Rails

I am in the habit of taking a shortcut home. Through a back alley, over the guardrail and onto the railway tracks. My building is actually opposite the tracks, but there is no entrance facing the tracks, and why would there be, so I had to walk around. Further southward, these same tracks joined up with the main set of tracks that connected with everything. If I really wanted to, I could walk along the rails, possibly even catch a ride to some other city.

Right by the place where I usually cut across, just south of the heap of a factory next to my own abode, I, quite astonished, noticed that somebody had uprooted a bus shelter and placed it alongside the tracks, like a wayside station. That was no piece of minor work, I thought. So I went inside. Maybe some bums were sleeping in it. Who knows.

No bums were inside but somebody previously hidden grabbed my hand. She wasn't strong enough to keep me from pulling away, but the person who grabbed my shoulders from behind was. I figured I was about to go through the `empty your pockets' routine. Moments later I was freed as my second, male captor greeted me. What gives, I thought. I know this guy. "How did you get here Cyrus? I just came from your place." "Cyrus I'm not" he smiled. "But Cyrus and I have a lot in common, as do you and this beautiful lady here."

I glanced at both of them, mystified, and really drawn by the presence of the young woman. Cyrus's double looked at me quizzically. "You don't get it, I suppose, but you are on the other side." "The other side? Of what?" The double continued: "Oh, you're not dead or anything like that, but you're with us. We occupy a different rule set over where we come from. Just like you occupy a different rule set where you are."

"You mean like not being one of the few who work and enjoy peace and prosperity?" Double continued, smiling "something like that. But tell me, don't you recognize her?" I had to admit that I didn't. "She is you on our side. Come on? You don't see it?"

I mumbled something that even I could not decipher. Double slapped me on the back. "Gotta go now kids." He left the shelter singing `Getting to know you,' and hopped a passing freight train. I turned to my female companion. "Hey, that's one of our songs. How would he know it, if he's from some other side?" She smiled, coming closer. "Why, it's one of our songs too, you know. We have a lot in common." Not as such, I thought. This Cyrus was cleverer than the one that I knew, but in fairness, Cyrus might have some cleverness lurking beneath the layers of pharmaceuticals. Anything was possible. And hey?

I turned away from the desire that I felt looming in the presence of such a beauty as she. "What should I call you?" She took a while before responding, not as if she was going to make something up, but rather that she had to weigh the pros and cons of telling me. She locked her arms around my neck, and gazing at me with my own eyes spoke one word. "Emerald."

Curious for its own sake, I had to know more. I wasn't sure I cared about this being from another time or place, or dimension for that matter. My life had too many bizarre chapters to cause me to get worked up about what anybody else said. I had become the kind of person who reacted by saying `fair enough.' I would worry about being so close to mental decrepitude when in such a state of mind, but what the hay. Listening to loud music always seemed to work the trick that would have me say `who gives a shit' or some other expletive not suitable for audiences with sensitive egos.

My next objective, I decided, was to invite her to my humble abode for refreshments. She gave me a soft kiss, still not having let go of my neck. "I'll go with you, but be careful where you take me, or I may not be able to get back." "What happens then?" She looked ponderous. "I don't know. I just had to come, you see." I looked baffled. "Why?" She gave me a laughing smile. "Why, to see you. I knew you by what you do to me. I just had to see you and be with you, just to know." I questioned: "But how is it that you knew of me, while I never got a glimpse of your existence?"

"Don't tell me you had no knowledge of me. You're not that stupid, I hope. I am as much a part of you as you are of me. I felt so lucky having you. Maybe it's time for you to discover the reverse." I'm big on discovery. Lead or follow. I guessed it was my place to lead the way. She followed swingingly. "You sure seem to be in a good mood Emerald." "You would be too, if you had done what I just did. Getting here was no mean feat."