Authors Note/Disclaimer: I don't own anything that I don't own, so there.

I wrote this for writer's club. That's all I'll say about that. Tee hee.

"A Train Story"

Written May 10, 2005

By Skylark Starflower

Alan checked his father's pocket watch. The train should be arriving in two minutes and 43 seconds, he found. He could hear it rumbling down the tracks already. He smiled proudly.

Suddenly, he heard a voice down by his foot. "Would you like to hear a story about trains?"

Looking down, he saw a strange little man dressed like a train conductor. Or, at least, what he guessed to be a train conductor, as he's never seen one who dressed quite like that.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Mr. Conductor," replied the strange man. "Would you like to hear a story about Thomas and his friends?"

Alan stared at him, then looked up as the train pulled into the station. "I'm sorry, but not right now. I've got a job to do."

"Aw, come on. It's just a short little story."

"No. Now please, go away and let me work."

The little man's expression darkened and he climbed up Alan's clothes until he was able to grab at his tie. "Now, listen here. I'm gonna tell you a story and you're gonna sit and listen!"

"Urk…" Alan's eyes widened in panic. What should he do? If he didn't do his job, the train would be late and if that happened, his world would crumble to dust around him. But if he ignored this scary little man, he was afraid of what would happen.

"Well?" demanded Mr. Conductor, giving a yank on his tie along with the evil eye.

"Okay…" relented Alan.

"I knew you'd see things my way," grinned Mr. Conductor, and he hopped down to the ground and blew a little whistle. Alan jumped as his world began to wash away, and he heard the little man say, "Now, Thomas was a little train engine…"

X X X

Blinking, Alan sat up and looked around. Had it all been a dream? He could see no sign of the scary little man who wanted to chew his kneecaps if he didn't listen to his story.

But he did see lots of confused and angry people milling about. The train was still sitting in the station, waiting for him to give them the go ahead to leave. Breaking out into a cold sweat, he pulled out his father's pocket watch and checked the time.

He screamed. Loudly and for a long time. It was five hours past the time the train should have left. It was late!

Alan's world crumbled and exploded.

The moral of this story is: No matter how inane something seems, changing it could cause the world to explode.

The End