35 pages • 1 hour read
Jessie is worried about what might happen to the sick children if she gets caught and prays for help. Soon, a bread truck rolls up to the exit. When the driver stops to make small talk with the guard, Jessie sneaks inside the back of the truck. She cannot close the door properly and worries how she will escape unseen.
Inside the truck, Jessie marvels at its speed and the music coming from the radio. When she loses her grip on the unlatched door, it swings open, disrupting the bread racks she is hiding behind. They fall and bruise her, but she manages to escape and hide in the grass before the driver sees. After he drives away, Jessie walks down the road and eventually comes to the road marked “37,” which Ma advised her to take. She touches the sign for good luck and continues her journey.
Jessie stops to eat the lunch Ma packed and sees that she also packed a wallet with some money. She feels homesick going through the pack and reading the note Ma left in it, but steels herself for what awaits her in the outside world. In the wallet, Jessie also finds Ma’s old driver’s license and a picture of Jessie and Hannah as babies in 1983.
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By Margaret Peterson Haddix