geri_chan | Boxcar Children

The Boxcar Children book series by Gertrude Chandler Warner was one of my favorites when I was a kid--not surprising, since it hits my Narrative Kink of "orphans and/or outcast children who have to make their own way in the world." The premise of the first book is that the four Alden children (Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny) run away after their parents die in order to avoid being separated into different foster homes/orphanages. They know they have a grandfather who would be their sole surviving legal guardian, but have never met him and have grown up believing that he is cruel. (It has been years since I last read the book, so my memories are rather fuzzy, but I have the impression that he opposed their parents' marriage.)

So they run off on their own and set up house in an abandoned boxcar in the woods. The oldest sibling, Henry, works odd jobs to earn money for food, and for awhile they live happily together--my favorite part of the book, almost every kid's childhood fantasy of living on one's own without any adults to tell you what to do. But of course it's a fantasy that can't last, and they need adult help when Violet gets sick. They're taken in by Henry's employer, and eventually they meet and are reconciled with their grandfather, who as it turns out, is not cruel at all, but very kind and loving (and also wealthy).

The Boxcar Children was one of this year's nominated fandoms for Yuletide, and I was really tempted to pick it for one of my requests, although it ended up losing out to Haru, Dolls, In Death, and MacGyver. But I would really have loved to read a story that explored the reasons behind Grandfather's estrangement from the kids' parents, because it was never fully explained in the books. Even as a kid, I was bit puzzled by the discrepancy: the kids go from "our grandfather is a cruel man!" to "Yay, Grandfather is actually nice! Let's all live together!" They never ask him why their parents told them that he was mean, or why he didn't get along with their parents. Since they have the same last name, I assume he's their paternal grandfather, so maybe he didn't approve of their mom. Maybe she came from a different social class and Grandfather was more snobbish back then. Or maybe father and son fought because the son didn't want to take over the family business. I was probably expecting too much from what is a pretty simplistic children's story, but I would have liked to see Grandfather explain, "I fought with your parents over X, but I really regretted it later. I've been wanting to make up with them for all these years, but didn't know how to find them." It would be awesome to see a story about how maybe Grandfather was stubborn and overly stern as a younger man, but how regret and loneliness changed him into someone more compassionate.

So I'm really hoping to see some Boxcar fic this Yuletide, even if it isn't for me! I think most of the prompts are asking for stories focusing on the children, but maybe someone will write a nice fic featuring Grandfather, too. Or perhaps I shall just have to write it myself one day!