Chapter 43
Mount Pleasant, Iowa
9:52AM
Amtrak train #6 sat at the station in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The station was a small brick building with a few dark green benches on the platform. Callie sat on one of the benches towards the end of the platform. She needed some air. The train had stopped on one of its breaks to let off and take on passengers. Her body, rigid from the chill of the cool late fall Iowa weather. She stared down her legs to the platform. She wanted to think for a few moments. Ever since waking up she had Chet and Iola doing their best to ensure she was ok. She had scared them, and herself with her nightmare. Callie briefly reflected on the dream. It sent an extra chill through her body. She hoped that time would help with the flashbacks.
She observed two children dragging their mother along the platform, while she struggled to keep up with them while carrying luggage. The little girl appeared to be about four with golden curls and blue eyes. The boy, dark haired and about a year or two older was taxing his mother even more with his insistence that she keep up with them on their way to the front passenger car. He seemed rather excited by the prospect of getting on the train. Callie smiled faintly as she heard the mother telling her children to slow down without much success. She wondered what it would be like to have children who would keep her so busy she couldn't think about things like plane crashes. She rolled her eyes at her own naive perception. Knowing full well even mothers had nightmares.
Callie was attempting to distract herself from the anxiety presented from surviving the ordeal they had been through. It was funny in a way. When the plane was dropping like a brick she promised herself how perfect life would be and how she could right all of the wrongs if she just had the chance to live through it all. Now she had that chance and had no clue how to make it through the day, much less right all the wrongs. She took a deep breath. She knew she was overthinking it all. She just needed a distraction from that.
Chet and Iola made their way out of the station. They had been stocking up on snacks to take back on the train. Even though they had a sleeper car which afforded them free meals at allotted times, the bar car snacks were limited in variety and grossly overpriced. Chet smiled as they approached Callie who looked up and forced a smile.
"Hey, baby. You feeling better at all?" Chet asked, trying to keep things light, but also worried about how Callie had been. Callie nodded.
"Yeah, doing ok. Just getting some air before we all have to go back inside of that closet of a sleeper room." Iola nodded.
"Well, it is kind of cramped. But I like it a whole lot more than, er, other methods of transportation. But it was the biggest sleeper compartment they had." Chet looked at his watch.
"Well, we should be in Chicago around two I guess. We can get another break there. It's not too bad given we could be in the coach section where there are a hundred people in one car. A little too crowded for me." Callie stood up as she saw the conductor come off the train. No doubt to summon those taking their break on the platform.
"Looks like they are getting ready to go soon." She sighed. "Guess we better get back on." Callie started walking back towards the train. Chet looked over to Iola.
"I guess this is fairly normal given what she went through. What we all went through. Guess I still have a lot of it blacked out. Seems to be surfacing for her now and then. She seems ok sometimes and other times, well…" his voice trailed off, uncertain how to complete his thought. Iola nodded.
"I haven't had any bad dreams…yet." She said softly. "But I can see how it could easily happen if you are thinking a lot about what just went down with us. We need to keep an eye on her for sure. But also give her some space. I will bring up the obvious notion of therapy when we are alone. But she may or may not be receptive to that. Callie, in the past has often preferred to bottle things up when she was afraid to talk about them. I think her parents… and I am not speaking ill of Mr. and Mrs. Shaw. But they have at times tried to get Cal to live as they did. Or have tried to get her to live according to how they envision it should be for her. The fact they like to drink at times has been something which has afforded Cal a bit of a crutch when she has had a crisis in the past. You know, she saw her parents drink away their problems on occasion. She seems to be replicating that. But I am not especially worried that much given what we have all been through." She patted her brother's back as they approached the train car. "She is hurting, bro. We need to be there for her." Chet nodded firmly.
"That's a fact. I think we have just been through so many changes in the last couple weeks it's bound to screw with anyone's mind."
Chet and Iola boarded the train and headed down the narrow hallway to the far back compartment. They entered and found Callie sitting there looking out the window. She was looking at the two children and their mother she had observed earlier. For whatever reason they were still out on the platform. She giggled as she watched each child pulling on either of their mom's arms.
"Wow. That's crazy. That woman has some patience." She said pointing to them. Iola looked over her shoulder.
"Aww, that little girl is so cute with those curls. One day I will have a little girl who will wrap me around her finger, I'm sure." She said as she sat down on the lower birth seat which was now in its upright bench seat position. Chet took a seat across from Callie then took out a bag.
"Snack, Angel? We have nearly every form of sugar and salt known to man here." Callie peered into the bag.
"Wow, Chet. I could gain ten pounds just looking at what's in that bag." A moment later she heard the kids still giving their mom grief outside. Apparently one child wanted to go on the train and the other wanted to go back in the station. The train was slated to leave in just a few minutes, but the mother was clearly becoming overwhelmed. Without thought, Callie grabbed the bag from Chet and left the compartment. She quickly jumped from the train doorway onto the platform. She walked up to the group and smiled at the mother. A woman of about twenty-three with light hair tied back and no makeup. She appeared a bit frazzled by the process of getting her kids to agree to board in time. The woman slowly nodded to Callie. Callie squatted down to make eye contact with the children. They stopped tugging on their mother and looked curiously at Callie. She smiled broadly to them.
"Hi there. My name is Callie. What are your names?" She asked them. The little girl. A wisp of a child who may have not even broken thirty-five pounds for what Callie assumed had to be a girl of four. She smiled back and spoke.
"I'm Emma." she said with a giggle. Callie smiled again.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Emma." She turned to the little boy. He had dark hair and was also thin. He didn't make eye contact immediately and he looked to his side a bit. He managed to whisper.
"I'm James. Hello." Callie looked to him.
"Hi, James." Callie looked up to their mother, still addressing the children.
"Well, Guys. It looks like your momma has train tickets in her hand, so I bet you are getting on this train, right?" James nodded.
"Yeah, we are going to go for a ride. But Emma is scared to ride and wants to go back." Callie nodded and smiled to Emma.
"Is that right, Emma? Are you afraid to ride the train?" She asked the child quietly. Emma seemed hesitant to answer. But she slowly nodded.
"Yes. It looks so big and fast. But how does it stay on the tracks?" She asked with a little fear showing in her eyes. "I don't want it to go off and crash."
Emma's innocent question about being scared slammed into Callie hard. She saw the little girl sizing up the big train and was clearly apprehensive of the prospect of getting on. Callie took a breath then looked up to Emma.
"You know, it can be scary sometimes. And it's ok to be scared. I get scared too sometimes. You know what though? We can also be brave sometimes... We all have a lot of bravery in each one of us. Even you. Did you know that?" Emma wasn't sure at first how to respond. She looked into Callie's face and saw her broad smile and slowly nodded. Callie continued. "And I bet, Emma, that you are braver than you think. I know you can think about all the fun things you will be doing and before you know it, you won't be worrying about the train crashing. You will be having too much fun. Your momma and brother are also here to keep you safe." She saw the conductor out of the corner of her eye. He was looking at the group and then his watch. She looked back to Emma and took out here bag.
"How about we make a deal? You get on the train with your momma and brother and I will let you and James pick out anything from this bag, if your mom says it's ok." She said looking up, not wanting to overstep her bounds. The woman looked down to her, nodding and smiling to her.
"Yes, you can have anything you want to pick from this nice lady." She said with a slight southern accent. Callie opened the bag for Emma to look into. The child peered cautiously down into the bag. Her eyes widened.
"I can have anything?" Callie smiled back.
"Anything, baby girl." Callie said with a wide eyed expression. "Is it a deal?" She asked raising her eyebrows in question. Emma looked at the train, then to Callie, then took a deep breath.
"Ok, I will be brave." She said and picked out a large chocolate bar. Callie smiled.
"You like chocolate too?" She asked. Emma smiled and nodded. "It's good." She said with a giggle. Callie nodded and turned to James.
"How about you, big guy?" James was a bit more receptive by this point and nodded with a broad toothless grin. He picked out another large chocolate bar. Callie smiled and stood up. She turned to the children.
"Ok, guys. Let's get on the train. We don't want to miss it!" She said with an animated look to them. The kids both pulled on their mother's arms in the direction of the train. Their mother seemed relieved they were pulling in the same direction for once. She looked to Callie as they boarded.
"Thank you! I mean I was not sure what I was gonna do." She said once they were up in the train car entryway. Callie shook her head.
"It's ok. You have beautiful children." She said looking down at them. The woman blushed slightly.
Aww, thank you. My name is Rhonda by the way. We are on our way to a place near Baltimore. Kind of starting anew you might say." Callie smiled and offered her hand.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Rhonda. I am Callie Shaw. We are making our way back to Bayport." She said. Emma and James were now curious to explore the train. Rhonda looked around a bit confused as she was pretty sure they got on the wrong car. Callie smiled and pointed down the narrow hall.
"If you go down that hallway, you can enter into the next car over. If you are in the coach section I think it's two cars down. The conductor will take your tickets there I am sure." Rhonda nodded gratefully.
"Thank you again." She said looking down to her children. "Ok, we are going to walk down to the next car, kids. Be good and say thank you to Callie for the candy." James gave his toothless smile again.
"Thank you for the candy." He said politely. Callie smiled to him.
"You are welcome! I hope you have a fun trip." She said, then knelt down to face Emma.
"We have a deal still, right? You are going to be brave?" Callie asked. Emma nodded, a bit unsure of herself as the train lurched into motion. She looked to Callie.
"Ok, are you sure we will be ok?" She asked as the train bucked back and forth, picking up speed. The motion scared her a little. Callie nodded with a smile. Emma held up her finger. "Pinky promise?" She asked. Callie smiled. Almost in tears at the trust this child had been putting into her. Callie extended her pinkie finger.
"Yes, pinkie promise!" She said as they locked fingers. Callie couldn't help buy give her a hug as well, which was well received and she hugged Callie back. Emma's eyes grew wide when she saw Callie's engagement ring.
"You have a pretty ring." She said looking at it sparkle as the sunlight from the window reflected against it. Callie smiled and nodded.
"Yes, thank you. I think so too." She said and looked over to her mom who was looking at her tickets trying to find a car number." Now your momma is going to take you to your seat. That will be cool. You will get to look out the window and see everything!" Emma nodded and took her mother's hand again and smiled once more to Callie before turning and following her mom and brother down the narrow hallway.
Callie stood up. A warm feeling came over her and she smiled to herself. She turned and was about to head for her compartment and noticed Chet and Iola standing in the hallway. They had observed the interaction. Chet came forward and hugged Callie.
"Well, Angel. You look like you made a friend." he said with a smile. Callie hugged Chet back tightly.
"Yeah, I think so too." She said. She felt happier than she had in some time. Iola looked on, happy that her best friend had found a way to dig herself out of her hole a little bit. They returned to their compartment. Callie put the bag down on the fold down table and looked through it.
"I think I am a bit hungry." She said sorting through the sack. She discovered cupcakes and pixie sticks and snatched them out. "Not overly nutritious, but I think I can deal with it."
Iola took some sodas she had on ice from the floor cooler and handed them out. Chet smiled.
"Ah, will be a salty lunch for sure!" he said and took out some pretzels.
The train churned along with a steady rhythmical chugging for some time. They stopped a few brief times but kept course and on schedule.
"We should be in Chicago within the hour." Chet said. "I am not sure how long our layover will be, but it shouldn't be bad." Callie, who was pouring pixie stick number 23 onto her tongue looked over. She swallowed and smiled.
"Say, you two. Where do we stay when we get back to Bayport? The new house doesn't have any furniture in it. I mean the guest house does, but I am not exactly looking to stay there until we can get a maid in there to clean the whole place out. The main house is clean, but no furniture. Chet shrugged a bit.
"Guess we will have to get a couple beds. A lot of places have next day delivery." Callie nodded.
"True. But where do we go immediately after getting home?" She mused aloud. Iola looked up from a magazine she was reading.
"Seems the farm makes most sense. Mom and dad will be happy to have us home for a night or two at least." She looked over to Callie. "You good with that? Callie nodded thoughtfully.
"Might be for the best. I haven't really chosen to call my parents yet. I don't think the Hardy's have called them. If that's the case then they don't know what happened. And I'd kind of like to keep it that way till I feel I am up to telling them. You know… there will be all those questions. I'm just not up to answering them all right now. I will call them from the farm and see if they know anything and play it by ear." Chet and Iola nodded.
"Sounds good then." Chet said as he opened up another bag of pretzels.
The early afternoon passed and by two forty in the afternoon they had pulled into Union Station in Chicago. After checking the schedule, they determined that they had about a four hour wait for their connection to the east coast train.
"How about an early dinner?" Iola suggested. "That lunch of sugar and salt was not exactly ideal. The others agreed and they left the train station in search of food. Soon they were seated in a quaint Irish pub a couple blocks away. It was a hole in the wall eatery. Not quite a dive, but certainly not a place that was catering to the young professional base. Seated in a corner table, they were soon approached by a lean man in an apron. Callie looked at the middle aged man and could only liken him to a cross between Bono and Liam Neeson. He smiled to the group.
"How's it goin' there?" He greeted with a thick Irish accent. Chet smiled and looked up.
"Very good, thank you. We would like to order." The man nodded.
"Surely." Callie nodded and looked up.
"I'd like a burger, a Bud Light and scotch and soda." The man raised an eyebrow. He looked to Iola.
"I'd like a Salad with ranch on the side. A Corona and lime too, please." The waiter scratched his beard stubbled face with a look of amusement. He turned to Chet.
"I would like some fried chicken and a Bud please." Again, the man rubbed his mouth and looked to the group and nodded.
"All righty then. I have three bangers and mash. Three Guinness," and then he looked over to Callie, "And a shot of Bushmills for ya, love." He said and walked back towards the kitchen.
Chet looked to the two girls and cracked a smile.
"Well, that was kind of what we ordered." Iola raised an eyebrow.
"I'm almost afraid to ask what 'bangers and mash' are." A few moments later the man returned with three glasses of dark looking drinks with white foam on top. He placed them before the three. Iola was about to take a drink and the man held up a hand.
"Easy now, Blade. Let her rest a bit." He advised and walked back towards the bar. Iola raised her eyebrows in question.
"Blade?" She repeated. Chet cleared his throat.
"I suspect he meant you, and that you probably should let your drink rest a bit before drinking. I remember being in some bar before and some guy from another country would let his beer sit there a good little bit before drinking. I'm not sure what the logic behind it is." Iola nodded slowly.
"I suppose that makes sense. Kind of…" She said looking at her drink. "this IS beer, right?" A hearty laugh came from the man who was walking back with a bottle and glass.
"Dear, dear, blade. It's the only beer that's stopped more bar fights than it's started." He boasted proudly. He turned to Callie and set a glass down.
"Now, as for you, love. You forget all about that swill ye ordered and take a drink of this. This is a special 21 year old Bushmills." He said pouring Callie a tall shot. She looked at it curiously. Then held it up and gave it a sniff.
"Just like the heavens above, love." The man continued. Callie grinned and threw the shot back. After swallowing she looked up to the bar man with a smile on her face.
"Oh, my, yes! No band aids." The barman looked at her curiously.
"Good, eh?" Callie nodded affirmatively.
"Oh yes." She said still smiling. The barman smiled back and poured her another.
"There ye be, love. You're no jibber. Here's one on the house. Be right back with your meal." He promised and walked off. Chet looked to her.
"Good, Cal? At least you are no jibber. Whatever that may be." He said with a chuckle. Callie nodded.
"Oh yes. Last night, the scotch I had smelled distinctly like a package of Band-Aids. This stuff is smooth and sweet." Iola looked over to her drink
"Well, I guess my beer has settled sufficiently." She said and took a sip. "oh my, that is different. Very good for sure." She said taking another drink.
The barman came back and set down plates before them.
"And here ye be. Bangers and mash. Oh, and I took the liberty to throw in some boxty." The group looked down to see what appeared to be corned beef and mashed potatoes and a large side of potato pancakes. Iola looked up.
"Two different kinds of potatoes?" She asked somewhat surprised. The barman looked down. Then smiled.
"Course, love. I gather you've not been to Ireland, eh?" He laughed, then walked away. The group looked at their food. They were too hungry to even think about their orders being completely different than what they requested and dug in. It was soon evident that the barman knew more about what they needed than they did. The food was delicious.
Over the course of the next two hours the three indulged in several pints and learned several more new Irish terms they were not familiar with. The man came back with a slip of paper.
"How's she cutting?" Chet nodded with a glowing smile.
"Excellent my friend!" He chuckled, clearly feeling the effects of four pints. He took out his wallet and placed down a pair of hundred-dollar bills. "Will that cover our dining experience?" Chet asked, not bothering to look at the bill. The barman smiled and nodded. He held up a finger. Then walked back to the bar for a moment. He returned with a bottle and a bag.
"Because you are such a fine gentleman, and you brought in a couple of quare half blades such as these," he said gesturing to the girls. "I will send you on your way with a bottle of this special Bushmills." He said handing Callie the bottle wrapped in paper bag. "There ye are, love." He said and turned all. "Been a great pleasure! Be good. Safe travels now."
Chet and the girls got up. Somewhat less steady than when they first sat down. The girls both waved with a giggle. Chet smiled and saluted the barman casually.
"Thank you, kind sir." He said and the three left. They headed back towards Union Station to get their connecting train. A ten-minute walk brought the group back to the Amtrak station where they were allowed to early board for the next leg of their journey.
Their compartment which was basically identical to their last was a comfortable reprieve from the crowded Chicago streets they had just walked through.
Comfortably numb from their lunch and indulgence of Guinness, they settled in for their departure. Callie laid down next to Chet while Iola took the upper birth to lay down.
"I think I will get a little nap in." Iola said with a slight giggle. Chet grunted something of an acknowledgment and Callie giggled a bit and snuggled up against him. Within minutes they were all asleep. And hour and a half later the train pulled out of Chicago and started eastbound.