The Train Ride Home

THE TRAIN RIDE HOME               By Irene Lee

As I looked out the window at the snow-covered ground, I prayed, God, please let Judy be at the train station when I get to 

 Jacksonville, Florida.  I couldn't help crying and wondering how all the other people on the train could be laughing and sharing

 good times with their seatmate.  I wanted to jump up and scream at them to just shut up.  My world would never be the same again.  I watched as the train pulled into station after station and people got off and people got on.

When the train pulled into the station at Savannah, Ga, everyone was told to get off because regular maintenance and cleaning

had to be done so, like a zombie, I followed the other passengers to the train station lounge.

As I looked around, my eyes caught sight of a seat and I headed towards it to sit down.  

Still crying and wiping my eyes and blowing my nose, I managed to get across the room to the seat that I had seen. I sat with my head against the wall, somehow my grief was temporarily erased with wonderful memories of the last seven years.

It was in July of 1989 that I watched a man on the dance floor.  He was dancing like there was not tomorrow, but he didn't have 

anyone with him.  Yes, out on the dance floor, all by himself, with his hands in his pockets, cowboy boots on his feet, and a full head of beautiful silver white hair.

By the look on his face, I could tell that he was really enjoying himself and didn't care how crazy he looked.   I watched him dance and the more I watched him, the more intrigued I was.  

I just turned to my own thoughts and was oblivious to the fact that the music had stopped, and that crazy dancing man was standing beside me.   "Come and dance with me."  That was how I met All Brown.

Over the next few weeks, I found that he was a truck driver and was in Jacksonville to visit some friends.  Now Al was getting loads to Jacksonville and it wasn't long before we fell in love and got married.

He took me on several trips in his truck and taught me how to drive tractor trailer trucks and it wasn't long before I took the test, passed, and got my license to drive big trucks.  We set out together as a  

truck driving husband/wife team.

Over the next 7 years, we were inseparable in that truck sharing good times and bad.  Getting used to being with someone in a small area for 24/7. That was not very easy, but we did it and it only got better and better.

From Los Angeles to New York City and from Texas to North Dakota we covered many miles with each of us driving 5 hours and sleeping 5 hours while the other was driving.  

Even though I was still crying and blowing my nose, I couldn’t help but smile when I remembered one of the events that I would never forget.

Al was driving and I was sleeping when I felt the truck stop.  When I sat up Al was smiling and wiggling his finger for me to come out.  He had pulled into a K-Mart parking lot and turned the ignition off.  He had a small portable radio, and it was playing a romantic country song.  Al grabbed and pulled me to him.  We danced and danced right there in the K-Mart parking lot.

Being from Florida, I had never driven in snow before I went in the truck with Al, and it was my turn to drive.  It just happened to be winter and there was snow everywhere on the ground.  I did fine until we came to the mountain that all the truckers called “Cabbage”.  Going up from the east was easy but I said a special prayer when I got to the top of the mountain.  I could see why it was called “Cabbage”.  Looking down at the road that circled around and around all the way down to the bottom.  The road was covered with snow and as I began the descent my fingers and hands were holding tightly on the steering wheel.  I could not go any faster than 10 mph and by the time I reached the bottom, my head was just throbbing.  At the first rest area I pulled in and Al woke up when he felt the truck stop. 

He leaned forward, 

gave me a big kiss and said “you did a great job coming across Cabbage.  I said, “how would you know?”  His response made me laugh.  “We are still alive, aren’t we?”  Even though I really missed being home, especially on holidays, I was happy sitting in that driver's seat and seeing all the places that I would never have seen if I had not met Al.  When we had a delivery set for Monday morning, we would try to get into that city on Saturday or Sunday so that we could get a motel room.  Sometimes we had enough time to rent a car and do some sightseeing. We were able to get a load to different places if we knew there was an event there.  My brother, Matt and his late wife Pat got married at Daytona Beach during Bike Week.  Al and I were there.  My sister Cheryl and her ex-husband hosted Christmas and all my family was there.  Al and I were there. 

The very next January, we picked up a load of dog food.  It was going to Harrisburg, Pa.  Al started out driving while I slept. I took over driving around 5:00 PM.  What a beautiful night it was.  The reflection of the snow made it seem almost like daytime.

I pulled into the Flying J in Knoxville, Tn.  We needed fuel and I was ready to get some sleep.  Al fueled the truck and parked it so that he could go in and get something to eat.  I went to sleep right away and don’t remember when he got in and we headed out on our way to deliver the dog food.  I woke up when the truck stopped.  I asked what was going on and Al told me that a car spun out and it was buried into a snowbank with the back half sitting on the inside lane of the highway.  He told me that he was going to direct traffic around the car so that no one would hit it and cause anyone to get hurt.  Al asked me to hand him his jacket, told me he loved me and that was the last time I saw Al alive.  It was around 4:AM and it was still dark outside.  A car slowed because of the truck lights on the side of the road and another car went into the inside lane to pass the slow car.  That is the car that hit Al.  The man that hit Al came to the truck and banged on the door.  When I looked up he screamed.  “A man has been hit.  Get on the cb and let someone know to call for an ambulance and police.  My sleepy  brain tried to put it all together.  I asked who it was that got hit.  Was it the man directing traffic?  I didn’t want to hear his answer but I did hear him say “yes”. I was in my pajamas but that didn’t matter.  I jumped out of the truck and ran towards the lights of the car.  Two men came out of nowhere and each one grabbed one of my arms.  They told me that they were not going to let me go.  No matter how I begged for them to let me go, they would not.

The highway patrol arrived and put me into his car.  It was getting light now and I could see Al laying in the snow in the median.  No one would let me go to Al no matter what I said.  The patrolman told me that Al was dead.  I wondered what I was going to do without Al. The patrolman also took me to the train station in Roanoke, Va. after I drove the tractor trailer to the next truck stop where I called Judy, my sister.  I told her what happened, and she said she would be at the train station when my train arrived.  

Just then I realized that the station attendant was calling for all Jacksonville bound people to load up.  I got on that train and just kept praying that Judy would be at the station.

As the train went south, the snow slowly disappeared and all I saw was winter burnt yellow grass.

I got more and more anxious as we arrived at the Jacksonville, Fl train station. As soon as the train stopped, I looked up and saw Judy.  I started crying again as we hugged.