The Train
Zacharias
I tried to guess the feelings of my compartment mates. That Fizz was definitely the energetic kind. Chang was quiet but she seemed pretty smart. Snowy seemed pretty restless, though I couldn’t tell why.
It had been about a few hours when the train stopped. We waited a few minutes in silence. Then Cho broke the silence. “Hey guys? I don’t think anyone is going to come fetch us. I think we have to get out on our own.”
Angelina
“Well, that’s fantastic.” I said. I jumped up on my feet and promptly hit my head against the top of the compartment, rather painfully.
“Woah, easy there girl,”said Sandy.
I sat on my knees and rocked forwards and backwards. If there’s anything I hate, it’s sitting around.
“Well, what should we do?” I asked.
Vincent
Sandy laughed. “I guess we should look for a door.”
“There’s one on the back wall behind the bed,” I said.
Fizz looked at me curiously. “How can you tell?”
I didn’t know how to explain. “I can tell these things. For instance, this compartment is 5 feet long and 4 feet broad.”
Cho
“Actually, that’s pretty interesting,” I said. “Now that you’ve pointed out the door, I can see it too.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“The question is, how do we get there?” mused Angelina (Fizz)
I don’t think I could call them nicknames just yet. Angelina had a remarkable ease to do it, but I felt rather like nicknames were for more intimate friends and not for mere acquaintances. Perhaps our experiences would bring us to be more.
Zacharias
I looked up at the bed. How did they move such a big thing into the carriage? The doors were too small to fit it. They must have dismantled it, brought it in and fixed it again. I mentioned this to my friends.
Vincent’s eyes lit up. He seemed to enjoy mechanics. He joined me in enthusiastically finding hinges on the sides of the bed so we could fold it or break it off.
Angelina
I watched the boys fiddle around the bed and reflected that even if they could find the hinge, it was doubtful whether they could lift the bed. Sandy seemed rather thin for all he was so intelligent and Snowy could do with a little food. I heard them cry out.
“We found it!” Then they started to try and lift it. I leaned against the back of the carriage to watch them. After a few minutes of puffing and panting they realized that they hadn’t moved it an inch.
Vincent
“Hey, Fizz,” I gasped out. “A little help here?”
The infuriating girl was just standing there grinning at us. She knew we couldn’t do it without her help. Evidently, Sandy was thinking along the same lines.
“There is no need to sit and laugh at us now! In another time and at another place, when we’re not stuck in a carriage you can have your fun. But now is certainly not the time.”
Cho
Angelina grumbled, “Okay, Okay, Keep your head on.”
She went over to the bed. Zacharias explained what they were trying to do. She effortlessly put one hand on the part and lifted it up. The boys and I stared at her open mouthed.
“What?”she said. “I’m helping, aren’t I?”
“Y-yes,” stuttered Vincent. “Put it just there.”
Zacharias
Bit by bit, we dismantled the bed. (We, as in Fizz.) then we got to the door. Cho came closer to it. She was shy and reserved, but there was a spark of intelligence in her coal black eyes.
I could not spot a handle on the door. Snowy and Fizz seemed equally baffled. How were we supposed to open it?
Angelina
I noticed Cho doing something strange. She was feeling the door up and down with her fingertips. I watched her curiously but I didn’t say anything. She seemed to so seldom say or do anything that when she did, it must have been important. The boys, too, gave her a wide berth.
Suddenly her face changed. She smiled and started to scratch at a part of the door. With a soft ‘sproing’ the door sprang open.
Vincent
“Secret panel,” grinned Chang.
“Not bad,” I said
I helped her out of the train because it seemed like a gentlemanly thing to do. Then I followed out my self. Our bags had already been taken into the back of the train, so we didn’t need to worry about them.
Cho
Noone said anything to me. Their looks of respect and admiration in their eyes was enough. We were a team. We would solve the challenges we faced together.
I had never felt like this about anyone before. It was a heartening feeling.