.......... ..........
.......... ..........
.......... ..........
^......... .........^
«^........ ........^«
†«^....... 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 ......^«††
$††«^..... DETOUR?" .....^«††$
#$††«^.... ....^«††$#
¶#$††«^... ...^«††$#¶
#¶#$††«^.. ..^«††$#¶#
##¶#$††«^. .^«††$#¶##
#¶#$††«^.. ..^«††$#¶#