The tracks are straight and they go where they are supposed to go. Some people are running late, and have to catch the next train.
Some of the Dubois sons ran late, but so far, two of them did eventually catch the train. When Émile realizes that he should be where he will be 'most loved', then he will catch his train.
The story begins with a matriarch's wisdom and ends with a matriarch's hope. What better way to structure a story on Mother's Day? Thank you for posting the story in the Ink Well community.Please be sure to read the work of other writers in the community and share comments with them. We are urging everyone who posts in The Ink Well to take this step, going forward, to ensure our community members are supporting one another. (We also have this in The Ink Well community rules on our home page and in our weekly writing prompts.) Thank you!
Yes, this was a special effort for Mother's Day ... the idea of "the gospel train" runs deep into African American Christian life, and there is a quote about it in several Negro Spirituals that Maman Chaminade is making use of: "Gospel train runs on jus' one track: it run to Heaven, and run right back." I know a lot of those songs because of my grandmother and her generation of women, and my mother as well ... I just turned the ideas into prose. Another Spiritual says, "Get on board, lil' children' -- there's room for many a more!" We will see if Émile finds his seat, sooner or later ...