It was late on a Friday afternoon and the phone on my desk rang. I thought, ‘Ah, Crap. That’s probably my boss wanting me to do something that I’ll have to work over an hour or two to finish before I leave for the day and the weekend.’

And then I thought, ‘Man, it’s Friday afternoon and I generally meet with a group of my friends for happy hour on Friday evening after work.’ Instead of my boss it was my former college classmate and good friend, Max, who asked, “Hey, Kurt, you goin’ to meet us for happy hour this evening?”

“Yeah, man. That’s what we normally do on Friday afternoon isn’t it? Where do you want me to meet you guys this evening?” Max and I had graduated from college together and we got our advanced degree in Engineering at the same time.

We have been good friends all during college and for all of the several years afterwards. He had a similar degree to mine but, he worked for a different company than I did. Max is one slick dude since he graduated with honors which was better than I did.

“We figured we’d make it easy on you this week, Kurt. You know that watering hole just across the railroad tracks and down a block or so from your office building? You can hoof it down there a few minutes after five o’clock and meet us there.

You won’t even have to drive down there and you can stagger your way back to where your car is parked without any problem other than getting run over by one of those fast moving freight trains that come flying through there so often.

You just have to be very careful and make sure you don’t get run over by one of those fast moving freight trains on the railroad tracks. We all know how you get once you have a beer under your belt, Ha. All the guys are going to be there, man.” The other guys were all friends Max and I have made since we had gotten out of school and had gone to work here in town.

“Ok, Man. I’ll be there at probably about ten after five if something doesn’t come up between now and then. See you then, Bud.” I just ignored Max’s snide remarks. Of course, I have made similar snide remarks to him in the past, so I figured that paybacks were hell. At five o’clock I began to put my work away, cleared my desk, shut down my computer to head out the door of my office.

Rather than go out to the parking lot behind our office building as I usually do where my car was parked, I went out the front door and stepped out onto the street. I headed down the street toward the railroad tracks. As I was walking down the street I saw a woman just ahead of me about fifty or seventy five feet ahead walking toward the railroad tracks, too.

She was wearing a dark colored loose fitting jacket and a dress with a long skirt that came down well past her knees. What I could see of her, her clothes looked like they were soiled and rumpled. What little I could see of her legs they looked like they were just toothpick thin.

Her clothes looked like she had picked them up out of a rag bag. They were way too big for her and they just hung on her like they had been hung on a coat hook. I kind of felt sorry for her for the way she looked as she walked ahead of me.

She seemed to have a disjointed walk like she could almost be slightly drunk. Just before she got to the railroad tracks the crossing arms lowered, the alarm bells started clanging their warning to pedestrians and street traffic alike, that a railroad train was coming through the intersection.

I knew that the railroad traffic through that area was always fast moving and it was very dangerous to get out on the railroad right of way at any time. The railroad had signs posted that pedestrians and street traffic should not get out on the right of way at any time due to the frequency of rail traffic traveling in either direction through this area. It was just one heck of a busy railway line with all of the rail traffic through that area.

To my great surprise and horror the lady ahead of me paid no attention to the crossing arms and she walked around the crossing arms and out onto the right of way. I hurried up to the edge of the right of way and looked in the direction that she had turned and was walking along the length of the railroad tracks.

She had walked only about fifty to 100 feet down the right of way and stood in the middle of the tracks in between the rails. It looked like she was just purposely waiting for the locomotives to get to her and run over her which was certain to result in her horrible death.

When I saw where she was, I thought, ‘Holy crap, lady. That’s not very smart. That high ball train is going to be through here in a minute or two. Is she really trying to kill herself? I was not going to stand by idly and let her kill herself if I could help it.’

I’m sure as hell not any body’s hero but, I ran down the tracks to where she stood and said to her, “Lady, you need to get off of these tracks because it’s clear that train is going to be coming through here very quickly and it’s moving very fast.

I could hear the engineer’s horn blaring at the intersections far down the track and the train was coming fast. She just turned and looked at me. The tears were streaming down her face like she was in great pain and great distress. She just said, “Leave me alone and let me do this. Go away. I want to die and I don’t want you to die with me, Mister.”

I thought, ‘Kurt, you’d have to be a really hard hearted jerk to walk off and let her get run over and ground into hamburger by a fast moving high ball freight train.’ I said to her, “Lady, I don’t want to die and I don’t want you to die either. I especially don’t want you to die alone.

No matter what is driving you to want to do this, there is always someone who cares and is willing to help you work things out. And I care enough that I don’t want you to die right now, not this way.”

She turned to me again with tears still streaming down her face and said, “I told you to go away and leave me alone.”

“Lady, I’m not going to leave you alone and I’m not going to let you be run over by that fast moving oncoming freight train. You need help and it looks like I’m the only one who can help you right now. I don’t see anyone else around who wants to pull you off of these railroad tracks before that freight train barrels through here.

You may die and I might even die with you but, I’m not going to stand here and watch you die alone if I can help it.” By that time the locomotive engineer had seen us on the tracks between the rails and the engineer was blaring the horn constantly telling us in no uncertain terms to get off of the tracks rather than being ground into hamburger by the lead locomotive.

The lady had turned back to look down the tracks at the oncoming locomotive and I just grabbed her around her waist and drug her off of the tracks when the lead diesel locomotive was less than about two hundred feet from us.

As the two locomotives flashed past us followed by the many freight cars trailing along behind them I could hear that the engineer had already slammed on the emergency brakes to stop the train.

My heart was racing at double the redline limit. I could hear my pulse thundering in my ears with the knowledge that we both were just fractions of seconds away from a horrible death.

My legs got rubbery and I didn’t know if I could keep my knees from buckling as those two huge diesel locomotives flashed by us just inches away dragging all those freight cars behind them.

I don’t know how fast the freight train was moving but it must have been at least fifty MPH or faster. But, it still took probably a quarter to a half a mile or more for the train to come to a full stop.

I knew that the engineer would have to fill out a report on a near miss just like there had been a collision with a car or truck or if his locomotives had run over us. It was certain that he sure as hell wouldn’t be happy with us being out there standing on the railroad tracks between the rails.

Until the railroad crew could get to me and still holding her I pulled out my phone and called Max and told him, “Call the police, Max.” I told him, “Tell them there has been a problem on your side of the railroad tracks and they need to send someone out here to see about it.”

He asked, “Are you Ok, Kurt? He could hear the nervousness in my voice and I could hear the concern in his voice.”

“Yeah, I’m OK. I’ll fill you in later when I see you to talk to you. Just call the police and tell them they need to send a squad car out here, muy pronto.” I looked down at the lady I was holding safely in my arms.

I had to think, ‘Good God, Kurt, the two of us were only two to three seconds from being ground into dog food under the wheels of those diesel locomotives and the freight cars they were dragging behind them. No wonder my legs were rubbery. I’m surprised my underwear wasn’t filled with something I don’t even want to think about much less talk about.

I guess maybe I had better start going back to church like my Mother has always told me to do. She has always told me you need to be ready every day to meet your maker. I sure as heck wasn’t ready to meet my maker today especially since both this lady and I were only a couple of seconds away from it. I wouldn’t even have had the time to repent for my sins which would have probably taken me an hour or more to do if not several days.

The lady was desperately clinging onto me like I was her life preserver in deep water. Later, I got to thinking about it and said to myself, ‘Kurt, you dumb jerk you were her life preserver. You just didn’t realize it at the time.

I guess it was a whole lot better to have been her life preserver than to have been an eye witness to her ghastly death being ground into hamburger by those big diesel locomotives. Or even worse, for the two of us to have been ground into hamburger at the same time.

By that time, the railroad engineer came running up to me and the lady and he asked me, “Hey, what the hell are you two doing out here on the right of way? Don’t you know that you’re not supposed to be out here on the right of way at any time especially when a freight unit is coming through and especially at the speed we have to travel to stay on schedule. There is no way we can stop on a dime like you might think.

We have a schedule to meet and now this is going to tie me up and all the traffic on the main line is going to be delayed, too. My dispatcher is not going to be happy at all with this. I’ll have to make out a report on this incident and I need your name and the lady’s name for my report, too.”

Still holding the lady in my arms I said, “I saw this lady walk out here and she was standing here between the rails. I was not going to let her become a new car coupler ornament on your lead locomotive.

And I had no intention of becoming one myself, either, as you could see. I’m bright enough to know that neither she nor I are any kind of a match for your locomotive at any speed.” I turned her very thin face to me and asked her, “Lady, tell him what your name is.”

She was still sobbing almost uncontrollably and finally she managed to say, “Carol.”

“He is going to need your full name, Carol.” I said as compassionately to her as I could.

Still sobbing, she replied, “Carol Braun.” Then she laid her head on my shoulder and continued to sob almost hysterically.

The engineer took her name down for his report and he said, “Lets walk up to the intersection and get off of the right of way. There’s going to be more rail traffic roll through here from the other direction shortly. I need your name, too, man.” We walked back to the intersection to get off of the right of way. The engineer then asked me my name.

“My name is Kurt Miller.” as we walked up to the intersection and got off of the right of way.

Just then a uniformed police officer walked up to us and said, “Ok, guys. My name is Officer McCrory and I need to know what’s happened here?” I started to say something to him but, Officer McCrory turned to the engineer and asked, “Who are you, sir, and what is your story in this?”

The engineer told the officer his name and said, “I’m the locomotive engineer of this rail unit, officer, and I have contacted my dispatcher and told him what has happened. This is the main rail line and I can’t continue to block this line much longer. I have to get this unit moving very soon. As it is already, we are going to have rail traffic backed up more than what our management will tolerate.”

“If I don’t we’ll have all the rail traffic tied up and delayed for over a hundred miles or more behind me. My dispatcher has told me that management will bring me and my crew back here as soon as I tie up in the freight yard for any additional statements you may need from us.”

“Ok, sir. Since you have given me your name, your unit number and your dispatcher’s name and phone number, you are free to get your unit started moving on to your tie up point and clear these intersections.” Then the officer turned to me and asked, “What’s your name and what’s your part in this, sir?”

I told him my name and related my story to him about how I followed this lady out on the right of way and pulled her off of the tracks just seconds before the lead locomotive would have struck her and run over her. The officer then asked, “Is she alright and can she talk to me?”

“She told me her name but, that’s all she has said to me. I think she is terrified and distraught because she has hung onto me ever since I pulled her off of the tracks. She is as light as a feather and as frail as a small bird. You can see how thin she is and how gaunt her face looks. If someone were to squeeze her very tightly she’s very likely to break into multiple pieces like a piece of thin glass.”

Officer McCrory said, “Well, sir, I’m going to have to take her down to the station and see what we can do to get her some help.” He reached for her arm and said, “Come on with me, Miss. I have to take you down to the station with me.”

Carol started crying and screaming hysterically. The officer turned to me and said, “I’d like for you to go along with her down to the station with me, sir. Do you think she will go with you down to the station in the squad car?”

“I think so as long as I’m with her. Where’s the squad car, officer?”

“It’s about a block down the street. Do you think she can walk that far?”

“I don’t know. We’ll just have to try it and see. If she can’t, then we’ll just have to help her, officer.” I said to Carol, “Come on, Honey. I’m going to go down to the station with you in the officer’s squad car. And I’m not going to leave you. I’ll stay with you as long as you need me to stay with you.

We are going to get you some help and the first thing we are going to do is get you something to eat. How long has it been since you have eaten anything?” She just kind of looked at me with a blank look in her eyes.

The officer had gotten on his radio and told them he was bringing a disturbed woman into the station and he needed them to call Mental Health Services and have them send someone to the station to start getting her some help very quickly.

Carol and I started out walking and about half way there she couldn’t go any further on her own. I put my arm around her back and the officer put his arm around her, also. We got to the squad car but, she didn’t want to get into the car until I got in first. Then she got in and sat so close to me she was nearly sitting in my lap.

Officer McCrory took us down to the station and had us sit in a room where he took my full statement and had it typed up. In the meantime the Mental Health Services worker showed up and she was shown into the room with us. She identified herself as Ruth Blum showing the desk Sargent and the officer her identification.

Ms. Blum looked at Carol and treated her very tenderly and very sympathetically. She asked Carol, “Can you tell me your name, Dear?” Carol gave her a one word answer with just her first name again. The lady then asked her, “And what is your last name, Dear?” Carol gave her a one word answer again with her last name.

Then she turned to me and asked, “What do you know about this lady, sir?”

“I don’t know anything more than what she just told you. Except that she is very thin and extremely frail and I’ll bet she hasn’t had anything to eat in days and probably hasn’t slept in a couple of days, either.

You can see by her appearance that she probably hasn’t showered in several days or longer and her hair has not been shampooed in the same time, either, or maybe even longer than that.”

“I told her on the way here in the squad car the first thing I was going to try to do was to get her something to eat and we need to do that for her very quickly. I really want her to have something to eat before we leave the station with her this evening, Ma’am. Ok?”

Hearing that, Officer McCrory walked out to a vending machine in the hall and bought a couple of packages of peanut butter crackers and handed them to Ms. Blum. She opened one package and handed Carol the individual crackers. Ms. Blum walked out and found a paper cup and brought her a cup of water.

Carol drank all the water and went back to eating her crackers. Ms. Blum looked at me and asked my name. I told her my name and she then said, “Well Kurt, I need to take her down to the clinic and I think I’m going to need your help to get her there safely. I would really appreciate it if you would go with us down to the clinic.

Since she seems to be so attached to you, I think that if I try to separate her from you she’s going to really be upset. Will you accompany us down to the clinic so we can start giving her the help she so desperately needs, Kurt?

The first thing we need to do is get her a decent small meal and then we are going to get her showered and shampooed and a clean change of clothes. Tonight we want her to have a warm, safe place to sleep in.” Ms. Blum then turned to officer McCrory and asked, “Is she free to leave with us, officer McCrory?”

Officer McCrory nodded and said affirmatively, “Yeah, you can take her back to your clinic as soon as you sign this release form, Ma’am and I need to have one of your cards to go with my report, too. He also wanted me to write my name on and sign the release form as well”

Ms. Blum signed the release form and handed him one of her cards. She then turned to Carol and asked her, “Are you ready to go with me, Dear?”

I stood up and dug into my jeans pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to Officer McCrory. I told him, “That’s for the crackers you bought her Officer.” Carol had stood up beside me and hung on to me for dear life. Ms. Blum got on the other side of her holding her arm and we started out of the building to her car.

She told us to wait just outside the door of the station while she went to get her car. Like with the squad car, Carol would not get into the car until I got in first. Ms. Blum drove us to her clinic and stopped at the front door and told us to wait there while she parked her car in the parking lot.

After she parked her car, Ms. Blum helped me take her up the steps and into the clinic. When she had signed us in, she took us into an office where she wanted to talk to Carol. “The first thing I’m going to do is get and orderly up here to wash your face and hands and arms, Deer. And in the meantime I’m going to call the kitchen and have them bring you something to eat, too, Carol.”

Would you like that, Dear?” A hint of a very slight smile slowly spread across her face for the first time. Ms. Blum picked up the phone and called for the orderly to come up to her office. Then she called the kitchen and asked them to make up a small meal for Carol.

After the phone calls, Ms. Blum said to Carol, “After you have eaten we are going to take you down and get you a shower and we’re going to shampoo your hair, too, Carol. You know that Mr. Miller is not permitted to be in the shower with you.” Carol turned and looked at me with a look of terror in her eyes and on her face. And then she began to cry again.

I pulled her face up and looked her in the eyes and told her, “Honey, you know I have done everything I have said I’d do for you and I’d stay with you as long as you needed me. I have done that for you haven’t I?

I didn’t pull you off of those railroad tracks then to run off and abandon you now. Ms. Blum has treated you very well and I’m sure that she is going to stay close with you every step of the way while you are having your shower and shampoo.

I know that Ms. Blum is going to get some clean properly fitting clothes for you, too. I’ll be waiting right here for you when you are finished with your shower, Ok?” About that time the orderly showed up to wash her face and hands and the kitchen helper showed up with a small tray of food for her.

After they had washed her face and hands, Carol seemed to relax considerably and Ms. Blum offered her the sandwich and a cup of warm tea. She ate the sandwich ravenously and drank the tea. She had a look on her face like she wanted more to eat.

Ms. Blum told her, “We want to make sure that you can tolerate what you have just eaten, Dear. And after your shower we’ll see about getting you some more to eat. Now are you ready for us to take you down for your shower, Dear?”

She looked at me with a pleading look in her eyes. I just said, “Honey, I want you to go with Ms. Blum and while you are gone I want to go find something to eat, too. I haven’t had anything to eat since lunch. I’ll be right back here when they bring you back from your shower. I’m not going to go anywhere other than to their cafeteria to get something to eat for myself, Ok?”

Ms. Blum stepped to the door and asked the orderly to bring the wheel chair into the office and I helped her get Carol into the wheel chair. Before they started out the door I stopped her and said, “Ms. Blum...”

She interrupted me and said, “Please call me Ruth, Mr. Miller.”

“Ok, Ruth, I will and you can call me, Kurt. But, I just wanted to thank you for being so kind and so gentle and so considerate of Carol in all of this. I feel like I have a responsibility for her and I want to see her get better and see her get her life back in order.”

“Kurt, you have to be a very brave man to save her life like you have. Many people would have just let her go, walked away and never looked back.”

“You remind me of my Mother, Ruth, and she taught me to help those people that could not help themselves. I could not have lived with myself if I had left her to die a grotesque death like that by being run over by a fast freight train. That would have haunted me for the rest of my life.

My Mom and my Dad both would have snatched me bald headed if I had walked off and left her to die like that. Do you need some money to pay for the new clothes for her? I’m not a rich man but, I can afford to buy her some new clothes especially if that will help her on her road to recovery, Ruth.”

“No need for that, Kurt, this clinic is state funded and all of her reasonable expenses will be paid for out of our budget for such things as well as her therapy. You might want to think about bringing her some of the things that our policy will not allow us to provide for her.”

“Ok, Ruth. We can talk more about that tomorrow. Is there someplace around here that I can get a meal while she is having her shower and shampoo?”

“Yeah, there is a cafeteria in the basement and you can get a sandwich and other things down there this time of the evening. In the meantime give us about an hour and we’ll bring her back up to this floor to assign her to a room for the night. She really needs some sleep and some real rest but, I think she is going to want to see you again after her shower and shampoo.

I don’t think she has had a good night’s sleep and adequate rest in some time. Come with me, Kurt and I’ll get you a visitor pass so you can get back on this floor.” Ruth took Carol’s hand and walked alongside the wheel chair as they took her down to give her a shower and shampoo.

I walked down to the cafeteria and got something to eat and while I was eating I called Max. I told him over the phone, “Hey, man, I know it’s late but, I wanted to let you know that I hadn’t forgotten about you guys. I’m sure that you guys probably gave up on me hours ago.”

“What the hell happened to you, Kurt? We saw you talking to the cop and to another guy with some woman draped all over you.”

“It’s a really long story, man.” Then I told him the abridged version clear through to the point that I went with her to the Mental Health Services clinic. “They asked me to stay here until they got her cleaned up and taken to her room.

Then I have to go pick up my car at work and go on home to get some shut eye myself. It’s been a long, long, long day. I’ve got to go now, Bud. I’ll call you in the next day or so and fill you in some more.”

I finished my sandwich and went back up to the floor she was on. When I got there a lady with the name of Candace on her name tag asked my name and when I told her she said, “Mr. Miller, Ruth just called me and said they would be bringing the lady back up to her room shortly and she wants you to wait in her room for them.”

She walked down the hall with me and showed me her room and a few minutes later Ruth came into the room with Carol in the wheel chair. When they came into the room, Carol’s eyes lit up and a weak smile broke out on her face. She got up out of the wheelchair and put her arms around my neck and she started crying on my shoulder again.

Ruth motioned for me to help her sit down on the side of the bed. Carol wouldn’t let go of my arm so Ruth told me to sit on the bed next to her. I looked at her and said, “I told you I’d be here when they brought you back here and I made good on my promise to you didn’t I, Carol.”

“You look 1,000 percent better after your shower with your hair shampooed and your brand new clean clothes on Honey.” I looked up and Ruth had another tray of food for her. Ruth brought the tray table over in front of her and sat the food tray in front of her to eat.

Carol had a questioning look on her face and Ruth said, “That’s for you, Dear. We want you to eat a little more tonight before you go to sleep. And we have a pill for you to take after you have eaten to help you sleep, Dear.” Carol wolfed down the sandwich and drank the tea. Then Ruth handed her the little paper cup with the pill and handed her a small paper cup of water to wash the pill down with.

I told Carol, “Honey, I’m going to have to go home and get some sleep myself but, since tomorrow is Saturday I’ll be back here in the morning to see you, Ok?” About twenty minutes later Carol’s eyes got very heavy and she laid down on the bed and she soon went to sleep.

Ruth lifted her feet up on the bed, took her shoes off and pulled the cover up over her. She motioned for me to follow her out of the room. Before we left the room Ruth also raised the protective arms on the bed to keep her from rolling out of the bed in her sleep.

When we left her room Ruth said to me, “We’ll keep a close eye on her tonight but, I don’t think she will be up until well after breakfast. Do you have a way to get home tonight, Kurt?”

“No, I don’t. I figured I’d just have to catch a taxi back to my office to pick up my car in the parking lot there at my office building.”

“That won’t be necessary, Kurt.” She is in good hands for the rest of the night and I’m going to go home, myself. I’ll give you a ride back to your office to pick up your car.”

We got out to her car in the clinic parking lot and she asked me to give her directions to my office building. While she was driving she asked me, “What do you do for a living, Kurt?”

“I’m a Consulting Engineer, Ruth. I have an advanced Engineering degree and we do a lot of consulting work in this area and around the state, too, as well as some around other parts of the country.”

“Ruth, you seem to be a head honcho around the clinic what is your job there?”

“I’m a Doctor of Psychiatry and I am head of Psychiatric Therapy for the clinic, Kurt. With Carol’s admission to the clinic she has become my principal responsibility. She is a very disturbed young woman and I’m going to need a lot of help from you to give her the help she so desperately needs.”