Chapter 1

I love trains. I have since I was five years old when my grandfather took me on my first train ride. I never forgot the thrill of waiting on the train for it to start moving, the feel of the gentle side to side rocking as it went down the tracks, and the views out the windows as we rode through the countryside. It wasn’t a long ride, just a day trip, but it left a hell of an impression on a young boy.

Now fast forward about 30 years and I was once again at the train station purchasing a ticket. The company I work for has told me to do an article on the modern day train. You know, how the railroad is struggling to survive in this age of the airplane and automobile, that sort of thing.

Yeah I’m a writer, and when an assignment to write about trains came up, I couldn’t jump on it fast enough. I told my boss that I was familiar with trains (even though I wasn’t) just so he would choose me for the assignment. And sure enough, he told me to write the story.

So after talking at length to my boss and finding out what he wanted in the story, we decided that if I was to write a proper piece, a simple little day trip wouldn’t be enough. I would need to spend some time on the train. That was fine with me. We took a look at the train schedules and routes and determined that a round trip would be necessary, train tickets are much cheaper than air fare.

My boss and I bartered back and forth for a couple days before I wore him down enough for him to spring for a good train trip. I used the argument that I needed to see several different routes and get an overall feel for how the railroad was doing if I was to write a comprehensive piece. Finally I convinced him and the deal was settled. The company would pay for the trip, but I had to pay for the meals and other expenses. I was thrilled with the idea.

Standing at the ticket counter, I told the ticket agent what I had planned and she printed up the tickets I needed. I was to take “The Empire Builder” from Chicago to Seattle, then transfer to “The Coast Starlight” from Seattle to Los Angeles, and finally take “The Southwest Chief” from Los Angeles to Chicago.

That would amount to a total of about 6,265 miles and 127 hours (a little over 5 days) of travelling. I was ecstatic! I would get a chance to see a lot of country on this trip and all through my favorite mode of travel. No driving hassles, just sit back and enjoy the trip. Hell, it was a working vacation as far as I was concerned.

“The Empire Builder” was scheduled to depart at 2:15 p.m. on Monday, which gave me plenty of time to get the things I needed for the trip over the weekend. I got to the station in time to take a few pictures to go with the story, and then I got on board the train and found my cabin.

Because I was going to be on the train for several days I was able to get a sleeping cabin and through a stroke of pure luck, the train wasn’t real full so I had the cabin to myself ... at least for the first leg of my trip.

The cabin had four fold-down bunk beds in it. The two upper bunks folded against the wall out of the way during the day and the two lower bunks folded into double seats facing each other. I chose the lower left-hand bunk to be my bed for this leg of the trip and folded the others up so I would have some room in the cabin. The cabin also contained a fold down table which I set up with my laptop computer so I could work on the story while I travelled.

Once things were settled in my cabin, I went to go have a look around. I couldn’t very well write a story about modern day train travel without talking to a few of my fellow passengers and having a look around the train. So grabbing my camera and a notepad, I locked my cabin door and went forward to see who I could find to interview.

The first “victims” I found to interview were a lovely elderly couple. They were sitting in the main passenger cabin looking out the window and enjoying the ride. She had the window seat and he was sitting next to her leaving the aisle seat open. After introducing myself and explaining my purpose, they gladly agreed to talk to me for a bit.

After a short interview, I left the couple with a thank you and a warm handshake. They had told me that they too had been long-time fans of the railroad and that they remembered “the old days” when steam powered locomotives still ran the rails. We had a very enjoyable talk about the romance and excitement of the railroad. It was nice to see my passion for the train was shared by others.

After the interview, I went back to my cabin to begin writing down the things we talked about. It was such a nice conversation and the old gentleman had told me so many things about trains that I wanted to write them down while I still remembered them. I typed away until dinnertime and then shut everything down for the night.

After dinner I went back to the bar car to enjoy a drink and relax a bit before going to bed. As I sat there enjoying my drink, I spotted a very lovely young woman at the bar getting herself a drink. She had short brown hair, a very nice figure and the prettiest green eyes I have ever seen.

I watched her get her drink and as she turned to walk towards me I quickly looked down at my own drink. She walked up to me and just as she was passing my small table, the train lurched to the side. She stumbled and fell into my lap, spilling her drink on me. I caught her and kept her from falling further, but I took the drink square in the chest.

“Oh my God! Oh I am so sorry, sir!” she said, springing up almost instantly and quickly grabbing some paper napkins to try to wipe up as much of the drink as she could. But it was too late. I had saved her from hurting herself, but took the drink square in the chest and now there was a cold wet stain covering most of the front of my shirt and down onto my pants as well.

As she wiped the drink off my chest, she looked up worried. But once she saw that I wasn’t too concerned about it (it was just an old short and not a good one at that) she saw me smiling and she felt better. She then started to wipe the drink off my pants. As she wiped the stain off my pants, I couldn’t help but show my attraction to her.

“Oh my...” she said quietly as she felt the growing bulge in my pants. I was just thankful we were alone in the bar car except for the barkeeper who kept his head down while he wiped the bar down. She looked up at me as she wiped my pants off and smiled, those beautiful green eyes sparkling.

“My name is Julie. Julie Banks. I am so sorry for all this. The train jerked and I couldn’t help it,” she said, apologizing again, “I hope these weren’t real expensive clothes.”

“No, dont worry about it. It’s okay. My name is Jim Brickman. It’s nice to meet you, although this isn’t my usual method for picking up women,” I said trying to make her feel better.

Julie smiled again. “Well, I’m not in the habit of spilling drinks on men just so I have an excuse to talk to them.”

“I’ve got to run back to my car and get out of these clothes. Will you wait for me here till I get back – it will only be a minute,” I asked her.

“Or you could come to my car and we could finish these drinks properly,” she said shyly. She pressed a slip of paper with her car number on it into my hand. I turned to make my way back to my car and quickly changed. Reading her car number off the paper, she was a couple cars further forward than me, so once I was changed I went to see her in her car.

Knocking on the door to her sleeper car, she opened it and asked me in. “I’m glad you came ... I was afraid you might not come by once you had a chance to think about it.” she said softly.

“Well, I make it a point to never say no to a beautiful girl – especially one who is offering me a drink!” I told her. Julie smiled at the compliment.

“That’s good, please sit down, I believe you were drinking a Jack Daniels and Coke before?” she said offering me a drink.

“That’s right. Thank you,” I replied.

We talked a bit as we enjoyed our drinks. She told me she had recently divorced and because she just wanted to get away from the memories, she was on her way to Seattle to take a new job there. She said she could have flown, but decided to take the train so she could have some time to clear her head and sort out her life.

I told her my story and she immediately perked up and started asking me questions about my work, if she had possibly read anything I wrote, and how I liked being a writer. I told her of a few of my adventures and trips I had taken and she seemed fascinated with it all.

We had a good time talking and seemed to hit it off really well. I was thinking to myself that I had found a friend to share my travels with, at least this part of it, and was glad for that. It was at this point that Julie upped the ante.

“Well, I’d better be going, it’s getting late,” I said, looking at the time on my watch. “We’ll be getting to Seattle tomorrow.”

“Yes,” she said looking down. Then she looked back up into my eyes. “Do you have to go?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, could you stay with me tonight? This move and all has me scared and I could really use a friend,” she said. The look on her face as she opened her heart up to me was something I will never forget. Julie looked like a scared little girl and I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and protect her.

“Of course I will stay the night, Julie.” I told her. I pulled her to her feet and wrapped her in my arms. She leaned forward and kissed me deeply.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Do you need anything from your cabin?” she asked. I thought for a moment ... my laptop was still on the table and running.

“Well let me run back and shut down my laptop and put it away. I’ll be right back, I promise,” I said. With another kiss just to tide me over, she let me go back to my cabin. I quickly made my way there and shut down the computer, stashing it safely under the bed so it wouldn’t get damaged. I took a quick look in the mirror, and then left my cabin to go back to Julie.

When I got back to her cabin, I knocked on the door. She opened the door dressed now in a white robe. “Come in, Jim,” she said, smiling. She shut the door and pulled the curtains over the windows. I noticed the curtains to the outside windows were also drawn and the little overhead reading lamp was on, giving the room a soft charming glow. As I took a seat on the edge of the bed, Julie came walking slowly to me.

“Jim, please don’t get the idea that I do this with just anyone,” she said as she walked. When she stood directly in front of me, she slipped the white robe off her shoulders letting it fall to the floor behind her.

There, standing before me, was a vision of womanly beauty. Julie was five-foot, six inches tall with a very pleasing 36-24-34 figure featuring high, proud breasts, a smooth flat belly, and a well-manicured patch of fur below.