Metal tracks hummed and buzzed, crushed by the weight of the wheels, up through the floor vibrating into her feet. By the time Martina tucked her duffel bag between her feet for safe keeping, the mechanical box lurched its way out of the station. The doors opened and Martina huddled in, hurrying to snatch a seat.Ĭhicago trains are roaming creatures. Like some kind of breathing machine, the tram heaved its steam and fumes into the morning air as its powerful body eased into the station. Along with everyone else on the platform, Martina inched near the painted yellow line that cautioned passengers not cross till the train came to a complete stop. But how cold would that bench be? Cold.Ī familiar rumble signaled the approach of her train. Perhaps she walked faster knowing tonight was to be the last performance of Jewels before Nutcracker season descended upon the company. Before Martina left this morning, she checked that the Union Pacific West line was not behind schedule. Shifting to realign the weight of everything she carried, she thought briefly about sitting on one of the narrow metal benches that perched on the platform. The strap from her purple dance bag dug deeper into Martina's shoulder. A little nowhere town called Pinetree Grove might as well have been a whole other state away. Yet the weather proved to be at once unseasonably and predictably colder than expected, and her hometown felt far. Her coat buttoned up to her nose and a hat pulled over her ears, she grew up not more than two hours from the metropolis she stood in now. Exhaust, sewer and other far less mentionable odors lingered on the platform. Seated above the city in a high-rise restaurant, brandy on his lips and a cigarette between his fingers, he watched the windy city skyline glitter and flash in neon colors.īut down here, at seven in the morning, the air did not have Lake Michigan to purge it clean. This was not the Chicago Sinatra sang about. The wind caught and swirled around ankles, breaching coats and scarves. October morning, hot steam from passing train cars radiated off the tracks.
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