DNA USA by Bryan Sykes

DNA USA by Bryan Sykes

Author:Bryan Sykes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liveright
Published: 2012-04-12T16:00:00+00:00


13

Heading West

The California Zephyr crosses Colorado en route to Denver.

As the week in Boston passed and we became more and more immersed in old New England, I could not disguise my excitement and anticipation of the next stage of the journey. Our hotel was opposite the Tufts University Medical Center, about a mile from South Station. In the dead of night when the wailing sirens bringing emergencies to the hospital had quieted down, I caught the distant sound of a train. Quite unlike the frenetic adrenaline-bursting shrieks of the ambulances’ “Get out of my way!” “Get out of my way!” the train sounded mournful, almost apologetic, a two-note harmony in a minor key: “Excuse me, but I must get through.” “Excuse me, but I have to get to where I’m going.”

When departure day came, our suitcases bulging with kind gifts of books and personal genealogies, we crammed everything into a taxi for the short ride to South Station. The large metropolitan stations in America are still quite wonderful, even though—or perhaps because—most of them were built for an era long gone, before planes broke their monopoly. Quite unlike the tearing hurry of airline terminals, the pace is slower and, if you arrive with time to spare, relaxing. We settled down at a table on the stone concourse and ordered a couple of hot drinks. Tea for Richard, coffee for me, and then nuts and fruit for the journey ahead. We got out our train map and looked at the route. It seemed a very long way from Boston to Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, and finally Emeryville on San Francisco Bay. Even Chicago, which I had always thought of as about halfway across America, suddenly looked much nearer the East coast than the West. Which of course it is.

The low hum of the station was broken from time to time by a loud clacking sound, like a flock of noisy crows having an argument. It took some time for me to identify the source as the departure board resetting itself as the trains set off for their destinations. Our own train, the Lake Shore Limited from Boston to Chicago, moved up the board, and it was soon time to collect our luggage and climb aboard. We were not disappointed. The shining silver monster, two stories high, stood there hissing and steaming, waiting to transport us across America. We had booked a sleeping compartment luxuriating in its memorable description as a “Viewliner Roomette.” It was on the lower of the two floors, about four feet across and eight feet long, with a window spanning its length. The “View” in “Viewliner” combined with the “ette” in “Roomette.” The two comfortable seats faced each other across a table, thoughtfully decorated for chess. The seats converted into the lower of two beds, the upper one swinging down from the ceiling when it was needed. Given our weight difference and the possibility of collapse, Richard did not need much persuading to take the upper bunk. Our main bags checked, we stowed our hand luggage, leaving only a little room to move.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.