Free Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti

haven’t been trains here for a thousand years,” I said. At least that’s what it looked like. Weeds grew all around the tracks. Tall, dry grass grew between the railroad ties.
“Look for the light,” Travis said. “Watch for it. And listen. You’ll hear it before you see it. Let’s walk.”
I didn’t believe him. I didn’t believe any train would come down those old tracks, or maybe it did once every decade. And I didn’t believe he’d be walking around here if trains did come regularly. The motorcycle was one thing, but train tracks, with their steep bank on one side and a hill on the other, were another.
We held hands, walked for a while. I balanced on the rails, one arm on Travis’ shoulder, the other out straightfor balance. Travis described the food at the fancy lodge restaurant. “Lobster bisque,” he said. “Oh, God, it’s fantastic. You’d love it. I gotta take you sometime. Roasted saddle of fallow venison. Amazing.”
“Sounds like something you’d eat only if your emergency rations had been depleted,” I said.
He ignored me. “And the breakfast. Of course you know it’s world famous.”
“Oh, of course, dahling,” I said.
“Wait,” he said.
“What?”
“Listen.”
I stopped.
“It’s coming,” he said.
“Very funny,” I said.
Travis held my waist and smiled.
“What a joker,” I said. “Ha ha.”
He put his finger to my lips.
“God, Travis!” He was right. A train was coming. I could hear it. The rhythmic, heavy pumping. Louder. Louder still. “Move, Travis!”
He held my waist as I tried to pull away.
“Tell me when you see the light.”
“Oh, God, Travis. Oh, God, let me go. Let me go! I see it! Shit!”
He grabbed me, basically threw me to the bank by the side of the tracks. The ground was shaking under me. The noise was thunderous. I’ve never heard anything so loud. A huge tunnel of wind blew my hair into my mouth; theair clattered and shook and sounded like it was exploding. My fingers dug into the ground, holding on, clutching dirt and gravel.
“Open your eyes,” Travis shouted.
“Oh, my God.” I breathed.
“Open them!” Travis said. He was half lying on me. I opened my eyes. The train was behind my head. I could see it there, upside-down. The wheels turning so fast, the underneath of the train, the narrow slice of open air that was the hill and ground on the other side of the train. Travis held me against the clatter and rumbling. Rocks were literally jumping under my back. Finally the train passed. I turned my head where I lay, watched the metal railing of the caboose get smaller and smaller. I hoped I was still alive, but I wasn’t sure.
Travis looked down at me. “Ruby,” he said. I’d never heard anyone say my name like that before. He took my hand, held it against his heart. He put his own hand on mine. “Do you feel that?” he said. “Feel? They’re beating together. They’re beating in time.”
I was fearless, because that’s what he wanted me to be. Maybe it was better to be who he thought I was than who I thought I was. Anyway, all I know is that I played my part, which was to get on the back and hold on tight through everything we did. From that day onward, we went too fast, frighteningly fast. Travis Becker may have been a little crazy. But our hearts had beat in time when the ground shook underneath us, and that was what mattered.

I started wearing that necklace all the time. It still had that bad feeling about it, that wrong feeling, but I wore it anyway. Like I said, I would do anything for Travis Becker. He dared me to stand on the white line in the middle of Cummings Road while he kissed me, and I did it, the long baarrr! of a panicked truck driver’s horn in my ears for hours after Travis had taken my hand and we had run to the side of the road to safety. The horn in my ears, my heart in my throat. He had lifted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he twirled me in circles. Oh, God! I had screamed. Ruby! he had whooped