The Summer of Bells: The Essences Saga - Book #2

Summer: Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-three

Fifteen minutes later, Nick sat on the floor with an ice pack on his foot as I admired his train set.  “This is amazing,” I said.  The plywood base, held aloft by cinderblock pillars, graced most of the large attic space.  Manholes, cut artfully into sections of scenery, gave Nick access to all the areas of the layout.  The rails ran through mountains and valleys, over sturdy bridges and through towns.  The miniatures that defined each geographic region looked so real I felt like I was a giant standing over the earth.

“Thanks,” he said.  “It’s my baby.”

I glanced back at him and smiled.  “Oh!  I forgot.”  I retrieved the package by the door and handed it to him.  “This came earlier.  It’s why I’m here.”

He took the box and set it in his lap.  “So, this isn’t a social visit?”

“It’s turning out to be,” I admitted.

Nick reached for a box cutter on his table and sliced the tape securing the package closed.  Riffling through the packing peanuts, he carefully removed a shiny silver and black steam engine.  The gleam in his eyes as he held the toy train reminded me of a child unwrapping his first big boy bicycle.

“Wow, that’s some train,” I said.

“This is not a train,” he replied quietly.  “This is an Accucraft K-27 Live Steam Engine…One-twenty point three scale…modeled after the K-27 locomotives commissioned by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad in 1902.”

“Sure,” I said.  “That’s great, Nick.” 

He looked up at me and grinned.  Shoving the box to the side, he hopped to his feet, forgetting about his injury and carefully placed the steam engine on his track.  “It’s perfect,” he murmured.

He stepped back to gaze fondly at the train.  I moved toward the door.  He obviously needed some time alone with his Accucraft K-27…whatever else he said.

“You’re leaving?”

I glanced over my shoulder at him.  “Well, you seem busy, and I’m supposed to be at the grocery store…”

He grabbed my hand and eagerly dragged me to the other side of the layout.  “You have to see this first.”  He ducked under the base, hauling my body with him and emerging in one of the larger manholes.

I had no idea how he managed to maneuver in the small space with his large frame.  Together, we were pressed, side to side, and a little uncomfortably close for my taste.  But Nick didn’t seem to notice that little break in propriety.  He propped an engineer’s cap on my head and positioned a metal box with buttons galore in my fingers.

“What are we doing?” I asked hesitantly.

“Playing,” he said as though I was purposefully being obtuse.  “Here press this button…”  I did, and a train loaded down with tankers and boxcars left the train yard.

“This switched the rails,” he demonstrated, “and these will turn on and off the affects.”

I watched the train lumber up a steep hillside and down to rush across a trellis bridge.  As the train picked up speed, it zoomed across the landscapes with magnificent finesse, and I sampled some of the buttons on the remote.

“There you go,” Nick said in my ear as I switched tracks to send the train into a desert section.  After a few passes, I grew confident on what I wanted the train to do, and I began to release the uneasiness from being so close to him.  He chuckled as I controlled his train, and I laughed, delighted for the diversion from my emotional troubles.