The Christmas Train Part 6

"That's interesting, thanks." Tom was now convinced that she'd searched his compartment and found his train ticket for the Chief. He resolved to b.o.o.by-trap his room using the heaviest object he could find. They had two engines on this train; maybe they wouldn't miss one of them. He could probably cram it into his bath/shower and set it on a spring load.

"Yep, it's a nice trip. Good way to get to LA."

"I bet it is." Tom put down his drink. "So, what are you heading to LA for?"

"I have friends out there. We switch off each year for Christmas. This year it's my turn to go west."

"Sounds like a nice tradition. Regina said you travel by train a lot. And it seems like people know you."

"Oh, I'm just a friendly sort. Always have been. Just because a gal's pet.i.te and naturally shy doesn't mean she has to be a meek little wallflower all the time."

At first Tom thought she was serious, but then she smiled at her own joke, and he reluctantly concluded that Agnes Joe wasn't so bad. If she'd just stay away from his kidneys and personal belongings everything would be fine.

"So this gal you're seeing, you serious about her?"

"Depends on what you call serious," Tom said. "We've been seeing each other off and on for about three years."

"Off and on? What, is that a California thing?"

"It's our our thing." thing."

"Well, I wouldn't advise you to get married. I've tried it twice and neither worked out."

"Do you have any kids?"

"A girl, all grown now, of course. That was from my first marriage. I met husband number one when we worked together at Ringling Brothers."

"You worked for the circus? What, in administration?"

"Oh no, I was one of the performers. Horsewoman, gymnast, even did the highwire in my younger days."

"The trapeze!"

She stared at him. "I was a little lighter then. My daughter still works for the circus."

"Do you see her often?"

"No." With that, she picked up her beer and left. He should have been relieved, but he wasn't. The woman seemed to be growing on him, like a wart maybe, but still growing. It wasn't just idle curiosity either. There were inconsistencies in her background that intrigued the investigative-reporter gene in him.

As he sat there, the train flashed through the Graham Tunnel and soon after slowed as it approached c.u.mberland, Maryland, once known as the Queen of the Alleghenies. The Cap jauntily made its way right down the middle of the town's main street. Tom saw brick and wood buildings, a Holiday Inn, a McDonald's, and a place called Discount Liquors that was probably very popular, for the town just had that thirsty look to it.

They would be crossing into Pennsylvania soon. The state lines were all oddly configured here. Indeed, at certain times the engine and the tail of the train could be in Maryland while the middle of the Cap labored in West Virginia. This was explained by the Pennsylvania border riding a straight line with its sister Maryland, while the points where West Virginia and Maryland hugged followed the lay of the land. By the time they had quit the Gap and pa.s.sed safely into Pennsylvania, Tom was altogether done with the conundrums of official state boundaries.

As he sat there staring at the snow falling, Eleanor and Max walked in, trailed by the faithful Kristobal. Tom took a deep breath, finished his drink, and contemplated ordering up c.o.c.ktails in bulk from his friend Tyrone. He figured he'd need every ounce of alcohol possible to survive this.

chapter twelve.

Max and Kristobal were dressed in the same chic clothes, and the latter still wore his headset and cell-phone pack, swaggering in like some futuristic gunfighter looking for trouble. Eleanor, though, had changed into a long turquoise skirt and white denim shirt with a chain belt around her slim waist. Her hair was tucked up. Perhaps, Tom thought, she'd showered in her little water closet, the steamy, soapy liquid pouring down over her long, curvy... No, he absolutely could not go there and expect to retain his sanity. Yet the fact that she had freshened up and was here ostensibly to see him was wonderfully rea.s.suring, until he noted her expression. It was not, to put it mildly, one of unadulterated bliss. Homicidal Homicidal was actually the word that drifted through his ginned-up mind. was actually the word that drifted through his ginned-up mind.

"Tom!" boomed out Max, in that enthusiastic voice that said "I'm both filthy rich and fun to be around." They all found a private corner.

"Sorry we're late," said Max. "Eleanor and I had a few things to clear up. Boy, what a ride so far, huh?"

Kristobal stared out into the darkness, his pretty-boy looks woeful. "Well, at least the thing's moving."

"Your first train ride, Kristobal?" Tom asked.

"And hopefully my last."

He was, Tom was sure, very much into private planes, free-flowing bottles of champagne, and no one to bother him as he fully reclined in his seat-bed and dreamed of becoming a film mogul.

"He's from another generation," said Max, as he playfully slapped his a.s.sistant's arm. "He's not train folk; not like you and me."

"Well, Ellie and I took quite a few trains when we were overseas. We were on an old clunker once from Amsterdam to Paris. Got on at five in the morning with the notion we'd eat on board. We weren't told there was no food on the train because the stewards were on strike. Then, while we're slowly starving to death, we notice that in the fields the train is pa.s.sing through, all these people are standing there, taking pictures of the train. I thought that maybe the train had been hijacked - you know, by the striking stewards - and we were hurtling to our doom at the station in Paris."

"What happened?" asked Max.

"When we got to Paris, there was a marching band. And then a sleek red bullet train came sliding up to the old one we'd been on. It was the last train ride on that route before bullet service took over. That was all the commotion. So while the band played, we spent about a billion francs filling our bellies. Remember that, Ellie?"

"I go by Eleanor now, just Eleanor. And, no, I don't really remember that."

The gin had now warmed Tom from his toes to his mouth, which had become an 80mm howitzer. "Right. Ellie, that's clearly in the past. Out with the old, in with the new and improved." He looked at Max. "So, you said you and Eleanor Eleanor had talked." had talked."

"Yes, we discussed things. And if you want, you two can get started right now."

Tom glanced at her in confusion. "I thought-"

"When Max gets excited about something, his enthusiasm spreads rapidly and overwhelmingly," she explained in a tight voice without meeting his gaze.

Tom said, "You sure you weren't railroaded railroaded into this? No pun intended, of course." into this? No pun intended, of course."

"Not at all," said Max. "Right, Eleanor?" She nodded.

"Well, how should we begin?" Tom offered pleasantly.

Max said, "What have you discovered so far?"

Tom sat back and cradled his empty gla.s.s. "Well, ginseng is grown in Wisconsin, for starters, and it makes old guys perform like Rambo in bed. There's a crazy woman named Agnes Joe on board whom everybody knows for some reason; she outweighs me and performed on the trapeze for Ringling Brothers." He pointed to Steve and Julie. "Those two are getting married on board the Southwest Chief. They're good kids, but scared. I've got a contact on board the Chief who can tell us plenty of great stories. The Tarot card lady over there has charmed mighty business moguls with her peeks into the future. Oh, and Elvis Presley has been resurrected as a black man named Tyrone who serves a concoction called a 'Boiler Room' in the lounge car, that, if it doesn't kill you, will at least make you wish you were dead in your ecstasy. And there's a priest on board, who might have to give me the Last Rites if we don't get to LA on time because my girlfriend will murder me."

Tom said this last as he stared right at Eleanor. She'd walked out on him him, after all. She blinked. The lady actually blinked. He had no idea if she had something in her eye or whether it was a reaction to his statement, but it sobered him up a bit.

"Wow," said Max, "you've really gotten around already."

"Once a world-cla.s.s reporter, always a world-cla.s.s reporter. Just like Ellie - I mean, Eleanor."

"She never really talked about that part of her life."

Eleanor said quickly, "Maybe Tom and I should get to work, Max. We don't have all that much time."

Tom shrugged. "Actually, we have the rest of the trip to Chicago and then to LA. h.e.l.l, at the rate we're going, we'll be together until the spring thaw."

"No, I meant I might have to get off in Chicago and fly to LA. It's personal business, Max. It just came up."

Tom put down his drink. I bet it did, in the form of me I bet it did, in the form of me. "So, we should get going then," he said.

Max didn't look pleased at Eleanor's possible change in plan, but then he eyed Steve and Julie. "You say they're getting married on the Chief?"

Tom explained the situation with their respective families and Julie's anxiety about the few people at the ceremony. Max, looking intrigued, asked a lot of questions.

"That poor girl," said Eleanor with genuine sympathy. "That's not how weddings are supposed to be." She glanced at Tom. "You said she's from the mountains of Virginia - what town?"

"She didn't say. Why?"

"In case you forgot, I grew up in eastern Kentucky, just over the state line from there. I've probably been to her hometown."

With all the discussions of weddings Tom took a quick peek at Eleanor's hand. There was no wedding band, and nothing that looked remotely like an engagement ring. It was hard to believe she hadn't found someone else. Yet, look at him.

"So what's the angle of your screenplay?" he asked. Tom knew nothing about moviemaking, but he now attempted to take on the air of a seasoned celluloid impresario.

"Depends on what we see on board. Max wants a romantic comedy. I'm leaning toward a mystery, with a reasonably high body count."

"Why not both? Done properly, there's nothing funnier than a pile of stiffs on rails."

Max pointed at Tom and looked at Eleanor. "See? I love this guy. He goes outside the box. You ever think about writing for movies, Tom?"

Tom's gaze went to Eleanor. "Not until about two hours ago."

"It's not as easy as it looks," she said.

"h.e.l.l, what is?" he shot back.

Max excused himself and walked over to Steve and Julie, followed by the puppy dog Kristobal. Max started talking animatedly to them, but Tom couldn't hear any of it. It must have been something exciting, however, because Steve and Julie looked truly stunned at whatever the director was saying. The guy probably had that effect on a lot of people.

"Max plotting something?"

"He usually is," replied Eleanor.

"I never would have figured you'd end up in LA."

"We all have to end up somewhere." She glanced up. "Look at you. From Beirut to Duncan Phyfe?"

"Covering wars is a young man's game. I'm not that young anymore," Tom said, then added, "Besides, how many ways can you write about people wiping each other out? I ran out of nouns, verbs, and adjectives five years ago."

"Did you ever end up changing the world?" Though the statement itself appeared sarcastic, the way she asked it was not.

"Look around," he said, "and there's your answer."

"You lasted longer than most." Longer than you Longer than you, thought Tom. She paused before asking, "How are your parents?"

"I've lost them both. My mom just recently."

"I'm sorry, Tom. They were good people."

He thought about telling Eleanor why he was on the train but finally chose not to. The feeling of intimacy just wasn't there anymore.

They watched as Max and Kristobal rushed off, leaving the stunned couple beached in their wake.

"Where should we start?" asked Eleanor finally.

Tom rose and pointed at Julie and Steve. "That looks like a good place."

They settled down with them after Tom had introduced Eleanor. Steve and Julie took turns explaining, in awed tones, what Max Powers had proposed.

"He's going to cater the whole event, with decorations, and even have some sort of music too," said Julie.

"And he's paying for everything," added a relieved-sounding Steve. "He said he'd work it out with Amtrak. I don't know what they'll say to all that though."

"Max usually gets his way," opined Eleanor.

"Is he really the famous movie director?" asked Julie.

"He is," answered Eleanor. "And his heart is almost as big as his ego," she added.

"I feel like we just won the lottery," said Steve, as he gripped his bride-to-be's hand.

"Well, it sounds like you did," Tom commented.

"Where in Virginia are you from?" Eleanor asked Julie.

"You probably never heard of it, d.i.c.kenson County."

"My dad went to Clintwood High. Two of my aunts live in Grundy, Virginia."

"Oh my gosh!" said Julie. "I've never met anybody who even knew where it was."

"I grew up on a little farm in eastern Kentucky that would make Clintwood seem like a metropolis." Eleanor looked at them both. "I think it's very brave what you're doing."

"We don't feel very brave," said Steve, laughing nervously and glancing at Julie.

"If you really love each other, you'd be surprised what you can accomplish."