Locomotive to the Past by George Schultz (iphone ebook reader .TXT) š
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- Author: George Schultz
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Then, Susan spoke:
āJason Dear, you may want to go out, for a walkā¦ or take in a movie or something. Sunday is kind of the day when Eric and I devote ourselvesā¦ devote ourselves, exclusivelyā¦ to one another. We always enjoy being aloneā¦ alone, with one anotherā¦ on our precious Sunday afternoons. I suppose that you could go up, and sitā¦ or, maybe, lie downā¦ in your room. But, frankly, Iām getting just a little worried about you. Youāve never gotten out. Never gone out. Well, havenāt been able to go out. Not in the entire timeā¦ that youāve been here.ā
āWell, itās only been five days, Susie. Like you saidā¦ I kinda didnāt have time to reallyā¦ā
āI know, Dear. Thatās why I thinkā¦ and Eric agreesā¦ we think that itād probably be well for you go ahead, and to get out. To get outā¦ and do something! Do something . . . just about anything . . . this afternoon! Maybe even something outrageous! Weāre not throwing you out, of course. But, you seeā¦ā
āOh yes we are,ā interrupted Eric. āLook, Jason. For one thing, you need . . . to get out, and to see things. Do things. Meet people. And, Sunday afternoon is our private time! Private time! For Susie and me! Iām sure you understand!ā
Jason wasnāt sure that he did understand. Well, he thought he did. Believed that he mightābut, he really didnāt want to explore, this remarkable coupleās āprivate timeā nuances. Notāin any great detail.
āYes, of course,ā he answered. āYouāre right. I do need to get out. Stretch the old legs. Look around. I canāt thank youse guys enough . . . not nearly enoughā¦ for all youāve done for me. For everything . . . youāve done for me. For allā¦ for everythingā¦ youāve meant to me. Besides, I really need to walk off this eighty-pound ābanquetā, that Iāve just eaten. The ābanquetā you both call ābreakfastā.ā
He pulled away from the table, and hurried (as much as possible) up to his room! Slightly out of breath, he grabbed his jacket. His original jacket. The one heād worn, on his mind-warping tripāfrom 2001.
Fortunately, it wasnāt so cold outside, that the jacket would be useless. It would keep him sufficiently warm. (Otherwise, he was positive, Susan would come up with a topcoat or an overcoat or a parka. āOrā¦ most assuredlyā¦ something!) The āotherā jacketāthe one, heād worn at work, all weekāwas kind of caked, with mud.
The roomer walked northāpast Plymouth Road. He, of course, was familiar enough, with the geography, of the area, to know that Schoolcraft Road was, probably, a mile further north. What he didnāt knowāwas that there was a set of well-used railroad tracks (always railroad tracks) between Plymouth and Schoolcraft. Heād have to climb a four-foot fenceāon both sides of the tracksāto continue on his journey. But, he was certainly not going to let a couple such barriers stand in his way.
Heād hoped that heād not tear his pantsāwhile negotiating the fences. Surely Susan would want to know why. Well, had the worst happened, why should he not be able to, simply, tell her the truth? This prospective questionāhypothetical as it wasābothered him. And he didnāt know why.
He finally reached Schoolcraft. Well, āfinallyā probably is not a totally accurate word here. By the time heād approached the playgroundābehind Cadillac Elementary Schoolāthere was a good deal more spring, in his step. Moreāthan when heād started out. A distinct surprise!
So this is where Grandpa went to school, heād thoughtāas heād walked around, to the front of the building. The edifice was sort of nondescript.
Jason couldnāt understand why his grandfather had always spoken so highlyāso passionatelyāof the place. Had continually referred to itāwith such flat-out reverence. Could there be some kind ofāwell, some kind of auraāsomething spiritualāabout the school? An invisible saint, maybe? A guardian angel? Some sort of mystiqueāthat Our Hero was unable to fathom? At least, at that significant moment?
He certainly had understoodācomprehended completelyāwhat the old man had, so movingly (and had so often), spoken about, when heād been in church that morning. But, come on! This? This is just another stupid school building. What was the big deal? Of course the young man had never been enthralled, with school! Never! Ever! With any school! Under any circumstances!
Exactly what have you accomplished? heād asked himself. There it is. A stupid damn school building. And, for this . . . youāve been walking, for the last half-an-hour or so?
In addition, to the inexplicable amount of disappointmentāat not beholding some sort of gleaming, sacred, palatial, ātempleāāthere was the realization that heād probably never actually get to see his grandfather. Not as a nine-year-old schoolboy, anyway. He really had no earthly idea, as to what the old man wouldāve looked likeāas a young lad. A kidāof nine, or ten.
Besides, Jason would be working (thank God)āwhenever little Richard Piepczyk would be attending this quite-ordinary-looking, vanilla-appearing, (ādammitā) facility. In addition, he still hadnāt the foggiest idea as to where his grandfather mightāve livedāin 1942. Just ānearbyā.
There wereāliterallyāthousands of houses, in the attractive, middle-class, neighborhood. Probably tens-of-thousands! That manyāand all within a half-mile-or-so radius, of the stupid school. Finding his granddad would be a needle-in-the-haystack situationāat best! The odds against such a discoveryāwere completely-overwhelming! Mind-numbingly staggering! Another realization! Another disappointment!
He knew that the busy intersectionāof Greenfield, and Grand Riverāwas close by. He thought that heād remembered there being a āreally hugeā Montgomery Ward storeāon one of those corners. 1942, of course, would be decades before the retail giant wouldāso surprisinglyāāgo underā. A situation that would have been thought impossibleāin the early-forties! No one would ever consider, such a far-fetched fateāfor the then-thriving āretail giantā!
It seemed as though there would also be one of the āgazillionā, world-renown, Kresge āfive-and-tenā stores there! Who knewāin 1942āthat, less than two decades hence, the chain would become known as K-Mart?
He would also find a Woolworth dime store in amongst the many businesses, too. They would, eventually, become Woolco, in 1962āand,
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