Pilliars in the Fall Read Online Free PDF Page B

would be no telling how long it would be out.     
    With no solution for that in sight, we could only do the best with what we had. In a few days time we would be whole again. Clint and I were going to meet the train that would be carrying Blake and Danielle here and we could all enjoy the misery and uncertainty together.
     

Chapter 5
     
    “Hey man, good to see you! Love the beard!” Blake dropped his bag on the ground and attempted to pick me up in a big bear hug. His wiry six foot tall frame was thin, but he was strong.
    Blake had never been powerfully built like I was, but his slight frame belied his actual abilities. The guy had lean muscles that were toned for true strength, not bulk that aided in force and power like mine had grown to be. What he lacked in muscle definition he made up for in mental determination. He might have always been one skinny little SOB, but I would never be dumb enough to try to wrestle with him.
    “How was the trip?” Clint asked, shaking his son’s hand and then offering a hand to Danielle at the top of the platform steps.
    “Terrible,” she answered, putting the strap of her carry-on bag in Clint’s waiting hand then jumping down to the platform on her own. A woman without means, she was not. “Hot, smelly, cramped, long…” she started listing the inconveniences of train travel until Blake cut her off with a laugh.
    Danielle first quickly gave Clint, then me, a big hug and smile. This place wasn’t her true home, but she loved it and all of us, as if she had lived here her whole life.
    They were both bundled up against the cold and discomfort of the train. Blake had his Army issue insulated parka on, and Danielle I curiously recognized had on a nice Air Force issue jacket. She told me later how she had traded it with a friend because the Air Force jackets always seemed to fit a woman better than the Army stuff did.
    “We made it through okay but the faster we get our bags, the faster we can get out of here. You guys didn’t say it was this cold here already!” Blake pulled the two sides of his coat in closer and blew on his hands.
    “This is balmy, you’re just too used to the sun and sand I’m thinking,” I supplied, to which Clint agreed and then added his own sarcastic opinion.
    “He must just be getting soft.”
    “I’ll show you soft...” Blake started in on us but his attention got sidetracked by some commotion in the line of people waiting to board the next train. “Hey, is that Jack?”
    I turned around and found that the source of the noise was some pompous lady in a long white jacket and boots to match, pointing her finger in the face of a middle aged Mexican man that both Blake and I had known while growing up in town.
    “Let’s go get your bags,” I said over my shoulder to Blake and started walking in the direction of the yelling lady.
    “The baggage car is over here,” I heard Danielle say behind me.
    “I think it’s going to be time to go soon,” Clint’s voice then advised her.
    My jaw was set and I was already angry at what I was hearing, so when the lady kept on with her tirade, my disposition did not improve.
    “I just left to go get my other bags and then I come back to find this grease ball, border hopping, apple picking, wet back, spic has cut in line!” the formerly rich lady was spitting racial slurs as fast as she could think of them. She was tall for a woman, slender, and too well dressed, which made me know her type right away.
    “Ma’am, people are getting on the train, the line must have moved,” Jack was trying to explain. “I’m sorry you got out of line, but I didn’t cut.”
    He was sounding friendly and helpful, but I could see our old friend was hurt by her words.
    “I can see you are frustrated as we all are, but there is plenty of time for us all to get on the train. There’s really no problem here.”
    I glanced around quickly and other than other regular people gawking at the scene, I saw no security or