The Time Train

The Time Train

By Jim Robison

Kalvin Carlyle “KC” Jones, like all the others in the passenger car, looked out the window of the fast-moving locomotive, but the view didn’t interest him. All he could think about was Julie.

He thought about how they had met. He was a junior account executive at an advertising agency working on a proposal for Amtrak. His idea was to promote the vistas available only by rail travel, and Julie was a freelance photographer with an impressive portfolio of landscape art. He would include some of her work in the proposal and, if they got the contract, she would ride the rails and create original art for the Amtrak campaign.

But he didn’t get the Amtrak contract; it went to another agency pushing on-time rail service.  KC thought nothing could be more boring than train schedules. What he did get for his efforts, however, was a wife. Fittingly, he and Julie  honeymooned on a train tour of national parks.

For their first Christmas together, Julie gave him a model railroad set, which he set up in the spare bedroom, promising he would find a new home for it when the room was needed for a child.

As the train passed a beautiful vineyard and winery, KC thought how Julie would have loved to spend a day photographing it. A billboard displaying a bottle of wine reminded him of the day he suggested wine with dinner, and Julie said she would not be drinking any wine for a while; she was pregnant.

A couple of weeks later, Julie said they should name the child Casey. “KC?  That’s my name” he replied. But she corrected him, she meant C-a-s-e-y, as in Casey Junior, or Casey Jones, and Casey is okay for a boy or a girl.

The train passed a paint store and that reminded KC of the great paint debate; should they repaint the spare bedroom pink or blue? They eventually decided to wait for the ultrasound which was still a few months away.

There never was an ultrasound. One evening he came home to find Julie sitting alone in a dark living room. She had had a miscarriage. There would be no Casey Junior. He would never repaint the spare bedroom. He sat next to her in the dark and held her hand, neither knowing what to say. Maybe there is nothing to say at such a moment. Maybe just holding hands is all you can do, and all that is needed.

The train was passing through a housing development and that reminded KC of better times. He had received a promotion to account manager at the agency.  His boss had even told him he was on the fast track to a partnership. His increased salary would enable them to save for “a house in the suburbs”. 

And a little later, the train passed a farmhouse, reminding him of an even happier time. Julie had signed a contract for a calendar; eighteen new landscape shots, with a guarantee of annual renewals if sales met expectations. The additional money would allow them to consider a small farmhouse with a couple acres, rather than a cookie-cutter track house. They were riding the gravy train.

Then the train passed a hospital, and KC quickly turned away. He could not bear to look out the window any longer. But that didn’t stop the memories. That’s the problem with memories, you can’t look away from them.

He came home one day to find Julie packing her overnight bag.  Her agent had phoned and needed her to meet with the calendar publisher at an early morning meeting tomorrow.  That meant she needed to catch the 6:50 train that evening to arrive, grab a room for the night, to be on time for the meeting. KC was angry that the agent had not given her more of a warning. She fired back “It’s not my choice, I have to go, I have a train to catch” and she was gone. He didn’t even kiss her goodbye.

A couple hours later, he got the call from the police. There had been an accident outside the train station. They would meet him at the hospital. There, an officer explained that Julie had been hit by a car while running across the street, presumably to catch a train. She was dead. Would he please identify the body?

Then came the funeral; their friends and co-workers with their “thoughts and prayers”.  None of it mattered. Nothing in life mattered any more without Julie.  KC got up and started walking up the aisle.  He had nowhere to go, but he needed to get away from where he was.

As he walked through one car after another, he noticed there was no first-class or luxury cars, all the cars were the same. Each contained an assortment of people, rich and poor, male and female, gay and straight, all races and ethnicities, all sitting side by side, and all starring out their windows. On this train, everyone was equal.

What were they looking at, he wondered? All he could see was what they were passing. What was ahead? He tried to see, he but couldn’t. What had they passed, he couldn’t see that either. All he could see was what the train was passing at that moment. For that matter, where was the train going and when did he get on it? He had no idea. It was like he had been riding this train his whole life, with no idea why.

He kept walking through the near-endless passenger cars until he eventually arrived at a door with a sign saying, “Authorizer Personnel Only”.  He didn’t see any guards on duty, and the door was unlocked, so he opened it and stepped in.

KC found himself in the cab of a locomotive. It was filled with controls, gauges, and other mechanical stuff. At the far end, and with his back to KC, sat a heavyset gentleman wearing blue and white striped overalls and a matching cap. KC approached him and said “Excuse me sir…”

The engineer jumped with surprise. “What are you doing in here? Passengers are not allowed in the cab”.

KC saw that the engineer was wearing a “Thomas” name badge, so, putting on his marketing hat, he said “I’m sorry I startled you, Thomas. I was just wondering where we are going, and when we will get there”.

Thomas replied, “We are going to the future, and we will never get there because it wouldn’t be the future if it was the present, would it?” He chuckled to himself at the logic of his joke.

“So”, KC said, hazarding a guess, “we are traveling through time, not through space. What we see out our windows is the present. The future is ahead of us, and the past is behind us. Is that correct?”

“Of course it is. That’s the way it always has been, and always will be. Now you need to get back to your car. Passengers are not allowed in the cab of the time train”.

“No. I want to get off this train. You want you to stop, back up, and let me off”.

“I can’t do that. It’s against the rules. Nobody has ever asked me to do such a thing”.

“I’ll pay you to let me off, and no one will ever know”.

“Your money’s no good here” replied Thomas, then paused, and added “What else you got”?

KC discovered the only thing in his pocket was a train ticket. “Here”, he said, “You can have my ticket, just please let me off”.

“I can’t take that, it’s priceless, it’s your ticket to the future. Without it, you cannot get to the future”.

“But Thomas, you will have a future. Think about it, a future beyond driving this train forever”!

Thomas did give that some thought, then conceded “If I let you off, there is no return. You will be stuck in the present forever. Are you sure you want to do this”?

“Yes” KC replied, “just stop, back up a little, let me off, and be on your way. No one will ever know”.

“Okay, you got a deal.  Give me the ticket. How far back do you want to go”?

The time train backed up until he told Thomas to stop. KC jumped off the time train, and waved goodbye to Thomas, to the time train, and to the future.

KC opened the door to his apartment to find Julie packing her overnight bag. She said her agent had phoned and needed her to meet with the calendar publisher at an early morning meeting tomorrow.  That meant she needed to catch the 6:50 train that evening to arrive, grab a room for the night, to be on time for the meeting.

KC hugged and kissed her and told her he loved her and would love her forever. He told her not to worry about the train, there was no rush, the train has left the station.