NIGHT TRAIN

You hear the long low rumbles of thunder and see lightning flashes through the bedroom blinds. With a loud crack of thunder, wind and rain strike and beat on the tin roof. Over one hundred days of over 100-degree temperatures, it's finally raining. The wind begins to scream, and heavy sheets of rain pour down and turn the roads into rivers. Prayers were sent requesting and begging for rain to quench the parched land.

You murmur, "The prayers were heard."

While outside, the monsoon rages with no end in sight. Inside, it's too hot. Then, it's too cold. It's never, just right! You can't sleep. After hours of tossing and turning, you twist and turn your way out of bed.

You walk to the kitchen.

Recalling the half bottle of wine in the refrigerator with the newish stopper, you help yourself to a glass of wine, and slowly sip. Refreshing, calming, and enjoying each sip, the wine tastes like cherries and smells like cream and vanilla. You finish the wine and rinse your glass placing it in the sink.

You walk to the bathroom.

After another trip to the bathroom, you turn on the television and watch Silence of the Lambs for the umpteenth time. Your eyes aren't tired. Sleep is elusive as a butterfly. While ocean waves and rain should give rise to sleep, you are wide awake.

You didn't sleep. How long? Has it been a week? Is it brain fog? Your memory is deteriorating.

********

You tell the therapist that you have been having a recurring dream. For almost an hour, the therapist listens. When you broach the subject of the recurring dream, the therapist waves his left arm dismissively. Right on the dot of an hour, the therapist points to his watch. With no other words said, you leave his office. 

Leaving the therapist, you recall your previous appointment from a month ago. You ruminate over a past dream with the therapist.

You confide, "Approximately three months before the tsunami hit Oahu, my dream plays out like a Hollywood movie with the exception that I never witnessed a tsunami before. With the swaying and bending of palm trees, the ocean moved away from the shoreline. For a surfer, it could have been the perfect wave. The 50-foot wave appears ominous. Covering, flooding, and destroying the Northwest shore of Oahu, the shoreline homes and businesses were wiped out. Safe on the mainland, I watch the news reports as the disaster unfolds. I should have been there but fate intervenes. As I watch the news, I breathe a sigh of relief."

You inform the therapist that you are experiencing insomnia. "Have you discussed this with your primary physician? he questions.

You reply, "No but it will be. My appointment is a month from today."

********

The thermostat is set at a comfortable temperature. A new mattress was delivered and installed. Clean sheets are on the bed. Everything is perfect. Again, you can't sleep. You are wide awake. Tossing and turning for three hours, you twist and turn out of bed.

You walk to the kitchen.

Helping yourself to the last of the wine, you take a sip.

********

Your head throbs and hurts. Disoriented! With your heart beating rapidly, you are frantic. Sensing movement and hearing the clickity-clack, you feel the rock and roll motion. Even in the darkness, you realize that you are on a train recalling trips by rail years ago.

You are not a journalist, but you ask yourself all the who, what, where, when, and why questions. You have a lump in your throat and can barely whisper, "Why am I on this train?"

You survey the situation.

Students with backpacks are in the passenger car. In the darkness of the car, a few students have their smartphones or their laptop computers that provide dim light. Using the irregular light source, you check your pockets. Nothing! You have no ticket. Having no memory of how you boarded the train, you breathe easier that there isn't a train inspector in sight.

You begin to relax.

A blast from the horn slices through the silence. Rapidly the train moves down the track. Increasing in speed, the train violently sways from one side to the other. In the seat in front of you, a student reads the BREAKING NEWS on his cellphone. Afterward, he shares the information that he read.

Choking up, the student announces, "We are on a runaway train. The networks are reporting that our train is increasing in speed with no signs of slowing down or chance of stopping."

********

You jerk and cough. Inhaling the smelling salts, you are on the kitchen floor. The health medical alert technician takes vitals.

She tells you, "It's good that you fell on your alert bracelet. Unfortunately, you will have to spend the night in the hospital for some tests.

Inside the ambulance, on the way to the hospital, you hear the radio news bulletin. A runaway freight train derails and the engine crashes into a river.

The medical technician wheels you into the hospital. You take a deep breath and give out a sigh knowing that you are safe and the premonition will end.