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The Locomotion!


She sat by the window; with her elbow rested on the window sill, supported her chin in her right hand’s palm. With a book in her lap, she began reading; every now and then, she would raise her eyes and look through the window in stately calm and intense contemplation. Gigantic poles separated from each other by vast dry land, suffered under the weight of electric wires; fields mysteriously swayed in harmony to the evening breeze as it toppled over near the edges with no object to sway, the breeze nearly vanished beneath the perimeters of the fields; tall chimneys billowed smoke into the sky that swallowed the orange sun as train pierced its way into a tunnel. The tunnel heaved like a sleeping monster; strong acrid smell rose up to fill the insides of the train.

A guard stood by the tracks with a green torch in his hand, train shifted tracks with each wheel producing a metallic thud as it crossed over. A girl digging castles in the sand piles by the station, left her work, stood up, beat her frock twice to get rid of the sand, and stately waved at the passing train. In the station, men and women hurried with their luggage bags, into the train; with the luggage bags lodged underneath their seats, they sat with relief and surveyed the surroundings. Amidst the chaos, a man in railway uniform selling tea bent over to fill the paper cups, in the process blocked the passage and a raucous exchange of expletives thus ensued.

With calmness restored, she began reading again. Men buried themselves into newspapers while the train ran over an old bridge. With her face puckered against the corrosive window grills, shading her eyes with the back of her hands, she watched in amazement as the head of the train sped away in a wide angular direction. Sound of metal rubbing against metal echoed through the valley underneath the bridge; a thin stream of water creased the sandy valley, its path intercepted with rotund rocks and crevices. The sandy valley appeared to be melting, forming streams of molten liquid that flew over the radiating sand protecting it from the burning sun’s wrath.

As the sun disappeared into the horizon; inside the compartment, the man sitting before her lowered his newspaper and snuck a peek at her.

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