The Adventure at Swampywillow Lake

THE ADVENTURES AT SWAMPYWILLOW LAKE part 1
Amy Kettle woke up with a start. The train she was riding in had just jolted to a stop. She looked at the seat next to her to see if her eight-year-old brother Bill was awake. He wasn't, but that was no surprise. Bill was known for sleeping through anything. Amy shook him and hissed in his ear, "Bill! Wake up! The train stopped." She waited impatiently while her little brother yawned and stretched. The two eagerly pressed their faces up against the window.
"Wow, I wonder who is going to get off here!" said Bill in amazement. The scene that met their eyes was indeed a strange one. The train station--if anyone could call a wooden platform a train station--was completely deserted. The only building that eleven-year-old Amy and Bill could see was an old house that must have been at least one hundred years old, and looked like it was about to collapse.
"I bet that is an abandoned house that is haunted," said Bill excitedly. Just then the door opened and a very old-looking man slowly began to walk towards the platform. Bill's shoulders slumped and he looked disappointed. Amy rolled her eyes at him and he mumbled "Well, it could still be haunted." A small dirt path led into the distance where some odd, bent-over, knobby trees rustled in the breeze.
"They almost look like they are talking to each other," whispered Amy. A strange feeling came over her when she looked at those trees.
" Huh? What?" asked Bill, leaning over to catch what his sister was saying. Amy was about to tell him when she was interrupted by the angry voice of the conductor.
" Well? Are you going to get off, or do I have to wait a few more hours!?!" The children turned and stared at him in surprise.
" Get off? Us? What do you mean? " the two asked in unison. Can he possibly mean that this is our destination? No! that's impossible! Or is it? These questions flashed through Amy's mind as she stared in disbelief at the conductor. He began to turn quite red in the face, but then, as if he had remembered that the people he was speaking with were only children, he took a deep breath and said as calmly as he could,
"Yes I want you to get off, yes it's you I'm talk'n to, and I mean that this is Swampywillow, and you are supposed to get off at Swampywillow, right?"
"Yes sir, we are supposed to get off at Swampywillow, but there must be some mistake--" began Amy. That's when the conductor lost his temper.
"GET OFF MY TRAIN!!" he bellowed. Without another word the chidren grabbed their bags and ran as fast as they could off the train and onto the platform.The twins stared in dismay at the train as it dissapeared around a bend. Amy was confused. Her parents had said that they would meet her at Swampywillow, so this couldn't be Swampywillow. Her parents weren't there. Then again, the conductor said that this was Swampywillow, and he should know. Amy decided to ask the old man on the platform if he had seen her parents.

"Sir, have you seen a 30 year-old cople around here?" she asked.