- Train -

The crowd bustled from platform to platform. Each person trying to get all their things together before the next train left the station. The station was new. Brand new. Red carpet lined the platforms, clean orangish tinted lights illuminated the whole cavern of regal art deco architecture. Thomas leaned back into his seat looking at the mounds of people going here and there. He would be on this train for a while. He didn’t mind. The service was top notch, inside was vibrant, and the company was nothing to sneeze at. He looked over to his right. A lady with short black hair cut into a bob sat. She was dressed head to toe in perfection. Tight blazer and semi long skirt the color of white cream. Upon her feet were black heels. She smiled at him, her red lipstick striking his heart. The train shuttered and the conductor announced they would be heading off. He had a sleeper car in the back, but Thomas spent most of his time in the observer, cocktail car near the front of the train. There you could find the best company. The train moved out of the station and into the sprawling metropolis. Buildings whirled by in a gray and black blur.

Thomas took out a cigarette, lit it, then leaned over to the women next to him.

“Would you like one?” He offered a cigarette to her. She took it and he offered her a light.

“Thank you” she said, smiling through the smoke. Thomas clipped his lighter returning it to his pocket and took a large inhale. A waiter came by and he waved at him.

“Another whiskey on the rocks and for the lady “ He said motioning to her.

“A martini please”

“and here” Thomas pulled out and paid the waiter “keep the rest”

Thomas took a gulp of his remaining drink and handed it to the waiter. The city started to fade out and green hills and trees started to fill the windows.

“Soo whats a gorgeous lady like you heading out of the city for? You got family out there?”

The women’s face lit up in a smile “Well, yes in fact, I do have family out there. What about you stranger, what calls you out to the country?”

The waiter returned with their drinks aDnd Thomas cheered before taking a sip. He had a silly look to his face as he looked around and said

“Truthfully? I just murdered my wife and I am on the run”

The women burst out laughing “You too? I just killed my wife too”

Thomas chuckled along with her laughter.”How did you do it?”

The women shrugged taking a sip of her martini and said “An axe obviously, you?”

Thomas gave her a surprised look and shook his head in disbelief “Chainsaw, only way to do it. The body?”

“Hacked in pieces” the women made the gesture of chopping with an invisible axe, swinging it up and down.

“No? A girl like you?”

The women flexed her arm “You damn right a,women, like me”

Thomas nodded and raised his glass “Cheers, to a new beginning…..waiter, another one” he gestured at both of their glasses and gave a thumbs up.

The train entered a valley and poured out onto a bridge. Water cascaded outside the windows and blue filled the cabin car.

“You know, this train, it might be just a train, but when I thought about what I was going to do. I knew this train was going take a me away. Somewhere, somehow. How did we not get caught?” Thomas said. He crossed his legs and leaned back into the seat.

“A train of dreams”

“Yeah, a train of dreams”

They both looked at each other. Eyes shining blue. Fate was set. Who would strike first?

Inspired by 20th Century Limited Train

The train car swung back and forth as it exited the tunnel and entered into the yellow plains. I peered out the window at the large wheat fields. The wheat moved with the wind acting like a vast ocean with a few green trees sailing among it. I put pen to paper and recorded what I saw. I was nestled in a small table in the dining car. It looked like an old school diner had been sliced in half and crammed into a train car. A couple stools, a display tray, two waitress and one cook that was near the front of the car. Two men dressed in grey suits sat at the bar drinking coffee. One had his head down looking at some papers, while the other one flirted with one of the waitress’s behind the bar. Another man sat reading a newspaper on my left against the wall. I took a sip of coffee and picked up the book I was current digesting. “Wicked Soulless Things”, it was called. It was a mixture of vampires, werewolves fighting Frankenstein mosters. I loved the romantics, but sometimes a girl just needed unrelenting violence in her literature.

She came over prying herself from the man at the bar. “Would you like some more coffee dear?”

I smiled and nodded. “Looks like you might have a bit of trouble on your hands” My eyes darted at the young man and back at her.

“Oh, just a boy trying his best”

Her name tag said Sally. She had curly blonde hair that fell across her perfect breasts. I bit my lip.

“Well, he will get his due sometime. Sally, is it?” I tapped my pen on the notepad running my eyes from her slender legs back up to her blue eyes. She looked at something behind me then refocused.

“Yes ma’m, you can call on me if you need anything while your in the dining car” She smiled at me and I smiled back. I pulled out a compact and checked the mirror. It was just for show though. There was no reflection anyway.

“You know, I would love another slice of pie” I pushed my plate towards her. Her hand grabbed the plate and I could feel the blood pumping through her veins. Another slice of pie, indeed.

Inspired by Blue Plate Special by Jeff Lee Johnson