Love Letters and Other Musings

Working on the Railroad

I was walking through town

On my way back from dinner with friends

A very spontaneous affair at their home

Highlighted by some delicious food

As I crossed the square back to my car

I came across two girls

They were heavily outfitted for travel

Not with luggage

But with packs and other assorted goods

Cheyenne and Layla

And Roo their dog

Roo was kind of crashed and didn’t say much

But Cheyenne and Layla had a lot to say

They were train travelers

No not the Amtrak kind

They rode the freight trains

Up and down the coast

And across the country

Cheyenne knew all the routes

How to get from here to there

And how to get back home

Home was in Maine

The girls had been on the road together before

They linked up

Traveled a bit

And would branch off

Going their separate ways

I was fascinated by their journey

The why-

It seemed so random and difficult

They explained they had train food

Their meals for the next ride out of town

They went dumpster diving at a Starbucks

And came up large

They had food for themselves and Roo

It was like a mission accomplished

And that was their life

Living for the moment

From day to day

City to city

Freight train to freight train

I never really got an answer as to the why

I did get an answer as to why Layla had

PARASITE across her knuckles

A bad decision

On a bad day

I guess it says something about how they feel