Last Train Out

            Here is another entry for the Snap Shot Prompt over at Chasing Revery. The challenge is to create a story, or poem, or some creative written item of 500 words or less using the picture below and the following five words: Cosmic, Ghost, Pocket Watch, Vegetable, and Train.

 

 

            Henry pulled his pocked watch out from his vest and looked at it. The 3:45 was late. Twelve years late. A train hadn’t passed through their sleepy little town since just after the war started – and ended.

            That was probably for the best; vegetation had long since covered a good portion of the track outside the town. Henry made sure to keep the tracks within the town limits clear and ready to use. Since there were no trains running anymore it was the least he could do as an employee of the Central Pacific.       

            He looked along the northern line. The city was still visible in the distance, like a ghost that reminded them of a long lost friend. Somebody had to be alive there; or anywhere, for that matter. Other than a few people who had wandered in on foot when the bombs disabled their cars, no one had passed through town since the power went off.

            A few of the townsfolk had left. The lure of the big city sitting on the horizon, so close and yet beyond their reach, served as a cosmic slap in the face. They went to find family. They went to find answers. None of them returned.

            Now the town went about its business; growing vegetables, raising cows, and checking everyday for the arrival of the 3:45.