The Girl Called Anna

 by Sara M.

A girl called Anna is found by Andi and she wants to help her. Anna sharee her story but will she let Andi help her out?

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“Bye! See you tomorrow!” Andi called after her friends, school had just let out and they were heading home. Andi turned to go to Justin’s office and get a ride home when he was finished. As she was walking along she saw a girl laying on the sidewalk. Andi hurried over to her “Hey? Are you okay?”

The girl looked up with fearful eyes, “Me? I. I mean. I am!” she blurted out looking around nervously. 

Andi frowned, there was something strange behind this. “Are you sure?”

The girl shook her head “No. I’m not sure. Oh. I mean, I am sure!” she exclaimed nervously. 

Andi was very suspicious, something was very strange about this! “I don’t think so, it’s okay, I’m Andi. What’s your name?” 

“I’m Fannie. I mean my name is Anna.” the girl said.

Andi nodded, “Won’t you tell me what’s wrong? I won’t hurt you.” she asked when the girl looked around again.

Fannie, or Anna sighed, “I guess I could, you seem nice.” First of all, “I am 10 years old. My real name is Fannie.  I was taken from my home about one month ago. The man made me change my name to Anna. I was supposed to take something in a basket to deliver to a home a few doors down.” she looked down “But someone stole it. I was just resting for a minute and someone came from behind me and took it. I couldn’t catch them so I came here to decide what to do. I’ll get punished if I go back without the money I should get for the basket.” the girl sighed again.

“Come, let’s go to my brother’s office, he will help us.” was all Andi said. Little did she know she was wrong. 

“Okay”.”

Arriving at Justin’s office he saw them and said “Hey Andi, we will be going home a bit later than I thought, I am working on a very important case here.” he motioned to his desk.

“Okay, Justin.”

She went out to the waiting room where Fannie was. Andi told her what Justin said and she was okay with waiting so they sat down together. “Andi?” By the way, I want you to call me Anna in case the man finds us, I don’t want him knowing you know my story.” Fannie said

“Okay, Anna. I will.”

“Thanks.” Anna also told Andi where she currently lived. 

Anna was very tired and soon fell asleep. Andi almost fell asleep too but she jerked awake at someone yelling outside. “Find the girl! I don’t care if you have to search everywhere! Start looking. I’m going to talk with the lawyer.” she heard someone say. 

She froze, was it possible the ‘girl’ was Anna? Andi woke up Anna, “Anna, hurry. Someone might be looking for you. Come!” she said in a loud whisper. She took Anna outside through the window and hid her and said “Stay here, I will be back. Okay?” Andi asked, Anna nodded so Andi closed the window and sat back down. A man came hurrying in. “Where is the lawyer?” he demanded. 

Tim stood,  “He will be out in a few minutes. Please have a seat.” 

The man grunted and sat. Justin walked out “Andi? I’m ready to-” he broke off when he saw the man.  “How may I help you?” he asked.

“A girl of mine ran off this morning, I need you to find her, at any cost.  She is called Anna. Blonde hair and brown eyes.  She is wearing a brown dress.” the man stated.

“Okay… is she your daughter?” Justin asked

“No. She is my serve---.” the man didn’t finish speaking. 

It didn’t matter, Andi knew what he was going to say. Anna was his servant. Andi stood and went out, she had heard enough and it sounded like Justin was going to help her find the girl. Andi went to Anna’ hiding place. She quickly told her what had been said “Anna, you need to hide in our buggy if you want to get away from him.” Andi waited for an answer. 

Anna nodded “I will, I’ll do almost anything to get away.” 

After Andi had Anna ducked and hid in the buggy she went to see if Justin was coming. He was back in his office. “Oh, hey Andi. I’m about ready to go. The man who had just come in here has a missing girl and I offered to help find her. Have you seen her before?” he gave the details of what Anna looked like.

“No, I’ve never seen her before.” which was true, Andi had never seen the girl before today. 

“You sure?”  asked Justin, studying her. Andi nodded. But she was thinking. He thinks I know something. He always does. Oh no.  

“Andi? Did you hear me?” Justin asked, coming over to her.

“Oh, what?” 

“I asked if you were ready to go. You  okay?” Justin said

“I’m fine.” Andi quickly answered. 

Justin just nodded. 

They went home, when they arrived Justin got out to unhitch the horses. Andi stood by and watched. She needed Justin to go inside so she could get Anna out. “Aren’t you coming?” Justin asked after unhitching the horses. 

“I  want to say hi to Taffy first then I will.” 

“Okay.” 

Andi watched Justin making sure he went inside, he did so Andi went and got Anna out. “Anna, can you hide in the hayloft?”

Anna nodded. “I can.”

“Good. Here are some of my old clothes you can change into.”  And handed her the clothes. “I need to get inside for supper. I will do my best to get something for you to eat, Anna.”

“Okay, thanks Andi,” Anna said softly. 

Andi went inside, she sat down and started to eat, but froze hearing the conversion. Justin was telling them about Anna! 

“Are you okay sis?” asked Mitch, noticing her not eating.

“Oh. Yeah. I am.” Andi quickly started eating again. She was able to save some of her meal for Anna.  

After supper, she carried the food out to Anna, “Anna? It’s me, Andi.” Anna came out from behind some hay. 

“Thanks, Andi, I wasn’t sure who was-” she broke off hearing someone come in below.

“Andi? Andi!” it was Mitch, calling for her. Andi motioned for Anna to hide and Andi went down the hayloft stairs to where Mitch was. “Hi Andi is everything okay? You seemed awfully quiet at supper,” he asked, concerned. 

Andi hesitated, should she tell Mitch? She decided not to for now, maybe later. “I’m okay.” she said 

“Okay….” Mitch said. “I’ll be inside if you need anything.” 

Andi nodded and watched Mitch as he left. She went back up in the hayloft. “Anna?” she called out. Anna came out and started eating the food Andi brought, “Sorry about that, Anna. I had no idea he would come into the barn right after supper.” apologized Andi.

“Oh, Andi. It’s okay. Thank you for the food by the way.” Anna said

“You’re welcome, Anna.” Andi replied. “I don’t know what we are going to do. I thought Justin would help us. He wants to find you and return you to the man.” Andi added.

“Justin would help you if you asked.” said a new voice, Anna and Andi spun around and gasped, luckily it was Mitch and not Justin or Chad. “Andi, I couldn’t help but worry why you weren’t yourself at supper. I came out earlier to see what was up but I saw you wouldn’t tell me anything so I thought I would come back and see what was up.”

Andi threw herself at Mitch, “Mitch! You can’t tell anyone about Anna! You can’t! Please!” she cried.

“Andi, let’s not decide this yet.” Mitch turned to Anna who was bewildered, “Are you Anna?” when she nodded Mitch continued “Anna, I won’t hurt you. I heard about you from Justin at supper, he won’t hurt you either. I won’t tell you if you really don’t want me to.” Mitch addressed Andi and Anna. 

“Thank you, sir,” said Anna 

“You can call me Mitch, I’m another one of Andi’s brothers,” said Mitch smiling warmly. Anna nodded. 

“What shall we do?” the question came from Andi. She told the whole story, except for Anna’s real name, and Anna helped fill in the details. “So you see why we can’t tell Justin or anyone,” Andi said when they finished. Anna agreed. 

Mitch was silent for a few minutes. “Well, girls, I guess I could try to get Justin to not look for the girl and drop the case, if I can, will you tell him?” Mitch said, looking at them.

Andi looked at Anna who looked at her together they nodded. “We will tell Justin if you get him to stop looking.” 

“Okay, great. For now, I won’t tell anyone. I’ll see you.” said Mitch leaving.

The girls were silent. They would wait and see.

As Mitch walked out of the barn he shook his head in disbelief. His sister could sure do a lot! He thought about what he was going to say as he went to find Justin. He spotted Chad “Hey Chad, have you seen Justin?”

“He’s getting ready to go to town, something about the missing girl.” answered his brother.

“Okay, thanks.”

Mitch saw Justin getting ready to go and went and asked him “Can’t you drop the case about the missing girl?” he asked boldly. 

Justin was startled “What?”

Mitch repeated what he had said. 

“Why?” asked Justin, very puzzled. 

“No particular reason,” said Mitch.

Justin stood in front of Mitch, “Mitch, the truth. Why do you want me to drop the case of the missing girl? I just got news about her, someone saw she was talking with Andi so I was going to ask her on the way to school.”

“I can’t say. But if you do I would be grateful,” said Mitch

“Huh?” Justin was really and truly puzzled now. 

Mitch didn’t answer. He just headed for the barn.

“Wait up Mitch.” Justin had done some quick thinking “If I promise to drop the case will you tell me why you wanted me too so?”

“Yeah.” was all Mitch said

“Okay, I promise I will drop the case as soon as I get to town. Now tell me why,” he said, staring at his brother. 

“I’ll be right back.” Mitch went to the barn and told Andi and Anna to come down from the hayloft. “I got Justin to drop the case, sure glad I was able to. Someone saw you talking together yesterday and Justin was going to quiz you. He promised to, so I’m sure you will be fine.”

“Okay, thanks, Mitch,” Andi said, Anna just nodded.

“Come, let’s go.” they walked out to Justin. 

Hey Andi, who is your friend here?” Justin asked, “And Mitch, what’s this have to do with me dropping the case of the missing girl?”

Andi spoke up “Justin, this is Anna.” 

“The missing girl?” Justin asked disbelievingly 

“I am. I wasn’t ever missing.” Anna launched into the whole story, still leaving out the part of her real name. 

“You were coming to tell me when the man came in?” Justin asked, still in shock “Mitch, this is why you wanted me to drop the case.” 

“Yep, sure is,” answered Mitch

“And yes, we were. Andi hid me in your buggy so that’s how I got here,” added Anna. 

“Wow.” Justin said, “I can’t believe it.” 

“Justin, will Anna have to go back to the man?”

“By law if a person mistreats a child, no, unless she wants to.”

“I don’t,” Anna said boldly

“I figured so. I will take away the man’s rights and then we will tell him about how we know you.” Justin said, “Is that okay?”

Andi, Anna and Mitch agreed. Anna was done with the man and just wanted to get away from him. “I will do so today then. I will need you two to come with me so you can say your piece.” Justin said, “Yes, Andi, you can skip school today.” he chuckled seeing her surprised look. 

“Thanks Justin.”

They went to town and Justin had Andi and Anna hid in the back closet so they could hear what the man said. Soon enough he came barging in “Hey Mr Carter, got some more news about the missing girl. She was last seen with the girl who was in here yesterday.” he motioned to the waiting room.

“Oh, and by the way, things are getting out of hand here” Justin gestured to his desk “So unfortunately I will have to drop the case.”

“What! You can’t. I heard you were the best lawyer in town so you have to.” the man said

“Sorry, I’m going to have to. I will see you later, thanks for stopping by.” Justin turned and started cleaning up his office. 

“What, why. Fine.” the man stammered and barged out the door, slamming it behind him. 

Justin stood and walked over to the girls in the closet. “Hey, you can come out now, but, if you heard anyone besides me get back in there and hide. Okay?” Justin asked as the girls stood up.

“Okay, we will, right Anna?” Andi said and Anna nodded.

Justin noticed something was still wrong “Are you sure you are okay with this? Do you want to stay with us or go with the man?”

Anna sighed, “Stay with you, but I would like to find my parents someday if this works.”

“Oh Anna, don’t worry about that, of course, we will!” Justin said comfortably. 

Anna nodded “Thanks.” 

Justin was busy all afternoon, but, by the evening Justin had gotten the rights away and signed to him. When he found Anna’s parents he would sign them over to them. “Ready to go girls? There is no need to hide anymore. While you and Andi were laying here I went and took the papers to the court and judge and told him about you and he signed the papers so it’s legal. I did tell Tim so he could keep an eye out for the man in case he comes back. I have the rights over you but I will sign them over to your parents when we find them okay, Anna?”

“Yes! Thank you! My, I am ever so glad I trusted you Andi.” Anna said softly, smiling at Andi.

“I am too, that man shouldn’t have been able to get you anyway. I’m mighty glad you’re safe Anna,” said Andi smiling at her friend. 

“Me too Anna” added Justin.

“One other thing, my name is not Anna. It’s Fannie. The man made me change it.” Anna said boldly

“Oh, really? Wait a minute and I’m going to change the papers to say your real name, Anna, I mean, Fannie.” Justin quickly bent over his desk and changed it around and they were all set to go! 

Andi, Anna and Justin walked out together, having no fear of the man. He couldn’t get Fannie now! They saw the man standing and talking with some other people. No doubt trying to get them to help find Anna. He looked up and spotted Anna walking between Andi and Justin and he ran over.

“Hey, you found my girl! Thank you!” he started to grab her when Justin spoke up “What did you say the name of the girl was?”

The man was flustered “Anna.” he stated and grabbed her again, Anna pulled back.

“This girl is not yours, her name is Fannie.” 

The man paled “Anna, girl, tell them the truth! Your name is Anna!” he demanded of her,

Anna stated calmly “My name is Fannie, you made me change it. I am done with you.” she nodded to Justin and he showed them the rights, the man was angry,

“Why? I was nice to you!” he shouted at Anna.

“Not from what she told us.” stated Justin “Come on girls.” they went and got in the buggy and headed for Circle C. The man watched them go, knowing he lost the fight to get Anna back.

Justin was still very surprised at what his sister had done, not that it was bad but he was very surprised! He asked Fannie a few questions so they could find her parents. “Fannie? What is your full name and where are you from?” he asked

“My full name is Fannie Mary Ann Gray. I’m from Lander, Wyoming.” she answered

Justin gasped “You’re parents aren’t Richard and Margaret Gray, are they?” he asked excitingly

“Yes, that’s them.”

“I know them!” Justin exclaimed, “I was out in Lander Wyoming once and I met them, very nice folks they told me they had a daughter named Fannie.”

“You met my parents before? Does that mean you can find them?” Fannie asked, she was getting excited. 

“Oh, yes we can. I just need to send them a telegram and they can come out to Circle C, that’s our ranch.” Justin added

“Okay, thanks,” answered Fannie happily. 

Upon arriving at Circle C they had supper together and told the rest of the family what was going on. Justin sent a wire to the Grays in Wyoming. A bit later one came back it said “We will be coming in tomorrow’s early train, so excited to see our daughter again. See you soon. -R & M Gray.” 

Fannie jumped around in excitement, she was going to her family who she thought she would never see again! 

The next morning, bright and early Justin, Andi, and of course Fannie went to town, the train was supposed to arrive very soon, and they wanted to be there when it came in. They saw the train come in and stop, Fannie leaned forward excitedly, she suddenly yelled, she saw them! “Mother! Father!’ she yelled out and ran toward them, Andi and Justin watched them, “I’m glad they are back together.” Andi said softly,

“Me too Andi, me too,” Justin replied

The Grays soon walked toward them “I can’t ever thank you enough for bringing our daughter home, she was taken a while ago and we almost lost hope of finding her.” said Mr Gray

“It was mostly Andi.” said Justin smiling, Fannie and Andi told the story yet again of what happened. Fannie’s parents couldn’t believe all that had happened to their girl! Justin added when they were done telling the story “I have the rights here for Fannie. I was able to take them from the man and signed them over to me but, there is a space here for you to sign your names and you will have the rights.”

“I guess that’s why Fannie’s papers were missing, I thought I just misplaced them but that man stole them,” said Mr Gray thinking back

“Oh, thank you so much,” said Mrs Gray, her husband agreed and they signed the papers and took them. “Thank you again,” Mr Gray said smiling

“You’re welcome, I’m glad we could return your daughter to you,” said Justin

“Fannie, I shall see you, if I am ever in Wyoming I will make sure I stop to visit you,” said Andi hugging her new friend bye. 

“Same here Andi, I shall come to visit you if I am near California,” said Fannie 

“Great, bye Fannie!” Andi called as they got on the train. 

“Bye Andi!’ Fannie called back and they left.

Justin and Andi turned home, “I’m glad Fannie’s back where she belongs.” Andi said

“I am too Andi, and Andi? I wouldn’t give the girl back to the man if I saw how he treated her. Don’t ever be afraid to ask me something, I will always help you, even if it means dropping a very important case. My family is much more important than any case. You do know that right?”

“Yeah, I do, thanks Justin,” said Andi, leaning her head against him as they headed home, to Circle C Ranch.