Page 106 of Leaving the Station
“I’ll get your number before we leave,” Nanami says, and Aya squeals.
Some of the conductors are here too, along with the kitchen staff. Everyone’s eating and laughing, and it’s like Aya’s party again, only this time we’re also saying goodbye.
But that’s okay. The goodbyes might not be for forever, or maybe they will be, but either way, I got to meet dozens of strangers on this trip who I never would’ve met if it wasn’t for the train.
On Monday, all I wanted was to blend into the background, to not be noticed, because I was so uncomfortable with myself. But I think I accidentally became a main character of this trip, and I’m more than okay with that, because it brought me Oakley, and everyone else.
Edward comes by after a minute and slides into the booth next to Aya. “Thank you so much for your help on our voyage, Assistant Conductor Aya,” he says to her, and she beams.
“You’re welcome, Conductor.” She pulls a piece of paper out from under her butt. “I made this for you.” She hands him the butt-warmed paper and he takes it like she just gave him a priceless gem. “It’s a picture of us!”
For a second, Edward doesn’t react, but then his face reddens, and he bursts into tears.
Aya stares at us with her eyes wide until Edward wipes his cheeks and says, “No one’s ever made me anything like this.” He folds it into quarters and puts it in his front pocket. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Can we see?” Oakley asks, and Edward hands the picture to us.
It’s made from colored pencils, and although Aya has many talents, it’s clear that drawing is not one of them. The two figures in the foreground are supposed to be her and Edward, and they’re holding hands. Then, behind them, are two other figures, standing close.
“Who are these people?” Oakley asks Aya, pointing to the figures in the background.
“That’s you and Zoe!” she says. “I wanted to make a drawing of all of my best train friends, and I wanted to show you two together since you’re always holding hands and stuff!”
And now it’s my turn to cry. The tears come fast and furious, and Edward and I are blubbering messes, and Oakley pulls me close to her and she’s tearing up a little too.
“You guys are weird,” Aya says as she watches the three of us sob from her shitty artwork.
“All right, folks,” the conductor says over the loudspeaker. “This is it. We’re making our final stop at King Street Station in Seattle in approximately twenty minutes. The local weather is forty-five degrees and foggy, and the time is eleven a.m.” Then she clears her throat and adds, “It’s been a pleasure having you on the Empire Builder. We hope you’ve had an enjoyable experience, andplease, for the love of all things holy, do not forget your bags on the train. It’ll be a bigger pain for you than it’ll be for us.”
“Well, I guess it’s time to dig in,” Clint says from the table next to us when the announcement is done.
Oakley grabs a slice of pie, but I just stare around the car, marveling at all of these people who wanted to have one last mealtogether. There are Elaine and Alberto/Bert. Elaine is laughing and bouncing as she talks to Jeff. There are Virginia and Clint, sharing a slice of pie. There’s the conductor who held the train for us, holding hands with one of the waiters. Everyone is glowing, peacefully eating and talking in the soft morning light.
I’m never going to know everything about all of these people. I don’t even know half of their names. But they’re the main characters of their own lives. They have people they love and people who love them.
Everyone here issomeone, which sounds silly but feels like a revelation. They are their own worlds, with their own labels and lives and identities that I will never know and never need to.
“Should we go pack up?” Oakley asks when she’s done with her slice of pie.
I nod and we both get up, but we don’t leave until we’ve hugged everyone—Edward and Aya and Clint and Virginia.
“Thank you,” I whisper to Virginia as she holds me tightly.
“Don’t thank me, kid,” she says. “This has been one of the best train rides of my life.”
“Seriously?”
“Absolutely,” she tells me. “Maybe we’ll see you on next year’s trip?”
When she first told me about doing this ride every year, I couldn’t understand it. But now I do. Now I want to come back.
Even if you do the same thing over and over, you can find new people, new places. Even if it’s just for a few days, they can change the course of your life.
“Maybe,” I tell her, smiling.
I hold Oakley’s hand as we walk back to her bedroom. But before we get there, she stops me at our regular spot in the observation car, then tilts her head up to kiss me.
Her hands are on my waist, and I smile down at her. “What was that for?”
