Safety First

Though the train from Chicago to St. Louis marked my sixth ride, finding the last car never pinged my curiosity until now. It did not start off as a deliberate mission, one more or less found as I went for my walk from car to car. One of the advantages to train travel is the ability to move. When boredom knocks or crying kids strike my nerves, a good walk either to the café car or another passenger car cures the irritating stings. For some reason I realized on this walk that an end to the train existed and the countdown to its discovery commenced.

Tick, tick.

Completely filled with passengers, my car did not reflect the train’s actual capacity. The train cars leading to the end held less and less people, until the last three cabins contained three or less passengers. Little white lies were told via the announcements emphasizing that every available seat must remain clear because the train will be full. After observing this pattern on multiple rides, my advice stands - don’t believe this unless it’s the holidays.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

On the last train, there sat the ticket collectors, the door to the end rattled behind their seats. Of course no one else occupied the cabin and their items decorated surrounding rows. Casually passing by, the coast seemed clear until the opening woosh of the door to the outside stirred one of them to turn around and exclaim,

“Hey, what are you doing? You cannot go out there for the risk of your safety!”

I knew he would ruin the party. All in a days work I guess for a working authority figure.

Tock.