All Aboard

--------------- Forwarded Message ---------------



From: 	Lincoln Rd. McHenry, IL, 71222,645

To: 	FetterNet

Date: 	Tue, Aug 17, 1993, 19:54



RE: 	All aboard



Hello everyone,



        I have a story about my family's 1st and only "train trip" to St.

Louis. The circumstances surrounding the reason for the trip and the

"event" on the train have NOTHING in common. Only the coincidence of

"timing" brings them together. Anyway, with the disclaimer out of the way

I'll get to my story.



        It was late February in 1957 and my mother's father -- David

Lukens -- died suddenly as the result of a massive heart attack. My

parents were presented with the problem of getting us all to St. Louis post

haste in mid-February. They took a look at the weather predictions --

snow and more snow -- then they looked out at the 6 year old Nash and

thought about both wanting and having to get to St. Louis as soon as

possible. They came up with a great but kindof expensive solution ---

take the train to St. Louis. Forget the expense; this was an emergency.



        I was almost 6 years old and my brothers ran from age 3 to age 8.

I remember the 5 of us being so full of excitement concerning a TRAIN

TRIP but also instinctively knowing that we had to temper our excitement

and wonder and awe because of the reason for us taking the train. Plus my

parents were dealing with the twin burdens of grief and the logistics of

getting us all packed up, ticketed and on the train. I remember feeling

all of our moods (but mostly my parents') were so unordinary. It was as if

we were all struggling with something new. For my parents it was real

grief. For myself I was troubled about not feeling enough real grief. I

wondered when or if something would happen to bring back normalcy.



        Here is when the story takes a turn and we end up with a "family

story" surrounded by my Grandfather's death. We got to the train on a tight

schedule but we made it. The train was totally crowded because of the

snowstorms. We were dressed in layers of flannel and wool just in case the

train didn't have good heat. Bad decision. The heat was too good, this was

not the trans-Siberian railway. Actually it was one of those deals where

they couldn't turn down the heat! Even as we peeled down to our 1st layer

we were all still hot combined with our inner family tension that was

showing no signs of breaking. Things were not normal.



        Then the whole trip changed. Jeff, who was almost three had to go

to the bathroom. The train car that had a bathroom was 2 and half cars

away. My mom looked at my dad and told him Jeff's getting too old for the

ladies room and we were all too young for the job so he would have to

take Jeff. I didn't have to go but I thought that I might be able to

create a bit of a breeze walking with them to the bathroom. So my Dad,

Jeff and me headed down the train.



        It was a very tight bathroom (do trains and planes have any other

kind?). We three crammed in and first my dad went -- I declined -- and

then Jeff. He was too little to put his clothes back together so my dad

was struggling with getting him redressed as sweat rolled off his face

from the heat and the fiddling around with Jeff's clothes. Then it

happened -- Dad went to zip Jeff's zipper and he zipped Jeff! I swear

Jeff was like a greased pig -- he squealed at the top of his lungs,

slipped out of my dad's grasp and went flying down the train's aisle

like a two foot tall Paul Revere with a slightly differant message,

"Mommy.... Mommy.... Daddy zipped my PENIS... Daddy zipped my

PEEEENISSSS!" You could have knocked me over, Jeff was screaming PENIS in

public. This was 1957 mind you and even though I was only 6 I knew that

penis was a word that we were all taught, but it was a word that we

couldn't\shouldn't ever use -- especially in public! I always wondered

why they bothered teaching us the word. In fact I thought that it was a

word that I shouldn't even think in my own mind much less SCREAM EIGHT-TEEN

TIMES like Jeff was doing as he ran through two and half crowded train

cars. I looked at my dad and he looked at me and we both knew that we had

the longest 2 and a half car walk in our lives ahead of us. I wasn't as

bad for me, everyone knew that the old man zipped the kid's penis and it

wasn't my kid who was SCREAMING PENIS in public. Also, I let him lead. As

we walked the two and a half cars of crowded sweaty people every set of

eyes all looked up to catch a glimpse of the guy who zipped the little

boy who was SCREAMING PENIS. I was amazed at my dad's presence. Here was

a man who had had no acting lessons in his life somehow making himself

physically smaller as we travelled through the train. I guess that total

embarrassment can instinctively give someone those "make your self

invisible" skills.



        When we got back to seats my mom was bursting trying to hold in

her laughter. My dad looked at my mom and he was laughing too. They were

laughing for the first time since they heard the news about my

grandfather. We were all laughing (except Jeff). Things were ----- normal

---- again.



        ..........love..............Craig.....