Three girls recreate their favorite book, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by running away from home and staying at the Caddie Woodlawn Park and Museum in Wisconsin
Nearly two hours after they left Frankweiler’s the girls finally saw a
sign for Highway Y.
“Is that our turn off?” Nadine asked.
Athena was tired too, by this time. She didn’t answer.
“I think there’s a park,” Arona said. She pointed down the highway and
towards a brown sign with an arrow to the left.
They trudged toward the sign, and soon it was close enough to read.
“Hey, it’s Caddie Woodlawn Historical Park,” Nadine cried.
“What’s that?” Arona asked her.
“Caddie Woodlawn was a girl who lived in Wisconsin a long time ago.
Around the same time as Laura Ingalls, I think. There’s a book about
her. The librarian at my school showed it to me, but I never read it.
She just picked it out for me because she said the main character has
red hair, like mine.”
“Never heard of it,” Athena said. Nadine still went to the school
she’d gone to before family had adopted her.
“Let’s stop anyway,” Arona said.
“Yeah,” Nadine agreed. “We should stop anyway.”
“It’s a book I read at school,” Nadine told her. Nadine still went to
the school she’d gone to before family had adopted her, so her school
work was often different than her sisters. “The librarian said they
used to have a unit on it, but they don’t teach it anymore, but I read
it and it’s really good. The main character looks just like me.” She
ran a hand under a lock of hair that hung over her shoulder.
She strode toward the park with more energy than she’d shown since
they left the cafe.
The girls trudged into the park.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Arona said.
“Then go.” Athena told her.
“I just want to sit down. My feet hurt.” Nadine said.
“Then sit.” Athena rolled her eyes as she gestured toward the picnic
shelter. Then she walked over to the picnic shelter too, because her
feet hurt too.
Arona walked across the grass toward the outhouses. “Take off your
back pack,” Athena shouted to her. She took it off and put it on a big
chunk of granite near a historical plaque.
Nadine unbuckled her pack and propped it up against the table before she laid down on one of the benches.
“Maybe we should just stay here,” she said.
“Maybe we should,” Athena answered her.
Nadine lifted her head and looked at her sister. “Girl, I was kidding.”
“I wasn’t,” Athena muttered, but she had turned her back to Nadine and
had her head down as she fidgeted with her buckle, and then took off
her pack.
She had a fabric pouch strapped on the outside of the pack that she
set down on the picnic table.
When Arona came back from the outhouse, Athena offered everyone a
sandwich. She opened the pouch and took out a loaf of bread and
package of cheese.
“Where did you get this?” Arona asked. “I bought it this morning at
the gas station by the hotel. In case the food at camp was gross.”
“I thought it might be gross, too,” Nadine giggled. “I stashed some
food in my pack. But I didn’t think of buying food this morning.”
“What did you bring,” Athena asked her.
“I have cashews, and craisins, and chocolate chips, to make my own
gorp. I went to a camp once that had gorp, but it was so gross, I
couldn’t eat it. And I’ve been keeping my granola bars, and I have
some cheese and crackers.”
Athena nodded thoughtfully as she chewed her sandwich.
There was a little breeze and Arona pushed her hair out of her face as
she took a bite of her sandwich.
Nadine got up and walked away from the shelter. She walked down toward
the big white house, and tried the door. “Hey, it’s open,” she
shouted. She waved at them to join her.
Arona jumped up from the picnic table. She shoved the last of her
sandwich into her mouth, and ran down to follow her sister. Athena
followed more slowly.
The house was completely empty inside. There were three rooms and a
kitchen, all with hardwood floors, wooden trim, and white walls. The
best room was the living room, with a big round alcove with windows
all around, and a round bench under the windows. “I wish we lived
here,” Arona said. “I would read here every day.”
“I bet the kids who lived here didn’t get to read here,” Athena said.
“In the old days, only guests could use the living room. The kids were
never supposed to go in there.”
Behind her on the wall was a bulletin board, full of old pictures, and
typed descriptions. Nadine walked over to the bulletin board, and
pointed at one picture, a black and white photo of a family with 7
kids in old fashioned clothes. “I bet these are the kids who lived
here.”
Arona stood up from the bench to look at the picture. “Look at all
those kids. Where did they all sleep?”
Before Nadine joined their family, Arona and Athena had had their own
bedrooms. Nadine had had her own room sometimes too, depending where
she had lived.
Nadine made a circuit around the house. “There’s no up stairs,” she
said. It was hard to picture a family of eight living in these three
rooms.
“Of course there’s an upstairs,” Athena said. “Did you see it?”
She led the girls back outside and they looked up. “See?”
It was definitely a two story house, and might have even had an attic.
They went back inside. Nadine circled the house again. In a closet in
the middle of the house, there was a wooden book case, painted a light
creamy tan, like much of the woodwork in the house. She looked up at
the ceiling, and saw a panel. “This is where the stairs were,” she
said.
Athena and Arona crowded into the closet with her, and looked up.
“I bet I could get up there,” Athena said.
“Athena!” Arona exclaimed. “You can’t.”
“Can too,” Athena retorted.
“I think she means you shouldn’t.” Nadine grabbed both girls and
pulled them back out into the main room. She glanced back into the
closet. She, too, was pretty sure she could get up there.
The girls went out to explore the rest of the park. The original
outhouse was there, and an ice house full of droppings from pigeons
who were nesting under the eaves.
There was another little house that was built of old boards, now faded
to grey, just like the outhouse and ice house. In side, it was divided
by a wall down the middle, with a fireplace and small mantle built
into the wall. The space on the far side was divided into two low
ceilinged rooms, a kitchen and bed room. There was a ladder leading up
to a loft over those too rooms.
“This is just like the Little House in Peppin, where Laura Ingalls
lived,” Arona said.
“I wonder who did live here,” Nadine said. “The other house is so much nicer.”
“Maybe they lived here first, and then built the house. Like when
Laura’s family lived in dug out before the built their house.”
“Or they had two houses, like in the Long Winter,” Athena said.
“Or like in The Birchbark House,” Nadine added.
“Why did they have two houses?” Arona wondered. They had read The
Birchbark House aloud as a family, but she hadn’t read any of the
sequels, like her sisters had.
“They had to come together during the winter, because it was safer.
But when it was warm out, I think they liked to be away from people.”
* *
*Being inside, with the door closed, they hadn’t heard when a car
arrived at the park, but when they came out, they saw it. A black
Honda was parked in the gravel lot, and four people were standing near
the big plaque: a young girl about their age, with her parents and
grandmother. The girl hopped up on one of the blocks surrounding the
big plaque, and then hopped down a few times, while her parents read.
Then she ran toward the big house, and the grown ups followed her.
“I hope they don’t find our packs,” Athena said. All three of the big
green backpacks were still up at pump house, on the benches.
“Maybe we should go get them,” Nadine said.
“What difference does it make?” Arona asked. “Do you think they’d take them?”
“We’re supposed to be at camp,” Athena said. “If we’re not there, we
should keep a low profile.” She liked the phrase keep a low profile,
and was glad to have a chance to use it.
“Well we’d attract more attention by going over there and grabbing
them and trying to hide them,” Nadine pointed out.
Athena pursed her lips. “Follow my lead,” she said.
She strolled across the lawn, casually, not looking anywhere in
particular. Arona and Nadine followed behind her, Nadine looking
suspiciously from side to side, while Arona walked with exagerated
casualness, swinging her arms, and turning her head from side to side
in an attempt to imitate Athena.
Once inside the shelter, Athena lowered her pack to the ground, and
sat down with her feet propped up on it. She whispered to Nadine to
put hers under the bench, and then Nadine sat with her legs hanging
down in front of it.
“What should I do with mine?” Arona asked in a loud whisper.
“Pretend it’s a pillow,” Athena answered in a quiet whisper.
Arona looked at her pack. She patted it, and fluffed it a little,
though it was too densely packed to fluff. She gave her sister a
questioning look.
Athena rolled her eyes. “Lie down on it!” That was a much louder whisper.
Arona lay back on the bench with her head and shoulders propped up on the pack.
In a few minutes the family came out of the house, and began exploring
the rest of the property. To prevent her sisters from staring at the
family, Athena said, “What if we lived here?”
“You mean back in the 1800s?” Nadine asked.
“If we were pioneers?” Arona asked.
“No, I mean what if we lived here now.”
“We’d have lots of room to play outside,” Arona said.
“I wish there was a creek to play in,” Nadine said.
“I wish there was a sledding hill,” Arona said.
“Would we have to go to school?” Nadine asked.
“Of course,” said Athena. “Even pioneers went to school.”
“I wonder where the school is,” Arona said.
“I bet it’s a long bus ride,” Nadine said.
They were still talking about it when the family came up the slight
hill to the pump house. The girl came in and tugged at the handle,
which didn’t budge. “Doesn’t work,” she said, and kept walking.
Her mom stopped and pulled at the handle, and it did move, all the way
up. She grinned at the girl and said, “Maybe it does.”
The mom pumped the handle a couple of times until water began to spurt
out of the spout. The girl and her grandmother dashed over to get
drinks of water. The dad took a sip too, and then began pumping so the
mom could have a drink.
Athena had a sudden gleam in her eye, and she stood up.
“Did you want a drink too?” the man asked her.
“I want to try pumping,” she said.
“Sure,” he stepped back, and Athena took the handle. “It takes some
force,” he said. “Put your weight into it.” The flow of water slowed
for a moment, but then spurted out stronger than ever. “That’s it,”
the man said. “You got it.”
“Let me try again,” the girl pushed her dad out of the way, and took
the handle from Athena, but she didn’t have the force to make it work.
Next Arona tried, but she didn’t have the power either. Then it was
Nadine’s turn. The mother led her family away as Nadine took the pump
handle. She pulled at it with all her weight and got a small trickle
going. Then Athena wanted another turn. The water poured out of the
spout and splashed all around. The two younger girls took drinks of
water. At first they kept their feet well back, and tried not to get
them wet from the water that splashed out, but after a moment or two
they gave up. They both had soaking wet feet, and Nadine’s pants were
wet. They both had water splashed over their chests.
Athena let the pump handle go and watched the water run until it quit.
Her grin spread across her face.
* *
*Later, after the park was empty again, the girls walked down toward the house.
“What if we really did stay here?” Athena said.
“Stay here? What are you talking about?” Arona had a lock of hair
stuck in her mouth. The wind had blown a lock of hair into her mouth
as she spoke. She flapped her hands at her face to push it away, and
she missed the look Nadine and Athena gave each other.
“We’ve got a food,” Athena said.
“We’ve got sleeping bags,” Nadine said.
“We could sleep in the big house,” Athena said.
“There’s a bathroom,” Nadine said.
“The bathrooms are gross,” Arona said.
“We wouldn’t have to go to camp,” Athena said.
Nadine nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face.
“I thought you wanted to go to camp,” Arona said to her.
Nadine shrugged. “I wanted to make your mom happy.”