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£££#%††~^¨ 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. ¨^~††%#£##
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££%%%††~^¨ 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. ¨¨¨¨¨^^†%£
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£££#%††~^¨ 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. ¨^~††%#£##
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###£%††~^¨ I Call It In On The Walkie-Talkie. Not ¨^~††%£###
###£%††~^¨ Many Others Awake, They Know Nothing ¨^~††%£###
##£#%††~^¨ About It, And Appear Concerned As Well. ¨^~††%#£##
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#££#%††~^¨ When I Fall Awake In The Afternoon, ¨^~††%#££#
##£#%††~^¨ Karl Is There, Smiling At Me. "Hey ¨^~††%#£##
##£#%††~^¨ Boy," He Says, "Wanna Help Me Make A ¨^~††%#£##
#†††^¨¨¨¨¨ Call?" ¨¨¨¨¨^†††#
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#%†~~¨¨¨¨¨ 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. ¨^~††%####
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##£#%††~^¨ 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?" ¨¨¨¨¨^††##
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