Pausing to take one final look at the house, Judith silently told herself she was never going to see it again, then she turned and began running through the woods toward the road where the bus ran.

As she approached it, she realized again that she didn't have money for the fare. Leaning against a big maple tree, she tried to get her mind into order while her breathing gradually returned to normal.

Perhaps she could talk the bus driver into taking her to town, Judith reasoned, but what then? There was nothing for her to do there and before long, her mother or father would come looking for her and take her home. Beyond that, she didn't want to think. There had to be something else.

And then she recalled what Uncle Pete had said about how she should run away and lose herself in some big city. She thought, too, of how he had been looking right at her when he said it, as though talking to her rather than to her mother. At first, she didn't dare believe what she was thinking, but the thought kept burning in her mind until she was sure that Pete had indeed been giving her a message. If that was the case, her reasoning went on, then perhaps he would help her. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she became sure that was the case.

But it was too late? He had been getting ready to leave when she ran from the house. Had he already left? Should she have been waiting for him along the road? Excitement quickly turned to dread at the thought that he had given her a chance to escape and she had blown it.

Turning to her left, she looked down the dirt road which ran by her house. It was empty as far as she could see. She tried to will his car to appear, but knew that wouldn't work. Convinced, then, that he had already left and had taken her one chance for escape with him, she felt tears coming into her eyes.