Train Trestle

Bobby Cole, a classmate of Frank’s, was killed on the train trestle under suspicious circumstances. Like the other kids in New Bremen, Bobby knew the train tracks well. It was shocking to Frank and others that he died on the tracks. After Bobby was killed, Nathan and Ruth forbade Frank and Jake to play on the tracks or walk across the trestle. But Frank was known to defy his parents and walked on the tracks and sat on the trestle anyway. Over the course of the story, two other deaths occurred near the train trestle. It was Frank, while sitting on the trestle, who spotted the two dead bodies. Uncle Warren compared the train tracks to the river – they both keep moving.

Jake’s Stutter

As long as Frank could remember, Jake had a bad stutter. He had to go to speech therapy sessions...