Chapter 2 of "Once Upon A Time On The Rails"

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The sun began to set behind the mountainous horizon of mining town of Wolf Creek Colorado. A.J. sat on a pile of crates near the Depot and whittled away on a piece of wood. He was again waiting to say hello to his good friend and fellow railroader who was bringing in the afternoon train. A.J. pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. The train was late, unusual for Terra. Though soon enough he heard the lonesome whistle of her locomotive echo in the distance as the train battled the slight grade into town. A column of unusually thick black smoke could be seen rounding the slight curve up to the Depot.

A.J. hopped off of his perch and headed to the PSJ&P platform. Terra brought in her train with bell ringing and steam hissing from every which way. Strangely though she brought the train to a stop just shy of where it should have. She cracked open the throttle and the wheels spun briefly. With a jerky start the train rolled to where it needed to be. When the train finally came to a halt A.J. had just reached the platform. Though the first thing the white tiger noticed was the badly damaged pilot. Whatever caused that was what surely made her late.

Terra then hopped down from her locomotive to the platform and inspected the running gear. It almost seemed like she was acting the part rather than doing it. A.J. whistled and shouted out to Terra, she turned her head and appeared to not recognize him. To the Tiger this was odd, especially since he's the only known White Tiger in the territory! "Hey Terra! It’s me, A.J.!" Terra’s green eyes widened and a smile grew on her face.
"Hey! Oh I knew it was you! The sunset glared my vision a bit is all." the Wolf replied. A.J. raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. And even more so when Terra seemed to subtly "eye" him and wolf’s smile changed some what to a grin. "Well your looking handsome today Mr. Davis!" she said leaning against her locomotive’s side rod.
"Well much obliged, but uh... what happened to your pilot!? Or rather lack thereof." A.J. said, looking at the splintered remains of the typical wooden beard for a locomotive. Terra stood up and gently swung her arms back and forth.
"Oh I'm just fine and dandy. Just some logs on the track a ways down the line. Nothing really" replied Terra. A.J. cocked and eyebrow and looked at the busted pilot and then back at her.
“Nothing, huh? Well if it broke up your pilot I’d say that’s more than nothing! You’re lucky to not have derailed!” the tiger retorted. “No one was hurt, were they?” he then continued. Terra giggled and looked at the feline in front of her.
“You worry too much, yeah I hit some logs and my engine won’t have a pilot for a while. But it’s nothing to worry over!” Terra then responded to the feline, who still gave her an odd gaze.
“Right… so a pile of logs in the middle of the gauge isn’t odd at all.” A.J. said somewhat sarcastically. “So other than… “that”… how long will you be around?” then continued the tiger quizzically. Terra giggled to herself a little more.
“Oh for a while I’d say. According to my orders I’ll be stationed here to be a pusher engine for the area.” she replied. A.J. cocked and eyebrow yet again.
"You mean Helper Service, right?" the Tiger asked. Terra immediately nodded in response.
"Ah, yeah, That's what I meant." Terra said with an awkward smile.
"Are you alright? Lets see if you have a temperature."
A.J. then took of his work glove and placed the back of his hand on Terra's forehead. It was some what funny looking. Terra almost had a childlike stance, stiff as a board and leaning back a little. Her eye's almost crossed as she focused on A.J.'s hand. "Well, you feel normal." he said dropping his hand down to his waist, then putting his glove back on.
"I'm just a bit tired from the run is all. I'll be just peachy after a good night's rest." Terra said smiling and tilting her head. Then a whistling came from behind them, it was the Station Master.
'WHEEEET'!!!! "Hey! Hurry up and get that hog over to the barn! Make way for the new engine and crew!" shouted the Station Master. Terra huffed in annoyance.
"Well I won't hold you up any longer, but let me ask this. Can you do lunch tomorrow? Most likely we'll be shot at again but I'd still like to sit down and share a decent meal with you!" A.J. said to the Wolf.
"I'd like to but I can't, I've…. got a few things going on then. But what about dinner? I can do that tomorrow night." Terra replied.
"Dinner? Well isn't that a little... Formal for our… relationship?" A.J. asked. Terra just looked at him and winked.
"Oh c'mon, its just dinner for Pete’s sake!" Then the Station Master whistled again.
"Alright! Hold your Damn Horses!" she shouted! Her response almost took both the Station Master and A.J. by surprise!
"Well, ah... alright. Where do you want me to meet you?" asked A.J.
"Well... I'll be staying at the Red Horse Hotel, you can meet me there." A.J.'s face was suddenly covered in confusion.
"The Red Horse? That's near the far side of town. Heck the Railroad Hotel is better than that drunken dump! Why aren't you staying in a Caboose like you normally do?" Terra paused, more froze actually thinking up a response.
"Well, ah... Well I'd like to have a good night's sleep in a decent bed. And the reason I'm staying at the Red Horse is to meet someone." Terra seemed a little tense.
"You sure you'll be alright? You really aren't acting like yourself." A.J. said as Terra went to uncouple her locomotive from the rest of the train. It took her a moment to do the simple task which is only second nature to a Railroader.
"Yes I'm fine, now I'll see ya' tomorrow sweetie!" Terra then lifted the lever pulling the pin and uncoupled the tender from the train.
"Alright, I'll meet you tomorrow." said A.J. as he walked off towards the Roundhouse with a puzzled look on his face. He couldn't get it out of his mind, something was diffidently out of place with Terra. Especially with her choice of vocabulary.
Terra steamed her engine towards the Roundhouse and handed the locomotive over to the hogger. Terra gathered her effects and headed into town. A.J. watched as he walked, Terra‘s 4-4-0 being eased onto the turntable and spun around. The hogger backed the 4-4-0 into the third stall from the left side of the "Barn". A.J.'s prized "Comanche" rested in the opposite end of the roundhouse, second stall from the right. The "Comanche" was a monstrous locomotive even by standard gauge terms. She equaled in size to many of the Pueblo San Juan & Pacific’s motive power, and yet she ran on track only three feet wide. The massive K-28 class Mikado wasn't cold, her ashes were still glowing from the day's activities. Leach and Fiesta tended to the locomotive making sure to keep some of her embers hot in case of a quick steam up. As A.J. entered the roundhouse Leach spoke out with his old tired voice.
"Well now, is there sumthin' wrong with Terra‘s Lokie? It was pourin' a lot of black smoke as he pulled in." A.J. nodded his head.

"Aside from the pilot, I don't recon so. I think its more the engineer than the locomotive." the tiger replied. Leach raised one of his old bushy eyebrows.

"Now what do ya' mean by that?" asked the old man. A.J. had his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well I don't rightly know! From the moment when she pulled in that train and climbed down from the cab something was different. When I said "hi" it was like she didn't even know me!" he said. Then A.J. sighed. "Well, it could have been a tough run on her." A.J. continued, still mauling over it all in his head.

"A tough run, for Terra? Heh, she practically thrives on tough runs! No this time… this time it was like a completely different person. But she looked the same, same voice and figure. Heck, even her sent was the same! But yet at the same time unfamiliar." A.J. said as he scratched the bottom of his chin.

Then he turned and looked at Leach and Fiesta. "Well I don't think its anything we need to worry too much about, at least I hope not. Its a little early but I think I'll turn in for the night. You guys take care, I'll see ya' in the morning!" A.J. finished as he headed for Comanche's cab. Leach and Fiesta both hopped down with their respective belongings in hand.


"G'night A.J.! See ya' in da' mornin'!" Leach waved. A.J. gave them a small salute and then climbed up into the cab. He put out the cab aprons and then went to his seat box. Opening the top he pulled out a canvas hammock and hooked one end on the Engineer's side and the other on the Fireman's. He pulled out an old worn pillow and blanket. Then taking off his canvas work pants and shirt, keeping on his long johns, he hopped into the hammock. A lantern hung from the cab roof emitting it's dim kerosene glow. He carefully turned it down until the flame was out. He said his prayers and that his family be watched over, he closed his eyes and after a while he was fast asleep.

Back in town Terra reached her destination at the Red Horse Hotel. It was another of those Hotel/Saloon combinations, the sounds of a player piano could be heard along with the drunken ramblings of gamblers and miners who have come to waste their hard earned money.
She walked into the lobby/Saloon and approached the counter. Leaning against it was a tall and well built fellow, a coyote. He wore a charcoal grey "Bib" shirt that was tucked into his black slacks, he wore a pair of black leather gloves, boots, and a black wide brim hat. His gun belt was dark brown and in the holster was an old Adams Revolver, modified for cartridges. He looked up at Terra as she came to the counter. "Well may I assume that you are miss Terra?" the figure said in his deep, raspy voice.
"Are you one of Mr. Morgan's men?" Terra replied. The coyote grinned and chuckled under his breath.
"Well if you mean one of Mr. P.H. Morgan's men then I recon yes. The name is Coburn, my job is to…. "persuade" those who need persuading and to keep peoples’ business out of where it don't belong." said the coyote. Terra grinned at his response.
"So, Mr. Coburn, are you here to keep an eye on me?" she asked.
"To an extent Ma'am. As I said, my business is persuasion. Now, here's you room key, lets talk in a place a little more private." Coburn handed Terra the brass room key and allowed her to head to the rooms first. He then took a glance over his shoulder and then followed Terra up stairs, his boots thudding on the wooden floor boards and his spurs 'chinging' with every step.