I finished this version of The Bridge a couple of weeks ago. It didn't quite sit right with me. I presented it at the meeting this week and solicited some thoughts about it. I felt it needed heavy editing and something else I couldn't put my finger on.
The Bridge
It could have been a rhetorical question but I asked it anyway. “What are you doing?”
The woman looked up, rather startled but quickly caught her composure. “You scared the daylights out of me. I am clearing off the bridge. All this shrubbery has to go. There is a train coming through.”
I looked at her with a quizzical look. The bridge was in the style of ancient Roman bridges. It had seen better days and looked like it would collapse if anything more than a couple of people crossed it at the same time. I looked at both ends of the bridge and saw it heading off into nowhere. Trees, brush, but definitely no path through the woods for a train to traverse the bridge. No rails.”I don't recall the bridge ever being used for trains. Since I have lived here it has been like a wild forest. Some questions were being raised, begging to be asked but until then I remained courteous “Well,” I thought. ”It must be reasonably safe since I cross it everyday on my walk.”
“A train?” I asked.. “Is there a track on the bridge?”
“Most definitely,” she said, lifting a branch. “It’s a little rusty but still there.”
“Would this bridge even hold the weight of a train?” I asked. I walked over and looked. A rusted track was still in place. I reached out with my toe and nudged it. The rail seemed to be solid. “Wouldn’t there need to be other tracks for the train to come in on?”
“I am not sure," she replied. “All I know is these tracks need to be uncovered.”
“I mean I have walked over this bridge many many times over the years and until today I didn’t notice any tracks,” I postulated. “Why would a train use this bridge?”
“Don’t know. Not important,” she said as she moved some more brush from the track. “All I know is that a train is coming and I need to clear this track. Want to help?” she asked, glancing up with a smile.
“I could do that. My name is Robert. Robert Smith.”
She rose from the crouch she was in and said, “My name is Christine Deville.” she reached out a hand, “pleased to meet you.”
We shook hands. I noticed a pendant on a large chain that hung from her neck. A train was framed in the circular border. It was gleaming in the sunlight. I asked her, “How do you know a train is coming?” It seemed like an important question. She turned her eyes ominously towards me. I felt a small shiver run down my spine.
“Look. If you don’t want to help then just buzz off. I don’t have time for this,” she muttered as she turned back towards clearing the track.
Well, I thought. She seems to be lucid enough. She appears to be happy, radiant even, other than when asked a question she doesn’t like. It was also interesting that she is out here. I don’t often encounter other people on my daily walks across the bridge. In fact she would be the first person I have seen in months. I often crossed the bridge as it provided rather dramatic views of the countryside. The town looked quite beautiful from this level and looking past it one could see all the hills and valleys. Fall was especially nice when all the colours were in full view. She looked at me again with her big blue eyes and flashed me a brilliant questioning smile.
“Do you want to help?” she asked.
“Of course,” I replied. “Let’s get it done.” I stepped forward quickly and moved a large limb out of the way, tossing it near the edge of the bridge. I moved towards the next large limb but before I got there she had not only lifted it but heaved it a fair distance away.
“Nice throw,” I intoned.
“Thanks,” she replied. "I've been working up to that one.” She moved her pendant to her back.
“I’ve noticed your pendant keeps getting in the way of where you are working,” I stated.
“It is an amulet,” she replied. “An amulet is more special than a pendant. It has some magical engravings on it to help protect me.”
“Magical engravings,” I thought to myself. It was rather strange that she was pushing this angle. “Why do you need protection?” I inquired. My thoughts towards her began to drift towards some instability on her part, yet she seemed nice enough.
“In a magical world we need protection from all kinds of issues. I appreciate your questions but I really need to get this done,” she replied before heading off to the next section of track.
“Magic?” I mused. “She believes in magic. Well, I said I would help her so I had better get to it.”
I walked towards a rather large branch lying on the ground when I heard a rip sound and the sputter, then the roar of a chainsaw. Quickly I turned towards the distraction only to discover that Christine was walking past me towards the tree where she began ripping into the long body of it. She was very adept at using the chainsaw. She de-limbed the tree and began to cut up the log sending showers of wood chips flying through the air. Soon her clothing was covered with them. After she finished the last cut she flipped the switch and shut off the chainsaw.
Christine looked up with a grin. “I've been waiting for that. It feels so good.” and with that statement out of the way she began brushing the wood chips off her clothing and out of her hair.
As she took the chainsaw over to its case I continued clearing the brush she had cut. In some cases I used the branch trimmers to cut away larger pieces before tossing them off the side of the bridge. While I was working I spent some time thinking about what she had said. I had serious doubts about her true intentions. The only thing I could accept is that there are train tracks, rails, here on the bridge. The rest of her story sounded quite fanciful. It was leading me to believe that she may be a tad loco. After a bit she indicated we needed to rest. I wandered over and sat on a stump. She offered me a bottle of water which I gratefully accepted.
“I have been wondering about this train,” I started.
She looked up at me with careful eyes.
I continued, “I can see there are train tracks but they don’t seem to go anywhere. In fact they begin and end about 30 feet from each other.”
“Yes,” she replied while carefully looking at me through slightly squinting eyes..
“Well,” I began, “it is either a really short train that has to land like a helicopter,”
“Or,” she continued.
“Or it just magically appears.”
“Could be,” she replied. “I am not really clear on that.”
I thought about that for a minute as she continued to watch me carefully. “I am wondering how you know a train is arriving,” I asked with some caution.
Christine smiled a broad smile. “My amulet tells me.”
“Your amulet? How?”
“My amulet,” she says as she holds her amulet up to the sunlight. It had a train design surrounded by space except where it met the circle. It was lit up by the bright light of the sun but there was something else about it.
“Are those headlights shining?” I asked with curiosity as he leaned forward to get a better look at it.
“Indeed they are,” she replied. “The headlights light up 24 hours before the train arrives. It also shakes as a train would shake the ground therefore if you are sleeping or are busy it reminds you of its presence.”
“Fascinating!” I said with awe as I leaned further forward. She pulled back a bit and placed the amulet inside her blouse.
“Have you ever seen it …. land?” I postulated as I was not sure of how the train arrived.
“Never. It always appears when I turn in a different direction so I am not sure how it gets here. It just does.”
I thought about this for a minute. “Do you know why it is appearing here?” I asked.
“Here, as on the bridge?” she asked. I nodded vigorously.
“I believe that It is because I have chosen to live near the bridge. It is private and a great starting point for my journey. I have loved this spot for a while now and have finally settled here. When I lived in other places the train found me somehow. I had to find the tracks though.”
“And now for the million dollar question, why is it here? What is the purpose of it?” I watched her carefully to see her reaction. She simply looked at me and smiled.
“It’s because I am a time traveler.” she watched me carefully as she said this. “It would appear that you have made me comfortable enough to reveal my secret.”
I looked at her with distinct interest. Surely she was putting me on. “A time traveler?” I questioned.
“I know it is hard to believe but I am a time traveler.”
“You hop back and forth in time?”
“I travel to where I am needed and then I return home.”
I looked stunned. “What is it that you do in time?” I asked carefully.
“If I am lucky as little as possible, especially in the past. In the future there is a little more leeway.” Robert looked at her incredulously. “I know it sounds bizarre,” she continued, “but it is the truth. There is a tipping point in history where the decisions made could go either way. It is my job to ensure that they go the way that history indicates. It is also my job to help preserve the direction that the people indicate the future should be like. It is hard to not interfere but it is essential to reserve the direction the world should take.”
“You can change history?” I asked.
“Not change history. Just to make sure it follows the prescribed path. There are times it needs a slight nudge.”
I was both flabbergasted and flummoxed. She is a time traveler. So many questions but I chose the obvious one. “Where are you traveling to today?”
She gave me another rather large smile. “I never know. I don’t have any say. I just board the train and then woosh we are off. All I know is it is an adventure and someone needs my help. People are full of such doubts in their abilities.There is always a chance the person will not follow my advice or nudges that push them where they should go. Look at Julius Caesar. All that advice and still he thought he knew better. There were high hopes for him.”
‘Don’t you stand out in the clothes you wear and the way you talk?
“Not really. I board the train and my clothes change to suit the time frame I am going to. The same thing with the language. Somehow I speak in the native tongue of the period so it has never been a problem.”
“Like magic?”
“Exactly.”
“And what about the train?”
“The train also changes to period transportation. A Roman chariot. A coach. Horse and buggy. You name it, the train has been it.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” I inquired. It seems that she could have just nudged me away from what she was doing and kept on working in secret.
“Indeed. That is an excellent question. Let me ask you this. Why did you cross this bridge this morning?”
I looked at her with a quizzical look. “What do I have to do with your story?”
“I think we will get there. Please answer my question.”
I pondered this silently before answering. “I live over that way,” I said, pointing towards one end of the bridge. “I like walking up here because of the views it affords me. It helps clear my mind. I find that I feel better after this walk.” I paused in thought. I live over there and she lives over there.
“And you helped me readily clear the debris.” she said as she looked down towards the ground.
“Yes,” I replied. “It seemed like a neighbourly thing to do.” The truth was more intense than that. I looked down at the ground and thought that something had pulled me here this morning. I had no intention of going for a walk but, well, here I am. When I saw her something said stop and talk to her. I looked up at her where she had the most beautiful smile.
She looked up at me with a larger smile. “Then turn and look,” she replied.
As I turned my eyes widened. There stood a gleaming steam engine, complete with a coal car and a passenger car. It was just like her amulet. “How?” I sputtered.
“Magic,” she whispered. “And now, I bid you adieu,” she said, rising from her resting place and walking towards the train. She stopped along the way to pick up her chainsaw before proceeding to the steps of the car. My wide eyes followed her as she boarded the passenger car. She paused in the doorway and said, ”Would you like to join me?”
October 2024
