The Special Train

He stood on the platform; his fedora hat pulled down to shade his face. His shoes had been polished, the pants cleaned and creased, the plaid shirt pressed. He wore a brown corduroy suit jacket that had a torn sleeve but that didn't bother him. After all, he had to change his disguise.

The crowd about him mingled about the platform as the train pulled into the station. The man felt comfortable, almost invisible and that he was thankful for. The crowd had been buying tickets to their destination, grabbing snacks and reading material.

A bus pulled into the station. With its doors opening, young people exited the vehicle and stood around. The driver followed them off the bus and stood by the side of the vehicle. He opened several compartments and the young people were eager to pull their luggage off. It was sports equipment of mostly hockey sticks and bags of full of hockey gear. The man in the fedora hat casually looked over to the youngsters as he smoked a cigarette.

Two security guards were passing in front of him but stopped just inches away. The man stiffened a bit but relaxed his body as the two security guards left. They were looking. Looking for a scumbag who had robbed a bank. The cigarette that he had been smoking, was thrown to the ground. He stomped on it.

He had his ticket and clambered onto the train and took his seat. He had been told to meet the gang who had participated in the robbery ...at a certain stop on the whistle blower and get off. The bag that he carried was stuffed under his seat.

The train sat at this whistle stop for the next half hour as the group of young people boarded it after they had purchased their tickets. They boarded the same coach car as did the man. But this was a special group of young people from the ages of twelve years old up to twenty years of age. They all had the hockey sport equipment with them...as they headed cross country to a small town called Twin Hills. These young people will be participating in an event that were known as "Special Olympics".

The man could see that these young people were a little bit abnormal. They didn't seem to be too bright intellectually. Their faces were a little misshapen, ears on some of them a little too large, the eyes on some others seem to have that suspicious look. There were only about fifteen of these special people on the train along with their two coaches and a female parent. They were escorting these young people to the Special Olympics.

The man may have felt comfortable as some of the Special Olympians took seats next to him. The female parent sat across from him. It was a perfect cover for him...to be seated in amongst these Special Olympians.

His finger inserted itself into his nose and pulled out a fair size booger. The young boy was about to put it into his mouth when the female parent caught him in mid action.

"JOHNNY...DON'T!" the female parent called out, " Don't put that into your mouth. You'll ruin your lunch!"

The man was feeling very much uncomfortable. His stomach was becoming nauseated at the thought of a kid eating boogers. As he thought of the idea of getting up and leaving his seat, the conductor entered the coach car, calling out: "TICKETS! HAVE YOUR TICKETS READY!"

Bending over to reach under his seat, the man grabbed his bag to pull it out from under his seat. Once it was in his hands, he stood up. He tipped his hat to the female parent and proceeded to leave. It was too much for him and he felt uncomfortable.

Getting to the aisle, the man turned his back to the parent and the Special Olympians...but he came face to face with two on-board police officers. It took his breath away.

("Play it cool.") he thought to himself, ("play it cool.")

The police officers brushed passed by him. Slipping pass, he gave the officers a backward glance with a grin. He was slipping through the arms of the law. He turned around but did not notice a hockey stick jutting out into the aisle. The man tripped. The bag went flying...sprawling onto the coach car's floor. There it broke open and the money that was inside it, poured out. Coins and wads of dollar bills tumbled out.

Scrambling to pick himself up, he brushed the helping hands of the two coaches away as he tried to pick up the money. He quickly stashed it back into the bag.

He got to his feet with a terrified look on his face. He turned around to see where the two police officers were but they were gone.

Opening the door to leave that coach, he slipped through to the next coach car in line. The wheels were rattling along rather noisily as he went to slip into the next coach car. He did so quickly as the noise of the rattling train assaulted his ears.

Timmy Jones, a young autistic boy was looking out the window of the coach car. As the train rattled along, it hit a joint in the rails and the train hiccupped. Something rolled to Timmy's feet. The young autistic boy who had been so quiet, staring out the window ...looked down at his feet. There on the floor of the coach car was a wad of dollar bills.

Timmy reached down to pick up the wad of dollar bills. His mouth fell open in shock. He could hardly contain his excitement. Timmy flapped his arms and flexed his hands. He immediately jammed the wad of money into his sports bag.

The man with the fedora hat slipped into the toilet cubicle. He wasn't in there to relieve himself but to count the money. He wanted to make sure that he had it all.

He share of the loot was about $26,000.00. He carried the majority of it. When he will be in Twin Hills, he would meet up with the rest of the gang that had help rob the bank in Wardville. There they would split the loot and go their separate ways. But...he was short...of at least $2,500.00 short. What could have happened to the rest of the money? He knew that he had spent some of it on new clothes and shoes but it didn't cost him that much.

As the train entered the Twin Hills station, the man jumped from it. He stumbled and rolled over the grassy terrain. He stumbled and picked himself up to begin running. Running in fear of his life as he did not want to face the gang. His life would have been definitely shortened. But he also didn't want to face the cops either and face jail time. But he will tail the Special Olympians to their games as he wanted the $2,500.00 back. He would tail them until he got the money back. Or he could chalk up the loss as an donation to the Special Olympics.