The lost ravine
He could definitely enjoy a little sleep; but a while later, maybe 20 minutes after, a steward with a bell ringing waked him as she was walking across (through) the train's aisle and announcing that it was time for the scheduled meal.
Although he was not hungry, probably due to the heat, Dan got up, along with his aging travelling companion, accidentally a boring one. Heading to the dining compartment, he ordered a cabbage soup, and picked the loneliest spot of the room to sit.
Only after he sat, he thought why he had done that. It was a journalist reflex, to choose a privileged observer's spot so he could perceive the room and the people on it. Watch how they moved, they interacted, their gestures, even the decoration... he couldn't do anything else for a living, observing things was almost an obsession.
"Good, the soup isn't hot", he thought, and began eating it when, suddenly, the train's brakes caused everyone to be thrown to the room's front.
All objects were flying in all directions, chairs, glasses, dishes, bottles, spoons knocked over, causing a whole mess. The tables were fixed to the floor, making some people pinched in them. Dan was projected to the nearest wall, which was very near, fortunately, and rose up just in time to help a woman, who was entering the room when the emergency stop occurred, and was immediately tossed from the other side of the room to the wall where Dan was. They held on to a table until the train came to a complete stop.
Dan was one of the firsts to run to the window to check what happened. As he asked the woman if she was alright, he noticed the transparent file folder that she was carrying and now picked from the floor. As it passed by his luminous watch's face, he could read the title of the head page, in the fluorescent light: "ZAMA JINKA".
Outside the window there was no illumination, since the train's lights went out. He saw a mass of land, and further away, some knocked down high tension poles lying on the ground. One of them was on the railroad, in front of the train. Further away, he couldn't see anything.
Although he was not hungry, probably due to the heat, Dan got up, along with his aging travelling companion, accidentally a boring one. Heading to the dining compartment, he ordered a cabbage soup, and picked the loneliest spot of the room to sit.
Only after he sat, he thought why he had done that. It was a journalist reflex, to choose a privileged observer's spot so he could perceive the room and the people on it. Watch how they moved, they interacted, their gestures, even the decoration... he couldn't do anything else for a living, observing things was almost an obsession.
"Good, the soup isn't hot", he thought, and began eating it when, suddenly, the train's brakes caused everyone to be thrown to the room's front.
All objects were flying in all directions, chairs, glasses, dishes, bottles, spoons knocked over, causing a whole mess. The tables were fixed to the floor, making some people pinched in them. Dan was projected to the nearest wall, which was very near, fortunately, and rose up just in time to help a woman, who was entering the room when the emergency stop occurred, and was immediately tossed from the other side of the room to the wall where Dan was. They held on to a table until the train came to a complete stop.
Dan was one of the firsts to run to the window to check what happened. As he asked the woman if she was alright, he noticed the transparent file folder that she was carrying and now picked from the floor. As it passed by his luminous watch's face, he could read the title of the head page, in the fluorescent light: "ZAMA JINKA".
Outside the window there was no illumination, since the train's lights went out. He saw a mass of land, and further away, some knocked down high tension poles lying on the ground. One of them was on the railroad, in front of the train. Further away, he couldn't see anything.
posted by tensayoki @ 16:00
