PART 1
Nicky was exhausted and wheezing by the time he got to town. Despite the cold the 12-year-old boy was sweating with fever. He shifted his sick little brother in his aching arms. "It won't be much longer Ben. We're almost there." He stifled another cough as he kept going. He could not stop no matter how much his legs hurt. He had to get Ben to the doctor quickly. He had just lost his parents and sister to influenza and pneumonia and was not about to lose his brother, too.
Nicky sat 7-year-old Ben down on the bottom stair of the doctor's office and mounted the steps. They never seemed so high before. He knocked on the door and waited, wheezing and coughing. He blew into his cold hands to warm them. He knocked again. Again there was no answer.
Jo watched the boy from across the street with fascination. He was the same boy who had repaired their wagon earlier in the day when they were stuck by the side of the road. He did not even accept any money for it. In addition to carrying the boy he was carrying a sack slung over his shoulder with a rope.
His clothes were clean but thread bare. His pants were ripped and repaired countless times. Despite the cold, he wore no hat or gloves. Unconsciously, 9-year-old Jo pulled her warm coat around her a little tighter. The little boy he was carrying looked warmer and was wrapped in a blanket, too. They were both coughing incessantly.
With nobody answering, Nicky was getting nervous. Ben needed the doctor and the medicine. He tried the door. It was unlocked. He opened it and peered in. "Hello? Doctor O'Hanlon? Help me, please."
Jo watched as a man came up behind the boy and grabbed his arm, tightly. "All right you little thief. Come with me. We're going to see the Sheriff." He pulled the boy out the door by the arm.
"Ain't no thief, sir. Jus' wanna find the doc fer my l'il brother there," Nicky said, pointing at Ben.
"Likely story. Maybe we should take him in, too," the man said.
"No!! He didn't do nothin'. Needs a doctor, is all."
"I know the likes of you, boy," he said, as he looked at Nicky with disgust. "You'll steal anything and do anything. Good thing the maid wasn't in. Who knows what you would have done to her." He pulled him roughly by the arm.
Nicky was shocked. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before. He had never been so alone before, either. He did not know what to say.
"A few months behind bars should teach you a lesson."
"I didn't do nothin'," Nicky protested. He heard Ben start to whimper and he tried to pull away, but the man held him tight. Nicky started coughing hard.
"Forget it," the man said after hearing him cough and feeling the feverish heat from his body. He shoved Nicky to the ground. "You're not worth the trouble. But you better not let me catch you around here again, boy." Nicky barely heard him. He was already picking Ben up. The man walked away.
As she watched, Jo's father came up to her and looked at her with a big smile. "Marmee is waiting for us, Jo. We have to go." He gave her a big hug. She turned and left with him, looking over her shoulder at the boy as he walked away, carrying the other boy in his arms.
"Father," Jo nearly shouted. She pointed up ahead of the wagon they were traveling in. "There is the boy that helped us with the wagon this morning. I saw him in town looking for the doctor for his brother, but the doctor was not there. May we stop and help him Father?"
"Jo, we are behind schedule already because of that problem with the wagon," her father said.
"But he helped us, and he cannot possibly carry his brother all the way. Please stop and help him Father."
Having moved off the road, Nicky sat Ben down and leaned him against a tree. He took the bag off his shoulder, reached in, pulled out a half a loaf of bread, broke off one piece and gave it to his brother to eat. "I'll go git ya some water, Ben," he said, taking out an old metal cup. It was so cold to his exposed fingers that he shoved it in his pocket. He arose slowly, coughing, his legs almost too tired and weak to carry him.
Nicky walked and slid down the embankment to the stream below. The cold water brought pain to his fingers as he dipped the cup in the stream. He turned to face the formidable climb back up, and, setting his thoughts on Ben, he made it to the top. He held the cup to Ben's lips as the boy drank readily.
"I want more Nicky," the little one said.
So, Nicky began the trek for another cup of water.
Finally convinced by Jo's incessant pleading, her father eased the wagon over to the side of the rode where they had seen the boys enter the woods. Jo jumped out of the wagon and headed after them immediately, delighting in this little adventure, but disturbing her parents.
Ben had finished the second cup of water and Nicky was ready to trek down the embankment for his own drink. A coughing fit overtook him and he knelt down, his watery eyes closed tight.
Jo saw the boy sweating and coughing furiously and decided to get him some water. She reached down to take the cup from him.
Nicky felt someone pull the cup from his hand and he leapt forward to snatch it back.
The two rolled down the embankment over and under each other, to the bottom.
As luck would have it, Jo landed on top.
Nicky, his eyes still watery and cloudy from coughing, arched his back and threw the cup thief off. He rolled over and ended up on top.
Jo could not believe what was happening. The boy who looked so sick and was wheezing with every breath was very strong. She looked into his eyes. They were the most incredible blue eyes she had ever seen, filled with hope and promise, but clouded by pain and grief.
His vision clearing, Nicky could not believe his eyes when he saw the little girl beneath him. He thought she was kind of cute. He moved off of her. "Ya alright?" he asked.
"Of course," Jo replied. In fact, she rather enjoyed the tangle.
Nicky quickly assessed that the girl was about the same age as his beloved little sister Susanna. A wave of sadness washed over him as he thought of her.
Jo noticed the change in his eyes. "Hi. My name is Jo," she said, smiling.
He looked at her, and said "Hey." He took the cup from her hand and went to the stream, coughing again. Suddenly, he heard a mob of shouting voices. Dropping the cup, he struggled up the embankment as fast as he could and adopted a protective stance in front of Ben, breathing and coughing hard.
"It is all right. We are not going to hurt you. We just want to help. You fixed our wagon earlier, remember?" said Mrs. March. Nicky just coughed.
Jo, her hair disheveled and her dress dirty from the tumble, approached with the cup filled with water. "What did you do to her?" shouted little Amy.
Nicky tensed up.
"Amy!" Jo scolded.
She turned to Nicky, smiled and said, "I was not going to take it. I just wanted to get you some water." She stuck the cup out in front of him. "Here."
He looked at her, then at her parents and three sisters, and then back at her. He nodded, then took the cup and drank quickly. She noticed his hands covered with blisters.
"Do you want more? I'll get you more," Jo asked.
Nicky was cold and exhausted. His head, chest and throat hurt and now his body ached from the tumble down the embankment.
"I want Mama," Ben cried. "I want Papa."
Nicky handed Jo the cup and practically dropped to the ground next to Ben, wheezing and coughing. He hugged his brother and whispered into his ear, reassuring him. Then, he blew into his hands to warm them until she returned with the cup. "Thank ya," he said.
When he had finished the water, Nicky put the cup away, slung the bag over his shoulder and began to pick up his brother saying, "Come on Ben. Gotta git goin'."
"I'm cold Nicky," Ben whined.
"This'll keep ya warm," Nicky said as he began to unbutton his own coat. But his fingers were stiff and numb from the cold, and it was difficult.
The March family looked at each other, unsure of what to do. None were willing to make the sacrifice that they were watching the boy make. It was just too cold. Nicky finally finished undoing the buttons and pulled the coat off.
"Here Ben, put your arm in," he said, shivering now as well as coughing and wheezing. He helped Ben put the coat on over the coat he already wore and then painfully buttoned it up. "There ya go Ben. That better?" He put the bag over his shoulder and then picked up the blanket that had been wrapped around Ben and pulled it around himself.
"Sorry Nicky," Ben said.
"That's alright. I don't mind," Nicky answered. He began to pick Ben up again.
"Wait!" Jo said. Nicky looked at her and then followed her gaze to her father.
"We'll take you in our wagon. Just tell us where you want to go," he said.
"No thank ya," Nicky said, coughing. "Can't pay ya and don't take no charity."
"It's not charity. You helped us and now we want to help you," Jo piped in.
"That's right," her sisters agreed, intrigued now by the two boys that their sister had befriended.
"You'll never make it by yourself," Mr. March said.
"Yes I will," Nicky said determinedly.
"Sure you will," Jo said, shaking her head at her father for making such a comment. "But you will get him there faster in the wagon."
Nicky looked at Ben and knew she was right. As tired as he was, it would take him all day and well into the night to carry Ben there by himself.
"Alright," he said, nodding. He started to pick Ben up when Mrs. March approached to help. "He's mighty sick Ma'am. Best be keepin' back. I'll take him."
Nicky sat at the very back of the wagon with Ben snuggled up close next to him. Meg was on the other side of Ben. Jo sat directly across from Nicky with her mother and then Beth and Amy next to her.
"What's your name?" Mr. March asked from the front of the wagon.
"Name's Nicholas, sir. This here's Benjamin."
"Pleased to meet you Nicholas," said Mr. March. He proceeded to introduce the whole family. Nicky had a hard time keeping the names straight, except for Jo.
"Them's fine lookin' horses ya got there, sir," Nicky said with admiration. "We don't got no horses, but the Cooper's do. Pa taught me ta ride on one of 'em when I 'as five. Ma said he was plumb crazy, but I didn't get hurt or nothin'. Now she says I ride like the wind." He smiled at the thought.
"Where are your parents?" Mrs. March asked.
Nicky caught his breath and looked away. Jo noticed that same look of sadness wash over him, clouding his eyes.
"They're dead now, Ma'am. Our sister, too," Nicky answered simply, still staring out the back of the wagon.
Stunned by the thought, silence overtook the wagon until Amy pulled out her music box. "It is not working!" she cried out, tears rolling down her face. "Oh Marmee. It is broken."
"I'll fix it," Jo said. She took the music box from her sister and turned it over in her hands. She had no idea what to do, but did not want to admit that.
Nicky chuckled at her.
"What are you laughing at?" Jo asked, a little annoyed.
"May I see it?" Nicky asked quietly. Jo was surprised but handed it to him. He looked it over carefully. "Got a hair pin or somethin'?" he asked. He chuckled a little at asking that to a wagon full of girls. They chuckled too. Jo was the first to offer one.
He took the hair pin and stuck it in a hole in the music box. Amy began to cry.
"Don't worry l'il un. It'll be fine in a minute," Nicky said. He worked a little longer. "There." He wound it up and handed it to Amy who was thrilled.
"Christopher Columbus!" Jo exclaimed.
"Jo!" Meg scolded.
"It was no big deal," Nicky said, handing the hair pin back to Jo. "Y'all been holdin it too close ta ya is all. It was all tangled up with hair."
"Nicky can fix anything," Ben said proudly, snuggling up closer to his big brother.
"Marmee, I am hungry," whined Amy after they had been riding a while longer.
"I am hungry, too," agreed Jo. "It has been awfully long since we ate."
"It has only been three hours, Jo dear," said Meg.
"We have lost much time already today," Father said. "Why don't you eat while we ride?"
"In the wagon?" Meg asked.
"It is dreadfully dirty for eating," Amy added with an upturned nose.
"You do not have to eat if you do not want to. I could eat it all myself," Jo said, licking her lips as Marmee pulled out the basket of food.
Shivering and coughing and ravenous, Nicky could smell the food as the family began to dig in. Marmee handed a piece of chicken to Father as the girls helped themselves.
"We are being very rude," Meg said, finally. "Would you like something to eat?" she asked the boys.
"Thank ya kindly but we got this here bread," Nicky replied, pulling out what was left of the stale loaf.
"Man can not live on bread alone," Jo said. "We have chicken and dumplings and green beans and all sorts of things."
"Ya want somethin' Ben?" Nicky asked, coughing.
Ben accepted some chicken and dumplings and ate happily.
Nicky put the bread back in the bag. He was still shivering, coughing and wheezing.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Jo asked.
"Ain't hungry," Nicky lied.
Marmee looked at him, unbelieving. She saw the hollow look of hunger in his eyes. "How long has it been since you have eaten?"
"Ben ate some bread when we stopped before." He shivered.
"I mean when did YOU eat last?" she said.
Nicky looked at Marmee and then cast his eyes downward guiltily. "Don't rightly remember."
They were all shocked at the answer as they thought of all the food they had devoured just in the last few minutes.
"Then have some chicken and dumplings," Meg offered.
"Don't take no charity," he replied, coughing. Then he turned to look out the back of the wagon.
Beth had tears in her eyes over the plight of the sick and hungry yet proud boy. She looked at Jo pleadingly for her to help him.
Jo picked up the last chicken leg. "Nicholas," she called. As he turned, she tossed it to him and said, "Don't be so stubborn."
He reached up but his cold, numb, blister covered fingers would not close around it and it fell into the straw. He picked it up slowly and began to pull the straw off of it. "Thank ya kindly," he said, taking a bite voraciously.
"That is disgusting," Amy shouted. "It is dirty."
Nicky stopped eating, embarrassed. He saw them all watching him. His hand dropped into his lap as he looked down. His stomach was growling.
"He does not want to waste it Amy," Beth said, shocking everyone by actually speaking in front of the boys.
Nicky looked at Beth and then at Jo.
"What are you waiting for?" Jo encouraged.
He smiled a little and then ate the chicken quickly, cleaning it right to the bone.
"Would you like a biscuit?" Jo offered.
His appetite whetted now he eagerly replied, "Alright." He picked one up with his stiff fingers. "Ben, this here biscuit smells powerful good. Ya wan' it?" He smiled as his little brother took it and ate happily.
Then Nicky looked up and said, "He sure do like it. Awful glad he ate some o' that chicken, too. Ma says it's good fer ya." Still shivering he began to cough hard again as the others ate.
"There is one more biscuit that nobody wants," Marmee offered to the hungry Nicky, when he stopped coughing. He had only eaten that one piece of chicken.
"I wanted it Marmee," Amy said as Nicky began to reach for it.
"Amy!" Jo scolded.
"But I am still hungry," Amy cried.
Nicky looked at Amy and then at Marmee. "No thank ya Ma'am." He smiled at Amy and nodded for her to take the biscuit, which she did with gusto.
Jo glared at Amy who stuck her chin out at her while she ate.
His head resting on Nicky's chest, Ben fell asleep as the ride continued. Soon they came upon a fork in the road and Nicky did not know which road to take. He shook his little brother, calling his name. "Ben. Wake up Ben. Ya gotta read the sign. We gotta go to Foster's Creek before we get to Millville."
Ben whined groggily.
"You are so mean," Jo scolded. "Why are you waking him? This is not time for a reading lesson." She did not realize that the older boy could not read.
Nicky was stunned, hurt and embarrassed. He did not know where to look or what to say. He swallowed hard, fighting the tears of shame that came to his eyes.
Marmee realized the boy's plight. "I think it is wonderful that he is so proud of his little brother's accomplishments. Not everyone is lucky enough to learn to read."
"Proud or not, he did not have to wake him. Anyone can read the sign," Jo went on. "I still say you are mean," she said to him.
Nicky was staring out the back of the wagon, shivering, wheezing, and coughing. He did not say another word until they reached their destination.
PART 2
