It Was Four O'Clock in The Morning Once Again.

It was four o’clock in the morning once again. And once more Stella was wide awake and unable to go back to sleep in her bed. So now she was sitting in a chair in the backyard with a bench in front of her, a cup of coffee upon it. She was staring into the distance way ahead of her. This had been going on for several weeks now. Her father and grandfather had both worked as engineers driving the early morning trains to the station nearby. When she was just a girl, she would get up very early to wave to each one of them when she knew they would be driving not far from their home shared with her and her mother. They would always wave back to her, just as the engine came out from the under the old unused rickety bridge that crossed the railroad tracks. Big smiles were sent back and forth from both sides. Stella had recently returned to the old house when her parents moved out to live in a seniors apartment building with some of their long term friends. So Stella lived there in her old home alone. She also still slept in the same bedroom with the window facing the tracks and the trains. The curtains were drawn, never closed.

‘Why am I doing this?’ she wondered. “No members of my family are engineers anymore now that my father and grandfather are both retired.”

Her brother did not want a job that started that early in the morning. He wanted what he called ‘decent work hours’. He worked repairing cars, nine to five – not too early to start, and not too late to stop. Stella has a similar gig working full time in the drug store.

Stella had never married, and even in high school she had never had a boy friend. Boys could not compete with her father and her grandfather when it came to being ‘a real man’. That feeling continued well into her twenties.

I’m Awake Now Anyway

‘Well, I’m awake now anyway. I might as well drink my coffee and watch the early train go by.” She had done that for a couple of mornings in a row now. It was becoming a routine, and there was just something about it that just seemed right, no matter how strange that might be to others who knew her, but not well. She went to bed early these days, so that she would not be sleepy at work.

She laughed at herself when she thought of waving at the engineer when he ran the train within easy sight of her backyard and of her. The expression that she had to not do so was, ‘That would appear too needy. I don’t want to appear as ‘train engineer flirt;” And there would be disappointment when the train ran by and there was no family member to respond to her waving.

A Change in the Weather

As she sat in her chair, drinking her coffee, she noticed that the weather was changing rather rapidly. It was March, a time for such changes. The wind was picking up speed rather quickly. It could be a difficult drive to work for her this morning. She would have to leave for work a little earlier than she usually did. The boss did not like any of the staff arriving late for work, no matter what the reason. She had fired someone who had arrived late twice in the same month.

She was getting uncomfortable in the cold winter wind. She felt that she should probably go back inside and be warm, cooking up some porridge. But she was big on living through rituals, and watching the early morning train was a ritual that she had stuck to for years, as a child and as an adult.

The Train Is Driving By

Stella soon saw the train approaching. She had to tell herself not to wave at the engineer once the train went under the bridge. He would not be her father or grandfather. He was just some stranger who had replaced those two men.

The wind picked up more and more. Stella could not remember ever experiencing such a strong wind, Then she heard a very loud sound that momentarily drowned out the sound of the wind. She looked towards where the loud noise came from and saw a horrible sight. The bridge had been blown down to collapse right on the train. What could she do?

Her first thought was to call the local ambulance. She had her phone in her jacket pocket. But her message did not come through. The line was busy. Not really a surprise. What can I do now?

She decided to run towards the train. Maybe she could do something to help. The wind was in her favour so it wasn’t very hard for her to get to her destination without wind resistance.

Once she made her way to the tracks, she ran straight to the engine, which was where the bridge that fallen. She went straight to the entrance, and with a hard pull was able to get the door open. She soon discovered that there was a man unconscious lying on the floor.

She felt the car rock back and forth, and worried that there was more danger ahead. So she pulled the man, who didn’t feel very heavy, out of the fallen engine

It was good that she did, as the train soon rolled over in the other direction. The man would probably have been killed by that second blow.

She called the police several more times, and finally got through to them. She told the one on the line what the situation was, and where her house was, so the police would know exactly where to go to pick up the injured man.

Right now he was on her bed. She was glad that it was not too high for her to pick up the man and put him on top.

He woke up in a daze. He felt completely lost. He had no idea where he was, and who the woman who was sitting in a chair facing him.

Stella detected his waking. She told him the story of how he got where he was. Then she began talking about her father and her grandfather. The man smiled at what she said, and how she looked when she talked about the men in her family.

There would be waving back and forth between them in the future – and much more.