###£§††«:, ,:«††§£###
##£§††«:,, ,,:«††§£##
#£§††«:,,, ,,,:«††§£#
£§††«:,,,, ,,,,:«††§£
§††«:,,,,, ,,,,,:«††§
††«:,,,,,, orange-clad train-climber crew, moving ,,,,,,:«††
†«:,,,,,,, along the rusty cargo cars like some ,,,,,,,:«†
††«:,,,,,, species of ferrophage insect. up and ,,,,,,:«††
§††«:,,,,, down the train, checking bolts, oiling ,,,,,:«††§
£§††«:,,,, joints, drinking coffee, smoking ,,,,:«††§£
#£§††«:,,, cigarettes. ,,,:«††§£#
##£§††«:,, ,,:«††§£##
###£§††«:, ############################## ,:«††§£###
##£§††«:,, ,,:«††§£##
#£§††«:,,, we were going south through finland at ,,,:«††§£#
£§††«:,,,, the time, sleeping close to the ,,,,:«††§£
§††«:,,,,, furnace, watching the aurora borealis. ,,,,,:«††§
††«:,,,,,, twenty-something members of the crew, ,,,,,,:«††
†«:,,,,,,, most of which were mechanics, or ,,,,,,,:«†
††«:,,,,,, loaders, with large and hairy hands ,,,,,,:«††
§††«:,,,,, that could swallow my entire body. and ,,,,,:«††§
£§††«:,,,, me featuring as the cute and asocial ,,,,:«††§£
#£§††«:,,, radio operator, stationed in the back ,,,:«††§£#
##£§††«:,, of the kilometer-long train, which ,,:«††§£##
###£§††«:, served me good and well. ,:«††§£###
##£§††«:,, ,,:«††§£##
#£§††«:,,, and then one night, there's a missile. ,,,:«††§£#
£§††«:,,,, we would routinely pick up new cars at ,,,,:«††§£
§††«:,,,,, the tail, and drop some off, as a way ,,,,,:«††§
††«:,,,,,, of earning some extra money. but a ,,,,,,:«††
†«:,,,,,,, missile, and appearing silently in the ,,,,,,,:«†
††«:,,,,,, middle of the night at that? not ,,,,,,:«††
§††«:,,,,, entirely... comfortable. ,,,,,:«††§
£§††«:,,,, ,,,,:«††§£
#£§††«:,,, i call it in on the walkie-talkie. not ,,,:«††§£#
##£§††«:,, many others awake, they know nothing ,,:«††§£##
###£§††«:, about it, and appear concerned as well. ,:«††§£###
##£§††«:,, ,,:«††§£##
#£§††«:,,, ############################## ,,,:«††§£#
£§††«:,,,, ,,,,:«††§£
§††«:,,,,, when i fall awake in the afternoon, ,,,,,:«††§
††«:,,,,,, karl is there, smiling at me. "hey ,,,,,,:«††
†«:,,,,,,, boy," he says, "wanna help me make a ,,,,,,,:«†
††«:,,,,,, call?" ,,,,,,:«††
§††«:,,,,, ,,,,,:«††§
£§††«:,,,, after he's brought me coffee, i dial ,,,,:«††§£
#£§††«:,,, the frequency from his notebook, and ,,,:«††§£#
##£§††«:,, after a while there's a reply in ,,:«††§£##
###£§††«:, pan-slavic. karl laughs and makes a ,:«††§£###
##£§††«:,, reply in the same language. even though ,,:«††§£##
#£§††«:,,, we both have headphones i can't follow ,,,:«††§£#
£§††«:,,,, at all, but i hear the word "missile" a ,,,,:«††§£
§††«:,,,,, few times. ,,,,,:«††§
††«:,,,,,, ,,,,,,:«††
†«:,,,,,,, i'm almost snoozing again at the time ,,,,,,,:«†
††«:,,,,,, karl puts down the headphones and slaps ,,,,,,:«††
§††«:,,,,, me on my back. "allright boy. i just ,,,,,:«††§
£§††«:,,,, sold a missile." he practically beams ,,,,:«††§£
#£§††«:,,, at me, teeth filed sharp. "wanna make a ,,,:«††§£#
##£§††«:,, detour?" ,,:«††§£##
###£§††«:, ,:«††§£###
##£§††«:,, ,,:«††§£##
#£§††«:,,, ,,,:«††§£#
£§††«:,,,, ,,,,:«††§£
§††«:,,,,, ,,,,,:«††§