Searching for Shona Read Online Free

going to think.
    Anna Ray. Anna Ray. Marjorie scanned the labels on the children’s coats, searching for the girl who was to be her partner. A small, forlorn child, with short black hair and dark eyes, was standing beside a porter’s trolley. Older children were jostling for a place to sit on the trolley while they waited, but the little girl paid no attention to them. Even before Marjorie could read the label on her coat, she was sure this must be Anna, and when she got close to her, she found she was right.
    “Anna,” she said softly. “I’m going with you instead of Shona. We’re going to be partners.”
    Anna looked at Marjorie with round frightened eyes and then reached out and touched the red coat.
    “I want Shona,” she said.
    “I’m going instead. You can call me Shona.”
    But Anna drew back, her lower lip trembled, and then she began to cry. Marjorie would have turned back to look for Shona right then had not one of the teachers in charge announce that all the children in Miss Watson’s group were to board the train. Marjorie and Anna were engulfed by the noisy, excited crowd of boys and girls.
    They found seats together in an overcrowded compartment. The other children were much too excited to care that Marjorie didn’t belong with them. She quickly slipped off her coat and folded it carefully so that the name pinned to it didn’t show.
    When the train started with a jerk, the children responded with a wild cheer, but even before they were out of the station, it stopped again, and there was a long delay. Marjorie wondered nervously why they were waiting. Was Miss Watson checking to see that she had all the children in her group? Anna was still sobbing. Marjorie could think of nothing comforting to say, and the other children in the compartment paid no attention to her.
    When the train finally started again, everyone was more subdued. Some were already eating the sandwiches and bars of chocolate they had brought along to eat on the journey, and Anna brightened up at the prospect of food. She rubbed away her tears with the back of her hand, leaving her face streaked with dirt. Then she pulled a paper bag from her pocket and took out a squashed jam sandwich.
    Marjorie felt in the pocket of Shona’s coat, wondering if she, too, had some lunch. Anna watched with her round dark eyes and then said, “Shona ate hers already. Before we left.”
    It didn’t really matter, Marjorie told herself. She wasn’t the least bit hungry. She stared out of the window, as towns, villages, fields, and farms passed in a blur. What was going to happen when they found out she wasn’t Shona? She tried to imagine how Shona was feeling, but she had the suspicion that Shona was probably quite unconcerned and might even be enjoying herself. After all, Shona had managed to miss school four days last week without being caught.
    “Where is Shona?” Anna asked in a low voice, pulling at Marjorie’s sleeve to attract her attention.
    “We’ve changed places,” Marjorie said. “So now I’m Shona.”
    The words echoed in Marjorie’s mind. She looked down at the unfamiliar clothes—the unpressed gray skirt, the matted jersey, the faded red coat folded over her lap so that the ripped lining was exposed. Did these make her Shona?
    “Matron said Shona had to stay with me,” Anna said in her small, persistent voice.
    “I’ll stay with you,” promised Marjorie, and Anna gave her a watery smile.
    When it began to get dark outside, a conductor came along snapping down the window blinds, leaving the carriage lit only by the faint glow of dim blue light bulbs. The faces of the other children stood out as pale ovals and everything else merged into darkness.
    Then the train stopped at a small station, and Marjorie heard a porter call out in a singsong voice, “Canonbie! Canonbie! Everybody for Canonbie!”
    Where had she heard that name recently , Marjorie wondered. Before she could place it, Miss Watson came along telling them in