Читать книгу Luck and Other Deadly Things - Christopher Byford - Страница 10

The Birth of the Train

The Gambler’s Den was born from the Eiferian 433, an ore hauler that had seen plenty of use during the beginning of Surenth’s industrial boom. Found in a scrapheap, its restoration became the key element in Franco’s pursuit of a better tomorrow, its renovation instigated by Franco’s long-suffering grandfather better known as Pappy. This extended sequence showed their celebration upon their success, as well as foreshadowing the dangerous quirk that Misu was unaware of – one that would bring about its ruin.

Everything was looking good. It was actually looking good.

Pappy held the throttle carefully, knuckles white in anticipation, almost afraid to let it go. The main and piston rods did their thing, encouraging the colossal train wheels to complete a full rotation. The train heaved forward ever so slowly, gently advancing along the track. Franco hung himself half from the cab window, staring down as they passed over the sand-dusted ground. Drawing himself back inside, Franco found that he couldn’t stop laughing.

‘She’s moving!’ he yelled in elation. Finally, Pappy reciprocated the expression, checking the various gauges laid out before him. He reached out and began to spin a red valve, watching one of the gauges climb slowly before it tapered off. He leant out of his window and extended one arm, looking further down the track and spotting an obstruction.

‘Well? Get your ass out there and open the gate to the yard, otherwise we’ll go right through it,’ Pappy ordered.

Eagerly, Franco leapt down the steps of the engine cab and sprinted parallel to the tracks through the junkyard. He leapt over random pieces of debris that had been discarded without care or had simply rolled free of their designated pile due to the region’s winds. He reached the large chain-link gate where the yard ended and an expanse of open desert began. Franco heaved back numerous bolts and heaved open the gate itself with great effort, first one side, then the other, jumping the tracks.

The train continued its slow advance as Franco returned to it, caught hold of the assisting bar and pulled himself up to the steps of the footplate, utterly exhilarated. The vehicle picked up speed with a slight jerk as Pappy eased the throttle bar forward.

‘That’s better. Ready?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Let’s take her out.’ Pappy beamed through his snow-white whiskers.

The train funnel exploded with steam as the Eiferian 433 began to pick up the pace. It took a brisk trundle out of the yard, navigating its first bend, and chugged along the track, slowly gaining even more speed. As it left the confines of the junkyard where it had lain rotting for years, the train was born anew.

After Pappy checked everything more times than he could count, the old man finally relaxed at the controls and let the experience wash over him. Franco eased into his grandfather’s view. The boy couldn’t understand what it felt like to be reunited with such an engine after so long – but he clearly wanted to gain an impression by asking.

‘How does it feel?’

‘Despite the years I have collected for my own, I assure you, there is a younger man standing before you now. No matter what time tries to make irrelevant, it just takes the right ingredients to paint time as a fool.’ Pappy nodded to himself, his memories spurred on by the assault of smells and sights. Camaraderie was wonderful for sure, but to share this experience with his grandson made it something more potent. ‘Here, boy. Come and get a feel for it,’ Pappy offered.

‘Are you serious?’

‘Sure. You put your share of toil into getting her running once again. It’s only right. Don’t make me regret my decision now. Get moving.’

Franco cautiously stepped past the burning heat from the firebox, abuzz with excitement. He placed his hands where he was told, the throttle being his primary concern. With guidance and a gentle ease forward, the train breathed new life once more. It sent him giggling in delight.

The Eiferian 433 picked up the pace. Despite its battered appearance, for it was yet to be given new colours, it managed to catch the sight of those who had not witnessed a train take to this line on the outskirts of town in some time – years possibly.

‘Come on, is this all she can do? Let’s open her up!’ Franco’s excitement was getting the best of him.

‘Don’t get so eager. You can’t just run her hot, it doesn’t work like that. Corner coming up. Slow ’er down a spell; ease the throttle back.’

Despite the advice, Franco’s hand remained steadfast upon the throttle, unwavering and blinkered to the track.

‘What, you don’t think we can take that turn?’

‘We can if we want to jump the tracks and send ourselves down the ridge! Now ease it off before you ruin all of our hard work! Don’t make me repeat myself, boy!’ came the sharp response.

Boy. Only Pappy still called him that.

‘Okay, okay, easing,’ Franco sheepishly conceded, and pulled back a little, reducing their speed. The train drifted around the corner lazily. Finally, the tense silence was broken by Pappy’s explanation.

‘You best be careful! Keep this in your head every time you step in here: a train can’t complain about you being too rough with her until the damage is done. If in doubt, keep it simple, keep it slow. Look after her well, and the times when you need to push her, she’ll comply. Treat her wrong and it’ll be a world of troubles from end to end. Do you understand that?’

‘Yeah. I got it,’ Franco replied meekly.

‘Good. Now keep this speed until we reach the flats. Should be coming up on them past this ridge.’

‘What then?’

‘Then you get your wish. We’ll finally see exactly what this old girl is capable of.’ Pappy leant out of the cab window, taking in the shifting warm breeze. It blasted away years of his life, back to a time when his fingers were younger and didn’t ache as he gripped on to a tool. When all there was, was the job at hand. When life was a simple trek from one point to another. As soon as they cleared the bridge over one of the smaller ridges, Pappy gave the signal.

With a slow heave, Franco opened up the throttle, keeping a close eye on the gauges before him, even though he didn’t understand completely how to read them yet. Things were seemingly steady and that was enough for him to simply enjoy the powerful rush of acceleration, as if a team of keen horses were contained in the boiler, dragging the metal onward in haste. The train exploded across the landscape with little restraint, with blasts of smoke and steam painting the patchy afternoon sky in equal quantities.

‘She moves, I’ll give her that!’ Franco called over the wind.

‘Aye, that she does!’ Pappy agreed. ‘Everything is looking good. There’s an old checkpoint this way where a buddy of mine runs a supply shed. I figure we can drop in and surprise him with a hello. Won’t take more than an hour. That is, if you’re not concerned about being somewhere else.’

‘Knock it off, old man, you’re fooling no one with that talk.’

Pappy watched Franco burst out laughing.

‘This is … it’s simply incredible!’

Franco yanked hard on the whistle cord, making the train announce itself in a shrill blast. He wanted everyone in the surrounding territories to know of their presence. Let it be known that the Eiferian 433 was triumphant in its resurrection!

‘Ain’t it just? Nobody around us for as far as we can see. Masters of our own destiny! It’s a thrill, boy! This is what makes life worth living!’ Pappy slapped the cab wall in delight, beaming before his smile dropped and his face creased in concern. A finger tapped the pressure gauge and Pappy’s brow fell. The needle was bouncing all over the place. With a quick release of pressure, it settled, yet the needle wouldn’t remain steady at this speed, juddering just enough to require looking into. It was the first quirk he had seen in the train’s behaviour and quite a concern. Running too hot and for too long would be a problem if it wasn’t regulated well.

He eased the throttle just enough until the needle steadied itself from dancing. It would need to be looked into, of course, but that would be a worry for another time. Their accomplishment didn’t need to be sullied.

It needed to be celebrated.

* * *

With the sun long set, and the train’s ash dumped, the junkyard was lifeless apart from a few sleeping birds and the inconsiderate couple who noisily sat around an open fire. They sat trackside, surrounded by the comfort of illumination, alternately swigging from bottles of brown ale picked up on their earlier jaunt. The excitement had exacerbated now and the reality was becoming clear. With their success, decisions had to be made. Big decisions. Ones that would shape fate and steer their destinies onto dramatically different paths.

Franco had spent most of his time listening. Never before had Pappy rambled on about his days as a hauler so enthusiastically. He talked of the kinship among those aboard the trains that had helped bring about Surenth’s quick industrial development. He spoke of the grandiose sighs of the old trains, stirring the hearts of everyone who witnessed their presence in the Sand Sea, of the beginnings of rail transport, the tracks its veins and each train’s cargo its lifeblood.

The youngster couldn’t help but be utterly enthralled by the tales of drama and danger. The time Pappy tangled with one of the many gangs who attempted to hijack the train itself was Franco’s particular favourite, and he cheered upon being told that the intruder was unceremoniously ejected from a boxcar with a swift kick to the chest. Maybe it was romanticized in his head – but what of it? The last time Franco had indulged in fantasy was when his age was in single digits. If he couldn’t succumb to the heady possibilities before him now, when could he? After the latest bout of tales, Pappy slapped his forehead, leaving a mark of coal dust on his skin.

‘What am I doing? We’re here enjoying a drink and I almost forgot to serve one to the guest of honour. How utterly terrible; this will not do at all …’

The old man took to unsteady feet, sliding a second bottle from its case by the neck and raising it to the train before them. The hulk of iron and steel stood proudly in the ebbing glow.

‘Forgive me! Here’s to you, you beautiful thing, Eiferian number 433! May your wheels take us far from this pit and give fortune to us luckless bastards who ride with you. You are born anew!’

With an almighty heave he hurled the bottle through the star-speckled sky. The glass receptacle exploded against the pitted boiler, christening the venture in alcohol.

‘Out of respect it should be something pricier,’ Pappy confessed, holding his drink high before taking an almighty swig. ‘You don’t christen with hog water – much as you wouldn’t bathe in it. We intend no offence.’

Franco cheered loudly and gulped down the last mouthfuls of drink in his possession. As he lowered the bottle and the moon’s lustre took to the vehicle’s sides, a curious feeling stirred in his being. These last couple of years had been full of toil and frustration, but for every difficulty there was a solution. The train, with all of its hardships and annoyances, was a thing of beauty, just as his grandfather described. He had been simply too young, or too blind, to appreciate it in his youth. Times were different now. Now, all he had for the damn thing was boundless affection.

For a meagre moment, watching the stupid old fool crow in the night, clearly drunk, all was right in the world. There was no concern about their poverty. There was no fear of the local criminality. Life had meaning and all actions had a wondrous purpose. Under a pale-moon sky, the Eiferian 433 accepted the old man’s praise, situated proudly upon the tracks, despite standing in a graveyard to its kind. Though it was difficult to discern it from the scrap that littered the yard in piles of corroded metalwork, life still beat within its heart, fuelled by the four-year-long endeavour undertaken by Franco and his grandfather.

When satisfied that Pappy had made an ass out of himself, Franco put forward the burning question.

‘What do we do now?’

‘Well.’ Pappy straightened his back until it popped numerous times. ‘The way I see it, it depends on a couple of important factors. You should ask yourself how well rooted you are in this dear town. If it’s all you’ve known, going elsewhere may be a difficult feat.’

‘Funny talk, like there’s anybody who gives the slightest damn about me this ways. Anybody I knew believed that I was selling things off on the side while working with you and got angry when they found out I was doing the work straight. Even Ketan has been giving me lip, running with others who are best avoided. What do I have to stay for?’

Pappy cracked his knuckles next, letting old bones complain as loud as possible.

‘Good answer. We can sell the house, flog most of our things. There’s nowt for me but bad memories and graves far too numerous to visit. We can live on the train. The first car can be converted into living quarters – just look at her, there’s plenty of room to utilize. Paint her up while we’re at it; we can’t let her sit in the buff like this. It wouldn’t be proper. We can get hold of a couple of other cars in the yard, haggle a good price and haul goods for a living. There’s plenty to pull if you know where to look. We’ll start small, see what the mills need to transport, that sort of thing. From there, we pick up the contracts from whatever outpost we roll on into.’

‘I see. Back to what you know, huh?’ Franco casually swigged from his bottle. He lifted himself up and gave his grandfather a warm pat on the shoulder.

‘It will be. On top of this grand scheme, we’ll drink with some regulars and get them back to one of the end cars where we can play some hands of cards away from prying eyes. You can easily make a little money by gambling with the drunk or the foolish. That, my boy, is as much of a given as the sky is blue and the dirt is brown.’

‘Is that a fact?’ Franco tossed the idea about in his head, with an inebriated grin. There was something alluring about the idea of gambling, almost dangerous, a perfect accompaniment to their new venture. At his request, they struck the caramel-coloured bottles together, cementing the agreement. ‘Do tell me more …’