Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:47:53 +0000
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: Riding the Wind  Chapter 2

Welcome back the second chapter. Mason is now on the train and heading
south. It doesn't take him long to meet the boy he saw at the Tacoma
station. He is about to find out that this trip might not be quite as
boring as he thought it was going to be. In fact, it didn't take him long
to learn that Liam was a pretty special boy.

We have sexual situations between minors here to be 18 to read. As
Mason's dad says, "Be Safe". And remember this story is mine.

I can be contacted at thehakaanen@hotmail.com

CHAPTER 2
THE COAST STARLIGHT

The "Coast Starlight" left the Tacoma station on time. I wanted to get up
and try to find the two blond boys I saw on the platform at the station, or at
least find the older one. But I knew I had made a big fuss about sitting in
the Sightseer Lounge instead of the PPC so I figured I'd better stay there
until we left Puget Sound.

I should tell you that I really don't get all upset and pissed off a lot. I'm sure
I surprised my dad with my lousy attitude about the trip since he figured I'd
want to do this whole bonding thing with him and Garrett. I guess in a way I
do want to do the bonding thing and doing it another time would have made
me happier. I just can't be totally good and let my dad get away with things.
Parents have to be raised right. I didn't win this battle, but maybe dad will
think about things better and ask me what I think next time. Yeah, I know,
that's a big maybe, but he really is a pretty good dad.

Anyway, while I was thinking about how mad I should be, I forgot about
being mad as we started along the waterfront park in Tacoma, went
through the two mile tunnel under Tacoma and got to the Narrows. The sun
was out and it was really pretty. We went under the two Narrows Bridges
and by houses built on little islands and through two parks along Puget
Sound. The Olympic Mountains were out on the other side. I really like
looking at scenery like that, even stuff I see a lot like the Sound and the
Olympics. I kind of got myself into a good mood. I saw the four islands in
the south Sound. I knew Fox and McNeil Island and the other two islands,
but I decided to play dumb and ask dad what the other two islands were.
He said the big one was Anderson and the small one was Ketron. I think he
was surprised I asked, since it was the first time I talked to him other than
when I had to. Truth be told, I was surprised I asked too, but it seemed like
a good idea at the time, and I'm sure it made him feel important. Call it a
bonding moment.

Garrett wasn't as into watching scenery as I was. He had a book and was
reading it sometimes and looking up sometimes. He loves his books. He's
pretty easy going and not a bad guy for a little brother. I was still feeling
bad about yelling at him when he caught me messing around naked in my
room. I figured I should apologize to him. I wasn't ready to apologize to dad
yet.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning, Garrett."

"It's okay. I should've knocked first, so I'm sorry too."

Like I said Garrett was pretty easy going most of the time. He didn't like
fights or arguments much. Sometimes I thought he was too easy going
instead of standing up for himself. Maybe I was like that when I was nine,
too, but that was almost three years ago. I knew I made him mad this
morning when he said he was going to tell on me. I knew he wouldn't do it
because he never does, but I knew I upset him because I was so grumpy.

Then he totally surprised me. He stood up and took a step towards my
seat, putting his mouth to my ear. "Can I see your stiffy again sometime?"

I wanted to say, `Garrett, that's nasty" but instead I came up with still
another surprise when I whispered back, "I'll think about it. Maybe I'll let
you later on the trip."

He flashed me a big grin. He's got a great smile along with hair that is
lighter than mine and freckles that are lighter than mine and teeth that are
straighter than mine so he doesn't need to get braces. I felt better now that
I made him happy. I wasn't totally ready to make dad happy yet though.

We finally left the Sound and headed into the Nisqually River delta (yes, I
had to look up how to spell it) and after crossing the freeway we would be
inland for a long time.

"Okay, dad, I'm ready to go back to the Parlour Car." I figured he tried to
make me happy by coming to the Sightseer car, so I probably should let
him go back to the sleeping car section. I mean I wasn't ready to make him
happy overall, but it was probably a good idea not to push things and keep
giving him little things; this was a favor for a favor, that's all.

We made our way through the dining car and back to the PPC. I was
hoping to see two blond heads, or at least one blond one, and I wasn't
disappointed. My heart started thumping when I saw them at one of the
little tables in the center of the car. Dad sat down in one of the big swivel
chairs while Garrett and I took the open spot next to the two boys who got
on in Tacoma.

I never knew that seeing another boy could make my dick start to get hard
instantly in my pants. Andrew got me all hard because he was naked and
talking about sex things and doing sexy thinks like touching me when we
measured our dicks. But the blond boy sitting in the Parlour Car playing
UNO with his brother made me hard just looking at him. He could see that
he was bigger than me. He had about the same build as Andrew did. His
hair was so blond it was bright. He had it a little long in front but not real
long. His brother's hair was really thick and a little curly and hung across
his ears. His was blond, too, but it was a little darker than the big brother's
hair. I was speechless; all I could do was stare at the older boy.

"Hey, my name is Liam." He was really friendly right off the bat. I was going
to find out that he was not a shy boy at all. He stuck out his hand. There
were all kinds of little surprises today. Kids never stick out their hand to
shake hands with another kid so I was surprised again. I wasn't sure what
to do, so I just kept staring at him. I had to think I was a dork, because
there he was with his hand sticking out and there I was staring at him and
doing nothing.

He smiled, showing nice straight white teeth compared to my crooked ones
with braces. He skin was clear and smooth, I mean really smooth with no
fuzz or anything. Andrew has some really light fuzz on his cheeks, but this
kid didn't have anything at all. My face didn't have any fuzz either, but it
was covered with freckles which I figured he'd think looked stupid. I don't
know why I cared what he thought because I never had any problems with
how I looked (except maybe my teeth) until just now.

He sat there with his hand out and a smile on his face and I sat next to him
feeling more and more stupid. Like I said I'm pretty friendly and outgoing so
I started feeling even stupider because this was so not like me.

"What's your name?" Liam asked. His voice was high and sweet and
beautiful. I never thought about somebody's voice before except to check
out who had a voice that was changing. That was something we all did,
kind of like me and Andrew checking out dick sizes. My dick was so hard in
my shorts it was almost hurting. I wanted to adjust in to make it feel more
comfortable. But I finally got my brain to working after it felt like it was shut
off for the last hour.

I stuck out my hand and Liam took it and gripped it hard. His hand felt
smooth and warm in mine. I felt embarrassed because my handshake was
all limp in comparison to his. "I'm Mason." I tried hard not to squeak my
name out and pretty much succeeded. As weird as I thought shaking hands
was at the time, for some reason I didn't understand I didn't want to let go. I
thought I kinda held his hand too long for a simple handshake.

The next surprise was his brother shaking hands real quick with me and
Garrett telling us his name was Wolf. When Garrett and Wolf shook hands
that got all the hands shook.

"I never knew anybody who shook hands before," I said. "I guess I was
kinda surprised." I was trying to cover for me not shaking his hand because
I was too busy letting him get me horny.

"My mom's from Germany. Everybody shakes everybody's hand there, so
Wolf and I do it, too. It's what she taught us to do, and yeah, it does feel
weird doing it sometimes. But I'm used to it. Wolf doesn't do it as much."

"I gotta shake hands with adults when I meet them, but never with another
kid."

"See," he said with that smile of his, "now you've done it with another kid."

We both giggled. Dang he had a beautiful giggle too. My dick was still hard.
If this wasn't those hormones I was supposed to have making all horny
then I didn't know what it was. But I also knew a boy wasn't supposed to
make me horny like this, unless maybe we were playing around like me
and Andrew did. Girls were supposed to make me horny like this.

"Want to play UNO with us?" Wolf asked. "I'm beating Liam but I don't mind
starting over." Wolf was really cute, too. His face was a little chubby, and
he looked like he might still have a bit of baby fat. Liam had kind of thin
face. But even with their faces being different and their hair cut different I
could tell they were brothers.

"We have a noon lunch reservation," I said. "So maybe after lunch if that's
okay?" On a train dining car you just can't go waltzing in anytime and get a
seat. Even at breakfast, which doesn't do reservations, you sometimes end
up on a waiting list.

"That's cool," Liam grinned. "Ours is at 12:15. So I guess we can find out
about each other before lunch." Liam was really friendly and outgoing and
liked to talk. I thought I was outgoing, too, but I was nothing like Liam.
Besides, it's harder to be outgoing when your tongue is tied and your dick
is hard.

"I live in Tacoma," Liam went on. "We were supposed to leave tomorrow to
go to Chicago, but the train got cancelled so now we're going on this one
and then on another one that goes to Chicago."

"Wow, that's really cool, `cuz the same thing happened to us." This was the
first good thing about this trip since dad said we were going to be doing it.
"We're going to the Mariners and White Sox games."

"We're going to see some relatives, but we plan on going to at least one of
those games." It was then that I noticed he was wearing a Mariners t-shirt. I
guess I was so busy looking at his face I forgot there was more of him. "Oh,
wow, and you've got a Mariners shirt on just like me." I guess he was
looking at me about as close as I was looking at him. Garrett and Wolf
weren't wearing Mariner shirts. Garrett brought some along but we both
weren't going to wear ones every day.

I noticed that Garrett had walked around us and squeezed in next to Wolf.
Garrett was a lot like Liam and never seemed to be shy around anybody.
They were busy talking, too, but I wasn't paying any attention to what they
were saying. All I could to was look at Liam and listen to his beautiful voice.

"We're getting on the `California Zephyr' in Sacramento," I said.

"We're getting on a train in Sacramento, too. I think that's the one."

"It is. That's the only one you can take." Even though I keep saying I'm not
a train crazy nut like dad is, I can't help but learn things from him. It made
me feel a little pleased that I knew more about the train than Liam did. It
was kind of like knowing a foreign language when somebody else doesn't.

"Sweet. We're going all the way to Chicago together." I was getting the
feeling that Liam liked me. I know I sure liked him. "Are you going with just
your dad or is your mom in your sleeping car?"

"Just me and my dad---oh, and Garrett. Dad calls it bonding, but I call it
missing three baseball games."

"I'll miss two games, but it's okay. Mom says family is the most important
thing. I was a little upset, but we had to do it now. Mom's sister lives in
Chicago. She's is pregnant and mom wants to see her, so we're all going
there together. We'll be doing a lot of stuff including a baseball game."

"Why are you taking the train instead of flying?"

"Dad doesn't like all the security crap you gotta go through. And he said it
would be fun to do something different like take the train and have us see
the country. Mom almost changed his mind when we had to change trains
and leave a day early, but dad got his way and here we are." I wondered if
his dad was train nut like mine was.

"What kind of name is Liam?" I asked hoping I wasn't sounding rude or
anything. It's just I'd never heard the name Liam before.

"It's Irish. I was named for one of my dad's uncles who lives in Ireland."

"I got my name in a really weird way" I said, "but it's kind of a long story."

"Well, it's not like we're going to be anywhere soon, so tell me your weird
long story." He acted like he was totally interested and that made he like
him even more. I mean my dick wasn't hard, finally, but that was just
because I quit paying attention it. I knew that wasn't going to last.

"Well, I guess I didn't come out of my mother real easy. She had a hard
time and they thought they might have to like cut me out or something. Dad
said it was like I was building a brick wall inside of mom to keep me from
coming out. Well, I finally popped out. They had another name picked out
for me, but they won't tell me what. All they'll tell me is that they figured that
since masons were the guys who built brick walls the name kinda fit me
perfectly. So that's how I became Mason."

"That is a really cool story," Liam said with enthusiasm, like he really, truly
liked it. Liam's leg somehow moved up against mine. I didn't try to move
mine away, even though I was sure it was an accident. The feeling made
me shiver and it made me get hard all over again. He moved his leg a little
more and since we were wearing shorts the skin of our legs was touching. I
kept my leg still and he pushed just a little more.

I started thinking that maybe he was pushing my leg on purpose, not by
accident. Just to be sure, I pushed back a little bit. He didn't move his leg at
all. I was totally hard again. This was getting more and more interesting.

"I'm 11 and I'm gonna be 12 in August." This time my voice squeaked as I
gave this very important piece of information, figuring I should reveal
everything about me. It was time for me to let Liam know how grown up I
really was.

"I just turned 12 last week," Liam informed me. Okay, so he was a little bit
more grown up than I was. Our legs were still touching, neither of us
making any attempt to break them apart. I wondered if Liam was touching
mine on purpose just like I was touching his. I wondered if Liam maybe
knew even more about things than Andrew did and did some of the things
that Andrew did.

My boner was so tight in my pants it was aching. It felt like it wanted to
explode right out my shorts just like that monster jumped out of the guy's
stomach in that "Alien" movie. I wondered if Liam had a boner, too. I tried to
steal a look but his shorts were bunched up and the little table was blocking
too much for me to be able to tell.

My thoughts were interrupted by dad coming over. "Looks like you guys are
getting to be friends," he said with a smile. I knew I should move my leg but
I didn't and Liam didn't either. But I did introduce Liam to my dad. Liam
shoot hands of course and dad looked pleased by that. I think dad liked
Liam right away and that gave me a good feeling.

"Pleased to meet you, Liam," dad said. "I've just been talking to Liam's
parents. We were thinking maybe you guys might want to sit together at
lunch."

I smiled and said that would be great. He told us to wait a moment and
turned to face Garrett and Wolf who were sitting across the aisle from us
playing UNO . He asked them the same question and they were equally
excited by the prospect of eating together. They were obviously becoming
friends as well. Of course Wolf shook hands with dad, too, making another
good impression.

We set it up so that Liam and I would eat at noon with Liam's parents and
Garrett and Wolf would eat at the 12:15 setting with my parents. Lunch was
only a few minutes away. I told Liam I needed to go to the bathroom and
got up to head for the sleeping car ahead of us to use the bathroom. For
the first time in what seemed like hours our legs separated. I yanked on my
shorts hoping it would move my dick around so that my boner would be
hidden.

I was pleased when Liam followed me out of the PPC and into the first
sleeper. We had to step up to enter the sleeper because the cars were built
at different times and the floor on the PPC was lower than the floor of the
sleeper. I think Liam was impressed when I told him that piece of history.
Maybe there is something good about know train stuff.

We had to walk down a narrow corridor with windows on our left side and
bedrooms on our right. When we got about to the middle of the car the
corridor moved to the center of the car with the small bedrooms called
roomettes on both sides. There was a coffee pot there and some juice.
There was a bathroom there too, but I told Liam we should go down the
stairs because there were more bathrooms there and we could each get
one and not have to wait. I guess I was really acting like I knew what I was
doing because he just said "cool" and followed me down the twisting steps
to the lower level. We had to make two turns so that when we got to the
corridor there we were facing the opposite direction from when we started.

If we turned to the right there were four more roomettes and then a big
family bedroom at the end that stretched all the way across the car. Liam
told me his family was in one of those in the next sleeper, which was one
sleeper away from where were now. I said we had one of the bedrooms in
the next car after that. There were three sleepers on the "Coast Starlight."

Across from the end of the stairs there was a shelf for storing carry-on
baggage and stuff and then the doors to get on and off the train and then
the bathrooms. On the left of the hall there were two bathrooms and on the
right there was a shower and then another bathroom. There was another
big bedroom at the end that was for handicapped people.

Okay, now that you know how everything looks I will tell you what
happened next. Nothing happened is what happened next. I opened the
first door and it kind of looked like Liam was going to come in with me. But
he looked inside and said, "Wow, those bathrooms are tiny."

"Yeah, only one person can fit in."

"Oh, I bet we could both fit in if we really wanted." He gave me his big
smile, but went to the next bathroom. I closed the door and peed. My boner
had pretty much gone down and I was happy about that, but what he said
about both of us fitting into one of the little bathrooms started to make it
hard again.

I finished before he did and waited for Liam in the big area between the two
outside doors. When he came out he was smiling.

"That was weird. I couldn't figure out how to the flush the toilet and then
saw what the sign said. So I put the lid down and KAWOOOOOSH it
flushed big time."

I told him that was how some of the toilets flushed but that different
sleeping cars had different kinds of toilets even if the cars all looked alike. I
was acting like the expert again.

When we climbed up the stairs he said this was the first time he had ever
been on a train and it was fun so far, especially since I was on it. I blushed
when I heard that, but it was because I was happy that he liked me. I got a
great view of his butt as we climbed up the stairs. I was sure this was going
to be a fun trip after all.

When we got to the top of the steps we heard the announcement for twelve
o'clock reservations; that meant us. We turned into the corridor when we
saw some adults coming the other way. The corridors were really narrow
and it was hard for people to go both ways, even kids like us.

We backed into the area by the stairs and waited for the adults to go by.
While we waited I told Liam that because my dad liked trains so much we
rode them a lot and I'd taken the "Coast Starlight" to California six times
and I rode the "Cascades" to Portland a lot because my uncle lived there.

"I even got to go by myself a couple of times as an uncompany minor or
something like that." I meant unaccompanied minor but the right word
wouldn't pop into my head right then.

The adults went past us, thanking us for waiting to give them room to pass.
People on trains were usually really polite.

We made our way down the corridor when Liam said, "It was hard to pee in
that little bathroom with the train moving around. And I had a boner so it
was really hard." He giggled after he said that.

I wasn't sure if he was making a pun there or not, but I was really sure that
I was surprised by him again. I mean I had a boner, too, but I sure wasn't
about to tell him that walking through the train. Sure I told Andrew when I
had one but we'd been friends since we were little and besides we were
talking about sexy stuff. I just met Liam a little over an hour ago.

We made our way through the Pacific Parlour car where Wolf, Garrett and
my parents were waiting for their call to lunch. Liam's parents were at the
other end of the car waiting for us. You can eat in the PPC, but it doesn't
have a big menu and has no kids' menu and serves special foods. Some
people were getting their lunches there but we went on the dining car.

We got seated at couple of tables in on the right side. Liam and I took the
seats that had us riding backwards which meant his parents were riding
frontwards. I didn't mind riding backwards but some people do. Liam took
the window seat.

"This is so cool, eating while you're riding on the train." Liam was really
excited about everything on his first train ride. He picked up the menu and
asked me what was good on it.

"I like the angus burger. It's pretty thick."

"Do you get fries, too?"

"No, just chips. Amtrak food isn't fancy or anything."

"You can get mac and cheese or pizza off the kids' menu, too, but I pretty
much live on the angus burger for lunch."

That ended up being what we both ordered. While we waited for our food
Liam's parents did just what parents do and asked me all about myself and
I did what I was supposed to do and acted polite and answered their
questions. The thing that made it hard to concentrate on what they were
asking was Liam pushing on my left leg with his right one and then me
pushing back. He would push and then look at me and grin. I was now
totally sure this was like sexy to him because he all but told me he had a
boner in the PPC when we were touching legs. I didn't really have one this
time, but that's because I was busy eating and being polite.

Liam finished his lunch before I did and was looking out the window at the
scenery going backwards. We were really moving. The tracks were
between the two sections of the freeway and we were doing eighty and
passing everybody going south.

I got ready to take a last bite of hamburger when I felt Liam's right hand on
my left knee. My shorts were above the knee a little and some of Liam's
fingers were touching the skin there. I looked over at him and he looked
back and smiled. I couldn't be more positive that Liam wanted to do sex
stuff but I didn't know what to do about it. I didn't know what to do about it
with Andrew and now this kid I just met had his hand rubbing my knee. My
dick wasn't really hard during lunch even when Liam put his leg against
mine, but it was sure hard now. For the second time it felt like it wanted to
explode out of my shorts and embarrass me in front of everybody.

His hand crept up my leg. He wasn't touching my skin now just my thigh
and he was rubbing it. He smiled at me again and I smiled back trying to let
him know I really liked what he was doing and that it was cool and at the
same time hoping his parents didn't notice.

The waiter came and cleared our plates and asked if we wanted dessert.
We both decided to have vanilla ice cream. Liam's mom had raspberry ice
cream and his dad skipped dessert.

Liam's hand was even higher on my leg and was almost at my nuts. I
thought for a second he was going to grab them or touch them or
something but all he did was keep rubbing my leg until our ice cream came.
We both opened the cups of Haagen-Das vanilla ice cream and started
eating. Liam was left-handed but he still had to take his right hand off my
knee so he could hold the cup to use his spoon to get the ice cream. It was
good we sat the way we did because our right and left hands weren't
getting in each other's way.

I stopped eating for a few seconds and put my left hand on Liam's right leg,
but up high where there was no skin showing. I thought if I did that he
would know that I thought that his touching my leg was cool.

He raised his eyebrows and gave me another smile. His right hand touched
my left hand, letting me know he liked what I was doing. This was really
getting to be fun. But I didn't want my hand down there too long. I didn't
want his parents to wonder what we were doing under the table, so I went
back to eating my ice cream. Parents aren't always the smartest people in
the world, but once you being to think they're really stupid they surprise you
by catching you doing something you thought you were getting away with.

We finally finished eating and left our table. We passed Garrett and Wolf
and my parents and walked to the PPC. Except for the people eating lunch
at the dining end it was almost empty.  Liam's parents took a couple of the
swivel seats. We said we were going to Liam's sleeping car room to get the
UNO cards. Liam asked if it was okay for us to stay in the room and his
parents said it was.

Instead of playing anything we just sat on two of the seats and talked. Liam
talked about his baseball team and I talked about mine. He talked about his
friends and I talked about mine. We talked about school and where we
traveled to and anything else we could think of except what went on in the
dining car with our hands on each other's knee. I kept expecting Liam to
bring that up since he pretty much started everything we were doing but he
never said a word about sex or anything.

We stopped at the Vancouver station which meant we were pretty close to
Portland, maybe 15 minutes away. I think that's why he didn't want to start
anything. For one thing we could get off the train in Portland and walk
around a little bit which I really wanted to do.

The train left the Vancouver station and started over the Columbia River. I
was telling Liam what great friends Andrew and Mike were without going
into what me and Andrew did a few days ago, not that we did that much.
Still measuring our dicks and touching each other's junk was doing
something. I kept thinking Liam did a lot more than that with a friend or
maybe with friends.

"One of my friend lives a couple of houses away," Liam said. "His name is
Dillon and he is 14. He teaches me a lot of stuff and is really cool."

This caught my attention. I wondered what Dillon was teaching Liam and
then I realized I was thinking dirty things, which might not be what they
were doing at all. Liam looked at me and finally brought up what we didn't
talk about. "Did you like my hand on your leg? Was it okay I did that?"

"Yeah, I liked it."

"Can I do it again?"

"Now?"

Liam was about to answer that when the door came open and Garrett and
Wolf stepped into the room. "Dad says if you want to go out on the platform
at Portland you have to come to our room so we can all get off together."

"Okay." I knew dad always worried when we got off the train at a long
station stop. He didn't want us caught somewhere and have the train leave
without us. If you're not on the train when it's ready to go it just leaves. Like
the conductor says a lot of the time when he gives his instructions for the
station, "If you miss the train there's another one in twenty-four hours."

"You could've done it now if you wanted," I told Liam. I had a boner again
and wondered if Liam did too. I bet he did. I mean him wanting to touch my
leg had to mean he had boner just like I did.

Wolf stayed behind with Liam and Garrett and I went our sleeping car and
our bedroom to meet dad. All the way to our car I thought about me and
Andrew measuring our dicks and wondered how big Liam's was.

The train got into Portland at one thirty-five, 15 minutes early. It wasn't
scheduled to leave until two twenty-five. We had lots of time to walk around
the platform but we ended up doing something different.

We went into the station where Garrett and I got a huge surprise. Uncle
Lawrence was there. He's the uncle who lives in Portland. I love Uncle
Lawrence. He's really the coolest of uncles. We got some sodas at the
store in the station and visited and talked for about a half-hour. Then dad
said it was time to go back to the train. Uncle Lawrence gave Garrett and
me both big hugs and we headed out to the platform. We all turned and
waved to him before we walked through the door.

While seeing my uncle was a cool surprise it meant I couldn't spend time
on the platform with my new friend. I looked around for him as we walked
back to the train and was happy when I saw a blond head down by the
Parlour car. I could have been somebody else, but I doubted it. I looked
more carefully and there was no doubt it was Liam. He smiled and waved.
It looked like he expected me to walk over to him. Instead I motioned for
him to come over to me.

He hesitated but I waved again and yelled, "Quick, come over here." He
jogged over like he really wanted to see me no matter who had to do the
walking.

"I wondered where you went," he said with that smile of his.

"My uncle made a surprise visit at the station. It was only a surprise for me
and Garrett. Dad knew about it."

"I wanted you to come over to me so we could kinda talk privately."

"About what?" I don't need to tell you he had me very curious. I kept finding
Liam more and more interesting.

He nodded toward my dad and brother standing close by. "I'll tell you later."

"Well, I had you come over here because we're supposed to leave in about
ten minutes and it's a good idea to be close to a door when they yell `all
aboard' because they do that and lock the door before the train is
supposed to leave. They don't mess around. You better be ready to get
on." I enjoyed sharing what I knew about train riding. Maybe having a dad
who is crazy about trains wasn't such a bad thing after all. It sure seemed
to be paying off right now in the Impressing Your New Friends With What
You Know category.

Those words had hardly came out of my mouth when from the distance I
heard the conductor yell, "All aboard!" and right after that Arthur, our
sleeping car attendant, yelled," All aboard" and we all started racing for the
door to the closest sleeping car. A minute after we got on board Arthur
closed the door and Liam found out that when they say "all aboard" they
mean "all aboard" now.

The train left the station on time. We crossed the Willamette River on the
Steele Bridge and headed south out of Portland.

Liam went to find his parents. I told him I'd be in our bedroom. I figured I'd
better remind him we were in the first sleeping car, but he might not be as
forgetful as me so I kept my mouth shut.

Dad, Garrett, and I got to the room together. Garrett asked if I wanted to
play a game, but told him I didn't right now. I was hoping Liam would show
up soon. After five hours (okay, maybe it was five minutes) Liam showed
up at our door. The door was open but he knocked on the wall and said,
"Hello?" like it was a question. Liam was so nice I just kept liking him more
and more.

"Hey, Liam, come in," I said.

"Where's Wolf?" Garrett asked.

"He's in our room. He says you can go there if you want."

"Can I dad?"

Dad smiled. I think he was really happy we made some friends right away.
"Go ahead," he said. "Be back here at five."

Garrett hardly heard the last part as he darted for the door. "And you know
not to run on a train, Garrett."

He slowed down quickly. "Okay, sorry dad, I won't run." Dad taught us both
from when we were little to always respect trains and be safe.

"Be safe." See what I mean? Dad's favorite words around trains---be safe.

"Want to go check out the Sightseer car?" I asked, hoping we could find a
place where he could tell me what it was he wanted to tell me outside at the
station. Garrett said that sounded like a good idea. I asked dad if we could
go.

"Sure," he said. "But..."

"...be safe." I finished the sentence for him.

Our room was close to the end of the car so we were in the next car really
quick. This end of that car had the center corridor between the two
roomettes and there was nobody in it to block our way.

"What did you want to talk about outside?" I asked Liam. I decided to be the
person to bring up the topic. I mean I really did want to know. I had a pretty
good feeling what it was about, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was about.

"I'll tell you when we get to that Sightseeing car," he said. "If it isn't full of
people, anyway."

I decided not to correct him and tell him it was a Sightseer car. I mean I
didn't mind showing off what I knew about trains but I didn't want to think I
was some stuck up know-it-all.

"There should be some place. Not a lot of people sit there until we leave
Eugene because who wants to see lots of farms." I guess I did have to
show off what I knew after all. And I was right about the people. Who wants
to sit and look out at a bunch of farms going by? I mean how many barns
and vegetables did you can you look at without being bored? But after
Eugene we started going into the mountains and then people came to
sightsee.

We went through the sleeper before I knew it. I couldn't wait to find out
what he wanted to say. I hoped it was about what I was thinking it was
about. I was hoping it was all about him touching my leg and about what he
learned from his friend Dillon. I had a feeling they had something to do with
each other.

Next: Liam