Trestle Rat The Story of Al
For Alan Ferguson, family has always been a mystery—one he’s willing to risk everything to uncover. An orphan at the Chiricahua Children's Home, his only dream is to find his roots. At just ten years old, he runs away, searching for the missing pieces of his past. But fate leads him somewhere unexpected—to a quiet fishing pond, where he meets Robert Barlow.
The instant bond between the two boys is unbreakable. So much so that Alan abandons comfort and security to stay close to Rob, living under a railroad trestle for an entire summer. What starts as friendship deepens into a connection stronger than either could understand. Decades later, the truth of their past comes to light—they are bound by more than loyalty.
Family Is Everything
Trestle Rat - The Story of...
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FRIENDSHIP FOR LIFE
Rob caught a fish bigger than the one Ol’ Smokey stole from Alan. “This is a nice one,” he said grinning. “Why ‘on’t you come have dinn’r with us? Ma Ethel’ll fry him up real nice.”
“Naw, I don’t wanna be no both’r.” Alan said sadly.
“If you w’re a both’r, I wouldn’t have asked ya,” Rob explained.
“Thanks, but I gotta go.” Alan picked up his make-shift pole and started slowly walking away. A strange feeling came over him as he walked. He didn’t understand it. But. He didn’t want to leave.
Rob, experiencing his own unexplainable feelings, yelled to him, “Nowhere can’t be that far from h’re. I could walk ya halfway aft’r we eat.”
FORBIDDEN FIRST LOVE
“I’ve made new friends,” Michelle said.
“Why haven’t we met these new friends of yors? Is something wrong with ‘em? Like maybe they live under a railroad track?” She had never seen her dad so angry. “You deliberately lied to us. Are those the kind of friends you want, the kind that make you lie to yor parents?”
“Dad, I didn’t lie to you. I nev’r said who I was hangin’ out with,” Michelle explained.
“No, you didn’t,” her dad said. “That’s exactly my point. What hap’ened ta you and Junior? Don’t tell me you let that trussell rat run ‘im off?”
“Do you know how embarrassed I was to find out my daught’r has been hangin’ out with dirt? Da whole town knew except me!” She knew her dad would disapprove of her seeing Alan. But she didn’t know he would be down-right hateful towards him.
“Dirt! Al's not dirt or a trussell rat! ”
FOUND FAMILY
At first Alan was clueless as to what they meant. But after thinking about it, he blurted out, “No! No. Mic is fine. I just know that I love ‘er and I wanna spend the rest of my life with ‘er. I’ve known that since before we actually met.” He declared definitely.
The Marshalls were glad to hear it. They shared with him anyway their story of the mistake they made and how it cost them the ability to have children of their own. “That’s why when you happened along, we thought our prayers had been answered and you would become our son,” Mr. Marshall said.
Alan more than understood now. You don’t have to be blood related to be family. “I am yor son if you’ll still have me,” he said.