Home » Friday Fictioneers » The Whistle Blows – Friday Fictioneers

The Whistle Blows – Friday Fictioneers

Posted on by

Is it still Wednesday?  Why yes, it is.  Does it matter? Why no, it doesn’t!  It is, however, time for Friday Fictioneers and I needs must thank Rochelle for being such a wonderful hostess and this week, thanks to go Alicia Jamtaas for her wonderful photo.  If you want to play along, or simply read other submissions, just click on the frog below!

Image result for frog train conductor

The Whistle Blows

Fred shuffled to his rocking chair set up on the wrap-around porch and sighed as he settled into it.

The breeze tickled his cheek and he swore carried with it the whistle of the five o’clock train.  He was ten and running out to meet it, counting how many freight cars there were.  Sometimes the train was so long, he got lost in the numbers. One thing was for sure and certain.  The last car was always the caboose and the conductor always leaned out and waved back.  Never failed to make him smile.

Who you waving at, Grandpa?…. Grandpa?

150 thoughts on “The Whistle Blows – Friday Fictioneers”

  10. Q

    I think there is something humane to that period of time in a person’s life. When it takes their mind back to other times and they truly believe they are back there inside that time. I know some people will find it sad, but I think it’s something else. And not so bad. I think it allows them a peaceful landing, I really do.

    I wasn’t sure where you were going with this, but you went poignant, and special in my opinion.

    B

    Liked by 1 person

  12. I’m there with Grandpa. I can’t see the trains from our house, but I can count the cars as I here them clickity clack along there way. I really like the story, Dale and the photo.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you, Timothy. My old house used to shake every time the train passed. Had to push back the glasses in the china cabinet ever 3-4 months.
      Glad you liked the story but I can’t take kudos for the photo!

      Liked by 1 person

      • When we visited my grandmother in Kansas, she lived in a small house that was no more than 50 feet from the railroad tracks. The trains really shook that little house. Of course I loved it when I was six years old, and I would run out and count the cars and wave to the engineers and conductors like Grandpa. It was sad when they gave up cabooses.

        BTW my neighbor worked for the railroad all his life. We have a huge rail yard complex just south of downtown that was the main shop in the US for repairing steam locomotives. It’s been used it several movies and TV shows in recent years. My neighbor started his career as a railroad machinist working on steam locomotives in the Rail Yards when he as 19 years old, the year after I was born. It’s amazing to think steam locomotives were still in service in 1959, but for only a year after that.

        Liked by 1 person

  23. I love this Dale, bless granddad. As an aside I fell in love with trains while I was on the Rocky Mountaineer, I saw the size of the freight trains, I used to loose count too! …..loads of trains…only saw one bear! 😉💜

    Liked by 1 person

  25. I’m not sure if that’s a happy story or a sad one. Either way, it took me back. I grew up in a small town. The train whistle echoed throughout. There was a park, the trees, hills, and trails kind, a few blocks from my house where there a few places that overlooked the train tracks. If we timed it right, we could watch the train pass below. It was fun as a kid.

    Liked by 1 person

  27. A heartwarming piece, Dale. 🙂 I’ve had to teach my grandsons what a caboose is via books because they don’t have them on trains here anymore. Kind of sad, actually. (I’m sounding old, aren’t I?)

    Liked by 1 person

  40. What a delightful if softly sad tale! May we all get to ride the train of memories into our favorite recollections …
    This is lovely.
    I am late to get to any writing prompts this week, but saved this one in my inbox to be the first one I read after I posted mine (well, and after reading Queen Rochelle’s … 🙂 ).
    Hugs
    Na’ama

    Liked by 1 person

Blogging is all about the exchange, don't be shy, I answer every one!

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s