It was a beautiful Sunday morning when Joe planned to run away. The birds were singing and all was quiet, for there were no other houses near there mansion in the English countryside. He clambered out of his king sized, four poster, waterbed and got on his silk robe and went down for breakfast. His butler Charles met him at the bottom of the stairs. “Good morning sir” he said in his ever calm voice. “Breakfast awaits.” Joe walked into the dining hall, and saw his father at the head of their 50 foot long table.

 “Good morning, son,” his father said. “Good morning, father,” Joe replied. They ate in silence for a while until Joe said, “I need to go to school early today for an extra credit project” “very well” said his father, as usual with no emotion and Joe walked out. He went to his room and packed a satin knapsack with the essentials and one special black and white photo. Then, he walked down the stairs and went out the ivy covered back door. He needed to get to Liverpool so he could get to the giant docks there and hopefully catch a ride on a ship to America. He had never seen America, but he had heard it was a land of possibilities and so, that was where he wanted to go. Ever since the accident, his father had started being more cold and inclosed. He only came out of his study for meals and Friday chess. 

  As Joe clambered onto his bike, he looked at the map he had “borrowed” from his father’s study and looked at it. The nearest train station was 3 miles away and Joe wanted to get there by noon so he started to peddle away. His slow but steady pace was a good plan, and Joe got to the station right before teatime. He bought a ticket from the station master and climbed on to the first class car. As he settled into the plush seats of the compartment and decided to take a little nap. When he woke up, he realised that he had been sleeping for 3 hours! He calmed himself down and took a few breaths. A couple minutes later, the conductor’s voice rang through the halls. “Liverpool station, this is Liverpool station” Joe sat up and ran to the door. He stepped out onto the platform.

 He had not ever been this far away from the mansion since the accident. As he walked out of the huge and magnificent station, he wished he had more eyes, so he could see everything.   There were bustling markets, fancy department stores, and all of the above! As Joe slowly walked to the harbor, someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was a policeman.

  “Are you Joe Lazarus?” The man asked. Joe did not know what to say, since he didn’t think that his father would be on to him so quickly! “Um… I don’t know what you’re talking about” he said, “I should be on my way.” And with a salute to the officer, he ran off. But then, the policeman started to chase him! “Stop right there!” He said, “I need to bring you to the station for further questioning!” But Joe did not look back. With the policeman on his heels, he looked for means of escape. The first thing he saw was a wall with a rope ladder on it. He didn’t see anything else so he started climbing. The rope was slippery and had thorny pieces of straw that cut his hands multiple times. He reached the top and looked over the edge.

What he saw was not another side of a wall but the wooden deck of a ship! He had been so scared, he did not realize he was climbing the hull! The ship was big with a high building in the back with two smokestacks on the top. There also was a lower building in the front. He peeked in and through the windows, he saw beds in neat rows against the wall. He stepped backwards and his feet caught on something! But wait, it was squishy, like someone. “What are you doing, you scumbag!” The squishy thing said in a strong Yorkshire accent. and Joe turned around. The squishy thing was really the leg of a rather obese man with a navy blue suit with numerous medals that glitered in the sunlight. A gold watch dangled from his pocket. Joe had the urge to salute, so he did. The man said, “why aren’t you, instead of patrolling the perimeter, you’re lazing around the barracks?” Joe stood up and saluted again saying, “I… didn’t mean too… sir! Um… the perimeter is secure… sir? The man guffawed, then pinched Joe’s ear so hard, he squealed in pain like a pig. “Don’t you lie to me, officer!” He yelled, “just because I was inside does not mean that you can take a vacation!” “Of course sir, I’ll go inside sir” “you better not do that again or you’re scrubbing the toilets with your toothbrush!” “Yessir,” Joe said, then ran away as fast as he could. 

As Joe ran into the ship, he grabbed a uniform from the coat rack. He went down a hallway and up a ladder. He ended up in the room that he had been looking at before he had the encounter with the capitan. He saw the metal bunk beds and sat on a bottom one that didn’t look like it was touched. He hid his knapsack under the bed and walked out to explore the ship. As he walked down the halls, he looked into the rooms he passed. He suddenly heard a voice shouting, “dinner!” He went to the cafeteria and silently ate his dinner and then went to the barracks to sleep. This became his schedule: explore, eat, sleep. As Joe became more accustomed to life at sea, he began to have some more social interactions with his crewmates. Many days had passed and finally one day, he saw land. Each day, it grew nearer and nearer, and then, one day, “we’ve reached land!”

 As the ship touched the dock, whoops and hollers could be heard from the ship. Joe snuck of the boat while the crew was celebrating, plunging into the dark streets of New York. Joe walked and walked until he came to a wrought iron gate. Letters made of metal spelled out “Central Park” Joe had no other place to go and opened the gate. Suddenly joe was in a forest, with leaves, flowers, and trees. He found a nice spot under a stone bridge and went to sleep thinking about his father. “I’m better off without him,” Joe whispered as he dozed off, “I’m better off without him.”  When joe woke up, he stretched and walked out to find some money. He started to work at a cafe and was earning a reasonable amount of money. He knew that even though he was in America, the adventure was far from over.

THE END