Ch 3 In The Ditch
The pitter patter of the rain was punctuated by the flashes of lightning and the booming of thunder as the night sky was awash in bluish white light. The storm raged on until wee hours of the morning when it began to settle down into a light rain with periodic lightning strikes and booming thunder. No longer was it ferocious, but it didn’t want to go away as it kept striking the ground whenever the 30 minute wait time was over. Restarting the clock and making us wait another 30 minutes.
“For crying out loud.” I say to no one in particular.
“I’m all for overtime and staying until the job is done, but this roadmaster is an absolute ass for not letting us go to the hotel and sleep until the weather breaks.” Garret says, his tone is drenched in bitterness and frustration.
“I totally agree, does he think that we aren’t going to come back if we leave the job site?!” I grouse. “But then again he’s a micromanaging prick of a company-man who would sooner sell his mom if he thought it would bring in money to lower his spending costs.”
“To be honest, I never believed those rumors. Always thought they were exaggerations to make him out worse then he actually was. I’m starting to see why people use similar examples. What doesn’t make sense is the why. We’re going to be paid even when we’re at the hotel, so what’s the deal with sitting here?”
“Oh, dear Garret. You don’t see the big picture.” I say in a honey laced sweet voice. “That means we’re costing him hotel rooms and it means that we would have to travel back from the hotel in order to work on the tracks. Which means lost productivity and added costs. It’s not only a control thing, it’s also a money thing. Why would he want to pay more money waiting for people to show back up when they are needed? After all, if we’re right here we can jump out and get to work as soon as we are needed and no waiting for people to crawl out of bed. Heaven forbid they get the job/work completed ahead of schedule and we could have gotten the tracks opened up sooner.”
Garret puts his head into his hands and mutters, “God damn, you really do think like a roadmaster.” He turns to me. “So why aren’t you a roadmaster again?”
I chew on my lip as I think of my reply. Truth be told I had looked into becoming one, but the fact that they only wanted to hire people fresh from college who didn’t have a union job that they could fall back on. That gave me the answer I needed.
“Well, after looking into it I found that they really don’t want to hire from within. They are seeking freshly graduated college kids who have lots of debt and can’t fall back into the craft if the company fires them for standing their ground. That’s why that one roadmaster from Fort Worth was sacked. He told the big boss he wasn’t going to let his guys go to work with that faulty equipment. A few days later he was fired without cause, they claimed it was because he kept overspending without any results. But everyone could read inbetween the lines and knew they were itching for a reason to hang him out to dry. Since the roadmasters aren’t union they didn’t even have to give a reason why they canned him. In his place they got a 23 year old who barely finished getting turned out of the new hire class. He told those guys to get to work or get written up. Nothing changed, just that the company found someone they could bully.” My frustration was building in my tone as I began to recall the shit that got pulled.
“I don’t want to be a corporate stooge and screw the guys under me like that. I just don’t think I’d be able to keep that job very long. The big wigs are always talking about a “culture shift” towards safety, but throw that to the curb if it comes down to the almighty dollar. Fucking empty suits who never got out of their cushy office to swing a munday or spike mall.” By the time I finish my rant, my hands are clenched tightly into fists.
“Woah, easy there Ben. I know you're passionate about this topic but don’t go crazy on me here.”
“Sorry.” I reply in a subdued tone, I close my eyes and take a breath. “I just hate it when management screws people over.”
“Unfortunately there’s not a whole that can be done unless someone changes things from the top.” Garret’s tone is tinged with a hint of sadness.
I look at my phone screen to check the time, which showed that it was 7:50 AM and that I had a missed call and voicemail from Tyler. My brain reels as I don't know why this guy whom I have barely talked to in years would call me at this time in the morning. Fearing the worst, I opened up the dialer app on my phone and hit the voicemail to connect to my inbox to listen to the message.
"Hey Ben, it's Tyler, happy belated birthday." Sigh...*chuckle*... “Sorry I missed it, I know it was yesterday but I just checked my phone this morning and realized I had missed it, so I'm really sorry. Umm...Hey umm uh-ah. You... *sigh* Ah fuck how do I say this? UH...ye.... You know... some of those dreams you had before when we were in Durango? …about ponies and trains and what not? Umm....Listen I know I considered you crazy then but I just had the WILDEST fucking dream last night. I-I guess I was just sleep deprived from work, but MAN IT it kinda got me freaked out, some of the sections in that and um...l-let's just say that some other stuff is happening to that I would like to talk to someone about with. (fast talking) It-would-mean-a-lot-to-me Umm if you're not too busy that is. I'm sure you're out in the middle of nowhere working like normal. (fast talking ends) Umm... Give me a call back whenever you get a chance. Bye."
I sit there in stunned silence, then I listen again to the part of the voicemail where Tyler talks about my dreams from Durango. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that those stories could be linked to...whatever the hell this was. Why would Tyler bring that up now if all times?
The sound of the automated female voice broke my chain of thought as she asked if I wanted to save or delete the voicemail.
I quickly save the voicemail, then a sudden rush of guilt fills me as I realize that I totally forgot to wish him a happy birthday, come to think of it. When WAS his birthday?
As my thoughts bounced around that thought, I opened the messenger app on my phone to shoot him a quick text.
“Hey man. Thanks for the birthday wishes. I’m a moron and forgot when your birthday was. The last 24 hours have been batshit crazy on the mainline, we’re doing real railroading work now. LOL. I hope everything is ok, um…. Nvm. I’ll give you a call when I can, hopefully this derailment will be cleaned up by then, just don’t jump off the deep end again into ponies like you told me you did last time. And if you do, please don’t get a tattoo or anything insane like that.”
I hit the send button not really expecting much in the way of a reply. Knowing my friend, he was probably busy playing with his mini-steam trains. The lucky devil, he got to play with steam engines at that little park of his and have fun while I was working a major cluster fuck of a wreck. He’s really good with those miniature trains and dealing with the people who visit the park’s trains.
Suddenly my hearing went silent and then my ears popped, almost like I had just changed air pressure and my eardrums were adjusting to the new air pressure. There was a shifting sound that came from Garret’s seat, the sound got clearer as my ears focused on the sound.
WAIT WHAT?!
My eyes bulge and I freeze in my seat as the realization sets in that my ears were able to focus in on the sound and add more clarity. There was a crack of thunder outside and my ears moved in the direction of the thunder clap’s direction.
The words “Oh shit, what the fuck!” hammered in my skull as my heart beat began to increase in speed, which my ears were able to detect. My mouth got really dry, almost like I had a whole bag of cotton balls in my mouth. I swallow what little saliva I have left and reach for my ears.
I put my hands where my ears are supposed to be…. 'Oh GOD they aren’t there.' I scream mentally as. Then my left ear gives a flick and I keep reaching my hands further up. I lift and tilt my phone back to get a better view of the top of my head. That’s when I them, my...my ears are standing tall and proud with a fur covering on them. They feel so soft and fuzzy too.
I toss the hair that’s in front of my face out of my eyes. “Oh for fucks sake. Celestia-damnit!” I say under my breath.
Garret begins to turn his head towards me and I have to act quickly. As quick as a whip I throw on my orange hard hat and safety glasses. “I’ve gotta take a shit, hope the port-o-shitter didn’t flood or float away.” I hollar as I beat a hasty retreat out of the truck and towards the bathroom while the wind pounded the small droplets of rain into my face.
I make the mad dash in record time. Slamming the door shut behind me, I lock it and place my back up against the door and I begin to slump down towards the floor. I stare up at the white ceiling and curse my rotten shitty luck.
I’m all alone outside and I yell out into the abyss, “WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO TO YOU?!” After screaming that, I then added “I’m turning into a fucking freak, the day after my 25th birthday. It’s almost like life is mocking me. First I’m born in the wrong goddamn century and can’t follow the path that is my passion and now it wants to ruin it altogether. FUCK! ... FUCK!!! FFFFFFUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKK!!!” My frustration was clear and loud, only to be drowned out by the loudest thunder clap I’d ever heard.
The boom was deafening and it punctuated just how the world at large felt about my pain, suffice it to say, it sure didn’t seem to give a good flying fuck. Thinking of being fucked, I decided now was as good a time as any to see just how royally fucked I was.
I pulled out my phone that I stuffed in my pocket during my mad dash to the bathroom. I unlocked the screen and opened the camera app to turn my phone into a mirror of sorts.
My face scrunches up as my expression is a mix of horror and mild amusement by the sight that greets me. I was already expecting the ears, but my eyes, they aren’t the soft brown that they used to be, they’re a yellowish color and they appear oddly big. The pupils are larger than any human’s eyes are, and the fact that they are more akin to a cat's yellow eyes is somewhat unnerving.
That is just the first major revelation, the second one comes when I look at my hair. At first glance things look more or less normal, aside from the fact that it appears that it’s longer than I recalled. I take my hard hat off and there I see so much hair that at first I thought I was wearing a wig.
A quick tug and a yelp later confirms that the hair is real and it’s all mine. Being a brony, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that my current “hair” looked and acted more akin to a mane on a colorful pony then the hair of a human. The biggest and most noticeable thing was the hair color, it was very strange with lighter shades of black with light gray streaks. It really reminded me of Twilight's mane coloring from the time Discord took away her color. Only difference was that MY hair (mane?) was on the darker color spectrum.
It was then that I saw my ears just barely poking above the very long and somewhat puffy mane. They almost blended into the hair because they were a rather indistinct dark grayish black, albeit not a dark or shiny black. Indeed a very unique feature that complimented the hair and if this was a cosplay costume they would be the focal point for everyone’s envy. Alas, this was neither the time nor place to have such features, doubly so since I had a sickening gut feeling that this would be permanent.
It was at that thought that my brain began to shut down, a sudden panic attack kicked open my mental barriers screaming, “SURPRISE MOTHER FUCKER!” I began to hyperventilate and grab at my chest as the world began to close in on me. My little world was being turned upside down, I was alone and totally fucked. I had no one and nowhere to turn to. What would my parents say? Fuck that, what would they say or think if I turned into a pony? I didn’t even want to think about the snarky and fucked up shit my little brother would say. The last thought I had before I lost consciousness was if Tyler would be willing to care for a pony with his soon to be wife.