The Tracks

Tell-tale

Dei got down from her brother's motorcycle, carefully stepping on her left foot as she limped quickly towards their house, leaving her brother behind.

"Dei! Don't just walk away from me! You have some explaining to do!"

"I don't need to explain anything, Harry!"

She went straight to the refrigerator to get a bottle of cold water. Harry entered the house, slamming the screen door behind him.

"What the fuck were you doing in the South, Dei?! Where's your head?! You could have gotten harmed!"

"Seriously, Harry? What would the Southerners have done to me?"

"You have no idea what could happen..."

"You're damn right I haven't any idea! That's why I had to go there and see for myself how dangerous these Southerners are as you picture them to be. So far, Jay doesn't seem to be of any threat to me."

"Don't be fooled by that guy."

"What's the worst that could happened, huh? That he let me get hit by the train?!"

"Yes, he could!"

"What?! Why would you even say that?! You don't get to judge people just because they're from the South!"

"Because they already did that to someone from the North!"

Dei didn't know how to respond to what her brother just dropped. Least to say she was shocked at what she heard. For as long as she can remember, there was never a clear story exchanged around their household about why their town had such anger to the South. There were whispers of a family divided, of riches and wealth that had been robbed, but these were stories passed on for years, translated in many versions. She has never heard of a Northerner being killed because of a Southerner.

He saw how this silenced her so he sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, and took out a cigarette. As he puffed on the stick, Dei moved to the window, avoiding the smoke that her brother was making. She never tolerated her brother smoking in the house, but she sensed that he was about to make a point, and slow dragging on a cigarette is her brother's way of dramatizing this. She knows better than to spoil this, for her curiosity is already piqued.

"You know how Dad tells us stories of how they used to drive their bikes and raced on the tracks?"

"Yeah. That's forbidden now. Because of an accident."

"An accident that led to somebody dying."

"Dad never said that somebody died."

"Well, somebody did. He died because a Southerner left him there to get killed."

"How could you be so sure of that?"

"Because the Mayor was there when it happened. And so was Dad. They saw the whole thing."

Another puff of smoke filled the room, making the kitchen a little hazy. Pretty much like how Dei was feeling. The day's events were beginning to take its toll on her - sneaking into the South, the adrenaline of escaping after being discovered, the panic of almost meeting death, this new information that her brother just dumped on her. But the eyes and lips of the one person who she entrusted her life with tonight, those were still very vivid. Yet it seems that any chance of seeing him again is as cloudy as the smoke that's constricting her lungs right now.

Then she wonders if she can escape to the tracks again tomorrow, and take the chance of catching a glimpse of him. Perhaps.

***

Tell-tale. Device placed along the track on either side of low structures such as bridges or tunnels to warn crew members on top of the cars that they could not remain in a standing position while passing under the structures. Most were removed when regulations no longer required or permitted crew to be atop cars in trains. (Railroading Glossary. TRAINS Magazine)