The World Express (Snippet)

"So..." said Rafe as he ran his slender fingers along the silver lining on one of the carriages, "Where does this train go again?"

Bobbin tucked his hands into his pockets and paced down the tracks, examining the copper coloured wheels. "Well according to the books I’ve read, it travels between our world and theirs. And further on down the line...a place worse than ours." he replied.

"So it's like their world is on one end of the pole, the other on the opposite, and ours right in the middle?"
"Apparently so. The train enters at the Bermuda triangle and exits at the devil's triangle near Japan. Bringing day and night to the lands in its wake or vice versa. Or so the legend says of course."

Bobbin pulled out a box of matches and a cigarette from his pockets and lit it. The orange embers at the end of the stick was clearly visible in the dim lighting of the warehouse. "I suppose this could very well be that train that Orion depicts in his books." he said, tucking the matchbox back into the side pocket of his corduroy trousers.

"I've always wondered why there were tracks leading into this warehouse. Still, how can you be sure?" said Rafe as he continued examining and touching he train's carriages.

"I’m not." he replied as exhaled a fog of smoke into the dry air.

"Well can we ride it to see where it goes then?"

"Unfortunately that is out of the question young man."

“What? Why? We can’t just leave the mystery hanging when it’s right here in our hands.” Rafe questioned as he turned around again.

“You have to consider the dangers Rafe. Let’s say this is the world express. The Bermuda and Devil’s triangle are unexplained phenomena.” Bobbin explained, putting out his cigarette on the ground, “We don’t know what could happen if we enter into either. Those that were believed to have flow or sailed into either disappeared and were never heard of again! Who knows what could happen if we rode it.”

“I have nothing to lose…” said Rafe, his eyes looking downward with a kind of brief sadness, “I have no family. No friends. The last person that ever cared for me has left me for dead. I’m about ready to take chances into the unexplained.”

Bobbin shook his head and sighed, “As your legal guardian I forbid you from stepping onto that train. Besides, it could be just an abandoned train recently moved here. It’s probably not even the fabled world express.”

“Funny. Just a second ago you spoke of it as if you knew the legend was true.” Rafe replied, looking at Bobbin who quickly averted his eyes, “Why would you object to it if you were so sure it was a myth?”

Bobbin quickly lit another cigarette and inhaled another lungful of smoke. “We’re leaving now Rafe. It’s too late for boys your age to be out tampering with the otherworldly.”

“You didn’t answer the question!” Rafe exclaimed in frustration, “You believe that the world express is real too don’t you?”

“I don’t know where you got your questioning mind from. Come on, we’re leaving.” Bobbin grabbed Rafe by the sleeve and pulled him along.

“Stop changing the subject Bobbin!” he retorted, escaping Bobbin’s grip, “You know this is the world express don’t you?”

“I never said I believed in such a fairy tale.”

“But you never said you didn’t”

Bobbin stared at the darkness above one of the windows on a train carriage, “You’re right. I do believe in it. Ever since I was your age. But I never dared to ride it.”

“Why not?” Rafe asked as he started to calm down.

“Just simply because it is difficult to accept something into reality when it has been fantasy for as long as you can remember.” He replied as he took the lamp on the ground beside him, “How old are you Rafe?”

“Seventeen. Thought you would know that by now.” He replied, puzzled by the question.

“I guess it would be fine to show you part of the reality now.”

Bobbin took the lamp and walked up to the train carriage. Holding the oil lamp over his head, he waved it around, looking for an exact spot and then, as if the lamp itself had etched the words into the oak panels of the carriage, golden engravings glinted in the dim glow of the lamp. Old but still exquisite, the gold words read “World Express”.