Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:15:01 -0600
From: dnrock@rock.com
Subject: Of Man and Boy 13

Of Man and Boy
by:  dnrock(dnrock@rock.com)


13:  Grant's Getting To Montana

Grant had gone back to Montana with Gerald.  He did not want to leave dad
or his dolphin pod, but he wanted to see his pony and grandfather again.
What's a boy, even one as bright as Grant, to do?  All he could do was make
the most of it.  Paul had routed them through Atlanta and Chicago.  He
thought stopping in Chicago, Jerry and Grant could enjoy the Museum of
Science and Industry.  Paul suggested they take the Amtrak train, the
"Empire Builder", from Chicago to Havre.  There are a number of western
cities with French names, this one probably named after the port city of Le
Havre on the Normandy coast.  People in Montana call it "Ha -- ver". [This
is a linguistic quark your author has always puzzled over.  Since it is
spelled the same way as the French, where does the "er" sound come from?
It has no final "r".  In French one pronounces it as if the final "e" is
not present, "Harv" as that voul sound is muted.]  The rout goes on to
Seattle and Portland, splitting at Spokane but there are many stops along
the way.

The Empire Builder was the name of a crack, first class Great Northern
passenger service train.  The Northern Pacific had the North Coast Limited,
they ran Minneapolis to Seattle, the Chicago to Minneapolis section was
handled by the Burlington.  That is as far east as the Great Northern and
Northern Pacific went.  The present rout is more or less along the original
Great Northern right of way except for the Chicago to Minneapolis part
which runs on the old Milwaukee Road tracks, now part of the Canadina
Pacific.

Having once been once to Chicago, Grant knew his way around the Loop, at
least a little.  He looked forward to another stay at the Palmer House and
visiting "his park"; this time with no snow on the ground.  Gerald too
looked forward to visiting Chicago again.  He had not been there in a long
time and it was even longer since he toured the Museum of Science and
Industry.  His Eric was only a boy at the time.  Gerald remembered how
excited the child was, running from one wonder to another.  He assumed
Grant would be just as excited.  Hell he was excited about the prospect,
just a bit to old to run, that's all.

In the morning Gerald woke up and looked around.  Grant was already awake
and reading a book.  It must have been humorous as Grant was giggling
quietly with ever turn of the page.

"What are you reading, is it funny?"

"Good morning G3, yes it is funny.  Mark Twain's Humorous Sketches."

"Yes he can be very funny."

"I already read Tom Sawyer and Huck Fin and dad read me life on the
Mississippi.  I saw the Tom and Huck movies too.  Will you take me swimming
before breakfast?"

"Of course, if that is what you want."  Grant dropped his book and flew
across the room jumping on G3's bed for a hug and a kiss.  Grant pulled the
covers off the old man and assisted him to rise.  Gerald is just a bit
stiff most mornings, comes with the age he always says.  Grant has a way of
helping him overcome that.  It has something to do with his bubbling
personality and his little boy nakedness.  He is just so cute.  His gigi is
not the least bit interested in him sexually.  In fact he is not all that
interested in sex any more period.

After finishing in the bathroom, Gerald pulled on a moderate pair of
monotone gray broad shorts.  Grant squeezed into this bright red Speedo.
The one that just, with emphasis on just, covers his bubble butt and
display his boyhood in the most provocative fashion.  This would set off
alarms in any boy lovers or admires they should encounter.  That is Grant's
intention.  He likes to be seen, noticed as it were.  He is as we know,
proud to be a boy and proud of his buff boy body.

They both pulled on Tee shirts, Gerald's said GGP and Grant's GGS and
slipped into runners.  Gerald took his electronic room card-key, placing it
in the pocket of his shorts.  Just as they were going out the door Grant
remembered their goggles and ran back for them.

After a shower, dressing and feeding, Grant lead Gerald to the Concierge's
table to get museum transportation instructions.  The Concierge remembered
Grant but not his name.  He inquired about the success of the gifts Grant
had purchased just before Christmas, met Gerald and told him which bus to
take south and where the bus stop was.  Grant presented the man with a
small but very colorful gastropod shell he collected on the beach at
Poseidondoro.  The Concierge proudly placed it in a position of honor on
the large polished table where he sat.  The Concierge liked shells, he
liked visiting the Virgin Islands too.  He did not remember that Grant
lived there or that he had expressed his liking for shells but he must
have, he thought.  He was correct in that.  He would remember Grant's name
from now on.

The Museum of Science and Industry has been a fixture in Chicago for a very
long time.  Like all great museums it is continually upgrading and adding
things.  What Gerald did not know, before they arrived, was two new
exhibits, one traveling and one permanent, would have more than just some
educational value. [Author's note: If you are interested in learning a bit
more about this great place please go to
http://www.msichicago.org/index.html.  I don't mean to sound like a
salesman for it or any other places mentioned in my story but...]

The outside is massive and impressive.  The building is stone and in a
Neoclassical style.  Grant thought the Field Museum that he visited with
Paul at Christmas time was unbeatable, he was now not so sure about that.
Once inside he want into information and sensory overload.  He had no
concept of what to do first.  Gerald studied the map and brochure and
decided to take charge.  "Well this place is awesome but we need to take it
in chunks.  I suggest we head for the Great Train Story first and then look
at the steam engine in the great hall and the Silver Streak Pioneer Zephyr,
the Coal Mine and then the Giant Walk-Through Heart and over to Body
Worlds."

The Great Train Story replaces the Museum's 60-year-old model railroad
exhibit and boasts a 3,500 square foot layout, that is what the brochure
said.  It depicts the railroad's winding journey between Chicago and
Seattle, passing through the Midwest, the Plains States, the Rockies, the
Cascades, and into the Pacific Northwest.  Gerald informed Grant that he
and Eric had spent many hours looking at the old exhibit, when Eric was a
boy.  Along the way, trains are involved in industries as diverse as grain
commodities, raw materials for manufacturing, consumer goods for import and
export, lumber, apples, and tourism.  Gerald pointed out that their Amtrak
ride would take them over this same rout and they would see from the window
many of the things depicted in the exhibit.  Grant was getting very excited
and understood now why all the railroad oriented stuff first.

Grant tried to stay close to Gerald, he tried not to run around to much.
He tried not to shout across the room and to, well behave, as his mother
would have put it.  He is a bit of a wonder boy, that is true, but he is
just a boy after all and boys will be boys as the old saying so correctly
puts it.  He was not all that successful.  In fact he was not even close to
successful if the judge was anyone other than his doting great grandfather.
From Gerald's point of view he was just short of perfect.  To grandparents
of any vintage or either gender, grandchildren are a gift from the gods and
these gifts tend to be indulged.

At the steam engine and Zephyr displays Gerald answered an endless barrage
of questions.  Grant would read every word of every sign and just launch
into them.  Gerald had to reach back, way back in some cases to recall the
physics or chemistry or perhaps even the history and reasoning behind this
or that.  He was having as much fun as Grant and Grant was having a
pervertible ball.

Gerald realized that once Grant got on the train and experienced it he
would be some upset getting off in Havre and not going on to Seattle.  Oh
well, maybe Paul would like to join them on another train adventure.  The
boy was stunned by the great hall with airplanes hanging from the ceiling,
steam engines and other things on the floor it was magical.  Gerald
wondered how he would react when he got to the Smithsonian's Space Science
museum in D. C.  Gerald was already planning.

The walk through the heart and other biological displays was outstanding.
Grant was able to put his photographic memory to a real test.  Did the kid
perform?  You bet he did, so much so, that often other people gathered
around just to hear him.

The Body Worlds exhibition features more than 200 authentic human
specimens, including entire bodies, individual organs and transparent body
slices that have been preserved through the process of "plastination," a
technique that replaces bodily fluids and fat.  "BODY WORLDS offers a
once-in-a-lifetime chance to see and understand our own physiology and
health and to gain new appreciation and respect for what it means to be
human."  that's what the brochure said.

Grant not only learned how things worked but was able to get a real three
dimensional feel for the muscles, skeleton and other systems while testing
his knowledge and Gerald's too, by naming even the smallest elements.
Grant was beside himself and Gerald not far behind.  Gerald realized his
old version of Gray's was not going to cut it.  Perhaps the new version is
in order, he knew the 1997 version is available on DVD but Gerald was sure
he read about a new update, the 37th edition or something like that, he
would look into it.

Oh, they did the Coal Mine, the Omnimax, seeing "The Human Body and Mystery
of the Nile" films and about everything else.  The U 505 was closed for
renovations, so Grant missed the World War Two sub and they did not do the
727 having already flown on even bigger aircraft.  It was one very long day
for the boy and the man.  They had arrived just after the museum opened at
9:30 a.m. and stayed until it closed at 4 p.m.  In fact they were the last
of the visitors to be herded out the door.  Gerald making some comment
about cattle being easier than people to get moving.  Grant and Gerald
dosed off a bit on the bus ride north almost missing their stop.  Gerald
hoped he captured Grant and the museum well, for the others you know.  He
had Paul's digital camera set on auto.  Old eyes are not quite what they
once were and he never was much of a photographer anyway.

Having started their day so early and done so much, both boy and
grandfather found themselves in need of a nap before ordering dinner in
their room.  They kicked off their shoes and Grant snugged up to Gerald
they were both asleep in an instant.  Grant of course had to call dad after
he woke up and fueled up.  He gave Paul a complete run down on his day
describing the Body Worlds exhibit in such glowing terms that Paul became
convinced he too must see it.

Paul was sad and just a bit jealous that Gerald and not himself had the
experience of Grant's wonder and enthusiasm for learning at the museum.
Sure he had taken him to the Field and they both got to look at Sue and
countless other wonderful things.  Paul could not help himself with these
thoughts.  There would be other opportunities and other museums.  They
would revisit many of them over and over again.  But this was Grant's first
time at MSI.

He wondered if Grant missed him as much as he missed Grant.  Probably so
but he hated sleeping alone again.  So did Grant but knowing how tired the
boy probably was tonight it would not make any difference.  He would miss
the boy's first cross county train ride, his first time sleeping in a
"Pullman", his first time seeing the countryside from the observation car.
He had already experienced many other Grant firsts and he would experience
others in the future.  He did not quite know but thought he had some idea
just how important all this was to Gerald.  Paul was learning to be a dad.
He was learning it the only way any of us learn such things, by doing.  In
the final analysis Gerald's emotions were more important than his petty
selfishness.

As this internal dialogue died off Paul joined Morphemes.  His mind was
active, having many dreams.  He knows all about REM sleep and the theories
about dreams and why we dream and if or if not that have meaning.  All that
aside he dreamt that Poseidon himself rose up from the sea, trident in hand
and smiled down at him, his long flowing beard wet and punctuated with sea
weed.  "Mortal you have done well with my gift, you shall be rewarded,
Hermes shall bring you a sign."  Paul did not take this dream as anything
more than his scientific mind would allow.  An event of no external
importance.

Union Station, the only remaining passenger terminal in Chicago, is about
10 blocks west of the Palmer House.  It is just across (west) of the river
on Canal Street.  (That would be the Chicago River) Just a bit to far to
walk with lots of luggage.  Anyway they spent the morning in Grant Park
enjoying the warm spring sun.

The Empire Builder was scheduled to leave about 2:30 p.m. (CST).  Grant
wanted another "Chicago Style" hot dog for lunch, a thing Gerald had not
enjoyed for many years.  While the bellman assisted Gerald, Grant paid
another visit to the concierge.  He remembered the name and taxi company of
the driver that took him and Paul for their hot dog lunch in December.  The
concierge made the arrangements and summoned the door man, telling him to
see to it his friend Paul Grant Stum the Third and his great grandfather
got the taxi he had just ordered.  When Grant reached into his pocket to
give the concierge a tip he stopped him presenting his cheek for another
kiss.  This fellow obviously knew value when his saw it.

Union Station is one of those grand edifices going into service in 1925.
In 2001 Amtrak, now the owner, began some serious redevelopment work,
moving their offices a few blocks away.

It is a grand place. Gerald told Grant a bit of the station's history.
Needless to say Grant was some impressed.  The place is filled with
commuter trains in the morning and late afternoon.  Around mid day things
are a little quieter but still busy by eight year old boy standards.

Gerald described for Grant the great Milwaukee Road trains of the past:
Hiawatha and the Pioneer Limited, that ran Chicago to Seattle through
Harlowton, when he was a boy and young man.  And of his coming east on the
Hiawatha to attend medical school at the University of Chicago.  He told
Grant about coming east with his father on the Pioneer Limited and
attending the Great Chicago Railroad Fair in 1949.  In those days most of
the freight trains were still steam between Harlowton and Chicago and he
described the sound the drivers and pistons made, how wonderful it sounded
on a clear night as the heavy trains pulled the gentle grade into the
Harlowton yard.

Grant is an information sponge, he takes in information like most people
drink water.  They had arrived at Union Station about an hour and a half
before departure.  That gave Gerald ample time to tell his stories and spin
his railroad yarns.  In the gift shop he purchased a large book filled with
photographs of historical engines and cars.  In one section of the book it
reviewed the whistle and hand/lantern signals used for crew communication
before the advent of hand held radios.  Grant memorized this in about two
minutes.

About a half an hour before departure they went down to the platform. The
Empire Builder was just backing in.  At the switch, maybe 30 yards out from
the platform, the engineer gave three short horn toots.  The signal for
backing up, and the train began to move.  Grant watched the brakeman giving
his hand signals to the engineer.  The brakeman was hanging out the open
door, having got back on after throwing the switch and as the rear car
moved into the platform area he held his arm straight out and lowered his
arm slightly to signal slow, he dropped off the train on the concrete
platform and walked backward along side, his right arm making a circular
motion which means back up, than three hand waves from the center of the
body out for three car lengths, two hand waves for two car lengths, one
wave for one and then the swinging across the body above the knees to
signal stop.  The rear coupling kissed the bumper block, just like it was
supposed to, as the engineer gave one short toot on the horn.  Grant could
only imagine what it must have been like to work the freights in days gone
by, the rear brakeman, called a flag man, hanging off the caboose giving
hand and lantern signals.  The acrid smell of burning coal in the caboose
stove, kerosene burning in the mantel lamp over the table, the pungent oder
of grease and oil, even the aroma of oakum, kept on hand to quench the hot
boxes and the sulfur of the flares.

Engine signals are still called whistle signals but the true whistle went
out with steam.  Air hors now replace them, Gerald was telling the boy.
The brakeman over heard this and began talking to Grant and Gerald.  He
promised to tell Grant all about railroading once they were on their way.
There is something about trains, especially steam driven trains, that
fascinate little boys.  It must be the same thing or type of fascination
that makes them so interested in dinosaurs and air ships.  In this respect
even Gerald is still a little boy. (Any speculation about the author?)

The train was more or less on time arriving in Havre.  Paul Allen Stum the
First was at the station.  It is about a 200 miles from Harlowton to Havre
which translates to the better part of 4 hours. The days are long at this
time of the year, even if they stopped along the way it would be a full
daylight ride.  The Empire Builder is scheduled in at about 2:30
p. m. (MST) which means about 25 hours from Chicago.  It turned out to be
26.5.  PA took Grant and Jerry to an old soda fountain that still operated.
Grant had his first, real ice-cream soda.  Dairy Queen eat your heart out.
There isn't anything better on a hot afternoon, in dry old Montana, than
hard chocolate ice cream, carbonated water and chocolate syrup in a tall
glass with a long spoon and a large straw sticking up above the brownish
foam.

As they drove toward the ranch Grant and Jerry regaled PA with all their
experiences in Chicago and on the train for the first three hours.  The
last hour PA traveled in silence as both his passengers had fallen asleep.
Grant snapped awake as the wheels of the SUV hit the gravel of the long
ranch drive way.  The machine came to a stop and Grant was out the door on
a dead run for the barn and his pony.  PA marveled at the speed the lad was
achieving, he was not sure if his fastest Quarter could cover it as fast.
He was about to say something about getting his close dirty, which Grant
would have ignored anyway, but Jerry stopped him.  "That's what washing
machines are for" anticipating PA's unarticulated comment.  "I need a cold
beer."

........................

[ This is another section you can skip, unless interested in such things:

The Chicago Union Station is one of the last of the grand American railway
stations. The station replaced the overcrowded Grand Passenger Station
built in 1881 for a consortium of four railroads. This consortium, headed
by the Pennsylvania railroad, included the Burlington and the Milwaukee
Road wanted to create a new, large railway station befitting the city's
status as America's railway hub. They wanted the station to make an
architectural impact, similar to New York's Grand Central Terminal and
Washington's Union Station.  The Burlington famous for its Zephyr to the
Bay Area handled the great passenger trains of the Northern Pacific and
Great Northern until the early 60's.  The NP and GN both terminated in
Minneapolis.  The Burlington provided a vital link for them into Chicago.

Daniel Burnham, Chicago's famous architect who was responsible for the
magnificent Beaux-Arts Union Station in Washington, started drawing plans
for the new railway station, but he died before the design was
completed. His work was taken over by Graham, Anderson and Probst, later
joined by White.  Construction of the building started in 1913 and was
finished 12 years later, in 1925.

The west side building contains the large waiting room, known as the 'Great
Hall'. The waiting room has a 112 ft/34m high vaulted skylight, marble
floors with long benches and marble walls with large Corinthian columns.
According the the original plans, the building would also have 20 floors of
office space, but only 8 were completed.

Although the station could handle as many as 400,000 passengers per day,
about 100,000 passengers made use of the station during its heyday in the
1940s. The station has two sets of tracks, 10 leading northbound and ten
southbound. It is estimated to be capable of handling more than 700 trains
in a single day.

After the formation of Amtrak, most of the train services were directed to
the Union Station.  Dearborn Station was closed in 1971 and Central Station
in 1972, the Union Station remained as the only passenger railway station
in downtown Chicago.

In 1992 the Union Station was renovated by the Lucien Lagrange Associates
and in 2002, the building was (finally) designated a Chicago Landmark.]

Harloton was the place where the Milwaukee Road switched from Steam to
Electric for the heavy haul through the mountains.  Today one of those
electric units is on display in down town Harloton.  The original depot is
still standing and a local historical society was painting it in the summer
of 2009. It was worth a brief stop should the reader be passing through and
interested in such things.