Train to Anywhere

by David George Howard

  ***

  They were there for another hour when a car came roaring around the corner. At first he thought it was Darrel and Marlene coming back, but they were driving much too fast. The car skidded to a stop at the platform, and two young men jumped out without bothering to shut off the engine.

  "What do you two think you're doing here?" one of them asked.

  Willie was standing next to Eddie on the platform. "Nothin'," he said.

  "Waiting for a train in the morning," Eddie said. Eddie knew what this was about, and he was sure Willie had a good idea as well. "Listen, we're not here to do any harm. As soon as we pick up the planter, we're gone."

  "It's bad enough you turd kickers come in here, then you bring your nigger," the man said.

  "Hold on," Eddie said, getting off the platform. Willie stepped down as well.

  "Listen," the man said stepping up to them, the second one right behind. "We don't like darkies around here, especially if they’re putting their hands on our girls."

  "What?" Willie exclaimed. "All we did was talk. Nobody was puttin' hands anywhere."

  "Stop talkin'," the other man said. He pushed Willie in the chest. He was about to say something else when Willie erased the word with a fist to his jaw. In the space of what seemed a few seconds, a number of things happened. Eddie jumped in to help Willie, and then he had his hands full with the second man. He was outsized and managed to get a punch to his eye, which swelled up immediately. Another car pulled up and Darrel came running out to take on the two men. Darrel was much bigger, but he still had a problem. Eddie took in the situation and knew this was the kind of trouble he wanted to avoid. He started running off when a third car came up and a couple of local policemen came in to break up the melee. Eddie had not gotten very far and was caught in the headlights of the police car.

  The police came in with sticks and jabbed at the men a few times to break up the fight. They settled down enough to be pushed apart, with one of the attackers falling down on the ground. "What is this? What's going on?" one of the policemen said.

  "We can't be havin' blacks come in here and mess around with our girls," the man who had attacked Willie said.

  "Wait, who's doing what to who?" the policeman asked, trying to make sense of the odd altercation.

  "That darkie there was trying to get at Betty."

  "Hell no," Willie said. "All we did was talk. Not even that much."

  The policeman continued to ask questions, and the story became more muddled. Finally he came over to Willie and said, "Listen, if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of town." He turned to the attackers. "Get the hell out of here. Go home."

  They went back to their car and drove off. The policeman watched them drive away and then turned back to the three of them. Marlene had driven off at some point as well. "Just what are you three doing here?" Darrel explained they were there to pick up the planter at the train station and had to wait until the next morning. "Fine, get what you came for then get out. Any more trouble and I toss all you in for a night. Give me your names."

  Each said their name, and the policeman wrote into a notebook he had. With each name, he took a close look at the face of the person.

  Eddie said, "Charlie Neumann." The policeman doing the writing came over and looked into his face. He wrote down the name then came back to Eddie.

  "Come here a second." Eddie was led over to the cars headlights for a moment, and both policemen had a good long look at him. For the first time in his life, he was glad to have a shiner. He could see fairly well out of it, but he felt the swollen eye throb with each heartbeat. "You look familiar. Where you from?"

  "Youngstown, Ohio," Eddie said. The seconds passed as they studied his face in the glare of the headlights. At any moment, he expected them to grab his hands, slap on the handcuffs and haul him away, his eventful run from the law over.

  "Don't know. Don't know about that. You look familiar, why's that?" the second policeman said.

  "I couldn't say, exactly," Eddie said. They continued to study Eddie's face for a few more moments. Eddie looked from man to man and down at the ground, hoping the bruise and odd lights from the car would be enough to hide his identity.

  They must have seen enough. The policemen went back to the car, and before leaving the driver said, "Go on, all three of you. One more problem and we're taking you in."

  The two of them drove away. "Sure thing, fatso," Darrel said quietly as the taillights disappeared.

  The three of them stood there for a few moments. They went back to the platform and sat. "You hurt at all?" Darrel asked.

  "Naw," Willie said. "They couldn't throw a punch if they had to."

  Eddie tried to stay by himself, but Darrel said, "What was that? You trying to run away? You run away from a fight like that?"

  "Hell," Willie added. "I had my hands full. See if we help you out next time."

  "Maybe you don't want us around. Think you're too good," Darrel said, standing up and walking a few steps away.

  Eddie knew what he meant and knew all the unwritten rules about helping friends in a fight. You just don't run away like that. He had to explain, but too much information would get them all in trouble. They might even turn him in for the reward money. "I can't tell you."

  "Bull," Darrel said.

  "There are things I can't tell you. It's just better for all of us if I don't."

  "What, are you wanted or something?" Willie said with a rude laugh.

  Eddie simply stared from face to face in the darkness. They looked back at him, and despite the lack of light, he could see some kind of realization on their faces. He had not told them anything, but they knew they were close enough to the truth to understand. "Good God," Darrel said. "Did you do it?"

  "No, I was framed. That's as much as I can say."

  Neither of them had moved for several moments. Willie and Darrel exchanged a glance. Willie finally said, "Jesus, they find you with us and we're all going down. I believe you, Charlie, you's a good man. I think the best you can do is grab your bag and git right now. Those cops will be back, who knows."

  Darrel came back to the platform and sat down. "He's right. You're traveling light. Find a field or something to hole up in tonight, and get out of here. You know how this works. We'll just say you ran away when you had to go take a whiz."

  Eddie went to the truck and picked up his bag. He was not surprised it happened like this, and he had kept in mind the entire time since arriving on the farm that he might have to make a quick getaway. He thought back to a few minutes before, when the fight had started to open up. There was a moment of confusion as to whether to stay in and trade punches or flee. An instinct kicked in that he had not had before, a sudden knowledge of what was going to happen. In the past, he had ignored this. That moment of decision and then his attempting to flee was a reaction he would need to hone to a fine edge. When he saw Mike walk into his motel room a few days before, he came to the real conclusion that this was how it was going to be. Darrel and Willie were still at the platform when he returned. They both shook his hand and bid him the best of luck. Darrel slapped him on the shoulder and shoved five dollars of his pay into Eddie's hand. Eddie gave it back and then disappeared into the darkness.