“Ladies and gentlemen, there is a heaven bound express train one station away.” The intercom breaks their awkward and seemingly eternal silence.
This is it. Her train is about to arrive. Her one way ticket is about to be redeemed.
She looks over at her platform companion, his hand empty and open, as if waiting for a ticket to appear.
He feels her eyes on him. “Have fun up there. I’ll bet they have the best iced soy lattes.”
They can hear the train. It’s almost here.
“Ladies and gentelmen, the next heaven bound express train is now arriving. Please stand away from the platform edge, especially when trains are entering and leaving the station.”
“I only order iced soy lattes to sound interesting,” she confesses. “I don’t know why I just told you that.”
The train slows down and comes to a stop, the doors opening right in front of them.
“This is it,” she says, her ticket in hand. “Goodbye.”
She walks into the train, greeted by the conductor.
“All aboard,” he says, looking out onto the platform.
He stands there, waiting for the train to leave.
“You coming?” asks the conductor.
“I don’t have a ticket.”
“Son, I get to decide who can come on my train. And I just said ‘all aboard.’ That includes you.”
He enters the train, the doors close, and they start moving. Only the train is moving in the direction it just came from.”
A moment later the train comes to a stop, the doors open, and the travelers find themselves outside the coffee shop they both know so well.
“Is this heaven?,” she asks. “This looks like the coffee shop I would visit every morning.”
“Looks like hell to me,” he says.
The conductor looks at them both. “Call it whatever you want. Make it whatever you want. This is your home. Why wait to start living somewhere else when you can find life in every moment right here?”
They step off the train. “Come on,” he says to her. “I’ll make you an iced latte. With almond milk.”
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3a | Part 3b | Part 3c
Record your own or leave a comment
Words: Jim Kast-Keat
Image: Adam Walker Cleaveland
Music: Melodysheep
