Letters to a Friend

Chapter 3

 Sunlight creaked through old, worn-down wooden beams. They shone on the young boy's face, and he stirred from his sleep. "Morgen," said a familiar, gentle voice. The boy grinned, sat up, and stretched. His face, clothes, and blanket were full of coal dust. A tender was not the best place to sleep, but he didn't have much alternative. He climbed down the pile of coal onto the engine's cab. "Gut geschlafen?" asked the engine kindly. "wie ein Stein," said the boy, which literally means 'slept like a rock'. The engine laughed at this. The boy climbed down and went to the front of the engine. The engine was painted black, and the once-red paint on his wheels faded. As a whole, the engine is filthy and covered in grime and dirt. He gave the boy a warm smile. The old engine also has a bad eye with a long, scarred gash that reached from the top of the engine's eyebrow to his cheek.

The boy clambered up to the engine's face and gave the engine a hug. Light snores could be heard next to the two. The engine smiled softly and looked over. Next to the old engine was another, much larger engine. Though not as old, she also looked worn and dirty. The boy went over to the large engine and also clambered up to her face. She continued to snore softly. The boy continuously poked her in the nose until she opened a tired eye. "mmmm... 5 minuten," said the large engine. He continued poking and teasing her until she smiled and finally gave in. "Morgen Andreas," she said to the boy.

The door to the old shed opened, and two men entered. The boy climbed off of the large engine and went toward one of the men, who greeted him with a hug. The man chuckled at the boy. His name was Claus; he was the fireman of the old engine and father to Andreas. He normally also sleeps in his engine, but this morning he went out to get something to eat for his son and himself. It was just a large loaf of bread with some cheese that a kind old lady gave him. Claus split the bread in half and gave his son one half and some cheese. They sat on the old engine's buffer plates and ate their breakfast. Afterwards, Claus went to heat up his engine. The second man, whom Andreas knows as Mr. Marshall, is quite new to the crew and is the driver for the old engine. He was quite kind to them and often bought the boy candy.

Now, Mr. Marshall is also French, so there is a bit of a language barrier between him and the old engine; he speaks a bit of English, but the old engine does not. Claus and Andreas do, so they always have to translate for the old engine. Andreas has been trying to teach him, but the old engine is quite stubborn at times. The large engine could speak some broken English, and that helped as her crew, both driver and fireman, were new and spoke no German. They didn't socialize much with her, just enough to get the work done. But she didn't need that, as she had the old engine, Claus, and Andreas to keep her company most of the time when she returned to their sheds.

Mr. Marshall patted the old engine while singing a song. Andreas also climbed back into the cab and sat on the engine's tender. "How are we feeling, Leonhard?" asked Mr. Marshall. Andreas translated, and Leonhard responded with a whistle. Mr. Marshall patted the old engine and opened the regulator. Claus started shovelling, and Andreas waved goodbye to the large engine. They would see her later today, but her crew always came later.

Leonhard's pistons groaned and his axels ached, though this was an everyday thing by now for him. They slowly rolled into the station, where their train awaited them. The driver stepped out to speak with some of the workers. Leonhard and Andreas could not understand them. They couldn't even make out the words on the signs at the station. They are in France after all; they fled here near the end of the war and have been here ever since. They couldn't go back, mostly because there was nothing to go back to any more, but most of all, Andreas and Claus refused to go back.

He, his son, Leonhard, and the large engine Hedwig have been helping with repairs in the region by taking goods trains to and fro. It was the least they could do; anything is better than being scrapped or homeless. The engines have been allowed to stay on the railway as temporary members of the fleet (paying for repairs, having different numbers, and having the railway's logo imprinted on their tenders). Claus and Andreas were also allowed to work for them, though for a very small wage. Claus was the only one who knew how to drive an engine like Leonhard and Hedwig, so he was the one who showed Mr. Marshall and Hedwig's crew how to do it.

There were more engines in the fleet as well, those being engines built and living in France, but except for Mr. Marshall and Hedwig's crew, they had no contact with them. When they were still new, there was the hurling of insults from both sides (especially from Claus, as he has a short temper). But now they don't even acknowledge each other unless it's business. It's not ideal, but at least everything is civil. The French engines were in no better shape than Leonhard and Hedwig; every engine is overworked and tired, practically running into the ground. One of those engines was shunting Leonhard's train before puffing past him without a word to whatever job the poor engine needed to do next.

Mr. Marshall finished speaking to the men before coming back and speaking with Claus. He sang his song before reaching the cab and climbing back inside, speaking with Claus. He sang his song before reaching the cab and climbing back inside. "We are to take the mail train to the branch line down south; after that, there will be a train of goods that need to be delivered from the harbor. We'll get more information once we get there," he said. Claus ran everything to Leonhard, and once they got coupled up, they made their way down the line.

They made multiple stops along the way, dropping off the old bags at all of the stations. When they reached the last station, one of the larger, louder, and busier stations on the line, Leonhard backed into a siding to uncouple the mail vans. Amongst the hisses of steam, whistles, and the occasional whirr of diesel engines, Leonhard carefully navigated the busy yard to find a place to refuel. The old engine was getting a drink at a water tower as the fireman's young son climbed off and onto the ballast. He always double checked the vans to see if anything was left behind; the bags were old, and it happened from time to time that letters would fly out of the bag. As one would have it, there were leftover letters. Andreas picked them up one by one and made his way to the station, where he would throw the letters into a mailbox.

With a hand full of letters, he trudged across the ballast, over the rails, and past coal towers in order to reach the station. He entered the station through a staff-only door close to the goods yard and exited on the last platform. There he weaved through passengers and station personnel to reach the stairs to get to platform 1. Once there, Andreas already knew where the mailboxes were located, as this was not his first time doing so. They were located on the very end of the first platform, where also the main entrance is; they are hung in the area where the parking lot for cars is located. He jogged over to the mailboxes, weaving through passengers and personnel; it had become routine by now. While the odd person got bumped into, the personnel of the station already knew the boy and made way for him when he made his mail run.

The boy had a habit of always looking at the addresses and stamps of the letters to see where they were coming from and where they were going before throwing them in. There was a letter from Belgium, a letter from Spain, a letter from Italy that apparently needed to get to Paris, and the last letter from a place called Sodor, some place the young boy has never heard of. The words were in English, so it really didn't narrow it down much. English is used in most letters, especially if it is for business. It had a very interesting stamp of a steam engine, and it was addressed to this railway. He looked at the letter front and back before sticking it in his pocket and heading back.

On the first platform, on his way back, Andreas passed a flower shop and a bakery. Though there were not many sweets or flowers, they were able to keep their small businesses open. Sometimes Andreas would get a crepe from the kind lady in the bakery. Closer to the front of the first platform was the main office of the station. Andreas had personally never been inside the office; he has seen Mr. Marshall and his father go in at times, but this is his first time being there.

Upon entering, he saw a man sitting at a desk looking at papers, looking rather bored. Behind the man was a wooden door with the words 'directeur ferroviaire' in big black letters, but in front of the door were piles of boxes and stacks of paper. The man looked at Andreas with an expression, saying, "What do you want?" So Andreas handed him the letter. He stood there kind of awkwardly, swaying back and forth, not leaving, as he was kind of curious about the letter but also not sure if he was even allowed to leave or not. After the man took the letter from Andreas, he opened it without much care and skimmed through it before folding it up and tossing it toward the front door that the boy came in through. "Ordures," said the man before promptly going back to his paperwork, ignoring the boy. The boy still stood there rather awkwardly, but slowly backed up toward the door. Andreas, before leaving the office, looked at the folded paper that the man had just thrown aside and deemed trash. He slowly and quietly picked it up. He looked back at the man, who still did not pay him any mind, and promptly left the room with the paper secured in his worn-out pocket.

Leonhard was already being coupled up to his next train when Andreas returned, whistling a tune loud enough for the old engine to hear him approaching from behind. Leonhard sighed appreciatively, but Claus was already growing impatient waiting on the boy. Andreas immediately apologized and explained what had delayed him. Both then climbed into Leonhard's cab, where Mr. Marshall asked pretty much the same question. "Get lost in the crowd?" he asked with a smile on his face. "No, Mr. Marshall, I had a bit of a delay because there was a letter addressed to this railway, and I had thought I could drop it off at the office here at the station," said the boy. Mr. Marshall was satisfied with the answer, while Andreas's father was still a little annoyed, being one who always looked at his timetable and tolerated no delays. "Well, young man, Just see in the future that you get back before you find us nowhere in the yard." Mr. Marshall smirked. Andreas nodded, then Leonhard buckled as a train of trucks was shunted behind the old engine. Andreas scrambled on top of Leonhard's tender, Claus got to work shovelling coal, and they were prepared to leave. Their train was given the all-clear, and Leonhard whistled as he left the station.

It was quite chilly, but there were no signs of rain. Andreas had wrapped himself in his blanket and made himself as comfortable as he could on a pile of coal. Leonhard chuffed along the main line with his slow goods; the trip was a more comfortable one, and the old engine was doing what he is most comfortable with, which is pulling goods trains. Though still creaking and groaning, the engine wore a soft smile on his face. The boy took the letter out of his pocket and started to read it. He began to smile and, on the occasional line, giggle. Afterwards, he put it back in his pocket and wrapped himself back in his blanket. He couldn't wait till the day was over so he could tell Mr. Marshall, his dad, and Leonhard about it. The letter was definitely not what he expected, thinking it was some business letter or a bill even, but he was glad his curiosity won in that moment and that he picked it up again; now he had something new to think about and possibly something new to do.