A Gargoyle's Journey and Virility

Part 17

By morning, Brooklyn was still sleeping in the car because the motion and sound of the train was keeping him comforted. He slept until he changed to stone again.

During the day, there were some men who were homeless and were trying to get to a better place to live by hopping board the train car. They found the door open and closed it. It was a group of six older men that carried guns too. This wasn't good.

The men looked for any other stowaways on the car. They found a stone statue in the back but they also saw the bag. What was in that?

They opened it up and the men were astounded at what they found. One hundred dollars and a lot of food and water! It was theirs for the taking! Brooklyn was helpless to defend it in his stone state. The men ate and drank the supplies like animals, with how hungry they were. They could use the money they had found too.

The train traveled all day and by evening, it pulled into St. Louis, Missouri. The men got out of the train car there and made off with the supplies. Now Brooklyn didn't have anything.

At sunset, Brooklyn awoke from his sleep and he found that his bag was gone. He got up and looked around the car. The train was stopped for the moment. His supplies were just... gone. "Great. I should have counted on somebody possibly taking my stuff." Brooklyn said regretfully. "I'll just have to get more on the way, depending on where I am."

Brooklyn hoped he was home, and he climbed out of the car. Looking around, he didn't recognize this place. It wasn't New York. Perhaps he had better climb back into the car and wait for it to move again.

"Hey! Get out of here, you freak!" He heard from some officers and he saw they had guns on them and he didn't want to risk getting shot again. He took off on all fours across the tracks and through some silent trains. The officers had driven him off the premises.

Brooklyn would find another way to get home, but first, he had to find out where he was. He still didn't know and he was supply-less. He would have to find some way to get food and water for himself. He wished he would have seen who took his stuff, but they were long gone by now. No point in looking. So much for Ted's help.

He needed to get to the air and perhaps find the entryway or exit into this town or city. He had to find out how far he had gotten. He saw a half-grown tree not far from where he was. He went over and climbed it, then launching into the air. He had to flap his wings a few times to make sure that he got airborne. The wind currents were a little weak that night.

As he was now high in the air, Brooklyn looked around and just like other cities and towns he had seen on his way home, this one was no exception to being absolutely stunning and beautiful. But this city had something else that made it stand out. He suddenly noticed the great big arch in the middle of it. What could that be for? There was also a river running through the city.

Brooklyn went to try to find a tourist attraction newsstand to find out where he was. He had a hunch about where he was, as he had seen an arch like this one in one of the cities on TV before. He needed to know if it was true.

He flew to a downtown area and found a newsstand and when no one was looking, he went out and grabbed a newspaper and a map that was there. He got back to an alley and making sure no one was around, he looked at the newspaper and it said St. Louis on the front. Brooklyn's hunch had been correct. He was on the border of Missouri. It meant he still had a few more states to go before he would make it home, but at least he was closer now than he had been.

He wanted to go see the famous arch of St. Louis. This would be a story he could tell the clan when he got back. At least on his journey home, there would be some exciting stories to tell. And he had met some people and made a few friends along the way.