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short line the train workers and yardmen had been among the few
people Zechariah got along with, probably because they were among
the few who had something he needed, which was access to free
transportation. He had introduced his daughter to the people who for
Zechariah were what passed for friends and shown her how to figure
out where the trains were going and other necessary knowledge. He
had even taken her on a few rides including a trip one time through the
town that Andy had said that he lived in, making it clear that he was not
about to have her doing this alone and at the same time thinking to
himself that she might need to know how to do this sometime. But
Zechariah was gone now and the route to Andy s home was simple.
She wondered why she had not thought of this earlier.
It was a clear warm spring day as she climbed into the gondola as it
left the tiny yard outside the town below her mountains. The few times
she had done this with her father she had always enjoyed both the
excitement of going somewhere and the lure of the unknown, and had
on occasion wandered down from her home just to watch the trains
rumble by on the way to their mysterious destination. This time the
destination wasn t mysterious, it was to be with her friends and the
train itself felt a bit like a friend. It wasn t a long one. First came the
caboose, directly behind the engine. Zechariah had told her that on
longer trains the caboose was always at the end of the train but on this
little short line they kept it right next to the engine. There were several
of the ubiquitous dirty red box cars followed by some equally dirty
wood reefers; a branch like this didn t rate new equipment. A couple
of more boxcars followed the gondola she sat in. She read the names
on the cars: Great Northern, Missouri Pacific, Soo Line. Even the
names suggested exciting far away places, places she had read about in
all her books and had begun to think that she would perhaps like to see
for herself someday. She felt new life flowing through her as she
peered over the sides at the world passing by. Soon they were away
from the town and the tracks followed the river, a scant twenty feet or
so from the rails. The smell of cold water and floating ice mixed with
the warm air and she held onto the sides to keep from being knocked
down by the bumping and swaying of the car. After almost an hour she
had enough of her new freedom and movement and sat down to eat
some of the snack she had brought followed by some of the fermented
cider she made at her cabin. It spread a warm glow through her and she
lay on the bottom staring up at the sky. Another hour of exultation and
she was starting to get used to the thrill of it. She propped herself
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against the end of the gondola and tried to read for a while but it was
hard to concentrate. She thought of trying to take a bit of a nap but
didn t want to miss the stop. It should be the fourth one and there had
been three already.
The train pulled over onto a siding for a while and she climbed out,
bringing her stuff for just in case, and walked around. The space next
to the tracks was filled with weeds which bloomed with early spring
wildflowers for as far as she could see down the tracks. She picked
some of them and climbed back into the gondola. She arranged them in
an old can and set them on the floor of the gondola and admired them
till the train started up and the can fell over.
The train had taken longer than she had expected and the thrill was
almost completely gone when it slowed to pull into the town. As she
remembered, the town name was on a water tower as the train neared
the town so she knew at least that it was the right place. As evening
began to fall and the air cooled she climbed out of the gondola, leaving
the flowers there for whoever might see them. She walked quickly and
purposefully away and then as the train began to leave stood and
watched for a minute. She was here. She hoped Andy was here also.
Once she had decided on her plan she hadn t had time to write him to
let him know she was coming and hadn t felt able to wait till she could.
It wasn t that big a town but she didn t know her way around so she
wandered about for a while asking people for directions before she
finally got set on how to get there and then walked for almost an hour
before she started to recognize things from her visit a couple of years
ago, enjoying the feel of using her legs. In actuality she ran for perhaps
half the distance but it was an enjoyable relaxed running. She felt good.
This was Andy's home, it was good to be here. Finally a house looked
familiar and she saw his last name on the mailbox. The house was dark
but she went up to it and knocked on the door as she considered the
idea that names really could be useful at times. It had only been night
for an hour so she imagined that they were not asleep yet; Andy had
told her that city people usually stayed awake long after dark. When no
one answered she settled down on the front porch to wait.
She woke up what must have been several hours later to see a light
upstairs. It looked like where she remembered Andy s room being.
Excitedly she banged on the door and a minute later he appeared
through the window coming down the stair. He wondered who it was-
when Andrea appeared in the night she usually just let herself in and
either quietly went to sleep or noiselessly crept up to his room. He
opened the unlocked door and Mountain Girl threw herself on him. He
brought her upstairs where his room was a covered with drawings and
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architecture books. A cup of coffee sat next to his drafting board where
he had been starting a drawing all over. He sat in a chair with her on his
lap holding her silently for a long time and then they talked for half the
night.
It was Monday when she got to Andy s house. His family was
thrilled with her presence even if Andy was busy all the time with
school. Stu took her to the movies one night and in the evenings she
had long talks with Andy s parents by the fire. It was indoors but even
so she liked the feel of sitting by the flames with other people. It was a
surprise to realize that as far as they were concerned she was now an
equal. They made plans to go see Andrea as soon as Andy was done
with his classes on Friday but before that Mountain Girl wanted to do
something else. Something she had wanted to do every one of the few
times she had been to visit her friends but something Andrea had
always objected to. She wanted to see where Andrea's family lived.
Andy thought it would be okay. Andrea wouldn't mind as long as
she didn't have to participate in the experience with them. Her house
wasn't that far from the train station so they got to the station early,
parked the car and began walking towards the street where Andrea's
house stood. The houses reached towards the sidewalk with their
porches seemingly welcoming them to the neighborhood. A few
people sitting on them waved or called hello to Andy. He stopped to
chat with one of them, a pleasant older woman with a big smile. But
their words were gibberish to Mountain Girl. After a moment Andy
seemed to remember something. "I'm sorry" he said to her. This is my
friend Mrs. Manriquez. She doesn't speak English. I was explaining to
her who you are but my Spanish isn't that good either. The woman
smiled apologetically at Mountain Girl and said hi with a curious sound
to it. Andy spoke with her a bit more while Mountain Girl wondered
what they were talking about. Then he turned to Mountain Girl. "She
wanted to know if we wanted something to eat, but I said no. We'd
better get going or she won't give up till she's fed us dinner, and we'll [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]