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“No,” Nadine said, eyes locked on the train as it made its repetitive journey. “Make it go. Don’t let it stop.”

Wendell powered the train back to its original speed and looked with no small amount of wonder at how transfixed Nadine was.

They’d found something in common, something that brought them together. Something kind ofsilly, Wendell conceded to himself. Even he was willing to admit toy trains were an odd thing for them to bond over after all these years, but what the hell. For the first time in years, he felt something unfamiliar.

He washappy.

Whenever Wendell was out, Nadine would slip downstairs, turn on the train, sit in the chair, and watch it go around. The times they spent in the basement together were not enough for her. She wanted more. She couldn’t quite understand it, but she wanted to listen to the train travel around its loop all the time. She would be upstairs, watching TV or sitting at the kitchen table paying bills, when suddenly she would get up, go downstairs, turn on the transformer, and let ’er rip.

Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff

The sound started boring into her brain, like the sound of a cicada on a hot summer’s day.

Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff

Just as she’d indicated to Wendell, it was a soothing sound. Intoxicating, even. Akin to some yoga-like mantra. When she listened to it, her stresses evaporated. She was in the moment.

So when Wendell said he would be gone all of Sunday, that he’d promised to help a friend from college who was thinking of buying a new house and wanted Wendell to have a look at it, Nadine could not have been more excited. On Saturday, at the sidewalk sale, she had gone to the bakery and bought a couple of chocolate chip muffins at Len’s, and Sunday morning, moments after Wendell had departed, she made herself a pot of coffee.

Nadine felt an excitement unlike any she had ever felt before. And also, just a little guilty. It was like she was having an affair. She was going to play with the trainsalone. Without her husband.

Was this cheating? And if it was, so what?

She took her coffee and a muffin on a plate and descended the stairs to the basement. She checked that the transformer was plugged in, turned it on, which brought up the headlight on the engine. Before turning the throttle, she leaned over so she could look directly into the light.

She stared for several seconds, not blinking.

The light stared back.

A few more seconds passed before Nadine quietly said, “Okay.”

She cranked the throttle and the train began to move. She took her seat, had a sip of coffee, and nibbled on the muffin.

And watched.

And listened.

Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff

Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff

The more she listened to the engine huffing and puffing, she started to hear something... else. It was like listening to a song, where you think there are lyricsbehindthe lyrics. Hidden words. Or maybe, if you played the song backward, you’d pick up on something you’d never realized was there.

Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff

She pulled her chair up to the edge of the Ping-Pong table, her ear so close to the track that it seemed to tingle with electricity. She felt the train pushing air out of the way as it flew past her head.

Chuffchuffenoughchuffenoughchuffchuff

Wait, what was that?

She held her breath, not wanting even the sound of her own breathing to interfere with what she was trying to pick up on. If she could have stopped her heart, she would have.

Chuffchuffenoughchuffenoughchuffchuff

Yes, there was definitely something there.

Chuffenoughchuffenoughchuffenough