Chapter 6: Life is But a Dream

October 4th, 1995, 10:45 PM EST, Amtrak Headquarters, Washington, DC

The condition of things in the fleet, combined with the rotten hurricane season, was keeping the executives at Amtrak up nights. They had decided that bar unfortunate weather changes, the Sunset Limited would leave Jacksonville at about 6:30 in the morning, which was earlier than expected. Not that it would matter much. CSX and the Espee would delay the thing to the end of time, in all likelihood. It was already well out of its time slot, and so they would be under no real obligation to give it time keeping; which it wouldn’t get.

The cost of the problems this season was heavily weighing on Amtrak already. They were having problems financially, and the mood in congress seemed to be suggesting that they become operationally self-sufficient, which given the current situation was essentially impossible. He could do it if they gave him enough money to either replace all the equipment or at least bring everything up to a state of good repair. But they wouldn’t. That was just the way politicians were; they gave enough to keep things barely turning over, so they couldn’t get blamed for killing it, but wouldn’t give enough money to do anything useful, lest they be branded heavy spenders.

They were short-sighted morons. Already they had insisted that they cut down the order for Viewliner sleepers from 100 to 50. They needed 100 to make the system work, and they simply didn’t have it. With the retirement of the ancient Heritage equipment, they didn’t have enough cars for the eastern long distance network. Already they had to kill the popular New York-Chicago Broadway Limited, the equally popular Washington D.C.-Montreal Montrealer, and and even the once-a-week New York-Toronto Niagara Rainbow. If they had an equipment problem, a wreck, or whatever, they were going to have to kill more single-level sleeper trains.

But what really made him mad was the short-sightedness of it. The main cost of building the Viewliners was having the manufacturer, Morrison-Knudson, tool up for it. The cars they were going to buy would have to be bought eventually. But instead of having a small marginal cost, they’d have to have a company tool up for them again. It was a gigantic waste of taxpayer money in addition to the damage to Amtrak’s already skeletal system.

They were running a lot of long distance single levels with Amfleet II’s. The Amfleet II’s were never intended for overnight use. They were intended for long-distance day trains, such as the Pennsylvanian or Maple Leaf. The lounge wasn’t equipped for really long trips, the seats weren’t comfortable enough for it, and they didn’t have the luggage room. Moreover, they did not have large changing rooms, something required for an overnight train.

What was worse was that the old Heritage cars, due to a combination of neglect and age, were practically falling apart. The newest diners in the system were over 40 years old. The old sleeping cars had direct dump toilets and they didn’t have much life left as a result. He suspected they would have equipment shortages within the next 10 years and some trains would have to go out without diners. The equipment was not an extravagance; it was a requirement for Amtrak to meet its mandate of a national passenger rail network.

They had always intended a different kind of car to be used for long-distance overnighters. The Viewliner coach cars would have done the job perfectly. But Congress never let them build them. The original Viewliner order was for 355 cars- 35 diners, 35 lounge cars, 35 baggage dorms, 100 12-2-1 sleepers, 150 52-seat coach cars. There was an option for 16-10 slumbercoach cars, 12-bedroom cars, and even some sleeper lounge cars.

With the order he had suggested- 120 sleeping cars, 35 16-10s, five 12-bedrooms, 35 diners, 35 baggage dorms, 35 lounge cars, and 210 coach cars, they would have been able to run a very comfortable system with reasonable pricing. It would have allowed for a lot of loss over years before the system got too tight, and they wouldn’t have to run the wheels off of everything. He wish he had the skill to persuade Congress on this; his predecessor, the silver-tongued W. Graham Claytor, would have done it.

Downs was sitting at his desk irritated when the PR guy and DO came in.

“You know how we told you that all the Texas Eagle passengers were going to go through Houston? We were wrong,” the PR guy told him.

“What? What happened?”

“Four passengers, three sleeper passengers and one coach passenger, want to take the San Antonio option. We needed to find a hotel,” the PR person told him.

“But we think we found a cheap solution,” the DO chimed in.

“I’m all ears for cheap,” Downs said.

“The Presidential suite at the Embassy Suites says it sleeps up to six, and has two bedrooms plus a sofa bed in the living room,” the DO told him, “Since two of the sleeping passengers are already in the same room, it would be ok for them to share a room ... and they did ask to stay together.”

“So we can book just one room for $195 for two nights, instead of two rooms for $125 at the Marriott, and one room at the Motel 6 for $45. So it’s $390 instead of $590. And they get to stick together, so they’ll be happy,” the PR man concluded.

“Make it so,” Downs told them.

October 4th, 1995, 10:15 PM CT, Mile 1169, 20 miles north of Taylor, TX

Crap, that was not how I was expecting him to take it. He must think I am some kind of whore! I fucked it up, I really did. Akilah thought tearfully. She quickly got her clothes back on and raced up the stairs in the direction of the lounge car.

I must find him quickly, we really need to talk, I don’t want hi- her thought’s were interrupted when she crashed right into Jill, who was still standing looking out the door in shock. She had been too distraught to even see the girl, astonishingly so.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Akilah, who then felt almost shocked when she saw Jill’s still naked, nubile, teenaged beauty standing before her. Akilah felt almost envious; if she looked that good she wouldn’t have so much trouble getting someone like Josh to like her.

Jill didn’t say a word, hearing George slam the door to the bathroom so he could get clothes on. Jill simply dragged Akilah into the room and sat her on the bed. This was another snafu from these two cutely clueless nerds who needed to be given a solid shove at each other.

“What happened?” Jill asked, “Just tell me, hold back no details, so I can fix this. You two need to wake up and smell the roses.”

Akilah was not a lesbian, but she was having a hard time thinking straight while Jill sat naked beside her, completely oblivious to her lack of clothing. Jill history had made her ... somewhat uninhibited when it came to showing her body off. She didn’t even really think about it.

Eventually, Akilah processed the thought, carefully putting it into English, “I was trying to surprise him and show him how much I wanted him by setting up the bed and laying on it in my underwear, and he, um, came back before I was, um, done. He stood there in, um, shock for a moment and then he ran away from the room, um, very quickly. I was running after him, when I bumped into you, sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Jill said, “I was kind of shocked myself.”

George came out of the bathroom and froze. “Jillian, darling, are you aware you are buck naked?”

“Pfffft.” Jill laughed, and then calmly picked up some clothes and put them on as if there was nothing terribly wrong with this.

“What should I do?” Akilah moaned, “I do not know what to do in this situation. I am lost.”

“Don’t come on to him so strongly. He’s very nervous and insecure,” she said.

“But now I sc-sca-scare-scared him, and he wi-will-” she couldn’t continue, she was crying too hard, her emotional upset coming in waves of fear and sadness.

“That’s nonsense,” Jill said, “He just wasn’t sure what to do and he was afraid he’d do something wrong.”

“So why did he ru-run a-aw-away li-like-th-” she was crying again, very lost and afraid.

“He came bounding up here to talk to me,” Jill said, “I think he was wondering what to do and was looking for my advice. He wasn’t expecting you to be such a minx. Truth be told, neither was I.”

“Why didn’t he talk to you?”

“Well, le t’s see...” Jill said sarcastically, “He just came up from you in a bra and panties, and I jumped off of George naked to open the door, so he opened the door to a totally naked woman...”

“Ok, ok, I get it.” Akilah sighed.

“So what do we do from here?” George asked, “We need to resolve this situation, Jill, or, god forbid, I might never get any time alone with you again!”

“I can go talk to him, but I...” Akilah tried to start.

“I think it would be better if I went to talk to him, to be honest with you,” Jill interjected, “He’s a little scared right now, and he apparently trusts me- or he wouldn’t have come knocking on my door. I don’t know why he thinks I know how to deal with this stuff, but apparently he does.”

“That makes sense,” George said.

Akilah looked mildly uncomfortable, but agreed to it. She wasn’t sure the solution to getting a handsome man like Josh to fall in love with her was to send a stunningly attractive girl like Jill after him. But she had so far been horrible at dealing with it, so it made more sense, she supposed.

He had acted like a fool. He had ran away instead of confronting the problem. He didn’t know what he should have done, though. He was just positive that the way he had responded was not exactly the right way to respond. Didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to do. Was Akilah a slut? Was she just interested in him so that they could have some sexual release? Was that the kind of girl she was? His mother had warned him about girls like that; she told him they were no good. She seemed too smart for that, though.

And what about Jill? Why was she naked like that? Was she a slut too? She was way too young to be that sexed up. He must have interrupted her and George. They probably hated him now. He just didn’t know what to do. He had thought they were friends of his. Now he wasn’t too sure. He was scared, and stuck in a bad situation, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it.

He looked up and saw Jill approaching. He had to run from her. He didn’t want to face up to her for what he had done. He had seen her naked. She was very sexy and had turned him on, and she was already with George. He didn’t want to face up to any of this. He didn’t even understand any of this!

He started to stand up to run away.

“Don’t you dare move, Joshua Abati, you just sit in that chair because we need to talk and we need to talk NOW!” she said. She didn’t really yell, nor did it sound too much like a command. For a small, young girl she managed to impart that kind of authority that made his own mother almost impossible to buck in most situations. She made him stop in his tracks and sit back down again. He paid her rapt attention; there was something within him that didn’t dare to argue with her.

He stayed put as Jill sat down across from him. He couldn’t get the image of her soft, nubile body out of his mind, while looking at her face and slightly disheveled hair. Even like that she was really cute, and everything about her spoke of long, energetic, and ecstatic nights in bed.

“You’re looking at me funny,” Jill said, “What did I do wrong, besides come to the door buck naked, I mean. Or was that it?”

The deer-in-headlights look returned to his face.

“Yuh din’t do anythin’, it’s my fault! Okay?” he told her, looking down at the table.

“Its not okay, you need to tell me what happened?” Jill asked.

“Nuttin’...”

“Tell me.”

“Nuttin’!”

“Dude, you can tell me, I’m not upset,” Jill told him, while smiling and laughing a little.

His face turned red and he looked down at the table. “Yuh will be, I know yuh will be.”

“No, I won’t. I think I know anyway.”

“I ... well, yuh ... I mean...” he stuttered, “Oh fuck it you turned me on, okay!?“ he roared.

Jill giggled hysterically. “I’m glad. That means you think I’m attractive.”

“Yuh belong tuh Geawhge!” Josh cowered,

“So? He gets turned on by various attractive women,” she replied, “Its normal. He is still mine, still loves only me, so I am not really bothered by it.”

“But it’s wrong!” Josh said, “Thou shall not covet!”

“No it’s not,” she told him, “It’s normal. I don’t even know why they tell you not to covet in the Bible. I think you’re cute, Josh, and trust me, I’m not leaving George for you.”

“Yuh don’t wanna sleep wit’ me, though. Yuh with me? It would be hurtin’ yuh and hurtin’ Geawhge, anyway. Okay?”

“Oh, I dunno about that,” she giggled and leered at him, “If I wasn’t taken, I’d bed you. I bet it would be a lot of fun. Dunno what George thinks about- I mean, I’m taken, and its wrong to cheat on your partner. But that doesn’t mean I don’t find you attractive, Josh. I know Akilah finds you insanely attractive.”