Trading Mystery
Elementary: Grades 3–4
Story
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Trading Mystery
When nine-year-old Joseph and thirteen-year-old Lily arrived in Nebraska after their first long trip by train in 1898, they were in for a surprise. Someone else was coming back to Chicago with them when they returned home—a stranger. He was part of their family, but Joseph and Lily had never met him. Everyone called him Uncle Boots, and he seemed almost a hundred years old. He was moving into their house! Joseph and Lily did not like the idea.
"He's not even nice," Lily sulked to Joseph while her parents helped to pack Uncle Boots's belongings. He was the grumpiest man they had ever met. "I bet we'll have to work harder at home to take care of him," she complained.
"It's not fair," Joseph pouted. The news almost took away his excitement about riding the train—almost. The ride home was still a thrill, even though they had to be quiet so they wouldn't disturb Uncle Boots. "Why is he coming to live with us?" Lily asked their mother.
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"He lived in Chicago for a long time, and he wants to spend what time he has left in the place he considers his home. He lived in Chicago before it was a city," Mother explained.
"I don't understand who he is," Joseph whispered, glancing at Uncle Boots, who snored loudly by the window.
"He's my uncle, and one of Chicago's first citizens. When I was little I loved to hear his stories. Some of our furniture actually belongs to Uncle Boots," Mother said. "That dusty old safe in the back room is his."
"The one we can't open because we don't have the key?" Joseph asked. Their mother nodded. Uncle Boots snorted loudly and stirred as if he might wake up. Mother shushed the children, and they thought silently about the new addition to their family for the rest of the ride.
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