Kerstin Otto

We were on my way to my parents’ 20th wedding anniversary. I still didn’t have a car, neither did my girl friend Sarah, so we hopped on a southbound train early on a Saturday morning. The minute the train left the station we unpacked our snacks, poured ourselves a cup of coffee from the thermos and, quite able to ignore the effect caffeine usually has on our systems, dozed off. I tried to keep my eyes open but couldn’t. Instead, I had flashbacks of earlier train rides with my parents. There was one that I particularly remember. In fact, I remember it as if it were yesterday. I must have been about five or six or so, and feeling rather adventurous.

I was bored. Two more hours on this stupid train. I had finished my book an hour ago and there was nothing for me to do. I wish Mom and Dad had let me take my toys with me. But they had said "no" - there wasn’t enough room for them. Now, my parents were peacefully snoring in their seats, their legs stretched out, and I hated them. I was wide awake and didn’t know what to do with myself. I was tired of staring out the window. The sun had already gone down and the train was going so fast that my eyes couldn’t focus on anything anyway. With my forehead and nose touching the window I exhaled hot air and began drawing swords, rifles and cannons on the window. The circle of hot air would be there for a little while and then began to shrink and disappear taking with it my drawings.

I became restless. I decided to explore the railroad car. I climbed over my parents’ outstretched legs trying not to wake them up and yanked the compartment door open. When I turned around to close it I checked to see whether the noise had woken them up. It hadn’t. Good. I turned left to find the lavatory that Dad had taken me to earlier. It went in and locked the door behind me. I usually don’t do that. Locking doors, I mean. I’m afraid I won’t be able to get back out. Usually either Mom or Dad would be there to guard the door from any intruder. But they were snoozing in their seats. They were not here to save me if anything went wrong. I still had not let go of the door handle unsure whether to be brave and do my business or follow my instincts that told me that this was definitely not a safe place and make a run for our compartment.

Suddenly, the door handle moved down and up again. I let out a short scream. The handle was pushed down again. And again. My heart raced. Body snatchers were coming to get me. I pulled my hand away from the handle and stared at it. "You okay in there?" a voice said and I heard a knock on the door. Mooooommmmmyyyyy, I wanted to cry out - but I didn’t. My throat was dry. "Hello? Are you all right?" That voice came through the door again. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted my parents to be here. "Um, yes" I whispered not sure if they had heard me or if I wanted them to hear me. I was trapped. I had no magic sword with which to scare them off or destroy them. Please, let this be a bad dream. There were more knocks on the door. Whoever it was was becoming impatient.

Not knowing what else to do, I finally unlocked the door and slowly opened it. I saw a girl about as big as I was and her mother who was giving me a concerned look. I felt the urge to run but they were blocking my way. I guess she noticed I was as pale as a sheet. "Hi. I didn’t mean to scare you, you know. But you were in there for quite some time and I was getting worried." I said nothing. How long had I been in there? "Are you all right" she wanted to know. I sure as hell wasn’t but I wasn’t gonna admit it. Certainly not in front of a girl. "Uh-huh" I lied but she must have seen right through me. Apparently, my mother wasn’t the only one equipped with that ability! She tousled my hair the way grown-ups do all the time. "So, what’s your name?" she wanted to know. The question seemed simple enough. "Marc," I said somewhat hesitantly. "Okay, Marc, are you done in there or do you need to go back in?" "Uhm, I’m done," I whispered. How embarrassing! "And will you find you way back to your seat?" she wanted to know. "Uh-huh," I nodded and squeezes my way through the little girl and her mother.

I was out of breath when I reached our compartment. Mom and Dad’s eyes were still shut and I climbed in the seat next to the door deciding my next move. I was staring at the people passing our compartment. Suddenly, the woman and her daughter went by. I couldn’t hear what the mother said to the girl but both smiled at me and waved. I was too embarrassed to wave back. I craned my neck and saw them disappear in the compartment next to ours. A moment later I saw an arm pushing the little girl out of her compartment in my direction. The girl stood in the aisle with a cookie bag in her hand and didn’t move. She turned her head towards her mother, said something, then looked in my direction. Still, she did not move. Then her mother came and pushed her gently in my direction. I guess the thing to do would have been to open our compartment door but I was unable to. I stared at them. The girl was holding out her arm dangling the cookie bag in front of my face. Cookies! My resolve to stay put was dwindling. I couldn’t resist. I slid open the door and almost joyfully accepted a cookie. After the last cookie was eaten, I showed the girl how to draw swords and rifles on the windows. It is amazing how time flies when you’re having fun. She hadn’t even finished drawing a rabbit family when the conductor announced the next stop over the intercom and her mother put on her hat and coat and said "Say bye-bye to Marc, Sarah, this is where we get off."