Blizzard of the Blue Moon: A Merlin Mission

clothes standing outside a building. A sign said “Free Soup.”

    Jack hoped everyone outside would find better shelter before the monster blizzard hit.
    “Excuse me!” Annie called to the men in the line for free soup. “Do you know where the West Side IRT subway is?”
    “Two blocks!” said a man. “Keep going!”
    “Thanks!” said Annie.
    Jack and Annie kept going. They passed a firehouse, a cheese store, and a newsstand. Everything was closed and shuttered. Peddlers’ carts were stuck in drifts.
    Signs banged in the wind. One said:

    Another said:

    A third said:

    Jack and Annie crossed the street. They saw newsboys huddled under a theater awning. The boys had wrapped their feet and legs in newspapers to keep warm.
    “Excuse me, where’s the subway?” Jack shouted.
    “End of the block and around the corner! Green ball!” said a boy.
    Green ball?
wondered Jack.
What does that mean?
    “Thanks!” said Annie. “You guys should go home! After dark, the storm’s turning into a monster!”
    Jack and Annie trudged on. When they turned the corner, Annie shouted, “Look! A green ball!”
    On top of a post was a large green ball. The post was next to a stairway that led underground. A sign said:
UPTOWN IRT TRAINS, 1,2,3
    “That’s it! Mr. Perkins said we take the number two!” said Annie.
    “Wait, do you see Teddy and Kathleen?” said Jack, peering through the snow. Annie looked with him down the city street.
    “I don’t see them. But I’m sure they’ll findus,” said Annie. She and Jack started down the stairs that led underground. The stairway was filled with people trying to get out of the storm. Jack and Annie walked with the crowd into the subway station.
    A long line waited in front of a turnstile. A sign over the turnstile said:
SUBWAY: 5¢
    “Oops, do you have any money for the subway?” Annie asked Jack.
    “Yeah, I think I left home with at least a dollar in change,” said Jack. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two nickels.
    “Cool,” said Annie. She led the way to the line.
    As they waited, Jack looked around the station. A banjo player played a silly tune, but no one smiled. A man in rags walked around, holding out a hat, begging for money. Jack took another nickel from his pocket and dropped it into the hat.
    “Thank you, thank you. Bless you,” said the beggar.
    “Sure,” said Jack.
    As the beggar walked on, Jack looked at Annie. “Boy, just a little nickel made him so happy,” he said.
    “I know. Everyone seems really poor and desperate here,” said Annie.
    “I wonder why,” said Jack. While the line moved slowly toward the turnstile, he pulled out their research book. He read aloud from the introduction:
    In the 1930s, New York City, as well as the rest of the United States, suffered through hard times known as the Great Depression. Jobs were scarce, and many people had no money or homes.
    “That’s what Mr. Perkins was talking about,” said Jack. “Hard times.”
    “I wish we could help everyone,” said Annie.
    “Me too,” said Jack.
    “But right now our mission is to save a unicorn under a spell,” said Annie.
    Jack frowned. “Our mission sounds like a fairy tale from a make-believe world,” he said. “Not the real world of the Great Depression.”
    “I know,” said Annie. “Hey, it’s almost our turn. What do we do?”
    “Let’s watch the person in front of us,” said Jack.
    Jack and Annie watched an old woman put her nickel in the slot of the turnstile, which led to the train platform. The woman pushed through and joined the crowd of people waiting for the train. Jack and Annie put their nickels into the slot and pushed through, too.
    The platform was bitterly cold. People looked worried, as if they feared the subway train might never come. Jack felt worried, too, but mainly because their mission wasn’t making any sense. They were trying to get to the zoo before the blue moon,
and
before a monster blizzard hit the city. But when they got to the zoo, what then?
    “This is what I don’t understand,” Jack said to Annie. “The poem says the unicorn is on public display. But if that’s true, why haven’t we ever read about New York City once having a unicorn in a zoo? That would be major news.”
    “Yeah, but remember the poem says he’s ‘hidden well,’ and he’s ‘under a spell,’” said Annie. “So maybe the spell makes him look like a regular animal. But when we get to the zoo and say his name, he’ll come out