She hated cars. Most of all, she hated cars that rumbled onto her driveway. Except, if the car was a great, bright yellow taxi. That car meant adventure, an afternoon out. Or, maybe even a week away from home.
Today was the first time the sight of a taxi made her heart sink. They were leaving, and they weren't coming back. Her mother had told them just an hour before.
"Pack what you can fit in the suitcase," she had said. One suitcase, shared with two sisters.
Nadia didn't pay any attention to what she packed. The import of these snap decisions escaped her. She was consumed with the idea that this would be the last time. The last time in her bedroom. The last time to look through the window, at the trees and hills beyond.
She met her mother downstairs in the lobby and waited for the great yellow car. The stout man at the wheel was nonchalant. He didn't realize his significance, that he was the instrument of the biggest change she could imagine. He also had no idea they needed to hurry. They had to be out of there before anyone noticed they were leaving. If her father caught wind of the plans...she felt the terror that filled her whenever she thought of her father.
The suitcases were loaded in the taxi, three of them in all, for her mother and four children. The taxi pulled away from the house unceremoniously. Nadia stared out the back window at the receding lawn with its overgrown grass, and at the distant alfalfa field.
Goodbye she thought, and she fixed the image in her mind to keep forever. It was all she would have left of her eleven years in that house. A memory.
The train station. She couldn't suppress the excitement. This felt like a betrayal of her home, but she did love to ride the train. There was never a bad experience at the end of a train ride. The train always took her to presents, days at the circus, a loving aunt and uncle. So she betrayed her home and looked forward to what the train promised.
They almost made it, clean. They were on the platform when he arrived. Terror rose up in her. His angry forehead. Those clenched fists. He loomed over them, over her mother, who was small, and over the four children. He always loomed, but this time it was different.
"Don't leave," he asked.
He asked. He never asked anything. Her father demanded, always.
Nadia was young, but not so young that she missed this change in the dynamic between her father and her mother. He was on the defensive.
The customary fear was in her mother's face. That look, so familiar. But, again, something was different. Then Nadia figured it out.
There were people all around. He couldn't do what he wanted to do. He couldn't raise his hands, or his voice. The train, the railroad station, protected the family from him.
His entreaties rang with the echo of threat, years of threats. Her mother knew this was their last chance to be rid of him. They had to leave.
"Ok," her mother promised. The first promise she ever broke. "We'll be back."
"Give me your suitcase."
He wanted surety, a token of her submission.
She gave him the one suitcase that contained all her clothing. He seemed mollified, but small in his acceptance of that battered blue case. He was meek. Nadia had never seen him before in such a state.
The train was waiting. They climbed the stairs. How Nadia love those train stairs, but especially today, because they separated her from her father.
He stood there when the train pulled out, her mother's suitcase in his hand. He was powerless, emasculated.
As frightening as the drama on the platform had been, Nadia realized it was a gift. Whatever nostalgia she had felt for her home evaporated. Her father's sudden appearance at the train station brought back, in stark relief, everything she was truly leaving behind. Years of fear, and shrinking in dread.
That was the last time a great yellow taxi took Nadia away from her childhood home, and it was the best trip of her life.
Suitcase source
I couldn't resist this week's prompt, railroad. The story flowed from my keyboard. I did tinker with the text a bit, but this is essentially what came to mind.
The Ink Well welcomes writers, novices and those who have honed their craft. We offer weekly prompts and also the opportunity to write whatever comes to mind. A few rules govern our community. Mostly, these are intended to keep the neighborhood wholesome and safe for everyone. If you feel the urge to write a short story, join us.
I felt such a relief at the end. I hope the train took Nadia and her family to the Promise Land they deserve.
Thank you, dear @ruth-girl. Sounds like Nadia had a good mom and wonderful relatives. Certainly better than what she left behind. I think this drama is all-too common. Hope you and your lovely, little family are well and peaceful.
🌞 🌟 🌺 🌻 🌼
What a well written story A.G. that held my interest throughout. A great read of escape from a person who has been abusive and frightening to the family and the remorse they are gone.
When I first saw the photo I wanted to sing Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi.”
“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
No, no, no
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot
Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT
I don't care about spots on my apples,
Leave me the birds and the bees.”
Thank you for the Joni Mitchell song. I just listened to it on YouTube. "...you don't know what you got 'til it's gone." That fits the story perfectly. Thank you very much for reading, and for expressing your appreciation. I write fiction rarely because I find it is very personal, and that's hard (notice the tree instead of me in my profile picture 😎).
Thank you for your generosity!
So nice to find you visiting my blog, friend @reheadpei. I hope you have the most wonderful Sunday (what is left of it).
Most welcome A.G. Have a great week.☀️🌸
This is a touching story of escape. I'm glad Nadia's mum finally got the strength and will to pull herself and her kids out.
For a second i thought she would return, that would have been disheartening. Thankfully, she didn't.
And i hope the train takes them to a place they get to live happily ever after.
Hello @bruno-kema
Thank you for stopping by. I think, if the family had returned to their home, it would have been a tragedy. Now there is hope. Yes, as you, escape with an open future.
I appreciate your comment.
You're welcome dear friend, i'm glad i read your story.
😇
I think she never betrayed home because it will always be waiting to Nadia. She may feel the best experience of her trip. She may feel like not going back. A home is waiting even though she had a long ride.
Talking about my feelings because I always rely on it. I feel the loneliness but with the exciting feeling as well.
Hello @mrnightmare.net
Thank you for stopping by. You capture the conflict Nadia feels, the tug of home and the hope for the future. I believe you are right. Each one of us carries home in our hearts. Even if we never go back, home is always a part of us. I appreciate your sensitive comment.
Beautiful story, @agmoore. It captures a pivotal moment in time before our narrator is transported away from a difficult life, making the train ride an excellent metaphor. There are some wonderful lines in this story.
This took me straight back to childhood and the anticipation of riding a train, and what would be waiting at the end of the line.
Thank you, @jayna, for that generous assessment. Your opinion means a lot to me. It was the prompt, a great prompt, that started this journey. I think many of us have fond memories of trains. I don't think trains mean the same thing to today's children.
It was fun to write the story.
I really enjoyed your story, @agmoore (I hadn't read you in a while). From the narrative perspective of the girl, Nadia, you manage to make us feel the complex and contradictory relationship with memory and reality; the rejection of mistreatment and the possibility of escaping it as a vindication of the right to be well in life. The images of the cab and the train, as well as the suitcase, are very expressive of this desire for freedom. Greetings.
Hello my friend, @josemalavem. Thank you for reading me. I write stories infrequently, because they are harder than essays and pictures. Stories, I find are more personal, and revealing.
Thank you for analyzing the symbols and appreciating the impulse to be free, and claiming of 'the right to be well in life'. These ideas are the essence of the story.
I hope you are well in these challenging times.
Regards, AG
In the coming and going of trains, thousands of stories come and go, different intensities of various feelings. They are also different when boarding, the ones you have during the journey and the ones you get to the destination.
What a great story @agmoore
You are very kind, @gracielaacevedo. The railroad is a wonderful metaphor for all kinds of journeys. This week the prompt caught me ;))
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Escape! They made it! I thought for a moment that perhaps the father had really come to grips with reality, until you explained it was only being in public that calmed him.
Thankful that the Mother got her children to safety - and that they found peace. Mother can always buy new clothes :-)
Thank you for the comment @stormcharmer. It is my experience that bullies are only bullies when they can get away with it. This father acted like every bully. And you are so right. Mom can get new clothes.
Thanks for stopping by.
@agmoore - you are 100% correct. As long as they remain unchallenged, they continue with their overlording! Men who terrify women deserve a special kind of punishment set aside for them. You did a very good job of writing this story. I can tell because I was angry by the end. ha ha! I try not to attribute the word "worthless" to any human being, but abusers might be the exception to the rule for me! Wonderful job eliciting all that emotion from me! 😅
Phenomenal, really, really enjoyed that. Well written and fleshed out concept, despite the short form. Keep at it! 😊
Thank you very much. Sometimes, ideas come to us (these 'easy' stories are rare!). The idea was irresistible. A little tinkering with word choice, and I let it go :)
In the face of the loss of the everyday, a new world opens up to which the railroads lead.
We must be so brave to start again with the teaching of experience!
A good story that speaks of very real protagonisms, @agmoore
I appreciate that perceptive comment. This sort of experience is a reality for many, many children.
Nadia will never forget that day, the turning point. It is the lesson her mother has left her to fight the experience of abuse and fear.
The last day is always a new beginning. Nadia starts anew, strengthened and free.
Inspiring story, @agmoore. Loved it :)
Thank you, yes. The children learn from watching the drama between their parents. The mother stood tall and led her children to safety.
I appreciate your comment, and support.
Thank you friend, @dwixer, for stopping by. Yes, a lucky child to be leaving such a past. The future is wide open for her.
Thank you very much, ubani1! Can you imagine if she did go back? Horrible thought. She had a chance to escape, and she took it.
I appreciate your kind words.