The Train To Many Places - Chapter 4

The Train To Many Places

A novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 4

 

The Streets Of The Soul   

 

He waited alone on the platform for a train . The station was deserted . 

Dave felt like he was lost in time...  .

He began thinking about where he fitted into life and where he belonged .
Everyone belongs somewhere, but he was still looking for someone or something , somewhere .

He stood there with a bag in his hand and wondered if maybe his destiny would be found in the next train or at the  next stop somewhere further down the line . He forgot where home was and vaguely remembers starting this journey on his own .

He had no wife and no children, all that he had was himself and there he stood waiting beside the railway tracks , shattered to the core , thinking about the ones he couldn’t see any more . Suddenly the train arrived and, in his heart, he knew that he had to catch that train .He had to carry on , go the distance , get on board and travel on to the journeys end .

He took a seat in an empty carriage and thought about his life . He had lost  sight of everything he  loved and never  had the time to absorb that until now . In doing that he was able to accept the unknown factor like what could be waiting for him around the bend , other along the track . He thought about some of the people he had met on different trains and how some passengers would get off the train maybe long before they should have and there was no reason why , they just had to .

 

Dave never really understood that in depth before and getting home alone with no excess baggage was exactly where he was at this point in his life . 

He also realised he had come  into life on his own , with no one else , just him and that’s the way he would also be leaving this life .

He knew the journey to get home alone was between nowhere and somewhere further down the road .

The train went through a tunnel and it seemed to go on for a very long  time . Eventually as the train came back out of the tunnel again it arrived at a station where people on the platform were all dressed in fashions from the past . He got off the train and made his way to the exit . He presented his free travel pass to the ticket collector .

“Wha year, is it ?”

He asked and the ticket collector replied .

“That’s a strange question for someone with a free travel pass. Well sir . the year is 1921 “

“Excuse me ?”

Dave said with disbelief .

The ticket collector smiled and said .

“You do realise that travellers such as yourself are also able to travel through time ?”

Dave was stunned  and walked away through the exit gate to the main street . There were some old vintage cars and people on bikes . A man was waiting with a horse  and  carriages . The carriage had  sign .

“Free travel pass transport “

Dave presented his travel pass and the driver assisted him to take a seat in the carriage . In a few minutes they were on their way to another place in time .

He looked out saw coal men.

delivering bags of coal on their back and going into houses with their delivery of coal .

He saw milkmen carried bottles of milk up to the doors of houses . He noticed ordered the everyday things in life were so different .

Window cleaners with ladders over their shoulder goi g from for to door through the village streets and horse and cart’s going around d with men at the reins carrying burns of milk and some had  large grinding stones on their carts to sharpen up kitchen knives , scissors and other household items like hedge clippers for a small fee . 

There were hobby horse men with their little roundabouts going round to set up some place on some spare ground .

There were doctors walking around with their bags going to  visit people in their homes .

The way of  life was so different to the time where Dave came from .

There were bread-man delivering freshly baked bread and scones to houses Rag and bone men and 

gas light men who were work g on lamp posts around them streets .

Eventually the driver stopped outside a large stately home where he was allocated free accommodation . 

“How long are  you here  for sir ?”

The driver asked .

“ Just a few days “

Said Dave .

“Would you like me to collect you on Saturday and take you back to the railway station sir ? “

“Thank you . That would be ok “

After the driver left Dave made his way inside the large house where hex was made welcome and after he was shown his room

Dave went out for a walk .

He saw produce people pushing hand carts and followed them to a marketplace . He walked among people in another place and another time then he saw a face that touched the dept of his soul . It was that of his daughter who just walked past . He was just about to call her but she had disappeared into the crowd in the markets . He tried to rush after her but she was gone . With a mixture of feelings, he returned to the guest house and lay down on the bed thinking for a while . He was sure it was his daughter who passed by him in the markets . Then he began to wonder could it be possible in the spirit world for anyone to re-enter life again on earth .Maybe if time is non-existent in the spirit life then maybe it could be possible for some of those who have passed away to return .As he lay there drifting off to sleep he felt someone gently holding his hand .

A knock on the door of his room awoke him . He opened the door ; it was already morning and his breakfast was brought into the room on a trolley .

He felt the urge to take a walk outside and finished his breakfast quickly . The streets were busy with people coming and going along the sidewalks . Suddenly he saw his daughter again crossing the road . He was distracted by another face . He couldn’t believe what he saw . It was the face of his mother .

Shortly afterwards he saw his son walking among the crowd .

He saw other strange things happening , like flowers starting to bloom as he walked along the street . On the sidewalks and in different places flowers were growing between cracks in the concrete and other little spaces on the street . Dave had no idea what was happening but was enjoying the experience . He saw some of the buildings suddenly go on fire and in that moment overhead there were aircraft dropping leaflets from the sky . All around the streets it looked as if things were changing in a passage of time .

The fashions people were wearing , the model of cars on the street . The

Amount of traffic also was growing , getting busier by the minute right before his eyes . Dave didn’t know what to do . Seconds passed years and he just stood and watched it unfold like a movie on the big screen .

Something fantastic was happening and he needed some time to absorb it all in . Then he saw on the streets , the souls of people he once knew who had died years ago . They all were walking along the street and he felt at peace with everything he saw . He even saw his wife and children pass him by , they were all on the journey,  going somewhere , in his heart he realised that one day he would join them on that journey where everything would make sense on the streets of the soul where everyone must go sooner or later .

He saw others who were wearing shackles on their feet as they walked past , they were tied up with others on a chain making their way slowly like prisoners  of time in another dimension .Then he saw the distant hills on the outskirts of the town  changing appearance as the seasons of life came and went . Fields of green suddenly were covered in snow and he heard the sound of thunder and the singing of birds and other animals calling .

Suddenly crowds of people on the street became like children again and as time passed, they remained the same as if they were forever young , never getting old , living there on the streets of the soul . No one really knew where they were but you could some old friends meeting there and it was sweet reunion in a place where old ghosts met and life continued for everyone . No one there was a stranger , they all were happy to be there together in a state of love and peace . Everything that Dav e saw he believed was true and he knew that he had to just keep on believing in everything he was doing .

He had been given answers to so many questions and they were all answered in a very short moment of time . He realised why he had to keep going to different place and seeing different things .Even though he had no choice o where , when , why , who or what he would see or meet , that was not up to him to decide . He had nothing to win and nothing to lose . When the experience was over and everything stopped and resumed back to normality again Dave went walking back to the guest house again ...

He called it a day and lay in bed wondering where he would go tomorrow. .

 

End Chapter 4

Link to Chapter 5

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/train-many-places-chapter-5

 

The Train To Many Places

A novel

By Paul McCann