I woke up at the train station. But that was all. No blinding-light, train-through-me dream. No smell of pickles. No Jake.
Like always, I was in my pajamas. The cement platform was cool under my bare feet.
The platform and the tracks were lit from high lamps above both ends of the station. The shadow of the roof edge split the platform into day and night. I could hardly see the benches. The station windows were black. I squinted into the shadows. I whispered, “Jake?…You there?”
I went to the edge of the platform. The night swallowed up the tracks, left and right. My toes hung over the cool, hard edge. “Jake!” I yelled. “Jake!”
I don’t know how long I stood there. I kept thinking, Maybe he’s just late.
I heard something behind me. I turned. The station door was opening. A shadow moving through the shadows.
“Jake?” I said.
The shadow spoke. “The things I do for my grandkids.”
Poppy?
He came into the light. He was groggy, slumpy. He looked at his watch. He mumbled something. I think it was, “Three o’clock…” The only awake part of him was his eyes. They stared at me. He reached out and poked me in the shoulder. Twice.
What was going on? I was getting worried. “Poppy,” I said, “why are you here? Did something bad happen?”
“You could say that,” he mumbled. “I fell asleep.” He looked around. “He’s not here?”
“No,” I said.
He looked down at me. “No.” He palmed the top of my head. “Sorry, kid.”
“Poppy,” I screeched, “why are you here?”
He took a deep breath. “In case this was going to happen, I thought somebody oughta be here. You shouldn’t be alone.” He looked around again. He looked at his watch again. “Maybe he’s just late.”
I screamed, “There is no late!” I lost it. “My life is over!” I wailed. I crumpled to the ground.
He picked me up. I’m too old to be carried now, but I didn’t fight it. He took me to his bike. He helped seat me on the bar in front of him and pedaled off. He grumbled: “Gotta get a car.” The last thing I remember is clinging like an octopus to him as he lugged me up the stairs to my bedroom. I had the falling dream again. Nobody was catching me.