Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

At The Gryphon's suggestion, we took Amtrak, figuring it would save us gas and wear and tear on the vehicle and be easier on us, besides.

Since I do most of the driving, I really appreciated the opportunity to relax, read, write and attempt to take photos out of the window instead of dealing with traffic.

Here's something I wrote on the train Thursday on the way up.

We're on the Vermonter from Philly to — you guessed it — Vermont. Everything was going smoothly, if you discounted the mysterious stomach distress I experienced while waiting to depart from the 30th Street Station after eating at Au Bon Pain. The Gryphon suggested I have some yogurt, so I gave it a try. But I was practically doubled over in pain as we boarded the train. The pain gradually lessened as the yogurt (and some Gas X) did their work.

Somewhere south of Stamford, Connecticut, he train coasted to a stop as the conductor announced that a bridge was stuck in the up position and we'd have to wait until it was lowered.

I lost track of the time, deep into reading a book I'm reviewing for Wild Violet, The Art of Undressing by Stephanie Lehmann, one of the few honestly good fiction books I've reviewed in quite awhile. Only when I'd finished did I become aware that we'd quietly begun moving -- backwards.

The man in the seat behind us (now ahead of us?) had begun to panic. We couldn't help overhearing his cell phone conversation as he tried to book an airplane to get him to a hospital in Boston. He explained he was due there, having just left a hospital in New York. His urgency was conveyed only through his persistence, as he had an almost flat affect.

I began to wonder why he was trailing from hospital to hospital on a train. Would a patient take care of his own transportation? Was he a drug sales rep, a specialist shopping for a new job?

I stole a look at him over the seat: bald, in his late 30s, wearing a nondescript, black shirt and black jacket and respectable looking wire frames.

As I was writing this, the train began to move forward again. He was still on the phone, making arrangements. The conductor announced we were an hour behind.

Glancing at what I was writing, The Gryphon asked, "After you're done, do you want to go to the snack bar to get a sandwich?"

"Yes," the bald man said loudly on the phone. I laughed aloud uncontrollably.

We were seated near an androgynous looking young man who was playing a medieval style game most of the time, with castles and knights. We were also near a gray-haired older man who looked a lot like he could be the poet Rod McKuen. But when we looked it up later, I realized he was far too old.

There were plenty of interesting people to watch on the train, including a little boy we saw on our way to the snack car. He had some of his favorite plush animals with him, which he played with by setting them on his pull-down tray and regarding them quietly, a contemplative look on his face.

A woman with a German accent started to fret about being late, but a young woman lent her a cell phone so she could call and let her family know.

I didn't have a lot of luck taking pictures out the window. It seemed like every time we saw something worth photographing, we had passed it before I got the camera out. Most of my pictures were of green fields, instead.

When we finally arrived at the Montpelier train station, my brother was there to greet us. He tried to look at my engagement ring, but it was too dark. After some trial and error, he figured out how to use the light on his new cell phone.

Back at his home, my nephew was already sleeping, and my brother's wife greeted us at the door. She's very pregnant right now, due in September.

For a little while, we chatted in the living room. The Gryphon and I gave them the presents we'd bought everyone: late birthday gifts for my nephew and for my brother's wife, an early birthday gift for my brother. He loved his G. Love CD, and if my nephew hadn't been sleeping he would have played it right away.

She loved the photography books we'd given her, designed to help her with her goal of setting up a wedding photography business.

Then, since everyone was tired, and my brother gets up extremely early, we went to bed. Though not before The Gryphon and I had a little fun taking tired pictures of ourselves and some silly ones with the family dog, Pulsar.

More from our trip to Vermont:

August 31, 2006 - By in a Blur

September 1, 2006 - Food and Family

September 5, 2006 - Soggy Shopping

September 6, 2006 - Rock of Ages

September 7, 2006 - Bye!

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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