Railroad Crossing

A spell finally broken

It was well past midnight when Russell boarded the train in New Jersey. He was not due to be discharged from the hospital until morning but he could not wait. He had to get out of there.

With his entire left leg in a cast he was able to move only with the aid of crutches. While both of his hands were firmly grasping the crutches, in his left hand he also held the rolled up top of a small paper bag which included toiletries and a very small stack of love letters.

The paper bag and the clothes he was wearing were all the possessions he had at the time.

There were three steps leading up into the train. Steps were not easy with crutches although Russell had already learned that going up steps was easier than going down. Once aboard, he found two empty seats next to each other and sat in one while placing the paper bag in the empty seat next to him and leaning his crutches against that seat.

He was not going far but there were several scheduled stops that would make the trip last longer. He was glad there were not many passengers on the train. As the train began moving he closed his eyes.

Russell had not seen HER in three months — six weeks of which he had spent in the hospital. He could still see HER mesmerizing face plain as day, however; as though SHE were standing right in front of him. He had been seeing it every time he closed his eyes. He was hopelessly in love with HER. He was helplessly under HER spell.

Opening his eyes, he thought about getting out the love letters to read but what was the point? He had already read them enough to have them memorized. Although SHE never came up to New Jersey to visit him in the hospital she replied to all his letters. SHE wrote about how much she missed him and how sorry SHE was for everything. SHE wrote about how she wanted to start fresh all over again, promising it would be different this time. SHE wrote about how she could not wait until he could come down to visit her at her new apartment in Maryland.

‘Visit’ was an odd choice of words considering that he fully intended to spend the rest of his life with HER. It was the one word in all the letters that truly bothered him.

Closing his eyes once again, Russell tried to get some sleep but it was not easy. Every time the train would begin to slow down or whenever there was the slightest jolt, pain would course down through his leg. He did, though, manage to catch a few snatches of slumber.

The sun had not quite risen yet but it was fairly light outside when the train stopped in Maryland. Going down those three steps to disembark from the train Russell almost fell but somehow he managed to catch himself. The pain was very intense, however, and he had to simply stand there on the platform for several minutes to let the pain slowly diminish.

Finally, he grabbed his crutches — and paper bag — and left the train station. In HER last letter she had drawn him a map from the train station to her apartment. First he had to cross over the railroad tracks to the highway on the other side. Then he needed to turn left and go three blocks then turn right and go three more blocks. It was simple and fairly short — even on crutches.

Russell crutched the short distance from the train station to the road that crossed the railroad tracks. A light snow was falling.

Just as he crutched over the railroad tracks his paper bag tore and all its contents spilled out onto the railroad tracks. Cussing, he was about to painfully bend down to retrieve the items when red lights and bells went off. Looking behind him he saw the red and white metal arm come down that blocked traffic from crossing the tracks.

He then looked down the tracks and saw the light of an approaching train that was headed directly toward him. There was not enough time to pick up the items from the bag. There was barely enough time to get off the tracks and get out of the train’s path.

As the train sped by Russell was walloped by the blanket of wind from the train’s wake. The ground under him shook and the vibrations raced through his body. His heart was beating furiously.

Soon the lights and bells stopped and the metal arm began rising. The train was gone. As snow fell on him, Russell stood there for a few minutes regaining his composure. Looking down at the railroad tracks he saw that the love letters had been torn to shreds, pieces of them scattered to either side of the track. His tube of tooth paste had exploded and his razor was mangled. The only thing that had survived the train was his toothbrush.

Was this railroad crossing experience some kind of sign? he thought.

He crutched back out onto the tracks and retrieved his tooth brush. Putting it in his shirt pocket, he tossed what was left of the paper bag in his hand then finished crossing the railroad tracks then crossed the highway and turned left.

Russell was rattled to say the least.

On the second block of the highway there was an old-fashioned diner. He realized that he was quite hungry and he felt that he could stand resting up a bit before arriving at HER apartment. Unlike him, SHE was not a morning person and she probably was not even up yet. So he gave himself and HER a little more time.

Sitting at a booth looking out over the highway and the railroad tracks across the highway, he ate a breakfast of greasy eggs and bacon, hash browns and toast; washing it down with a steaming hot cup of coffee. It may not have been the healthiest of breakfasts but after six weeks of hospital food it was a veritable culinary feast.

Outside, it was still lightly snowing as Russell proceeded to HER apartment. He was glad to see that there were lights on inside but he was not so happy to see that there were four steps leading up to the front porch. His hands were sweaty from nervousness so he dried them on his clothes then firmly grabbed his crutches and proceeded up the stairs without incident. Then he knocked on the door.

He barely could hear some faint noise in the apartment. He waited for a moment then knocked again. Finally, SHE opened the door.

It was that same beautiful face that he saw when he closed his eyes… and it had a huge smile on it.

“Russell! Oh my god! It’s so good to see you! Come in. Come in.”

Once he was inside SHE hugged and kissed him, “Man is it ever good to see you. I’ve missed you so much. Uh… I wasn’t expecting you to show up this early.”

“Well, I couldn’t wait for check-out in the morning so I left in the middle of the night.”

“Oh my. Well, uh… You look great. I’m so glad you’re here. Uh… can I get you a cup of coffee or some orange juice or something?”

“Well, I’m coffeed-out but some O.J. sounds good.”

SHE went into the kitchen and Russell followed her.

With HER back to him as she went into the refrigerator Russell looked around the kitchen. He noticed the back door to the apartment then he noticed the kitchen table. Atop the table were two plates, each with a half-eaten breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast on it. There were two glasses half-filled with orange juice.

Obviously Russell had interrupted HER breakfast and obviously she had not been eating it alone.

Russell again looked at the back door then over to HER. She was now standing facing him, a glass of orange juice in her hand and her jaw dropped. Her mouth hung open as she realized what Russell was looking at.

Russell then looked at the glass of orange juice in her left hand. She was not wearing her wedding ring.

Nothing had changed.

He crutched over to her and took the glass of orange juice. He drank half of it then handed it back to her. He then turned around and went back into the living room. He crutched to the front door and left the apartment. He went down the four steps amazingly quickly without falling and headed for the train station. He never looked back to see if she was watching him leave. SHE certainly never called out after him.

At the train station he bought a ticket for the short run into Baltimore. While waiting to board his flight at the Baltimore airport Russell realized that he felt really, really good — almost happy. SHE may not have changed but on this morning HE did.

The spell had been broken. HE was free.

Of course, he could not truly relax until his flight touched down on the other side of the Mississippi.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction.