After they finished shopping and were headed home, Henry said, “I know! Before we decide on a costume, let’s ask Grandfather what he thinks.”
“That’s a good idea,” said Jessie.
Violet said, “We can ask him at dinner tonight. But you know what else I think we should do? We should learn more about the history of Greenfield, too.”
“That’s right,” said Jessie. “We’ll have an idea for the parade before you know it!”
“Do you hear that, Watch?” Benny said. “We’re going to be in a parade!”
“This apple pie is the best pie I ever ate,” said Benny that night at dinner.
“You say that every time Mrs. McGregor makes apple pie,” said Grandfather Alden to his youngest grandchild.
“It’s true every time,” said Benny.
“Mrs. McGregor said that the apples came from an old apple orchard right here in Greenfield,” said Violet. “She said they’ve been growing apples there for years and years.”
“Farmers have been growing apples in and around Greenfield ever since I was a boy,” said Grandfather.
“Will you tell us more about Greenfield?” asked Henry. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the flyer. “We got this at the hardware store today.”
Mr. Alden read it, then looked up. “I don’t suppose you want to be in the parade, do you?”
“Yes!” answered Jessie. “That’s exactly what we want to do. But we have to think of the perfect costumes. Something historic.”
“If you tell us more about Greenfield,” explained Henry, “then maybe it will help us think of an idea for the parade.”
So Grandfather Alden told his grandchildren all he knew about the history of Greenfield. He told them that when his own father was growing up, there was no electricity, and no running water in any of the houses. “When your great-grandmother was a girl about your age, Jessie, her job was to bring in water from the well. She knew how to make candles so the family would have light. And she knew how to drive a horse and carriage, because back then they didn’t have cars.”
“Did they have bicycles?” asked Benny.
“No bicycles either,” said Grandfather. “Not until she was older. But they did have trains. The Greenfield Train Station is closed now. But in the old days it was the center of activity. I remember going there when I was a boy to watch the trains.”
“What happened to the trains?” Jessie asked.
“There aren’t as many as there used to be. Now people use trucks and cars,” said Grandfather. “The trains only stop in the big towns. They still go through Greenfield, on the tracks by the old station at the edge of town, but they don’t stop here anymore.”
Jessie frowned. She was thinking hard. Suddenly she said, “Trains are a part of the history of Greenfield, aren’t they? Just like it said in the newspaper about our boxcar?”
“They sure are,” said Grandfather.
Jessie looked around the table. “I have an idea for the parade. Can you guess what it is?”
Everyone shook their heads. Jessie said, “I’ll give you a hint. Once upon a time, four orphans and a little lost dog who didn’t have any place to live went to live in a special place. And then their grandfather, who had been looking and looking for them, found them . . .”
“In an old, abandoned boxcar in the woods,” said Violet. She slipped her hand into her grandfather’s and continued the story. “So the four children went to live with their grandfather in a big, white house in Greenfield. And as a surprise . . .”
Henry finished, “Their grandfather brought the boxcar to the backyard of the house for his grandchildren. And their names were . . .
“Benny, Jessie, Violet, Henry, and Watch Alden,” Benny burst out.
It was all true. That was how the Boxcar Children had come to live with their grandfather, James Alden.
Benny looked puzzled. “What does our boxcar have to do with the parade?”
“I think I know,” said Henry. “Our boxcar is an old boxcar. Boxcars were probably part of the trains that once went through Greenfield. That means it’s a part of Greenfield’s history.”
“That’s right,” said Jessie. “So, we should take our boxcar to be in the parade!”
“That’s a great idea, Jessie,” said Violet. She frowned. “But how will we get the boxcar in the parade? It doesn’t have a motor!”
“I think I can help you with that,” said Grandfather. “My old truck can pull the boxcar. I can hitch the boxcar to it and drive the truck in the parade.”
“I can wear my engineer’s costume with the red bandanna!” Benny said excitedly.
“Yes,” said Henry. “And we can paint the boxcar and polish it and make it look extra special.”
“We’ll start first thing tomorrow,” said Jessie.
For the rest of the night, the Aldens made plans to decorate the boxcar and to make costumes for the parade. Then they went to bed so they could get up early to mail their entry into the Founders’ Day Parade and start getting their boxcar ready for the big day.
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