Train

A piece of paper slid into Alan’s hand. It was a glossy trifold tourist brochure; the kind found in every hotel lobby, restaurant and gas station along the highway. He looked next to the arm of the camp chair to see Robbie standing quietly, hopefully, tow head gleaming in the firelight.

“What’s this son?”

“It’s a train, Dad.”

Alan could hear a faint trace of Aussie in the way his little son pronounced ‘train’ and ‘dad’. His heart melted. He pulled the seven-year-old into his lap.

They had spent all day at Carlsbad Caverns, emerging in late afternoon at the top of the hill. Mel had fixed sandwiches and they ate at the picnic area up there, waiting for sundown and the spectacle of the bats emerging for their nightly feeding. They had inched their way down the mountain in a line of cars and both Robbie and Susie were asleep when they arrived at the campgrounds. Fortunately, they had arrived the evening before and the tent was pitched and air mattresses inflated. Both sleeping children had been deposited in the children’s room of the tent. Mel waited with them while he and Geoff hit the showers. Mel was now taking her turn at the showers while Geoff downloaded pictures of the bats and cave formations on the computer and Alan tended the friendly little campfire Mel had lit.

“I see it’s a train, Robster.” The brochure showed the signs of a hard life in a little boy’s pocket, crumpled and finger-smudged, but a proud looking steam engine was still visible on the front.

“It says it’s right here. In this state!” Robbie turned to the back and pointed a grimy finger at the address, “See, N-M just like Mama showed us on the map.”

He kissed the top of the little boy’s head. “That’s right son. New Mexico.” He glanced at the small map above the address. It showed a star in the upper left corner of the state. They were currently in the south east corner of the state. New Mexico was a big state – not Texas size, but still big.

“It’s a steam engine, Dad, a real one. They use real coal and everything.” He opened up the flier and showed Alan a picture of a fireman busily shoveling coal into the firebox. “It’s just like our Engine Number Three.”

Robbie’s train collection had started when he was still in diapers during a family trip to Disney World. They had gotten a bit carried away with buying monorail pieces until the suite’s floor had been covered with the modern looking train. They had gathered it all up and brought it home and Alan had spent days building shelving in the boy’s room and the next door playroom for the track. The next year at Christmas they began adding more traditional HO scale trains, and Robbie’s Engine Number Three – a small gilt “3” gracing the side -- was indeed a steam train, even a narrow gauge one, with its own separate track as this one seemed to be.

“Can we ride it Dad? Please can we?” Robbie asked breathlessly, as if afraid to ask because the answer might be ’no’ and he didn’t want to hear it.

Alan thought carefully and Robbie stayed still in his lap, waiting for a yes. The plan was to head for home tomorrow and back to work. The train would be another day’s drive away from home, therefore another day back, plus a day at the train. He knew there were things waiting on him at work, but given a day or so with Internet access, he could download what he needed and keep working. Robbie had come along to the caverns willingly, but the rock formations and bats hadn’t really interested him. The highlight for him had been the half hour he had talked to the elevator maintenance man about the elevator to the surface while the others ate lunch. The older gentleman in a park service work shirt had happily answered dozens of questions about how fast the elevator went, how long it was, how many people it held at a time, and what kept it from falling down the shaft if a cable broke. Robbie yawned, and his eyes fluttered, but he struggled to stay awake. He was waiting for an answer.

“You know your Mum’s the boss,” Alan said to his son.

Robbie nodded without hesitation. Mom was boss at home and the family-run business.

“I’ll have to see what she thinks. I need to go back to work.”

“If you ask her, she’ll say yes.” Robbie said with great faith.

Alan was almost surprised at the child’s assessment. Melissa was headstrong, independent and forceful. She always had a plan. Alan was laid back and easygoing and was usually quite content to let his wife steer the course. Now that he thought about it, her plans usually led to things happening that he had expressed an interest in. Mel made things happen – because he wanted them to?

“Okay, cobber. I’ll ask. We’ll see what happens.”

“Thanks Dad,” the little boy whispered, again with a hint of his dad’s Aussie accent. He relaxed almost immediately and turned his face to lean against Alan’s collarbone and was asleep in a heartbeat.

When Melissa returned Robbie was a dead weight and Alan’s left arm and leg had fallen asleep. “What’s he doing up?”

“Up is a relative term, love. My circulation’s cut off. Can you get him off me?”

Mel smelled of fresh soap and fresh air. They returned their middle child to his bedroll, then uncurled their eldest from the laptop and rolled him onto his own air mattress. Mel put out the fire and joined Alan on their own mattress which as usual, rolled them together in the center. Alan reached under her long t-shirt to run a hand up bare thighs to her round bottom.

“Did Robbie have a bad dream?” She nestled her head against his shoulder and drew a long leg across his.

Alan didn’t mind camping, but was ready for a room with walls. The tent sides were quite close together and he preferred his wife’s loud reactions to their night-time activities. “No, but he does have a dream. He found a flier for a narrow-gauge train and he wants to ride on it.”

“Is it near here?”

“He very proudly pointed out there was an NM on it, so it’s here in New Mexico.”

“That’s very good! Where in New Mexico?”

“A place called Chama. According to the map, it’s in the northern part of the state. His hand moved from her bottom to between her thighs. He stroked her softly until he felt her interest growing. “I know we’d planned to head home tomorrow, but if we found a place where I had an internet connection for a couple of days, there’s no reason I couldn’t work from there.” His fingers unconsciously took on the rhythm of the tracks: in , out, in, out of her warm moist tunnel.

She turned and placed her mouth against his shoulder as his insistent fingers encouraged her body to respond to the rhythm. As she convulsed in her climax she opened her mouth and clamped down in his shoulder to keep from shouting. That was going to leave a mark. He’d have to wear a t-shirt with sleeves tomorrow.

When she could breathe again she said, “So I take it you’d like to ride the train too.” Her hand found his erection and she gently massaged him.

“Mmm – yeah.”

Melissa chuckled. “So more than one of my boys wants to ride the train.”

She sat up and leaned over his erection. His hand wound into her blonde hair and his thoughts turned fuzzy as he used all his control to keep from shouting himself as Melissa expertly went down on him, knowing just what he liked. He took a deep breath and turned his head to bite the pillow. When he could thing straight again she was curled beside him.

“Instead of packing up the tent in the morning,” she said softly, “Take the kids swimming. I’ll go use the internet and see what I can do for us.”

“Mmm—“ He was having a hard time forming words. “Thanks, love. In more ways than one.” He turned and spooned her.

“Yeah, well, you’re going to have to pay for this. And I’m only arranging it if I can find some place with two bedrooms and solid walls.”

“That’d be perfect.”

“I thought you were going to be working.”

“I’m thinking,” Alan replied, adjusting Geoff’s grip on the fly rod and guiding the boy’s hands as his son cast.

“Uh-huh – I can see how deep in thought you are. I just didn’t know you needed waders.”

“Excellent, Geoff!” He put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and the boy grinned. Then he looked up on the bank at his wife. “You’ll thank me when we put supper on the table.”

Melissa rolled her eyes.

“Hey, you got us a cabin on the best trout stream in the state. We’ve got to try it.”

“Of course you do. So I can use the computer this morning?”

“Sure. I’ll work this afternoon. I promise.”

“Suzie will be inside with me. Robbie wants to play here by the creek. Okay?”

“I’ll watch him,” Alan assured her as he cast with his own rod. “Rob, you’re to stay within sight.”

“Yes sir.”

The cabin had a loft for the kids, a master bedroom, a satellite internet connection and an incredible view of the valley and the small creek running past it. They had arrived the day before yesterday and he had spent most of yesterday online using VOIP in discussion with John, Tony Cellini and several others. He was thinking that he could stay here a while, fish in the mornings, and work in the afternoon.

From just up the road the train whistle blew. Robbie’s head snapped up from the rocks he’d been gathering from the stream and a pile of little trucks and cars.

“Dad? Is that the train?”

“Sure is son.”

“Can we go see it?”

“Why not? Come on Geoff.”

Geoff looked up from his pole and opened his mouth to protest but Alan was quicker. “We’ll come right back. The fish will be waiting.” His accompanying look was enough to silence the fisherman and the three set off up the hill to see the train off.

The station had several side tracks with extra cars of all sorts, but the main attraction to Robbie was the engine already steaming but not yet moving. Tourists were still boarding. Robbie went dashing to the front of the train and Alan grabbed Geoff and hurried after him.

The fireman was already shoveling coal but the engineer leaned out the window and smiled at Robbie who was chattering away at the top of his lungs to be heard over the roar of the coal fire.

“ – and we get to ride on it tomorrow!” Robbie was saying. “What makes the whistle blow?”

The engineer actually came down the steps and pointed out the firebox, the boiler, the steam whistles, the pistons. Alan caught up and thanked the man after he explained the whistle signals. Geoff and Robbie both listened with wide eyes as the engineer climbed back aboard and gave the “all aboard” signal. He told them to listen for the return signal. They promised they would. Alan took both boys’ hands and they climbed halfway up the bank to the road and the three watched and waved as the train puffed and chugged and rattled and began to roll. Workers and passengers alike waved to those still on the platform and the boys on the hillside. The whistle blew a warning and off they went, chugging out of the small town. Alan noticed that plenty of others had stopped to give the little train a grand sendoff.

To his surprise, Melissa and Susie were standing on the train platform. Susie was holding tightly to her mother’s neck, but the four-year-old made a leap to her father as he approached.

“She saw you all go by the window and insisted on coming too. Can you take her back with you? Something caught my eye.”

“Sure,” he said, hoisting the child to his shoulders. “We’ll be out by the creek.”

It wasn’t until the kids were tucked into bed that night that he found out what caught her eye. Once they tucked the children in the loft, they settled on the porch with a couple of beers. Melissa slipped something from the pocket of her shorts and handed it to him.

“What’s this?’

“Take a look.”

“We already have train tickets.”

“These are different.”

Alan read the title: ‘Starlight dinner tickets – Parlor Car’. Sounds posh. I don’t think the kids are ready for the parlor car. I got a look at it today.”

“No, the day trip will be fine for them. But they have this evening cruise. They used to do it once a month, on the full moon. Now they call it a stargazing trip. I thought it would be fun to have a date night.”

“It would be nice, but don’t we need a babysitter for that?”

“All taken care of. The owner of the lodge has a teenage daughter. She was here this morning cleaning the cabin and she and Susie charmed each other. I asked her if she’d be interested in earning a bit babysitting and she jumped at the chance.”

“Two rides in one day? You up for that?”

She took a sip of her wine and gave him a sultry look. “Are you up for it, Flyboy?”

Alan downed his beer, stood and scooped her into his arms. “I’ll show you just how ‘up’ I am.” He said and swept her off to the bedroom.

Robbie had the family up at dawn. Mel insisted they all eat breakfast, but Robbie could barely eat, constantly asking what time it was and how soon they could leave. Melissa was on the verge of losing her patience, but Alan took pity on the boy and swept him away to the train yard, giving Geoff a stern look and an order to help his mother with cleanup.

Father and son were waiting at the station when the engineer and fireman arrived. They greeted the pair with smiles, recognizing kindred spirits. The engineer explained to Robbie that they had to be trained before they were allowed to ride the engine. Robbie nodded reluctantly, desperately wanting to get his hands on a shovel and some coal. A docent arrived shortly after the engineer headed to work. He was a big man, tall and broad-shouldered, built like Robbie’s grandfather. He wore overalls, a denim work shirt, a red bandana, and an engineer’s distinctive striped cap. He offered to answer any questions about the train and Robbie began asking questions as fast as he could.

They wandered up and down the train yard examining all the various equipment, the snow plow, box cars, water tank, coal car and the fire control unit that followed each train making sure stray embers didn’t start a forest fire.

Robbie’s eyes lit up at the sight of the small serviceable fire control car, fixed with all the tools needed to keep the mountains safe from the fire.

By the time Geoff arrived, Robbie was an expert on the train yard. Alan followed the two boys on a second tour of the yard while Robbie briefed his older brother on the care and feeding of a narrow gauge coal burning train.

A trip to the gift shop that was now open yielded train caps like the engineer’s and docent’s including a small pink striped one for Susie, pins with the number of the engine they would be travelling with today and bandanas for the entire family.

Finally, they could board the train. They had assigned seats in one of the cars, but the docent had already explained that after the conductor took your ticket and the concession lady took your lunch order, you were free to move around the train and spend time in the open air observation car. Melissa, as prepared as any Eagle Scout, settled into her seat with a pack containing bottles of water, snacks, wipes and other items to entertain or repair her children as needed for the day. Alan sat in front of her, Geoff beside him and Robbie in his lap. Other families began to arrive and soon the whistle blew, signaling imminent departure.

They were off. The engine chugging and steaming as they started off slowly, so slowly. Mel smiled, listening to her husband explain Newton’s laws of thermodynamics to the seven- and nine-year-old boys. And they all waved at the spectators lined up along the track to wave at the departing train as they had done the day before.

As soon as they could, the entire family headed for the open air car. Robbie and Geoff were just tall enough to see over the side of the car. Susie had to be held. The train rattled and lurched with its own rhythm. The boys were both fascinated by the overlapping metal plates that made it possible to walk between the cars. The engine blew smoke and embers and ashes that streamed behind the train and the docent, already fielding more questions from Robbie explained that he had small bottles of eye-wash if anyone caught a cinder in their eye.

After the curve where they passed the water tower that was used when filming “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, Mel decided to head back to their seats with Susie. She and Alan had been passing the little girl back and forth and she was getting heavy and restless. The boys roamed back and forth between the cars while the train climbed through the pass and the scenery changed and wildlife was spotted.

Deer, used to the train, continued to graze in a sunny glen and Geoff was certain he’d seen a coyote slink away into the woods as the train approached. They had heard coyote howl last night, so it was possible.

After two hours of winding along the side of mountains, through valleys and over gorges they arrived at their lunch destination of Ossier where a homemade dinner of meatloaf or turkey with all the trimmings was served. Robbie spent the lunch recounting to his mother all the things he’d learned from the docent. He dashed away from the table the moment he heard another train whistle. The train from the other direction was arriving, also filled with hungry passengers. While the passengers ate, the crew would disconnect the engines and reconnect them to the other set of cars and both engines would continue in the direction they had started since there was no place to turn around. Robbie wanted to see every moment of that transaction. Alan snatched the homemade dinner roll from Mel’s plate and went to join him. He winked at his wife as he left. “You can get seconds,” he said, before she could protest the loss of her roll.

They packed aboard the second set of cars after lunch and headed for Antonito Colorado where they would catch a bus back to Chama. The view of the Cumbres gorge was spectacular and drew Melissa and Susie back to the open air car. Alan took Susie back inside once they passed out of the gorge. She had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Melissa and the boys spotted a large herd of antelope on the slope outside Antonito.

At the train station Robbie said goodbye to the helpful docent, the engineer and the fireman. He asked how old he had to be to get a job shoveling coal to the delight of the engineer. They told him to come see them in ten years and Robbie nodded soberly. The bus was barely under way when Robbie fell asleep against his father’s shoulder.

“Are you sure you want to ride the train again tonight?” Alan asked as he walked into the master bedroom. The pizza they’d ordered and the babysitter had arrived at the same time.

Alan stopped and whistled as he looked his wife up and down. She’d pinned up her blonde hair and was wearing a well-fitting black cocktail dress with an appealingly short skirt. She had brought it along to wear at some political function her mother had taken them to. Her long legs were clad in black stockings with just a hint of a criss-cross fishnet pattern to them and she wore black pumps with a low heel. Those stockings were thigh-high and held up with satin garters. He remembered that from that party in Texas. She picked up the black leather coat she had found in Taos on the way here and he helped her into it. It fit her curves perfectly. It was a long jacket, covering her almost to her ankles.

“I’m ready for a date night with my husband and I think this is the only game in town, unless you want to try that little biker bar at the edge of town.”

“The train sounds good to me.” Alan said, kissing the back of her neck.

The trip without children was much more relaxed. The seats in the parlor car offered more comfort. They could sit back, drinks in hand and watch the scenery roll by. Since it was summer, the sun didn’t set until they were well on their way. They made their way to the observation car and stood together to watch the sun set and the stars come out.

Alan put his arms around her and his hands made their way inside her coat. She leaned against him.

“The stars are so brilliant,” she said, enjoying his roaming hands. The other passengers had returned to the parlor car and they were alone in the open-air observation car.

“Hmm,” he said, nibbling at her earlobe. “Almost like being there.”

“Do you ever want to go back?” she asked, then gasped as his hand reached under her skirt and moved up her thigh.

“Only if I could take you with me. I can’t ever get enough of you.”

His fingers were stroking her, matching the rhythm of the train. She tried to reach behind her, but he stopped her. “No, let me do this. Here under the stars.” He kissed her jaw gently and she shivered with anticipation. They both glanced briefly at the parlor car. The lights were on inside and the other travelers were concentrating on their drinks and conversations. Alan and Mel stood in shadow at the other end of the car.

“Yesss,” she murmured softly.

Alan knew exactly what she liked, where to touch her. His hands moved with the beat of the tracks, playing her like a musical instrument. She moaned and writhed. “Alan, I want you inside me.”

With an efficiency of motion from practice in freefall he turned her, took one step to brace her against the corner of the car and lifted her just a bit. At the same time she had freed his very cooperative organ and he slid into her, kissing her deeply. Both were on the edge and it only took a moment and a couple of quick thrusts before release came for both of them. She held him tightly around the neck as he slowly slid from her and she stood on her own once again. They caught their breath, exchanging soft kisses, their hands readjusting each other’s clothes to respectability.

“Buy me a drink, Flyboy?” Melissa asked playfully.

“With pleasure.”

They stepped together toward the lighted parlor car.

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