@#¤†††«... ...«†††¤#@
###†««.... ....««†###
@#¤†...... ......†¤#@
@##¤¤††«.. ..«††¤¤##@
#@##¤††«.. ..«††¤##@#
@###¤††«.. 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?" ..«††¤####
#¤¤†«..... .....«†¤¤#
#††††††«.. ..«††††††#
#@##¤††«.. ..«††¤##@#
#†††«..... .....«†††#
#¤¤¤¤††«.. ..«††¤¤¤¤#