PART 1
The newspaper that Meg brought that morning was sitting on the table in the parlor where Jo had planted it before she went upstairs. Nick came in to speak to Jo and picked it up to browse through while he waited. Jo's plan had worked. An adventure lay ahead for him.
He was distracted for a moment by a commotion upstairs. Rob was crying about his missing bear. All of the children were searching for it.
Nick focused again on the newspaper. He looked at the letters and words intently, trying to remember the sounds that went with each one. It was very confusing but he was trying hard. Then he came upon something that startled him. He looked up as Meg came in.
"Good mornin' Meg. Beautiful day, ain't it? Quite a hullabaloo upstairs, though. Anyway, ya got perfect timin'. I'd be obliged if ya'd help me with this," he said quickly, showing her the newspaper.
"Good morning, Nick," Meg said, laughing at his eagerness. "I really like your haircut. What may I help you with?" He blushed a little at her compliment.
"Could ya read this to me?" She looked at him questioningly. "I can't…" He stopped, embarrassed now to admit that he could not read. But this was too important. He swallowed his pride. "I'm not so good at readin'. Jo's been helpin' me, but…"
"It's all right, Nick," Meg said, realizing his embarrassment. "What do you want me to read?"
He showed her the article in question and she began to read, "Adam Fletcher, owner and President of Concord Bank has announced plans to sell the bank to the Maryland company of…"
"Meg!" Jo nearly shouted as she entered the room. Meg stopped.
"Keep readin'," Nick pleaded.
"No," Jo said resolutely, quietly noticing how nice Nick looked with his hair cut short. "Meg, he will never learn to read if he doesn't try it himself," Jo said, carelessly revealing the extent of his lack of reading ability. "Give it back to him and let him try.
"I already tried, Jo," Nick said. Meg hesitated.
"Meg!" Jo said forcefully. Meg handed the newspaper to Nick with an apologetic look.
"Jo, this is impor…"
"Go ahead and try, Nick," Jo interrupted. "You can get some of the words. You don't need to be able to read them all right now."
"Jo," he said.
"Try," she said.
He turned angrily and headed for the kitchen, newspaper in hand.
"Asia, ya gotta help me," he begged, entering the kitchen. His dog, Max greeted him excitedly. "Ya gotta read this for me."
Asia already knew that Jo was teaching him to read and she hesitated. "Nice haircut, Nick."
"Asia!" he said, holding the newspaper out to her. "Please!"
Her eyes moved, looking over his shoulder. "Sorry Nick."
Nick turned and was not surprised to see Jo behind him in the doorway, her arms crossed in a huff. Max ran over to her for a hug, but Jo did not notice him.
"Jo, if ya'd just listen to me. I gotta know what this says," he said, raising his voice, frustration setting in.
"You have to try," Jo said calmly.
"Jo," he said.
"Try," she said.
"Can't count on nobody," Nick said angrily. "Never could." He headed for the door, tossing the newspaper on the table. It skidded across and landed on the floor with a thud. Max picked it up and ran outside behind Nick as the door closed with a bang.
Jo rolled her eyes. "Asia. I will be going into town today. Is there anything you need?" Jo asked, quickly putting the matter with Nick behind her.
From outside they heard the sound of Nick chopping wood.
Nat was scurrying about the barn as Nan walked in.
"Hey Nat. Breakfast is ready. What ya doin'?" she asked curiously.
"Looking."
"Looking for what?" she asked as she started looking, too.
"For Nick's hammer. I borrowed one yesterday and now I can't find it." They didn't notice Bess walk in.
"Ordinarily that would not be a problem but the way Nick has been acting I would not want to be in your shoes if he found out," Bess said. "I'll help, too."
"He has been acting strange this past week. I wonder why," questioned Nat.
"Maybe he's in love," Dan said as he walked in and started looking, too.
"That's not how you act when you're in love," Bess replied, batting her eyelashes at Dan. "When you're in love everything seems perfect. Maybe he doesn't like his haircut." They all laughed. "I think it looks dashing."
"Maybe he's sick," offered Nat.
"Who's sick?" asked Emil as he entered and started looking around like everyone else.
"Nick" Nat replied.
"No. He's not sick," said Nan. "He hasn't slowed down at all. I mean, look at that woodpile out there. He's chopped enough wood this past week to heat all of Concord. He just seems anxious and depressed. Kind of like he was before he left with Tom Pike." She plopped down in the hay, mulling over the possibility in her mind.
"You don't suppose he's thinking of leaving?" Emil said nervously.
"He can't leave," Nat said.
"Who's leaving?" Jo asked as she walked in.
The children all stopped, glancing at each other nervously, unable to look her in the eye.
"We don't know anything for sure Mrs. Jo, but we were just talking about how strange Nick's been acting," explained Nat.
They all started searching again, silently.
Jo bit her lip. She thought to the incident with the newspaper and realized that was when his bad mood started. "Well, Asia has breakfast ready and we were wondering where all of you were. You can finish what you are doing after you eat." Jo turned and left, deep in thought.
"Dan?" Emil asked. "What are we looking for anyway?"
Dan stopped, laughing. "I don't know."
The children all laughed. Nat answered. "We're looking for one of Nick's hammers. I borrowed one and now I can't find it."
"Oh, you should have said so," replied Emil. "I saw one over by the chicken coop a short while ago."
"The chicken coop? I haven't been near the chicken coop. But, I better go check it out." He ran off as the others headed for breakfast.
Nat knocked on Nick's door and entered at his reply. Max jumped up when he saw Nat and ran to him happily. Nat bent down on one knee and gave him a hug.
Nick was sitting at the desk, his head leaning on his hand. In his other hand was the crystal that Nat and the other boys had given him last year when he was leaving. Nat smiled.
But Nick didn't seem to be doing anything in particular, just turning that crystal over in his hand. That struck Nat as peculiar. Nick never sat idle. "Maybe he is sick," he thought.
"I brought your hammer back, Nick. Thank you."
"Yer welcome Nat," Nick replied, not looking up. Nat placed it on the desk. Nat was disappointed. Nick always took the time to ask him how he was doing and really listened to his answers. Now he didn't even seem to know he was there.
"Hey, did you ever find the shirt you were missing?" Nat asked.
"Nah."
"Breakfast is ready. Are you coming?"
"Not hungry," Nick replied, still not looking.
Nat went to the door, thinking "Nick not hungry?" The thought worried him. He stopped and turned around.
"Nick?" No response. "Nick?" He looked up, startled. But said nothing. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm alright," Nick said, turning away. Max whimpered.
"No, you're not." Nat thought about how Nick would help him if he had a problem and then added. "Do you want to talk about it? Maybe I could help."
Nick looked at Nat with bloodshot eyes and a touch of a smile. "I wish ya could."
"Could I go with you into town today?"
"I'm goin' alone. Got things to do."
They were both silent.
"Well, I better get to breakfast. I'll see you later, right?" Nat asked. Lost in thought again, Nick didn't answer.
Max followed Nat out the door, leaving Nick alone.
PART 2
