Fortune's Magic Farm by Suzanne Selfors (rainbow fish read aloud .txt) 📕

find the path that led up to the ridge and tunnel, but Rolo flew from the barn and circled her head. “Caw, caw.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Sage hurried from the barn, bits of straw hanging from his hair. “Were you trying to leave without me?” He grabbed Isabelle’s arm.

“I’m not going back to Runny Cove,” she said, yanking away from his grip. “Never. Do you hear me. Never!”

“Shhh. You’ll wake Nesbitt. Let’s talk inside.”

“No.”

“If you don’t come inside and talk to me, then I’ll wake Nesbitt anyway,” he threatened.

She didn’t want to talk, but she didn’t want to wake her grandfather either. She followed Sage to the barn. As he lit a candle, some of the animals awoke. The oxen snorted a greeting. The goats raised their bearded faces.

Isabelle stood in the doorway. If she went inside, he might trap her. “No one can make me go back.”

Sage rubbed sleep from his eyes. “You won’t survive out there. Not without me.”

“You’re wrong,” she said, scowling. “You think I’m just a stupid factory girl.”

Sage folded his arms and shook his head. “I don’t think you’re stupid, Isabelle. It’s just that you don’t have the survival skills. I know. I ran away when I was seven. If it hadn’t been for Nesbitt, I’d be dead.”

The chickens clucked softly, repositioning themselves on their roost. Isabelle took a cautious step inside. “What happened?”

Sage pushed aside a blanket and sat on a pile of straw. Dim candlelight flickered, throwing shadows across his dark face. “I grew up in a port town, way down south,” he said. “My parents indentured me to a seaweed soup factory when I was six years old. Do you know what that means, to be indentured?” Isabelle shook her head. “It means that they sold me to the factory’s owner. I don’t know how much money my parents got for me but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I knew, even at age six, that I wasn’t about to work in that factory for the rest of my life, standing at that conveyor belt every day, pressing labels onto soup tins. So, when I turned seven, I ran away.”

Isabelle was too stunned to speak. Sage had been a labeler?

“I figured that the best way to get out of a port town was by boat, so I stole aboard the biggest ship I could find, a Magnificently Supreme Shipping Company ship.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I stole food every night from the kitchen and slept down below where they kept the ropes. After thirteen days at sea I overheard some of the crew saying that we’d reach the next port by morning. I knew they’d need the ropes to dock the ship and I didn’t want to get caught. I waited for nightfall, then crept up on deck. I could see land and it didn’t seem very far away, so I climbed over the railing and jumped into the water.”

Sage picked a piece of straw from his hair and rolled it between his long brown fingers. His eyes took on a faraway look. “I made two mistakes that night. I miscalculated the distance and I didn’t realize that the water would be so cold. My arms and legs started to feel like stone and the land didn’t get any closer. I went under. The next thing I knew I was lying across the back of an elephant seal with a man who introduced himself as Mr. Nesbitt Fortune.”

“He saved your life,” Isabelle whispered.

“Yep. And he gave me a home. And I’ve worked hard ever since because I love this place. But you can’t imagine how bad it’s been with Supreme searching all the time. We can barely leave the farm anymore.” Sage flicked the piece of straw.

“I’m sorry about the farm,” Isabelle said, pulling the marmot away from a chicken’s nest. “I really am. But I’m not going back to Runny Cove. You of all people should understand why.”

“Runny Cove is a rotten place; I know that. But at least you have a home there. You have people to watch over you. That’s something.”

“But I don’t have a home. Grandma Maxine is dead and the room on the fourth floor is destroyed,” she said. “And Mr. Supreme will make me work until my fingers fall off. I won’t go back and that’s final.” With Rocky tucked under her arm, she started walking toward the barn door.

“There’s still something I haven’t told you,” Sage said.

“It won’t change my mind.”

“I think it will.”

Isabelle hesitated. She didn’t want to know anything more. She didn’t want to feel any sadder or any more frightened. But curiosity pushed the word “What?” out of her mouth.

“Your grandmother is not dead.”

For the first time in her life Isabelle wanted to hurt another human being—not just dump porridge on his head, or kick him in the shins, or say something mean, but to physically cause pain. Anger shot through her body. She clenched her jaw and fists. How dare Sage say that her grandmother was still alive? Of course he was lying again, trying to trick her so she’d go back to Runny Cove. Then he could tell Nesbitt that he had taken her back, just like Nesbitt wanted. How could he be so cruel?

She was done with him. Done with them all. Enough with the lies and sad stories and fake friendships. She broke into a run.

“Don’t run off. Just listen to what I have to say,” Sage pleaded.

Isabelle ran across the yard and toward the field that sparkled in the silver moonlight. Though she pumped her legs with all her might, Sage’s legs were longer and faster and he didn’t have an overfed marmot in his arms. He ran ahead, then turned, blocking her way.

“That day, when you were at the factory, I went to see your grandmother.”

“I’m not listening,” Isabelle said, weaving around him.

Sage followed, blocking her again. He spoke so quickly she could barely understand. “I knew that if I could