father and ruin his life! Ruin Tom's and Fanny's, and
don't leave out Our Jane and Keith! You want
revenge, Heaven Leigh Casteel! I see it in your eyes,
those incredible blue eyes that speak of a devil inside
more than they speak of an angel!"
I slung my balled fist at him blindly, striking
nothing as he released me so suddenly I fell off
balance to the floor. Quickly I scrambled to my feet,
to spurt ahead so fast he wasn't able to say another
word before I was running up the stairs to the safety
of my bed again. My crying place.
At one o'clock I was again in the cottage, and this time Troy was out of bed, looking a bit stronger as he smiled at me. "Come," he said, beckoning, "I want you to see this train set-up that has just been
finished, and then we'll eat."
What he had to show me filled one huge corner
of his workshop. It was a tiny stage-set with soft
lights glowing, and hidden spots lit up the sets, and
miniature trains picked up passengers and let them
off, only to pick them up again, repeatedly taking
them around mountains steep and dangerous; I
thought, as I watched the tiny Orient Express
chuggity-chug, chuggity-chug, starting slowly,
gaining speed, forever climbing, forever taking risks,
daring everything only to reach the heights, only to
descend much more quickly than it had ascended, that
Troy was trying to tell me something through his tiny
trains.
What was it that Troy tried to say with these
three little trains that wove such intricate paths
through different territory, yet always reached the
same destination? Didn't the whole human race ride