Distant Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page B

was confined to her bed, nearly blind, but fully conscious of the world around her.
    Carolina took her hand and rubbed it gently. “You aren’t going to believe me,” she said with a lilting voice, “but I did something quite daring. Quite risqué!”
    “Yor right, child,” Granny chuckled with a deep chesty laugh. “I don’ believe it. Yo never done nuthin’ darin’ in yor life.”
    Carolina laughed. “Well, I did just that. Remember I told you about the new locomotive coming to Washington City? Well, I rode on it!”
    “No!” Granny said in complete amazement.
    “It’s true. You must let me tell you about it.” Carolina closed her eyes so she could conjure up every detail from that momentous day. “The engine was a huge black machine,” she began. “Bigger than the old work wagon that used to take the men to the far fields. In the center was a huge caldron—they called it a boiler. It was full of water and pipes, and when the fire was lit underneath it, steam would build up inside.” If Granny couldn’t see Carolina’s eyes glint with excitement, she surely must have heard it in her voice. “Two men, an engineer and a fireman, rode on the engine, and they kept the fire going and guided the engine down the tracks. Behind this was a place called the tender. This is where I rode. Usually passengers ride in cars that look rather like the stagecoach, only the engine pulls it instead of horses. It made a noise like thunder, Granny, and spit fire like a dragon in fairy tales!”
    “My, my,” Granny breathed, shaking her head from side to side. “The man what has to drive dat beast must surely be brave.”
    “Oh, he would have to be,” Carolina replied, giving the old woman’s hand a tiny, careful squeeze. Carolina feared the paperlike skin would tear under any undue pressure. “The men there told me it was very dangerous to ride on the tender, but that the man who owned the locomotive wanted to let just a few people see what it felt like to be right there in the middle of everything.”
    “How come dey put a child like yo on de thing?”
    “I was just standing there,” Carolina replied and leaned down to whisper, “right where I wasn’t supposed to be, of course.” Granny laughed and so did Carolina. “Mama had already scolded me for having an unnatural interest in the locomotive.” The heavy stale air was beginning to get to Carolina, and she got up to open the door.
    “Granny, there isn’t a single case of fever in the whole of Oakbridge. I’m going to open this door just a bit or else I might pass out from the heat.” Better the old woman think her hot than offended by the smell of the room.
    “Suit yo’self, but when old Granny catches de fever—”
    Carolina interrupted. “You won’t catch the fever.” Taking her seat again, Carolina continued. “I didn’t tell you about the tracks. These are long metal strips—rails, in fact—that’s why they call it a rail road. They run in twos, side by side, about as wide as you can stretch your arms out from tip to tip, maybe wider. The locomotive and the rest of the cars ride on top of these rails.”
    “What keeps dem from fallin’ off?” Granny asked.
    Carolina puzzled over that one for a moment. “I suppose I really don’t know. Oh, but, Granny, I wish I did. I loved the locomotive, and I wanted so much to ask a hundred questions. But they were very unladylike questions and ones which I’m sure my mother would have found most appalling.”
    Granny nodded. “When I was a girl in de islands, I saw such ships as I thought never to be possible. Dey held the wind in their sails and by this, dey went across de world. I wanted very much to go on one of those ships. It was my dream. I wanted to know how dey worked and where dey could go. When I was twelve, de man put me on one of them and never again was I to return home.”
    Carolina wondered what it would be like to be taken away from her home and all that she knew. Even if given