The Conductor

He has been working this route for the last thirty-seven years, helping people on and off the train and directing traffic.  Life hadn’t been overly kind, but he clings to his position.  The patrons are his family, and he has watched many of them grow up, some have gotten old and died.  Others he has watched them grow as they’ve been shuttled back and forth to boarding schools.  He doesn’t have any children but he imagines that his child could have been friends and train mates with these children.  He is happy to hear the laughter, and to see the joy that the train brings to the passengers.  

 It’s a sense of freedom, adventure; it’s the reason why he started working on the train, and it’s still the feeling he gets every time he sees the steam start to billow from the locomotive’s stack.  But where he sees adventure, others see the unknown.  It seems like just the other day that he met a little boy named Reginald who clutched his stuffed carpet bag on his lap and tried to hide in the corner.  Reginald’s eyes wild and fearful as he looked frantically around, and he could see that the little one was panicking.  He walked through the car and sat down beside Reginald.  He tipped up his hat and pulled out a shiny red apple and offered it to Reginald.  Reginald was furtive but took the apple and started to consume it in small little bites behind his carpet bag.  He told Reginald, that this train would take him on a journey that he’d never forget and over the next three days took him under his wing pointing out the grasses of the prairies and the waterfalls in the mountains.  When they reached their destination, he helped Reginald get off the train and delivered him safely to the arms of his aunt Mabelle.

Ten years later, little Reginald was an up and coming business man and decided to take a trip back home to see his family and old friends.  Even though there were faster trains, he waited for the Canadian Northern train with anticipation.  He boarded with only a carpet bag and found his old seat, this time excited and hopeful that his friend would be on board.  Sure enough, there he was taking tickets.  Reginald could see that the last ten years hadn’t really changed his friend, he looked a little more weathered and wrinkled, but there was that familiar twinkle in his eye when he said, “Ticket Sir.”  Reginald felt around in his pockets and said, “Will this do?” and promptly produced a shiny red apple.  His friend sat down, smiled and with his index finger pushed his hat up, took a bite and said, “I’ll be…”

“Sir,” Reginald said, “Lets go on an adventure.  You are the Conductor.”  

Comments

[Kristelle]

Nice...I like this!

[Charlotte]

Excellent! Great idea, and great story :)