LILLY'S TRAIN RIDE

LILLY’S TRAIN RIDE by Bobbie Wigginton

Lilly woke up before sunrise in order to beat the rush to the eating car, she jumped up and thought to herself, this wasn’t a bad idea for a trip on a train. Nothing she had expected, but a nice quiet ride along the beautiful countryside. Places you couldn’t or wouldn’t see in an ordinary day or unless you lived in the areas. She made her way to the dining car, not being particularly hungry. She ordered a cup of coffee and buttered toast to help squelch any possible rumblings in her tummy.

After breakfast, she made her way to the passenger car and found her seat as the sun was coming up over the horizon, how lovely the view. Everything seemed to come to life, the colors of the surroundings were vivid, bright and it felt like a moving picture as the train made its way down the tracks. The flashing of the bright green of the trees and the gold of the sun coming up to the blueish tone of the sky, every color that passed by was as beautiful as the first.

As other passengers made way to their seats, Lilly watched them one by one come by her and she gave a slight smile as she watched a young child hang to his mother as she was trying to sachet down the aisle with him on one hand and a small case in the other. He was pulling one way and the other, it was interesting to watch as this poor woman trying to make her way through the masses and find her seat. Her son, a young lad, wasn’t having any of it. Lilly watched in fascination as the mother and child sat down, the look on the mother’s face as she wrangled her son into the seat by the window, was nothing short of desperation. Once the kid practically hogtied, he finally gave in as she gave him his cookies and a coloring book for the ride.

The day would be a long journey with many stops and people getting on and off their prospective destinations. This was a new experience for Lilly and this fascinated her. The faces of the people were as interesting as the scenery that whizzed by outside; many of them were looks of being in a hurry to get to work where ever that might be while others were smiles of being in a relaxed state as she was. She looked back to see if the young boy and his mother were still onboard, yes, and he was all smiling while his mother was pointing out the window talking to him as if she were telling him a story. Another person caught Lilly’s eye, a woman looking very sad. Her head was low to her chest and as Lilly could see, the woman’s eyes were puffy as if she had been crying. How awful this made Lilly feel, she wanted to get up and give that poor woman a hug and ask if she needed help, but she kept to her seat watching as the woman put her handkerchief in her purse after wiping her eyes and then picked up a letter that was laying on her lap. A  gentle smile came followed by a small tear trickling down her face, very sad to watch, then the man next to her patted her on the hand and gave her a hug. Thank goodness, she wasn’t alone on her emotional journey.

As the train was nearing the curve, it seemed to be going at a slower pace and Lilly could see the huge rocks to either side of the tracks. A voice came on the intercom stating this was an old mining town, and enjoy the view as they were having to reduce speed to round this deep bend. She turned to the window and looked out to see what appeared to be a ghost town. The buildings in disrepair, with roofs, caving in and windows long since shattered and not a single beast or human anywhere to be found. Lilly could imagine at what once was nicely crafted buildings that housed and entertained the mining folk. The saloon, which housed ladies of the evening and a piano in the corner where the pianist played while the miners and townspeople met up for a game of cards, darts or to tell the barkeep to keep them coming. Lilly’s imagination was going wild with this old place! The dress of the era and the heat of the times, gosh, they must have been sweltering in this heat back then, she thought to herself. She imagined seeing the children running around in the dirt streets playing chase, the women doing their shopping at the mercantile store and the miners filthy from the mines traveling on wagons to and from; wanting a nice meal and someplace to wash themselves before going back out into the deep, dark mines. Lilly was engrossed with her imagination when the whistling of the train horn brought her to her senses as it was picking up speed away from this small and out-of-the-way town. She smiled and sat back in her seat thinking you can’t see this on a plane.

By this time, the aching in her stomach told her it was time to have lunch, Lilly made her way to the eating car in hopes of finding a small secluded seat so that she could catch up on her reading. As she waited for her lunch to arrive, she glanced over to see a young couple engrossed in one another; smiles and laughter and the way the young man put his finger underneath the female’s chin told Lilly all she needed to know, pure love and devotion. The twinkling of her eyes as she looked back at him and as he drew her in close to him, he gave her a little kiss on her cheek, it was lovely to watch. As she ate her lunch and tried to take a word from her book, Lilly smiled as the waiter came and asked if everything was alright, Lilly stated, “Why, yes, everything is perfect.” After lunch, Lilly made her way back to her seat for the final leg of her journey. Sitting and gathering her thoughts she said to herself, nowhere else could I have experienced this but on a train.