Soul Train
by RC DeWinter
Title
Soul Train
Artist
RC DeWinter
Medium
Painting - Digital Oils-paintography-photopainting
Description
Copyright 2015 RC deWinter ~ All Rights Reserved
The Conductor's Tale
It's many a mile I've covered in this long life,
most of 'em over the same territory.
Even as a tot I loved trains
so it's no surprise I ended up workin'
on the railroad.
Growin' up on the poor side of South Norwalk,
down on Bouton Street just a hop, skip and jump
from the old pie factory,
I could hear the train whistles blowin'
every night as I lay in my bed in a small room
with my brothers Andy and Jim.
My mother used to say train whistles sang of sadness,
but to me they always meant adventure.
I used to hang around the train yard as a kid,
always gettin' chased off by the bulls,
but that never stopped me from goin' back
every chance I got.
This would be in the thirties, when everybody was poor
and there was plenty of tramps and hoboes
ridin' the rails, lookin' for a job or a better day
or maybe just a new place to explore.
I quit school early and worked at anything
people would trust me to do and pay me for -
washin' windows, weedin' out a garden patch - whatever.
but no matter what I was doin' I was dreamin'
of being on a train.
One day I got lucky.
I was coverin' my usual route in the better part of town,
knockin' on doors askin' for work, and a man in a suit saw me.
"What can you do, young fella?"
"You name it," I answered. "Windows, diggin', movin' stuff."
The man smiled.
"Don't you belong in school?"
"Hey, mister, I'll be sixteen in a coupla weeks
and we need the money.
Dad lost his job and Andy and Jim're still too young to work."
At this the man looked concerned.
"You can't be making much at what you're doing.
And besides, you're missing out by leaving school early."
"Am not," I said. "What I really want to do is work on the trains.
Not in the yard - I wanna be a conductor.
Don't need so much school for that, I don't guess."
And now the man smiled.
Turns out he was a big shot with the New Haven line.
He made me an offer:
he'd pay me five dollars a week
to go back to school and get my diploma,
plus give me odd jobs on the weekend to make some extra.
Then, when I graduated,
he'd put me to work on the railroad.
I was so excited I shouted and jumped up and down.
"You bet, mister! I'll do just about anything
if I can be on a train."
And that's how it went.
I went back to school and worked weekends
and when I was eighteen I started for the New Haven
as a ticket collector.
I know, you think the guy who takes your ticket
is the conductor but that's not so.
The conductor is really the boss of the train,
and has more important stuff to do than punch tickets.
My first boss was old George Hafferty.
He was a good conductor, taught me a lot,
never lost his temper unless you screwed up the receipts
or forgot to do somethin' important.
Me, I was in heaven, ridin' the train every day
in and out of New York,
havin' lunch at the Automat sometimes,
meetin' all kinds of people,
rich, poor and everything in-between.
I just loved the sound of the wheels on the tracks,
the lights flashin' at the stations and crossings,
lookin' down at the river when we'd get close to the city.
I never wanted to be anywhere else.
One day I was collectin' tickets
after we picked up a slew of passengers in Stamford
and this pretty girl in a straw hat kept me waitin'
while she dug around in her pocketbook for her ticket.
I began to whistle and she looked up at me and said,
"I can't find it! I had it, I did, but now I cant find it!"
I had heard every story in the book and said so,
bit when she started to cry I got nervous.
"Hey, just give me a quarter for another ticket," I said,
but she only cried harder.
"I don't have a quarter! I'm going to see my Aunt Flo.
She's sick and needs me to help her.
She said she'd rather pay me to nurse her than some stranger.
She's sending her neighbor to Grand Central to fetch me."
What could I do?
I dug a quarter out of my own pocket,
put it in my coin belt and gave her a receipt.
"You owe me a lunch," I said. "I'll buy, but you have to show up."
And that's how I met my wife.
I could go on and on here
but it would only be more of the same,
back and forth over that same set of tracks.
I never set any pond on fire,
but when I got promoted to conductor
I remembered old Hafferty
and tried to treat my folks the way he treated me.
Now I'm gettin' close to that final ride.
When I lay down at night I can hear the whistle callin' me,
"Come on, Pete. We need a conductor for this run,"
and I'll step out on the platform of that train to glory and shout,
"All aboard!"
~ copyright 2015 RC deWinter
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Thanks to the group hosts for their encouragement and support.
train, sky, stars, vintage, antique, seats, night, moon, moonlight, full moon, celestial, train car, clouds, windows, passenger train, fantasy, wall art, dewinter, rc dewinter
Uploaded
April 14th, 2015
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Viewed 2,058 Times - Last Visitor from Beverly Hills, CA on 03/28/2024 at 5:21 PM
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Comments (38)
Cheryl Rose
Beautiful, fascinating capture! Love the stories here and the strong symmetrical balance and perspective. l/f/p
Uma Krishnamoorthy
Love the image and its title. And you are a master story teller! Always, but always I end up reading till the very end. Love your sensitive, imaginative stories and poems.
Jacqueline Athmann
Surprise & Congratulations!! Your photo has been featured on The Art Shoppe Cafe group homepage! Thank you for sharing your beautiful work with us! F/L