Pharynx had just finished punching Silverstream's ticket as our train climbed out of a gorge and rattled along a mountainside, the line being fairly steep. The engine didn't mind, though. It seemed to be having no difficulty with climbing the hill, proceeding at a slow yet steady pace along the line. It looped to one side, and Pharynx then began to guide us back to the rear of the tender.
"You know," he said, "this reminds me a lot of my very first Polar Express run many years ago. I was working near the front on this section of line, and then I slipped on a patch of ice."
"What happened next?" I asked.
"Well, somebody grabbed my coat and prevented me from falling to my death," Pharynx replied, as he reached the bottom of the tender ladder and stepped over to the foot platform on the lead car. "To this day, I never learned who it was, and the other staff members at the North Pole insist I was the only conductor working that night."
"Do you think it was an angel?" Silverstream asked. "They've been known to save people."
Pharynx laughed gently and opened the car door. "I think the ones up there tend to focus on saving people from sin, rather than falling off things. But there are many more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreampt of in your philosophy."
We stepped through what looked to be a tool car, based on the oil, spare parts, and lubricating components. Nothing out of the ordinary for this type of vehicle. Dad had some snaps of the tool car of 1522 when he'd visited St. Louis in the early 2000s for a dispatcher training course. I wasn't there, of course. At that time I was only a few days old.
We entered another car, followed by two other empty ones. "These cars have most certainly appeared since we departed Altoona," Pharynx grumbled. "I'll have to ask the Man with the Bag about it, because it keeps happening."
We then entered another poorly lit car, and Pharynx threw the light switch to help us see where we were going. My heart sank when I saw what was in it. All over the place, scattered over the seats and in various states of disrepair, were old toys. Most of them had parts missing or were otherwise disfigured.
"This is where we keep some of the sadder items," Pharynx said, removing his hat out of respect. "These are toys that kids have thrown out or otherwise mangled, so we pick them up along the route, fix them up, and then bring them back to the North Pole for redistribution."
Silverstream picked up a doll which had several odd cut marks on its face, as well as a rather dirty dress. "Why do kids treat toys this way?" she asked. "Do they not value anything anymore?"
"The times have changed, as things are different now," Pharynx sighed. "Some don't even seem to know milk comes from a cow. Oh well, we do our best, but we must push onwards."
We cleared that rather depressing sight, and at last returned to the main car in use for passengers. Cozy's eyes lit up when she saw me. "Did you see that?" she asked. "We skidded across ice and drifted across it like a car in a Japanese race! Wasn't it amazing?"
"I was right at the front, so it was more terrifying than exciting," I replied, as I took my seat next to Sandbar. "Hey, Sandbar."
"Ocellus! Great to see you again!" Sandbar smiled. "I see you rescued Silverstream."
"Yes," I said, choosing not to say any more to him for now. "Smoulder? You can have your thermal leggings back."
"Keep 'em for now. I get the impression we'll need extremely warm clothing where we're going."
The North Pole! Of course, I'd forgotten. I was soaked up in what was happening, as Terramar led the kids in another chorus of Jingle Bell Rock, that I suddenly remembered the kid in the rear car of the train. I hopped out of my seat and headed back to the rear car, sliding the doors open and stepping across without loosing anything this time.
Silverstream stopped me as I entered. "Huh?" I asked. "What's-"
Silverstream indicated with her hand. The boy was standing on the rear platform and was singing quietly to himself as he looked up at the stars. He had a strained, yet somehow sincere and slightly mellow voice.
"I'm wishing on a star,
And trying to believe;
That even thought it's far,
He'll find me Christmas Eve;
I guess that the old man's busy,
'Cause he's never come around;
I think of him when Christmas comes to town!"
Silverstream seemed to have an impressive ability to pick up melody from just one listen, and stepped onto the rear platform as she joined in, startling the boy.
"The best time of the year!
When everyone comes home!
With all this Christmas cheer;
It's hard to be alone.
Putting up the Christmas tree
With friends that come around;
It's so much fun when Christmas comes to town!"
The boy had no counter, and simply stayed silent as Silverstream went on.
"Presents for the children wrapped in red and green!"
The boy then followed with his own line. "All the things I've heard about but never really seen!"
Then they sang together. In perfect harmony, may I add. "No one will be sleeping on the night of Christmas Eve
Hoping Santa's on his way!"
It was becoming increasingly convinced that this was pre-rehearsed, given the bells, choir and orchestra in the background. This can't be like one of those musicals where everybody instantly knows the lyrics and melody and harmony parts, right? That sort of thing doesn't happen in real life!
Then again, I was on a train currently steaming over ice that had gone up and down near vertical gradients with next to no difficulty and had somehow managed to maintain grip on ice. It wasn't as if any of this was going to start making sense now. My attention was drawn to the duet once again, as they entered into a sort of call and response pattern.
"Presents for the children wrapped in red and green!"
"All the things I've heard about but never really seen;"
"No one will be sleeping on the night of Christmas Eve
Hoping Santa's on his way!"
They maintained this call and response pattern into the next (and what would turn out to be final) verse.
"When Santa's sleight bells ring
I listen all around!
The herald angels sing-"
"I never hear a sound." The boy's response was comically flat in response.
"And all the dreams of the children
Once lost will all be found
That's all I want when Christmas comes to town!
That's all I want when Christmas comes to town!"
Once they had finished, they looked out across the ice and into the distance to see the Aurora Borealis streaking through the sky. I'd always wanted to see the Northern Lights but we lived too far south, so seeing them now was breathtaking.
Silverstream was talking to the boy. "Do you celebrate Christmas in your household?"
"No," the boy replied, sitting on a nearby box. "Mainly because I don't have a household to go to. I live in an orphanage."
"That's awful!" Silverstream cried.
"It's been my home for the last eight years," the boy replied. "I lost my parents and sister a long time ago. Some idiot drunk driver ran a red light and crashed into their car with his eighteen wheeler. Ever since then, I've bounced between living in an orphanage and with foster families. I guess I could never be the boy they want. They only pick the cute ones, and those they don't like they give back, like an angry customer who was sold a defective product."
I stepped forward. "If it helps, I live just over the hill in Altoona," I said. "If you'd like, I can come and pick you up, then bring you back to my home for Christmas Day."
"Thanks for the offer, but I doubt the orphanage would let me go," the boy sighed. "Oh well. This is my life. But at least I've got you guys."
Silverstream hugged him as Sandbar and another girl, who had olive skin, brown hair done up in curls, and was wearing a red and white dress with a green sash, alongside black leggings and white shoes. "Yona very excited at lights!" she said. "Yona not often see such light displays in Boston!"
"So the train originated at least in Boston," I mused. "Interesting."
"Yona's section coupled onto portion from elsewhere!" the girl, seemingly called 'Yona', continued. "Big men change engines over and take engine away!"
"Not just that, look," Sandbar said, pointing into the distance. "All those lights and smoke! What's that?"
"To the uninformed," said Pharynx, who had suddenly appeared from nowhere, "it may appear as a vast collection of buildings, or an ocean liner sailing on a sea of ice. That, boys and girls, is our destination. That... is the North Pole."