Tom came over to Kate’s side to look at the animals. The animals looked back at them. They didn’t run away the way wild animals usually did. They just stood there.
It was like a dream. The air was so cold now they could see their breath in the lights of the station.
Finally Tom said:
“Hi.”
Kate wasn’t always grateful for Tom’s presence—in fact a lot of the time she preferred his absence—but at that moment she was. She knew she tended to hesitate and overthink things. Tom didn’t have that problem, he would just blurt out anything that came into his head.
A small gray fox bent down and placed its ticket carefully on the platform.
“Hi,” it said.
“Hi,” Kate said.
“Been a long time since a train came through here,” the fox said.
“Very long,” said the badger, transferring its ticket to its paws.
Kate thought of saying Is that so? or How about that! but rejected both ideas as fatally uncool.
“How long?” Tom said.
“About thirty years,” the badger said. “Where have you been? You’re very late.”
“Wait—just—how can you be talking?!” Kate said.
“Oh, I know,” the fox said. “We do talk sometimes, just not around humans. Frankly, we don’t meet a lot of humans who are worth talking to. No offense.”
Kate supposed that was fair.
“But you haven’t been standing here waiting this whole time, have you?” she said. “Like, the whole thirty years?”
“Oh, no. Of course not. We just look in here once in a while to check. I mean, we’re animals, it’s not like we have jobs.”
“I guess not.”
“You need to get over to the rail yard to pick up some cars, and fast,” a hare said. “It’s almost too late.”
“The rail yard,” Kate said. “Okay. Thank you. We’ll do that.”
It sounded like good advice.
“See you soon then.”
The animals all picked up their tickets and went back to waiting. With a jerk and a loud hiss, the Silver Arrow moved off down the track again. Tom pulled the whistle, two quick blasts:
FOOOM! FOOOM!
Kate clanged the bell for good measure. They quickly left the lights of the station behind.
“Did you see that?” Kate said.
“I totally saw that!” Tom said.
“Those animals talked! To us!”
Not only that—and that was incredible enough—but what they’d said had made Kate’s ears prick up. This wasn’t just a joyride, Kate and Tom were going somewhere specific—namely to the rail yard, wherever that was—and for a reason—namely to pick up some cars. A joyride would’ve been fine, obviously, but this was even better. It wasn’t just fun and games. They were on a mission. They had a job to do.
The glow of the firelight was nice, and it was starting to feel cozy in the cab. The air smelled like hot engine oil: a savory, interesting smell. Everything was made of brass and leather and wood and glass and felt very old, like the kind of place that would usually be behind a velvet rope at a museum.
“I wonder who’s driving this thing,” Tom said. “I mean, we’re not.”
“Who knows?”
Suddenly there was a click and the bing of a bell behind them, kind of like the click-bing of an old-fashioned typewriter.
Kate hadn’t noticed it before, but on the wall of the cab, in among the pipes and dials and levers, was a little loop of paper. It unrolled out of the innards of the train at one end and then scrolled back into them at the other. A message had just been printed on it:
I KNOW
As soon as they’d read the words the message scrolled out of sight and more paper scrolled out with another click-bing. It really was like a typewriter, or a very low-tech printer.
More words appeared, neatly typed:
THE FOLLOWING ARE INSTRUCTIONS FOR OPERATING THIS STEAM ENGINE
Uh-oh, Kate thought. Here we go.
Click-bing. More words.
OPERATING A STEAM ENGINE IS REALLY COMPLICATED
BUT DON’T WORRY, I’M GOING TO TEACH YOU HOW TO DO IT
“Great.” Tom rolled his eyes. “Train school.”
Click-bing.
IT’S NOT “TRAIN SCHOOL”
THIS IS CALLED LEARNING
WHEN DONE PROPERLY IT CAN ACTUALLY BE QUITE ENJOYABLE
THOUGH ADMITTEDLY IT’S HARDLY EVER DONE PROPERLY
Tom folded his arms. He looked unconvinced.
LOOK, LEARNING THINGS IS INCREDIBLY HARD AND UNPLEASANT
IF IT WASN’T THEN EVERYBODY WOULD DO IT ALL THE TIME
AND THEN EVERYBODY WOULD KNOW EVERYTHING
WOULDN’T THEY
Kate shrugged. “I guess.”
YOU GUESS RIGHT
WHAT YOU NEED IS A GOOD TEACHER
FORTUNATELY I AM ONE
“Right,” Tom said under his breath.
I AM RIGHT
“How can you even be talking?” Kate asked, keenly aware that she’d also just asked a fox that exact same question.
I DON’T KNOW, I JUST AM
“Are you like a giant metal robot or something?”
I DON’T KNOW
I MEAN AREN’T YOU JUST A ROBOT MADE OF FLESH AND BONES
IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT
Kate thought about it. The train did kind of have a point.
FOR NOW YOUR ONLY JOB IS GIVING ME MORE COAL
THE COAL IS IN THE TENDER. JUST SHOVEL IT INTO THE FIREBOX
THE FIREBOX IS THE BOX WITH THE FIRE IN IT
“I figured that,” said Tom.
LESS TALKING, MORE SHOVELING
There were two short shovels and two pairs of work gloves hanging on pegs in the tender. They put on the gloves and shoveled chunky pieces of black coal into the firebox. It took only a few shovelfuls before the fire started to get hot and glowing again.
Job well done. It was surprisingly satisfying.
“So,” Kate said, “I guess it’s a talking train.”
“I guess so.”
Click-bing.
I GUESS SO
7
The Rail Yard
THE TRAIN CHUFFED ALONG; KATE THOUGHT IT chuffed a little faster and more vigorously now that they’d given it more coal. She’d never had a pet, because between them her parents were allergic to every single animal under the sun, but it felt like she imagined feeding a pet would feel. Except that it was a giant metal pet that you rode inside.
Snow drifted down through the trees outside, which was very odd considering that it was supposed to be summer, but not odder than anything else that was going on. The train kept talking to them. It explained how the throttle worked, and it showed them where the brakes were. Then it told them to look out the window.