train ride for maggie

A shimmering testament to the modern grandeur of invention. Speeding across the world from east to west. A numbing ride leaving those outside in the dust. Sitting quietly in the passenger car…

Maggie sips her tea. She loosens the red velvet curtain beside her. Several people gather outside their rural huts. Green trees glisten in the mid-morning sun. Dark smoke rises from the eastern horizon. Black.

Maggie returns from her reverie. She turns towards her mom.

“Mom.”

No answer. The words springing from the conductor over the loudspeaker mesmerize her mother. She tugs the lace upon the edge of her dress. No answer.

Maggie sits up in her chair. Peeking around her seat, the boy behind her plays with his toy Mercedes. The other mommies and daddies sit silently, stopping only momentarily to reprimand their children. A firm tug on her dress returns Maggie’s bottom “back in your seat young lady.”

Maggie catches words flowing from the mysteriously familiar old voice:

“Technology waves us on in the progress of life. With simple tools and models we conquer the world. Freedom travels at the speed of light. And we will get there.”

Maggie stares at the flowers on her dress, her empty blue and white teacup. A man shouts from the back of the train:

“That’s ridiculous. It’s just his opinion. Each of us…”

Two uniformed figures swiftly emerge from the front door of the train. They usher the man out the back door with only a short scuffle. The conductor’s voice drowned out the man’s kicking and screaming. The trains-people resumed shifted back in their rows and refocused on the conductor’s words.

Maggie’s face brightens. She peers out her window once again. Another village passes. The large mountain casts a shadow on the below. A tattered man waves at the train from his horse. Maggie rises to her knees and eagerly waves back, dimples deeply ingrained in her cheeks. She presses her nose against the windowpane.

A gaggle of geese fly overhead. Rows of farmland hypnotize her wandering eyes. The shaded trees sway softly in the wind. Clouds hang easily amidst the darkening sky.

She turns quickly to her mother. The conductor’s voice drones on:

“You must choose where your life is headed. Will you allow your path to be predetermined? Will your life be guided by another - ”

“I need to go to the bathroom.”

Maggie’s mom shifts her weight without looking down at her daughter. Maggie moves into the aisle. She passes rows of blank staring faces. Her feet wobble with the slightly unsettling train turbulence.

Maggie stops just short of the back door. The thickening smoke on the horizon looms closer. She opens the back door.

Before she reaches the bathroom door, another door catches her eye – a black door, repainted multiple times and dented.

In the bathroom she hears yelling and screaming like before. It gets closer. Her shoulders lower. She remains as quiet as possible. She hears voices. A door opens. Wind and train track clatter immediately force the men to shout to hear one another:

“You can sit back down and shut up or we’ll throw you off.”

“But I want to talk to the conductor. He’s leading people to certain doom.”

“That is not an option. This will be your doom unless you shut up.”

“Didn’t you see the smoke around the bend? We’re headed towards sure disaster.”

“Which part of this ultimatum didn’t you understand?”

“Can’t you just let me talk to the people for a brief second? It’s beautiful outside. We’re missing it.”

“That is not an option. We’re going this way no matter what.”

“But I can’t just let everyone fall…”

A door slammed. Only the smooth ambient train noise accompanied the normalized volume voices:

“Why can’t people just sit and enjoy the ride?”

“I don’t know. I mean the chairs are comfortable.”

A door opens and shuts quietly.

Maggie slowly washes her hands. She stares beyond herself in the bathroom mirror.