THE TRAIN TRACKS/and a great little dog

THE TRAIN TRACKS/and a wonderful dog

When you get older the thought of living a hundred feet or so from a railroad track is somewhat less than appealing. However when you are a twelve-year-old, living close to railroad tracks can be one of the great adventures of your life; times you will remember fondly for the rest of your life.

Since I now have several grandchildren, I think I will tell a few, this is one.

The railroad and all that went with it was to a large degree the center of the lives of four boys in the small Canadian City of Saskatoon Saskatchewan.

 

They loved everything about trains. 

After your Mom tucked you safely into bed on a clear 45 below zero night you would lay there with the sounds of the old house creaking and cracking and making all sorts of strange noises as if crying from the bitter cold. As you lay there keeping extra still (waiting for the layers of ice cold blankets to warm up) you often would hear the never to be forgotten mournful wail of the steam engine wafting over the crystal clear air. One could imagine that train somewhere out there on the frozen prairie, steam and snow flying from it’s wheels, pressing on through the black frigid night to deliver its passengers and freight to some exotic distant place, like Edmonton.

Then there was the thrill of helping the laborers shovel coal out of the boxcars.

There was core group of kids that always chummed around and lived close to the train tracks. Billy, 11, he was a year younger than the others because he had skipped a grade or started school a year earlier than the rest, no one seemed to know which was the truth, including Billy. Billy’s father had been away at the front for a long time. While Billy and Gordy’s (Billy’s 9 nine year old little brother) father was away, his Mom got a boy friend.

[The author has recently met this man (Roger), he is in his mid eighties and I reminded him of this misadventure. I was amazed he still remembered the incident. He told me the story from his perspective. He knew absolutely nothing about chickens, in particular anything about cutting off a chickens head. Billy’s Mother forced him to kill the chickens. As he told me about this disaster, he laughed so hard he cried.

Although Billy's Dad was back from the war they didn’t see him much. The boys felt very bad.

Kevin was the oldest of the group; he came from a very large family and had several older brothers and sisters. He was sometimes a little reluctant to do some of the more daring (stupid) things the boys got into, but he seemed to always end up in as much trouble as the rest.

Larry was the scholar of the group, he always got good marks at school and he took violin lessons every day after school. He hated the lessons. The rest of the guys thought it was great when ‘Talent Day’ at school arrived and their buddy Larry would play his violin. He hated that day with a passion. Larry had very light blond hair, was so thin to be bordering on skinny, and was not a great athlete, although he never lacked for heart or trying. I guess if you combined his looks and the fact he played the violin, you couldn’t blame some people if they thought of him as a bit of a wimp.

 

Larry lived the closest to the tracks; right on the corner of avenue “H” and 17

Ken lived just across the alley and down the street from Larry. These two were best friends from the day Larry moved onto the street. They first met in the alley between their two houses.

“Hi wanna fight. " said Larry.

Ken smartly punched him in the nose.

“I didn’t mean that kind of a fight, I meant a rasslin fight.” Larry said as he went home crying with a bleeding nose.

This was the start of a lifelong friendship. Ken didn’t do as well as Larry at school (although his teacher insisted he was one of the brightest), but he was a bit better athlete than Larry. Ken’s mother and father were both good athletes so I guess he came by it naturally.

Ken was an only child. Being an only child, Ken received a lot of kidding from the other kids about being spoiled.

The kids were adventurous, and a little prone to get into a bit of trouble at times. Ken may have been a bit more adventurous (reckless), or competitive than some, thus maybe he did cause some of their misadventures, as Larry’s Mum implied more than once. Offsetting this though was the fact that Ken’s Mum thought it was Larry that caused most of the trouble. However everything the boys did was always in fun or from their perspective at least, for a good reason.

Kevin somehow found out that the chicken slaughterhouse down the street wouldn’t kill chickens if they were full of grain. Ken and Larry found a box car that carried grain parked on the siding. The gang would go every day and fill up bags full of the grain that fell on the ground then take it to the poor chickens in their pathetic wire cages waiting to be killed, they would stuff those chickens till the grain was actually coming back out of their beaks.

Joe was always asking if he could go with the boys. He was a very tall, skinny, uncoordinated kid, who seemed to lead a sheltered life, at least from the boy’s perspective. One day after school Joe found Ken.

“Hi Ken, hey what are you guys going to do after school today?" Joe said.

 

"Can I come?" said Joe.

"Sure."

 

To while away the time the boys got their special piece of copper wire from its hiding place under Larry’s back porch. This copper wire had a story all its own.

Almost right in front of Larry’s house there was a traffic signal that flashed and a barricade came down to stop all the traffic on Ave. “H”, including the Trolley Busses. For years the boys watched the train approach and then somehow as if by magic these barricades would come down.

Man life didn’t get much better than this.

So while they were waiting for Larry to finish his lesson the boys went about 2 blocks down the track. They found they were pretty obvious sitting rubbing madly ten feet from the flashing lights. So there they were, rubbing away and eventually sure enough it happened, flashing lights, barricades, drivers out of cars, all wondering where the train was. But the boys only let it go for a few minutes, and then they stopped.

So this particular day after Larry finished his lesson the boys, Plus Joe, decided to get on top of the 30 or so parked boxcars. They were on a sidetrack near the Arctic Ice building. The idea was; they would run along the top of the boxcars jumping over the 4ft gap between the cars. Not only was this exciting but you got a different view of the world from way up there. The boys went up the steel ladder on the side of the first boxcar, like a bunch of excited monkeys. Except for Joe, he was to go up second last. Ken and Blackie a little Cocker Spaniel would be last.

Joe took one step up to the first iron rung on the ladder and instantly froze.

“Come on Joe what are you waiting for?” Called Larry from the top of the boxcar, “it’s starting to get dark.”

“Don’t worry I’m coming, don’t rush me, I’ve never done this before you know.” Joe said as he gingerly took another step.

Ken had been waiting impatiently with Blackie in his arms.

“MUST we do this again”?

“OK boy, are you ready? Here we go.” Said Ken as he grabbed a steel rung about five feet up with his left hand and in one motion swung his foot up to the first rung and suddenly he and Blackie were on the side of the boxcar.

It was always the same, very difficult to hold a dog with one arm while climbing up the side of a boxcar with the other one, but only for the first rung.

When they got to the top of the first boxcar Larry, Kevin, Billy and Gordy were jumping up and down and raring to go. Joe had sat down on the little runway made of two by fours that ran down the middle of the car and was hanging on to them with both hands as if he was afraid he would fall off.

“Don’t be afraid Joe, you can’t fall off.” Said Billy.

“That’s right.” Said Kevin, “Just stay in the middle on the runway and you have at least five feet on either side.”

“I know, I know, but I can’t help it I’ve never been up on anything this high before, you guys go ahead and I’ll catch up.” Said Joe.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea Joe, you will get over it as soon as you get running, me and Blackie will follow behind, but we better get going its getting quite dark now.” Said Ken.

So with these words the other boys started out at a run.

Joe hesitated.

“Come one Joe lets get going or we will never catch up to the other guys.”

This seemed to give Joe instant courage, and he immediately began to run as fast as he could along the top of the boxcar in the direction of the rapidly disappearing boys ahead.

Ken and Blackie were about 10 feet behind.

As Joe was approaching the first gap Ken yelled.

“Don’t forget to jump.”

Joe half turned. “Whaaaa.”

Joe disappeared.

Suddenly what can only be described as bloodcurdling screams, very loud bloodcurdling screams, filled the air as Joe descended the ten feet onto the large steel hitch between the two cars.

“Oh no.” Ken said as Joe’s head disappeared. Blackie increased his death grip and started to whimper.

The other boys hearing the screams turned around and hurried back.

As they got to the ground Ken let Blackie off his arm, and he instantly disappeared into the now dark evening.

“Joe, Joe, try and stop screaming and tell me where it hurts.” Ken said.

Well Joe had to take a breath between screams and he managed to squeeze in a few words.

“My leg, my leg, oh oh my leg.” He said.

“Let me feel your leg.” Ken said as he leaned over Joe who was still tangled around the large steel hitch.

Ken lost his balance a little and his hand hit upon Joe’s thigh.

“Oh no, the bone is sticking out through his pants.” Ken yelled over the suddenly increased volume of the screams.

Ken immediately ran over to a house about 100 yards away and pounded on the back door.

A pleasant older lady came to the door.

“Lady my friend has fallen off a boxcar and broken his hip, will you please call an ambulance.” Ken yelled.

“Where is he?” The lady asked.

“Right over there between those two boxcars, will you please hurry.” Ken said, as Joe’s screams rose to a new high.

“Oh no, is that the poor dear screaming, I’ll hurry next door and have them phone don’t worry.” The lady said as she rushed next door.

When Ken got back the other boys we trying to get Joe to calm down.

“Don’t worry Joe, Ken has called an ambulance, you will be in the hospital before you know it.” Larry said, trying to reassure Joe.

The news of the ambulance seemed to have an immediate effect on Joe, his screams soon dropped to rather subdued sobs and he started trying to untangle himself from the hitch.

“No, no, don’t move, until the ambulance arrives, you might make the bone sticking out break right off.” Ken yelled in alarm.

But Joe ignored them and continued trying to get up.

Suddenly he grimaced and reached into his pocket just above the protruding bone.

“Larry will you grab this stupid ruler, it’s hurting my leg.” Joe said, as the protruding bone suddenly disappeared from his pants.

And with this Joe now apparently fully recovered, got to his feet and announced.

“Well guys I had a great time but I have to get home.” And he took off at a run and disappeared into the night

There was a stunned silence from all present, until from a distance, the wail of the ambulance getting closer suddenly animated them.

“Oh no, they will never believe us, they will think we were playing a joke.” Kevin said.

“Yeah and we will have to pay for the ambulance, my Dad will kill me.” Ken said.

This galvanized them all into action and within seconds they had all melted into the darkness and only silence and the distant sound of the siren filled the night.

Written by Larry Bennett 1999