,.~††§§#@#                                          #@#§§††~.,
,.~††§§#@#                                          #@#§§††~.,
,,,,,.††§§                                          §§††.,,,,,
,,,,.††§§@                                          @§§††.,,,,
,.~†††§§#@                                          @#§§†††~.,
,.~††§§#@#  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?"                 #@#§§††~.,
,.~††§§###                                          ###§§††~.,
,,,,,,.~†§                                          §†~.,,,,,,
,.~††§§§§#                                          #§§§§††~.,
,.~††§#@##                                          ##@#§††~.,
,.~††§§###                                          ###§§††~.,