At school on Monday, Jenny and Kelli were walking in the hall and as they turned the corner they bumped into a boy.

"Watch it!" shouted Jamie. Then seeing that the girls were the ones he had met at his grandmother's house, he gave them a big smile.

"Sorry," said Jenny. "We were talking and did not pay attention to where we were headed."

"That's O.K.," said Jamie. "I should be watching where I am going. Hey! will you kids come to grandma's house on Saturday? It's my birthday and she said I could invite anyone I want to come over. You two are as good as any."

"We'll ask our parents," was Kelli's response. "Your grandma's house is the neatest place I know to visit - so much to look at.

" "See you," waved Jamie, and he was off to his homeroom class. It was an ordinary school week for the girls. Jenny was not singled out as anyone special. For this she was glad.

3333 When Saturday arrived, Mrs. Spruce and Mrs. Mostly gave their daughters permission to attend Jamie's birthday celebration.

There was still so much Jenny and Kelli wanted to see when they got to Mrs. Rosella's house.

"Welcome! Welcome!" assured Jamie, opening the door. Standing next to him was a younger lad about seven years of age. "This is Hangar."

"Hi," greeted Jenny. "What is your real name?"

"Horace," answered the boy. "But I like my nickname much better.

" "I like Hangar best," both girls said at once.

Jenny and Kelli gave Jamie gifts wrapped in pretty paper and ribbons.

"Thanks!" expressed Jamie as he began to tear paper from the presents.

He was proud of the model airplane from Jenny and pleased with the book about wild creatures that Kelli brought.

Hangar had given him a T-shirt with a train engine on the front.

Jamie's grandmother gave him a sweater and a board game with green plastic frogs to mark the spaces.

Mrs. Rosella set out a beautiful cake with ten candles on it. Jamie blew out the candles with one big huff. Each child had a large slice of cake and a huge mound of ice cream.

After eating the goodies the children decided to play with the new game. It weas fun hopping the frogs from one lily pad to another, to rocks in the water and finally to the bank.

The youngsters grew tired of the game and walked about the house, looking at strange objects, old furniture and statues as if they were in a museum. Jamie explained each item and what it was used for.

"I know!" Hangar had an idea. "Let's go outside and play leap frog."

All agreed it would be fun.

"Watch that you don't tear down my flowers!" Mrs. Rosella called as they ran out the door.

"Get in line," said Jamie. "I'll be frog first."

The girls and Hangar got down on their hands and knees. Jamie leaped over Hangar. He leaped over Jenny. Lastly he landed in front of Kelli. Now it was Hangar's turn. It weasn't so easy for him. He leaped over Jenny and Kelli, but when he tried to get over Jamie, the boy pushed up, throwing Hangar into a flower bed, and knocking over the cement maiden with a sprinkling can.

"Uh, Oh!" exclaimed Jamie. "You broke Grandma's flowers."

"It wasn't his fault," reminded Jenny. "You pushed up and didn't give him a good chance."

Hangar felt bad about the flowers as a tear fell from his eye.

"It's O.K. Hangar," comforted Mrs. Rosella. "Jamie should not play so rough.

" "Kids, come in and watch an old comic video," the woman invited and the two boys and two girls went back into the house.

The video was funny but the children had seen it before.

"Let's ride bikes," suggested Kelli. So the party went outside again.

"This is fun, "Hangar said as they played follow the leader on bicycles. They waved arms, and rode in circles and zig-zags.

"Let's see what is over there in the woods," suggested Jamie.

"It might not be safe to look," remarked Kelli.

"Coward!" teased Hangar.

Kelli parked her bicycle near the other bikes and joined her three friends.

Jamie led the way through the wooded area, pulling back branches to help the others follow him. There were rocks. Bushes of various sizes grew in the way. A hollow log lay in front of them. The youngsters walked across it in single file. And a rustling of leaves was heard near by. All were silent for a moment. Then a brown rabbit hurried away. The ground was so covered with dead leaves and twigs one could not see the ground.

"Oh! Oh!" screamed Jamie.

"Did you get a snake bite?" asked Jenny.

"No! No! No!" answered Jamie. "I stumbled on something hard."

He reached down to examine the hard object and was surprised. It was the end of a railroad track.

"Wow!" cried Jenny. "A railroad in the woods!"

"I can't believe it!" said Hangar. "Who would have a railroad in the forest?"

"Perhaps it's been here a long time," offered Kelli.

Jamie and his guests pulled a lot of weeds, overgrowth and trash off of the rails. Beneath the rails were the cross ties with rusted spikes and steel plates holding the rails in place.

"Look!" shouted Jenny. "There is part of a train."

"It's a caboose!" said Hangar. "I know all about trains. My grand-dad has a model railroad. He used to be an engineer."

The children ran very fast to see the green caboose. It was something they knew very little about except for Hangar.

The dark green caboose sat at the end of the track where it had remained for many years. It had been abandoned by a railroad company when the land was sold to a man in Fernville. It was apparent that the townspeople had forgotten the caboose and never mentioned it to the young ones.

Now four children knew it was there and were overjoyed to have found it.

"Hey! Look!" cried Jenny. "It has a watch tower."

"No," said Hangar, "Grandpa said that the men who worked on his train called it a crow's nest."

Whatever one called the glass enclosure on top of the caboose, it greatly interested the two boys and two girls.

On each end of the caboose was a tiny porch with an iron pole that went from the edge of the roof to the edge of the floor beneath. Sticking out of one end of the caboose was a stove pipe chimney. This railroad car was once a little home to the men who worked on the railroad while they traveled.

Jamie climbed onto the porch by way of a metal step and the others followed.

"Let's go inside," said Hangar, trying to unlock the door. "We must find something to get it open with," declared Jenny, jumping to the ground.

Kelli followed. She pushed the weeds aside while Jenny looked under the caboose. On an axle lay a crow bar that must have been there a long time.

"Here, try this," Jenny said giving the tool to Jamie.

Jamie forced the crow bar under a bolt and with the others pulling him, some rust fell away and it loosened a bit. After much effort the youngsters found themselves inside the old caboose.

"Oo-oo-oo," said Kelli. "It smells old."

"It's so musty," joined Jenny.

"You would smell too if you had no fresh air for a hundred years," said Hangar.

"Let's open the door on the other end," suggested Jamie.

Now that a fresh breeze blew through the car, the children continued to examine the green caboose.

"Sometimes this thing is called a crummy," said Hangar. "Right now that is a good name for it."

"It is not," argued Jamie. " It is a good place. I'm glad that we found it."

"What can we do to make it better?" asked Kelli.

"Maybe there is a cloth in that cabinet," said Jenny.

Jenny pulled open the door to the cabinet. Inside was a frayed old towel, but it was clean. She dusted the desk-like shelf, the chairs and wall cabinets.

In a low cabinet, Hangar found two folded canvas cots.

"What is this for?" Jennie asked, pulling down a coiled wire hanging on the wall.

"Oh, that's part of a two-way radio," offered Hangar. "The brakeman can talk to the engineer or any of the crew from other cars on the train."

While Hangar climbed a ladder to get into the watch tower and pretend he was a brakeman, Jenny and Kelli were examining an old coal and wood stove.

The stove was very different from the range at home. It was like a big black iron kettle sitting on a black iron stand and on top was a black square iron piece having four round black lids. In front on the kettle-like part was a door to put in the coal for burning. Beneath was a small door for taking out the ashes that fell through a grate from the upper part. At the rear of the stove was a tin pipe going up through the ceiling to let out the smoke.

An old fashioned white-speckled blue enamel coffee pot and a big aluminum stew pot rested on the lids of the stove. In years past many meals had been cooked on the stove to provide food for the railroad workers.

Next to the shelf-like desk was a small bowl-shaped sink just large enough for washing hands, but there was no spigot or water in the caboose.

Hangar was deep in imagination in the lookout tower. He called out to the others, "I see a drag on the right track." (A drag is a slow freight train.) Then he said, "Look at the Gandy Dandies, they're sure working up sweat." (Gandy Dandies was what some people called the men who worked on the slag and gravel.)

Jamie didn't know much about railroading, but he found a little flag and ran to the door to flag down a train bearing in on the caboose. He had fun pretending, too.

With an old broom the girls brushed cobwebs from the corners and swept the floor. Anything that looked like furniture was as clean as they could get it without water and soap.

"It must be getting late," said Jenny.

"Yes," agreed Kelli. "We had better go home."

"Me, too," joined Hangar. "Someone will come looking for us and find our secret place."

"Let's call the caboose Number Four," suggested Jamie.

"Why?" asked Jenny.

"Four of us found it, right?" said Jamie.

"Number Four" had been lots of fun.

Jamie declared that this was his best birthday ever.

The four youngsters went back to Mrs. Rosella's house. The woman said, "It's about time; a minute longer and I would have come looking for you."

Jenny, Kelli and Hangar thanked Mrs. Rosella for letting them come to the nice birthday party.

"We had so much fun," Jenny said, waving goodbye. The girls rode quickly to get home.

"You were gone quite awhile," Mama said. "I was thinking about calling Mrs. Rosella to see that you were O.K."

"Mama, it was so much fun," related Jenny. "We played games, rode our bikes and explored. The cake was delicious."

She would tell her mother about the caboose later when she decided it would be a good time.

"I missed you, Jenny," said Jason, hugging his sister. "You were gone too long."

Later in the evening Mr. Spruce took the family shopping for groceries and other things. Mrs. Spruce bought three new pairs of shoes, sneakers for Jason, sneakers for Jenny and a pair of walking shoes for herself. Jenny's father said that he did not need shoes and would not buy any until the shoes he was wearing fell apart.

While the family shopped on Main Street, they went into a yogurt shop. Mama and the children got a small cup filled with delicious yogurt. Daddy bought a large size cup of the cold sweet stuff.

"Hi, Jenny," shouted a boy from the rear of the store. It was Hangar there with his father.

Jenny waved him a big hi and they exchanged smiles as if to assure the other that their secret was still a secret.

As she ate quietly, her mind was collecting the exciting events of the afternoon that she had shared with Hangar and her other two friends. The green caboose was very much in her thoughts.

"Girl, why are you so quiet?" asked her father.

"I'm getting a little tired," she said, which was true. Jenny hoped her Daddy wouldn't get fussy.

"Goodnight, Jesus," said Jenny, kneeling by her bed that night. "It had been a good day."