Granite

I was always good at waking up in a hurry. It’s like my body could sense any shift in the environment. I never had to do the yawn and stretch bit. I could switch from off to on it half a second, from laying down to standing or sitting straight up, eyes wide and alert.

Some kid was staring at me. That’s what did it this time. A heavy gaze was a threat before, and since then my body adapted to register this even when I’m asleep. I glared right back at him until his mother, some hoity toity snob with thick soled shoes, nudged him to stand up and move down the train car and away from me.

It only took me a quarter of a second to realize I was on a train. When did I get here? I whipped my head around and checked my trusty old satchel to see if I’d come into some money. I figured someone must have blessed me big time because there’s no way I could afford a train ticket. Scratch that, even if I could afford a train ticket, I wouldn’t use it to buy a train ticket so what was I doing there?

I rummaged through the contents of my bag and set them out on the seat across from me: a pair of sunglasses that were missing the shade on one side (I just flipped them upside down every so often to give my eyes a fair shot at protection during those painfully bright days), a stick of deodorant a rude but thoughtful man once threw at me, some crumpled singles that stuck together from the sweat of my hand, two rolls of socks in varying shades of black and gray, and three band aids. There wasn’t a train ticket though. Huh. Well, it wasn’t too odd. I’ve been known to slip my way into places designed to keep folks out. It’s one of my other specialties.

There was a couple with another child a few rows down and diagonal from me. “Excuse me,” I called over to them. They must have been hard of hearing because they didn’t even look my way. “Hello!” I waved at them and one of them messed up. It was the man. His eyes flickered to me briefly and I just knew he heard me. “Hey, sir. Can I ask you where we’re going?”

He looked annoyed. “I don’t have anything for you.”

“Not even an answer to the question?”

Then he turned and looked at me all angrily. “I know this game. If I engage you in conversation the next thing you’ll do is guilt me into giving you a couple dollars.”

“I’ve got your couple dollars.” I peeled off exactly two from my sweat bank and shoved everything else back into my bag. I marched over to the him and threw the dollars right in his face. “You just look like you could use it is all.”

I giggled and continued down the train car, pausing to scoff at Miss Hoity Toity and her son. I pawed at the air and caught my thumb between my pointed and middle finger. “Got your nose!”

Now, I knew I could possibly get the kid with that one but the woman screamed as if I actually did take her son’s nose. “It’s just my thumb you see?” And I scraped then flicked it from it under my top teeth in honor of Shakespeare.

“You need to get off this train right now.” She must have been from somewhere deeply south in Georgia with that accent. She clutched her son as if I was about to carry him off with me.

“Don’t worry ma’am. He’s too big to kidnap. At least for me. Now that guy down there?” I pointed at the panderer down the way who was not so surreptitiously keeping an eye on me. “He could definitely steal your child.”

I continued my way down the train but got hit with a wave of tiredness. Just as easily as I could turn it on, it could turn back off. I got to the bathroom, sipped a bit of water from the sink’s faucet, relieved myself, took extra care in washing my hands, then reentered the train and sprawled across the wooden seat. It seemed everyone else had congregated all the way back the way I’d came so I had the whole area to myself. I didn’t sense any new threat, so I let myself go back to sleep.

The next time I woke up, a whole new crop of people was on the train. I didn’t see Miss Hoity Toity nor the couple with the kid. There was a lot more children running rampant now. The train was going at the same speed as before and I swear I already saw everything outside these windows the last time I was awake. This thing was not stopping.

“Here you go ma’am.” My situation pondering process was interrupted by a little girl with a Dutch braid hanging between her shoulder blades. I looked at her then at her hands where she held a five-dollar bill and a small bottle of water.

“I already had some water…” I looked beyond her at her smiling mother. Oh, she was learning to be kind. “I mean thank you.” I took the bill and the bottle and she watched me expectantly so I cracked the plastic lid from its collar and took a sip. “Delicious.” I gave her a thumbs up and she ran back to her mother.

I figured this woman might be willing to answer my question. “Ma’am, where is this train taking us? I swear it hasn’t slowed down and it feels like I’ve been on here far too long.” She looked puzzled. “Check your ticket maybe?” I spoke in a softer voice and hoped she didn’t think I was being condescending.

Man, she had a white and wide smile. It stretched across her face like that one actress. “Oh. It’s just taking us around the mountain. Stone Mountain.”

I looked out the window. “Ma’am, that’s just a hunk of rock.”