The Moon Looked Down by Dorothy Garlock

Author:Dorothy Garlock [Garlock, Dorothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 0446577944
Publisher: Grand Central
Published: 2009-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

COLE STOOD NEXT to his brother and father under the short awning of the train station and cursed the weather. Unlike every other day since he had returned to Victory, the morning had dawned every bit as unpleasant as his mood; a light pitter-patter of raindrops fell ceaselessly from the leaden sky, steadily drumming upon the earth. Peeking out from under the cover afforded to him, Cole looked up into the solid mass of gray clouds that spread like a blanket from horizon to horizon as rain struck his hat and wet his chin.

Jason shrugged. “It could be worse.”

“How do you figure?”

“I could have been sent off in a blizzard, I suppose.”

“At least there’s no thunder or lightning,” Robert added sullenly.

Cole was as startled by the sound of his father’s voice as he would’ve been by the very thunder the man spoke of. It was the first time that day he had heard him speak. The ride to the train station had been spent in silence, save for the creaking of the truck and the never-ending drumming of the rain upon the windshield. Cole hadn’t been able to find his tongue; it had been as if he were in church, a place where even a cough seemed inappropriate, listening to the preacher lecture from his pulpit about eternal salvation. They had sat in the cab of the pickup stiffly, the three of them packed as tightly together as sardines.

Inside the depot, there was a similar quiet. Occasional sounds echoed off the brick walls or concrete floors grown slick with rainwater. Most of the wooden benches that lined one wall of the depot were empty, their middles permanently sagging from weight that had been visited on them long ago. A cracked clock dutifully marked the passage of time. Across the glistening tracks, a dirt road ran along the rails and beyond that an open cornfield, now covered in a veil of rain and a haze of fog as thick as a curtain. A fitful breeze rose and then fell, swaying the heavily laden branches of maples and oaks. Above them, a pair of bare light bulbs momentarily sputtered to life but just as quickly extinguished, keeping them in a gloomy dark.

Few people milled about inside the depot or stood out near the rails; a young couple cooing over a sleeping infant, a middle-aged man methodically stuffing his pipe with tobacco, and an elderly woman profusely thanking one of the depot’s porters for helping her with her luggage. Cole couldn’t help but think that Jason’s earlier premonition about the day seemed right: it had the air of a funeral.

“What time do you have?” Jason asked.

“It must be getting close.”

“Give it a look.”

Cole checked his watch; still nearly ten minutes remained before the train was expected to arrive. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his father looking at his older son appreciatively. Cole wondered what his father was thinking at a time like this; it saddened him that he had no idea if the man was filled with pride or racked by nerves.

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