@#§*††«^,, ,,^«††*§#@
#@#§*††«^, ,^«††*§#@#
@#§*††«^,, ,,^«††*§#@
#§*††«^,,, ,,,^«††*§#
@#§*††«^,, ,,^«††*§#@
#@#§*††«^, 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?" ,,,^«††*§#
@#§*††«^,, ,,^«††*§#@
#@#§*††«^, ,^«††*§#@#
@#§*††«^,, ,,^«††*§#@
#§*††«^,,, ,,,^«††*§#
@#§*††«^,, ,,^«††*§#@