"Pieces of eight
The search for the money tree
Don"t cash your freedoms in for gold
Pieces of eight
Can't buy you everything
Don't let it turn your heart to stone' - Styx
My parents left Dieter and I soon after. We were greatful to finally be away from them since the grueling four hour drive didn't seem to make my parents any more enthusiastic about us going far away. As soon as we got to the train station, we started looking for the ticket-taker. There were booths lined up on the wall with people behind them. Each one had a name plate above it and the cost of buying a "last-minute" ticket. They were almost twice as much as just buying a ticket before-hand, but I guess that's how they make their money. It's also a kind gesture to those who lose or forget to buy their ticket. So we went down the line of booths and found the one labeled "To Hack from Tyr". We stood in the line and stared around the station in wonder. "You know Seraphinm, I'll bet that if we looked hard enough, we could find Father James here." Dieter said smiling at me. "Why do you say that?" I said speaking before looking in front of us at the nine priests in line before us. My eyes widened and I looked over at Dieter. "Why would they be going to Hack? Don't they have their own priest?" Dieter shrugged and looked around again. We gave the woman our ticket and she gave us each a little stub of paper. We grabbed our bags and got in line to have our little stubs of paper examined. When he got to us, he looked a little confused. We held up our stubs, he examined them, and he walked on. I suppose he thought that we were trying to illegally get on the train. A lot of kids do that after they escape their town so that even if their parents do go looking for them, they would be far far away; about 6 cities away to be exact. That's usually how far a train takes you before you have to get on another train. We got on the train and found 2 seats together. I was afraid to be away from Dieter because I knew that if we lost each other and one of us got off at the wrong stop, we would probably never find each other again. We stuffed our bags under the seat and fastened our saftey belts. There must have been a hundred priests on this train. I still don't understand how the holiest city on the earth could possibly be in need of this many priests. Dieter and I looked around at all of the priests, pointing out the ones we thought looked like Father James. One of the priests was holding a HUSTLER magazine. I felt like shouting "Shame on you!" but I kept my thoughts to myself. I know better than to piss off someone that you're going to be stuck with for hours upon end. The train started moving and we were on our way to the greatest city in the world. I wondered how we would get to The Building from Hack since niether of us could drive. Maybe someone would be kind enough to take us there or get us a taxi at least. There has to be at least one descent person in the city of God. On the way there, I discovered some interesting customs. The train made six stops and at every stop the priests would leave the train. I wonder what they were doing. Dieter suggested that they might be praying. "After all", he said, "trains aren't the safest form of travel."
 Arie Anna · Sat Feb 19, 2005 @ 10:17pm · 3 Comments |
