Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2022 20:48:43 -0400 From: James Karvonen Subject: Song of the Lonesome Steel Rails 22. 22. The worst thing that could happened to them while riding the rails happened early the next morning. After hours of stops and delays the train throughout the night the train was finally moving along at a nice pace around 35 miles per hour. The sun had risen a couple of hours ago and Quack though he had nothng that could tell him the time concluded that it had to be around 10:00 in the morning. He made that conclusion judging by the position of the sun above them. They were well out of Charlottesville and were somewhere in North Carolina. "How much money do you have left Little Chooch?" Quack asked. "About thirty dollars, I think. Here let me check." Bobby leaned over and opened one of the flaps on his backpack. He pulled out a small was of money and counted it. "Shit, I have less money then I thought I had. Twenty two dollars, all in one dollar bills to be exact." "That's not very much to get you all the way to California. I have exactly three dollars. I guess I got kind of carried away spending most of the money that I had back in Alexandria." Bobby knew with what money he had left he couldn't support both himself and Quack on a cross country trip. Especially if the run was going to be as slow as the train that they were on. Since leaving Alexandria almost twenty hours ago they definitely weren't making any progress riding the slow freight train that they were on now, stopping as many times as it stopped already. "I'm going to be honest with you Little Chooch, I'm going to have to stop somewhere to try to find some work for a couple of days. The food that we have will run out very before too much longer. So my question to you is, if I do stop and try to find some work, will you stay with me, or will you try to make it on your own?" Though Bobby really wanted to get to California to try and find his father, he really didn't want to do it on his own. Unlike Quack he was just too inexperienced at riding the rails. Having run away from Pine Island back in early July, they were now into September. It had taken him over two months to get this far and they weren't even halfway there. And if the truth of the matter were to be known, he felt a deep compassion for Quack. Some might even call it love. "Well Little Chooch, what are you going to do?" Quack asked. He could see a concerned look in Quacks eyes. Quack definately didn't want him to leave. "We're traveling companions, arent we?" Bobby exclaimed. Quack nodded. "Then why would I want to leave you?" "Oh, Little Chooch." Quack cried out, and he surprised him by leaning towards him to five Bobby a warm living hug. Bobby hugged him back. "I hope you never will leave me." Quack said with tears in his eyes. That told Bobby right then and there that Quack loved him. They heard two long blasts from the locomotives whistle followed by one short one and one long one meaning that they were approaching a grade crossing. And then they heard a series of other whistle blasts followed a hard lurch that rocked the whole train and threw Bobby and Quack forwards. The air brakes beneath the train cut in putting the train into emergency That was followed by a loud hiss of air from the air brakes beneath freight cars, causing the train to slowly grind to a complete stop. They could hear the steady distant chuffing of the locomotive about thirty freight cars ahead of them. There were several blats from the locomotives whistle meaning something out of the ordinary had happened. "Oh hell!" Quack exclaimed. "Whats wrong?" Bobby wanted to know. "The train just went into emergency." "What does that mean? "That means the locomotive either hit something, or a hotbox developed on one of the cars, or something happened to cause the train to stop suddenly like it did. That's no good because that means we could be here for hours, especially if the train hit something at one of these rural grade crossings." "So what are we going to do." "I hate to say it little Chooch, but we're going to have to get off this train, and try to get ahead of it. Before long the brakeman and the conductor will be walking along the length of the train checking every freight car. We surely would get caught then and more then likely turned over to the authorities at the very next town. It is illegal to ride the rails like we're doing, and besides like I said earlier we could be here for hours on end." "Damn." Bobby frowned. "I know, I know I hate it also. But we can't risk getting caught, can we?" "That's for sure. Anyway maybe it would be best to get off this train as slow as its been going." "I would agree with you on that, besides maybe there might be a small town nearby where we both can get some work for a couple of days if you don't mind working some?" "No I don't mind. I can uses a little more money myself, I probably shouldn't have sent all that money home like I did." "Don't fool yourself Little Chooch, you did the right thing." "Okay, we might as well do it." Bobby said. Delays, delays, he thought, I'm never going to get to California like this. He had no idea that riding the rails could be so frustrating. And they sure weren't going anywhere fast. Standing up, they went on ahead and rolled up their bedrolls. When that was done, they grabbed their packs and pulled them up over their shoulders tightening the straps. With Quack taking the lead Bobby followed him to the open door of the boxcar. There they both climbed out of the boxcar.onto the hard dusty ground. From what they could see they were in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the foothills of a mountainous area in North Carolina. Thick heavy woods were all all around them on both sides of the train. "I would suggest that we walk along the tracks towards the locomotive. If we walk in the other direction towards the caboose we're going to run into either the conductor or brakeman who will be walking the length of the train to check it out. And even though they wouldn't be able to do anything, the less conspicuous we are the better off we'll be." "Whatever you want to do Quack, I'm with you." And so it had been decided they would walk towards the locomotive. About thirty freight cars or so ahead of them they could see a steady stream of puffs from the stopped locomotives smoke rising straight up into the sky. Yes, Quack thought. Something definitely had happened or the train wouldn't have stopped as abruptly like it did. After walking along the length of the train for about five minutes or so they found out exactly what had happened. At a rural grade crossing somwhere in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina, the train they were on had hit a Model T Ford pickup truck pushing it a good fifty yards or so passed the rural grade crossing. The pickup truck didn't stand a chance being hit broadside by the heavy chunky 2-8-2 locomotive that was pulling the train. The truck had been cut in half leaving behind a mangled wreck. They also noticed two bloody bodies lying besides the truck meaning that there were fatalities in that deadly crash. Apparently the truck tried to race the the train across the tracks instead of waiting for the train to pass by. It was very apparent to Bobby and Quack that the truck had lost that race that tragically ended up with deadly consequences for the two men who were in that truck. "Damn that's ugly." Quack murmered as he was surveying the wreck. "Let's go." Bobby pleaded having seen enough death since escaping Pine Island three months ago. The engineer and fireman of the locomotive were standing besides the steaming locomotive and wrecked truck debating as to what to do, and how they would be able to contact the authorities at the closest town that was nearby. Because of this wreck this entire section of the busy Southern Railroad would have to be shut down until the mess was cleaned up which could take hours, possibly even a day or so. After all they were in the middle of nowhere somewhere in the state of North Carolina. Instead of following the railroad tracks since nothing would be running on railroad until the wreck was cleaned up, Bobby and Quack decided to walk along the rural dirt road. They had no idea where they would be going or even where they would be sleeping that night. Unless they found something more then likely they would be sleeping under the stars that night. Not only that, but they were hungry. It was a little after noon. What day it was they had no idea. For about a half of mile there was nothing but woods on each side of the road. They were in a hilly area miles from civilization from what they could see. Every now and then they would see an occasional house, but most of the houses were situated well up in the woods. About an hour later since they left the railroad they detected the slight smell of barbeque in the air which made their mouths water. They had food in their packs, so it wasn't like they had nothing to eat, but what food they had in their packs was canned food and dry goods. The smell of barbeque seemed to get even stronger the farther they walked. Rounding a curve on the mountainous dirt road they spotted a clearing.The first thing they came to was a small cemetery. Beyond the cemetery was a small wooden framed white church. Beyond the church was and a wooden framed house and barn near the house. Apparently something was going on at the church because on both sides of the road near the church there were vehicles lined up, both horsedrawn wagons and motorized vehicles. They could hear singing. " Bringing in the sheeves, bringing in the sheeves, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheeves!" The singing was taking place in the churches picnic area located directly across the road from the church. There was a gathering of about fifty people, both men, women and children holding hands and singing. After they sang that song, a heavyset man with black hair and a receding hairline shouted "Hallehueah, hallehueah praise the Lord!" Apparently the two boys had stumbled upon a Sunday afternoon church barbeque. That meant a free meal. Throwing all caution to the wind Bobby and Quack wasted no time taking off their backpacks and setting them down along with their bedrolls against the trunk of an old oak tree. They walked up to the small gathering standing besides the picnic tables near the barbeque pits where the meat was cooking. The picnic tables had all types of food laid out ontop of the tables that included, potato salad, deviled eggs, vegetable salads, homemade bread and biscuits just to name of the items that had been laid out. There were pitchers of lemonade and other beverages, food worthy for a king. Both Bobby and Quacks stomachs rumbled when they saw the spread of delicous food on the tables. .The preacher who was leading the service just happened to notice Bobby and Quack casually walking into the picnic area casually walking towards them. He was a portly man with dark brown hair and a receding hairline. He looked to be in his mid-forties. Besides him was his wife who was slender with a nice figure. She had fiery red hair tied in a bob style. She looked to be in her thirties. Besides the preacher and his wife were two children, a boy with a mop of curly red hair, snub nose and freckles who looked to be about eight or nine years old, and an attractive teenage girl with pigtails who looked to be about fifteen years old. They had to be the preachers two children. He raised his hands then looking over at Bobby and Quack shoutddy, "Welcome you two way faring travelers. Please join us as we are about to partake in this blessed meal that God has provided us with. The invitation was there. Bobby and Quack wasted no time joining the small congregation gathered together near the picnic tables. ""I take it that you two are not from around here." The preacher said. "No sir. We're from New York." Quack was quick to say. "New York! And how is it that you two are down here in this neck of rne woods might I ask?" "We're riding the rails to Atlanta, where we hopefully would be able to find some work.This depression had really taken a toll on our family."'Quack sniffed. It looked like he was about to cry. He put his arm around Bobby's shoulder and drew him close to him. Obviously Bobby could clearly see that Quack putting on an act. "And what about your parents?" The preacher asked. "Their dead sir. This depression killed them. Its just me and my little brother now." Quack continued. They could hear several people within the small gathering murmering softly to themselves buying into Quacks story. "And how did you get here?" "The train we were on hit a truck. Killed the driver and his passenger. So we couldn't stay on the train because there was no telling how long we would have been there. So we decided to get off and to walk to the nearest town wherever that might be." "That would be Oakwood, about five miles yonder." One of the men in the gathering pointed. "Anyway, we were hungry because we hadn't eaten in a couple of days since leaving Washington D.C. We smelled this barbeque and thought maybe we could get a bite here to eat." "Well your welcome to eat all the food you want to eat." The preachers wife replied. Hallehueah! Praise the Lord!" Someone shouted. "God bless you two lonesome souls." Someone else within then gathering shouted. "And what might your names be?" "My name is Johnny Reivers, and this is my little brother Bobby." Quack lied. "And how old are you two if you don't mind me asking." "My little brother is twelve and I'm eighteen." Quack answered "And do you two wayfaring travelers have any place to stay tonight?" The preacher asked. "No sir, we'll probably have to sleep under the stars until we can get on another train, "Well you two don't have to worry about that. Your welcome to sleep in my barn for as long as you need to." The preacher said. "Now if we would all join hands in prayer, we'll bless this food." Both Quack and Bobby joined hands with the others in a prayer to bless the food. Bobby could not believe their good luck. One thing for certain, Bobby concluded. Quack had a way with words. He never would have told the preacher and his little gathering that they were riding the rails. But the way Quack put it, he made half of the congregation feel sorry for them. No one even mentioned the fact that riding the rails was illegal and against the law. Apparently the people in this rural back woods community was sympathetic to those unfortunates who had to ride the rails to find work. And Quack was an expert at making people believe. After they prayed the whole gathering dug in and started to eat. Bobby and Quack literally gorged themselves on hamburgers and ribs and all salads, vegatables and potatoes that had been set out for the gathering. whatever. For desert there were numerous cakes and donuts and even homemade ice cream. By the time they finished their meal, having eaten so much food they could barely walk. They mingled with the families who had attended this social gathering and church meal. They were even given some money for those in the congregation that Quacks little homeless speech had touched upon. All in all what had been a disaster earlier that day had now turned into something else. They had been well fed and had a place to sleep for at least that night. By 5:00 that afternoon, the gathering of church members had finally dispersed. The preacher walked over to Quack and Bobby with his family then said, "I'm sorry, I really hadn't formally introduced myself or my family. My name is Reverend Sydney Poetter, and this my dear and loving wife for over fifteen years, Cynthia. This is my nine year old son, Clay and my lovely fifteen year old daughter, Susan. The name of this Church is the Summerville Church of God. Strangers who are traveling and need a place to stay for the night are always welcome to stay as long as they need be. The only living accomondations I have are a couple of beds upstairs in my barn yonder. When the stock market crashed over three years ago, the Lord told me to set up some accomondations for way fearing travelers who might need to stay here for a couple of days to rest from their travels. Its not the most comfortable livimg quarters but at least you will have a bed to lie on for a couple of nights instead of sleeping on the ground. So you say you are heading to Atlanta?" "Yes sir. With God's deliverence I hope that we can get there." Quack said. "All you need is a little faith and trust in God my son and you will be delivered." Rev. Poetter said. "So how long will you need to stay here.?" "I'm not sure. I really need to earn a little money. Since leaving Washington D.C my little brother an I are flat broke. I really appreciate your church members who gave us a little money. At least when we leave here we'll have something to get us by until we reach Atlanta." "I can give you two some work. As you can see the church needs to be whitewashed, and there's some work that needs to be done around the grounds. I can't say that you will earn that much money but I will include two meals each day you stay. At least when you finally decide to leave here at you'll have something." Quack looked down at Bobby. This was something that he had been hoping for. And he knew that Bobby wanted the same thing."So what do you think about what Rev. Poetter is offering us?" He asked. "I can use a little rest from riding the rails. Let's stay here for a couple of days." Bobby agreed. "Okay Rev Poetter. What you are offering us is more then generous." Quack decided. "Very good. Susan, Clay will you our two guests the room above the barn." "Sure will pa." Susan said. "Let's go get our stuff." Quack said. "If you two need anything, my wife and I will be in the parsonage." Rev Poetter said. "Thank you again sir." Quack said. He watched as the pastor and his wife headed to the parsonage. While Susan and Clay waited, Quack and Bobby headed down to the large oak tree to pick up their bed rolls and backpacks. A minutes or two later they rejoined the two kids. "Come on y'all." Susan said with a deep Southern drawl. They followed the pastors kids to the barn. "So you two are from New York, that's a long way from heah." Little Clay said. "It sure is." Bobby agreed. He liked Clay for Clay reminded him a little of Bean. "When was the last time you had someone stay with you?" Quack asked. "I would say about a month ago or so. We very rarely get drifters staying here. We're bout a mile or so from the railroad tracks." "Well if it hadn't been for the train hitting a pickup truck down at the grade crossing we wouldn't be here right now." "Well Clay and I are glad you two are here. We don't get that many visitors here that are our age. Besides I think you both are kinda cute if you don't mind me saying so."Susan smiled. Cute, Bobby thought. What could that mean? He wondered. "No, I don't mind it at all." Quack replied, blushing a little. They reached the barn. Outside the barn there were several chickens and a couple of roosters running around pecking the ground looking for food. Entering the barn they found the interior rather hot and humid. Inside the barn there were about six horse stalls. From the way they looked it appeared that they hadn't been used in years. "You got to climb that ladder to get up into the loft. That's where the beds are. All there is on top of the bed are bare mattresses filled with straw. But you two got some bedrolls to sleep under it won't be all that bad." Susan explained. "Well tell your pa and ma that we sure do appreciate it putting us up for a couple of days like you're doing." "And we sure like having you stay yeah, don't we Clay." Susan said. "Uh huh." Clay said flashing them a cute chipmunk grin. " Its pretty late now, and I'm sure you two are tired. But maybe tomorrow we can get to know each other a little better, if you know what I mean," Susan winked. That wink that Susan just flashed them told Quack that there might be more to it instead of getting to know each other better. Bobby also had that same feeling. All that remained to be seen. "We'll see you two tomorrow then, won't we Clay?" Susan said. Clay nodded. It was then that the two boys noticed Clay rubbing his crotch through the overalls that he was wearing. That was another indication of things yet to come......