Here we are again with this story. This chapter is short, simply because I felt it wasn't appropriate to put anything else with this.

Chapter 3: Roberto:

Just after three o'clock in the morning, Blu walked out the front door in his work clothes. Summer was drawing near, and there was a warm, orange glow on the horizon. Having worked on the railroad for nearly a decade with the same routine every workday, he was usually acclimated to early mornings, but for some reason he felt unusually tired. He climbed into the heavy-duty pickup truck lent to him by the railroad.

"The worst part about this is I already know what Eduardo has planned for my shift…"

He backed out onto the street and began on his way to the railroad yard. The commute to Wilmington yard wasn't very interesting, and Blu was cruising down the road at 35 miles per hour with his high beams on. Blu stared at the gray asphalt ahead of him with loose focus.

"…at least I think I do…"

At the end of the long road, Blu could see flashing lights. There were no cars stopped in front of them, but he couldn't make out what was beyond the lights. It wasn't until he shed light upon it with the truck's high beams.

"Oh no…" Blu mumbled to himself as he approached the railroad crossing. The sign below the cross buck read "4 TRACKS", and a long string of round hopper cars blocked the road. Blu eased the truck to a stop before the red and white striped crossing gate. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone, and once he flipped it open, it began making a little jingling noise. Eduardo's face flashed on the screen, and Blu sighed in relief.

"Good Morning, Eduardo… I'm stuck at Milepost…" Blu rolled the window down and stared at a stone post in the ground, next to the tracks. Blu was attempting to discern the number plates mounted on the stone.

"1… 2… Milepost 12…"

"I'm stuck at Milepost 12 at the level crossing on—"

"Yeah, sorry about that. That's why I called. I've gotta ask what Cal's doing down there…. Anyway, don't worry if you're late, we don't have anything to do fer yeh for a little bit,"

Oh, great…

"I'll see you at the yard," Blu finished, before closing his cell phone and shoving it back into his jeans' pocket.

"Whenever he decides to get a MOVE ON!"

Blu turned over to look out the passenger side window of his truck. Calvin was walking along the tracks, and saw Blu waiting at the crossing.

"Oh, hey! What's up?" He yelled toward the hi-rail vehicle.

"How much longer do I wait?" Blu yelled back.

"Couple minutes. I'm taking this thing away now, and you'll be the one disassemblin' it back at Wilmington,"

"Wonderful. Just Wonderful," Blu muttered. He twisted the keys in the ignition, and the truck's engine died down, and Blu waited in complete silence for the train to move from the crossing.

"Might as well get some extra shut-eye."

Blu pushed himself off of the steering wheel and he slumped into the back of the seat, and before long, he had dozed off. In nearly an instant, there wasn't anything but serene silence, which was soon interrupted by a compressed air horn. Blu jolted awake, blinking rather quickly as he readjusted to his surroundings.

"Great… I'm already having a bad start to my day…" Blu grumbled, twisting the keys in the ignition to start the engine again. The train crept past the railroad crossing, with the last car barely in sight. It was still early, and the horizon was just beginning to change from dark blue to orange and yellow.

Blu sighed, and watched the rounded sides of the freight cars rumble pass. A red blinking light passed the crossing, and shortly afterward, the gates lifted and Blu placed his foot on the gas pedal. The truck rolled over the four tracks crossing the road, then continued on his way to the yard.

• • •

Blu pulled into the yard's South entrance as he would every day. He stepped out of the white truck and slowly walked toward that same building next to the parking lot.

"Mornin' Blu!" Eduardo yelled from in front of the doorway.

"Early as always," Blu replied.

"I mean always…"

"So, Cal's not here, yet, so…" Eduardo started, "Oh, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

He peered around the break room doorway.

"Roberto, get over here!" Eduardo called playfully.

"Blu, meet Roberto! He'll be joining us for the next few years,"

Blu stood speechless. This news snapped him out of his drowsiness.

"Son of a bitch!"

"You—" Blu started. While he had known Roberto since engineer training school, there was no nostalgia.

"Blu! What's goin' on, dude? It's been forever!" Roberto yelled, holding his wing out for a shake. Blu reluctantly reciprocated this action and put on a fake smile.

"Wait, he passed training?" Blu whispered to Eduardo, with Roberto standing at a distance with an innocent smile.

"Yeah… It took him a couple years. Flunked the classroom course a few times," Eduardo explained, saying it in such a way that a few times was a grave understatement.

"What? That thing was hard, guys!" Roberto defensively said.

"And yet the rest of us somehow passed it the first time?" Blu looked at him with one eyelid slightly, even unnoticeably raised higher than the other.

"Don't worry, Blu. He's with me, today. I'm just gonna show him around the yard,"

"That's a sort of relief, but how did Roberto—"

"So here's my plan for you, today," Eduardo began, turning away from Roberto, "So, I'm gonna have you disassemble Cal's train once it arrives,"

"Called it!"

Blu accidentally made a displeased facial expression when Eduardo said this.

"Yes, I know. It's my job. It's just that I'm getting tired of it,"

"I get it. We all dislike our jobs, sometimes, but…" Eduardo had a lot of patience for Blu, since he was one of his best engineers.

"With all due respect, sir. Switching is the only thing I've been doing… for eleven years," Blu said, nodding some after he finished his sentence.

"Wait… You've been working for this railroad for eleven years?"

"Yessir," Blu quickly replied, attempting to keep engaged with the situation.

"Who was your manager before me?" Eduardo asked, becoming less manager-like as they progressed into their conversation.

"I don't remember his name, but he had me on switching every day, as well. His philosophy was that the new guys would get more experience by driving the trains places, while the better engineers would sit out or perform other tasks. He was also a Karate instructor, so…" Blu trailed off, and Eduardo waited patiently to say the next thing.

"Then I have good news for you, today,"

Blu looked at him with subtle confusion. Roberto continued standing in the background, seemingly distracted by something behind him.

"I'm havin' you go with Rafael to take a couple of newly rebuilt GP40-3s to Anderson, down in Acton.

"The shop'll be busier than normal, so we'll need you taking those engines down to keep the rebuilding process goin',"

"Wait, he doesn't mean it, does he?"

Blu nodded in affirmation before walking away to watch for Cal's train in the dim light of morning. He heard the same horn that woke him up on his way to the yard, and the bright headlights' corona grew steadily as the train approached the yard with its rounded hopper cars.

"Unit trains are so simple. They're all the same type of freight car… All you have to do is break it up into certain lengths to be pushed down to available sidings."

I hope you enjoyed that. I don't know when I'll get to the interesting parts yet, so stay tuned...