Celestial

2/12/08

Arron sat down across from her still wearing his hardhat and vest from earlier he also looking as if he had just woken up except he looked as if he were well rested having intended to sleep. The warm smile he showed made her feel more comfortable seeing that he wasn’t an apparent threat at least at the moment. On thing she noticed was his left eye sagged slightly and his left hand appeared to be a bit shaky as he rested it next to his cup.

“Uh i’m.....sure lets talk.” said Celestia nervously

“Alright my Name’s Arron Thattchir, and you are?”

“um...Celestia that’s about it.” said Celestia smiling sheepishly

“That’s gotta be the most normal name in this town, anyways what do ya do for a living?”

“I’m the principal at the high school you know the really large building near the rail yard.”

“Interesting i’m with the M&D the guys with green trains that have a dog on the front, not to be confused with Burlington Northern those guys haven’t been active for nearly 13 years anyways I’ve been with the M&D since 07 but I have about 4 years experience driving trains I did with the C&R before I became an alcoholic.”

“So...you’re an alcoholic?” said Celestia questionably.

“N-no I was I know you noticed the eye and the shaky hand I got those from nerve damage I just got outta halfway a month ago and have been living in Blaksville for the past month, anyways what’s wrong you seem pretty......bad?”

“Well” Celestia paused before continuing “I’ve been depressed for about 3 years and I’m the only one who knows the problem is no one......asks about me anymore both my parents have been dead for 5 years and that’s about it.”

“Well I ain’t gonna force ya to tell me stuff you don’t want to I got about 50 minutes till I gotta go why don’t we talk a bit more it gets pretty damn boring just sitting here waiting and I can’t keep replaying war flashbacks over in my head.”

“So you were in the Army?”

“Actually the US Marine Corps still fought in the Dark War 1993-1996 and 1998-2003 it took a toll on my mind that’s why I became an alcoholic, I caught my wife Annette cheating on me while visiting from Halfway in 2003 we divorced and she keeps trying to get back to me it’s fucking annoying my neighbor Thomas caught her trying to break into my house one night.”

“So you used to be married i’m guessing you’re single?”

“Yeah my last date we didn’t last five minutes now I don’t mean to sound bigoted or nothing but she hated Christians and i’m a devout baptist but....yeah you get the idea.”

“You got any siblings? I have a sister named Luna we don’t talk much even though we work at the same place she’s vice-principal at CHS.”

“Well I got 2 my younger brother Blake we’re coworkers and my younger sister Lexi she’s working somewhere in Cali I ain’t talked to her since 98 that’s near about 10 years.”

“So do you own guns or anything like that?” Celestia felt kid of stupid for asking this since she could obviously see the revolver at his side and she was expecting him to treat her almost as if she were stupid since they both knew about the gun at his hip.

“Well I got the Colt on me right now and I’ve also got 5 others a TAC-12 assault Rifle, an AR15, a Beretta M9, a Winchester 12 gauge pump action shotgun, and a .44 caliber rifle that’s all the one I got at my house I own more but there at my moms house in Meridian my dad died back in 05 due to a head-on collision with a semi killed him instantly, they ended burying him in Arlington he fought in WW2 from 1958-1963 (alternate universe) I was in the 21 gun salute when they buried him it was rough we were pretty close.”

“That sounds rough my dad was truck driver he died in 95 when he was hit by a train except....... he didn’t die instantly he died three days later when they took him off the ventilator he never fought in any war and he wasn’t home much he actually went to Mississippi a few times we lived in Wisconsin and I moved here 5 years ago for college I graduated and ended up as a teacher and then a principal it’s been that way since, so where’d you say you’re taking the train to?”

“Weston in Port County down on the coast cut the engines from the train and park em, then I gotta take 2 SD40’s halfway back to here and then pick up some empty hoppers and haul them to BCY the units we got on this train at the lead are 2 M&D SD45’s, a Penn Central C636. and a Gulf Coast and Northern GP9 and about a hundred mixed cars on the back with a single M&D SD60M on the back.” Arron looked at the clock seeing it was now 7:19 PM “now I got about 11 minutes till I gotta leave what else ya wanna know?”

“Well” she thought for a moment “what kinda cars do you have?”

“Well I gotta red 89 F250, a black 1970 Ford Torino damn things older than me i was born in 72 but my motorcycles a bit younger than my dad he was born in 41 my motorcycle’s a 43 Harley Davidson US Army model pretty damn cool if you ask me I finally got it’s engine hooked together now I gotta find a fuel tank for it and.....that ain’t easy.” Arron looked at the clock and saw it was 7:26 PM “I better leave I gotta be out of the station by at least 7:31 any later and the schedule’s screwed over i’ll talk later.” he quickly drank the coffee and got up.

“Wait” said Celestia grabbing his arm “maybe we should exchange numbers so we can talk later.”

“Well you’re gonna have to put yours in mine cause I can’t for the life of me figure that shit out.” he pulled out his phone and handed it to her.

She typed her number into his and she typed his number into hers they shook hands and Arron walked outside 300 feet to the west of the building to the commuter station climbing in the cab of the SD45 and sitting down in the cab Blake having already situated himself in front of the controls looking out the window seeing a red signal for their track.

“So Arron what was happening in there?” said Blake looking at him

“Talked to a woman she was nice exchanged number probably gonna talk more later” said Arron keeping his eyes in front of him

“What no name or age nothing?” said Blake confused.

That’’s it” said Arron as a commuter train passed slowing to a stop next to the train the signal changing to green allowing Arron to pull the train forward.