"My sister isn’t feeling well, so Mom and Dad are staying on the train. My oldest brother, Matt, already left the train. I don’t know where Ron and Jeff are, but I’m sure they’re still looking for me. I stayed hidden all night," Larry said.

"How’d you do that?" asked Joe. Larry explained how he convinced his parents that he was going to sleep with his brother Matt, so they weren’t looking for him all night. Frank asked Larry if maybe he could tell Matt what was going on with Ron and Jeff.

"If I thought he’d help, I’d go straight to him," replied Larry, "but Matt’s no better than Jeff or Ron. See, none of my brothers like me. My dad was married before, but his first wife died. She was the mother of my older brothers and my sister. Then Dad got married again. I came along two years later. My big brothers are jealous of me." Larry explained that, when his dad was married to his first wife, they had four children close together. Their mom was very sick most of the time. Dad had started a new business. There wasn’t much money for extra things. So, all the older boys had to get paper routes and make their own money for anything they wanted. Even their sister Leah made money baby-sitting. Now, their dad’s business was going great. Because of this, Larry had lots of neat stuff. He had his own computer, racing bike, roller blades, and a gigantic box of Legos.

"It’s sure easy to see why your brothers would be jealous," said Frank, "That’s a lot of cool stuff you have!"

"Well," said Larry, "that’s not the real reason they’re jealous. My brothers are really bad. They lie, they cheat and they steal. I’ve told my dad about them lots of times. He gets real upset. Sometimes he cries. Then he says, ‘I’m counting on you, Larry. Do right! Do right!’ I’ve promised my dad that I’ll always try to do what’s right. That’s why…" Larry stopped. His eyes filled with tears as he tried to finish. "That’s why this is so hard," he went on, "Ron and Jeff told Dad that I stole the watch. I didn’t think he would believe them. But he must have. When I stopped by their bunk last night, both Mom and Dad looked like they had been crying. Dad said, ‘Larry, how could you?’ Then he started crying again. What am I gonna do?"

Later that night, Frank couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned for a long time. Finally, he sighed and gave up trying to sleep. He sat up in his bunk thinking about his friend, Larry. He needed help. Frank knew what he had to do. He quietly tapped Joe on the shoulder.

"Joe," Frank whispered, "I think we need to help Larry. It’s not fair that he’s getting blamed for something he didn’t do."

"What can we do? I don’t think we stand much of a chance against Ron and Jeff," Joe said.

Suddenly, Frank smiled.

"You thought of something, didn’t you?" Joe asked. His blue eyes sparkled with excitement.

"I know how to help Larry," Frank said, grinning, "I’ve got a plan!"