Casey Jones
The traffic leaving Yosemite was
endless. All the visitors made the drive to Sugar Pine very difficult. It was
slow enough that Lucas did not get car sick, and when they finally arrived the
sun was already down.
“Where’s the train?” asked Lucas.
“It’s called the Cannonball,” Lucy
explained.
Lucas looked back at Lucy making a weird
face.
“That a cool name,” he replied
cheerfully.
“Why
do they call it that?”
“Because it is faster than an airplane,”
Lucy replied.
Lucas began to feel worried.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
Paul Jr. was sitting in the front, in-
between Tali and John Henry.
“It is quite a bit faster, and it
travels under the ground,” he explained.
Lucas looked out the window to see if it
was out there.
“I can’t see it,” he protested.
“Hold on Lucas,” John insisted. “We
always leave at night to avoid being seen.”
As soon as John pulled the truck into a
loading dock inside a very small train station, everyone finally saw the train.
It was pitch black making it almost impossible to see.
“It was here all the time,” Lucas said
cheerfully. “I have never been on a train.”
John looked back at Lucas in the mirror.
“There is no other train like the Cannonball,” he explained.
Lucas was really beginning to get
excited. “What are we waiting for, let’s get on the Cannonball,” he
stated. “It’s a beauty!”
Lucy sat up in her seat and took off her
seatbelt.
“I’m ready!” she announced.
Unexpectedly, all of the train lights
turned on and the sound of the horn exploded full blast.
Everyone except John was forced to plug
their ears.
“What was that for? Can’t he see us
here?” she asked.
“Casey is just running tests in there to
make sure the Cannonball will run smoothly,” John explained.
“Who made it go so fast?” asked Lucas.
John was happy to tell.
“I helped set up the tracks and dug the
underground passages. It was Granville Woods and Elijah McCoy who worked with
Casey Jones to bring the Cannonball to life,” he explained.
“Do we get to meet them also?” asked
Lucas.
John gave the question some thought
before giving his reply.
“Probably not on this trip, but soon,”
he replied happily. “They will show you things they invented that will make you
proud.”
After a few minutes, everyone was out of
the truck and waiting for Casey Jones to welcome them on the train.
“Who do we have here?” a friendly voice
called from inside.
A man almost as tall as John Henry came
out of the train door to welcome everyone. He was wearing a tall blue hat that
matched a pair of perfectly clean blue overalls. His shirt looked like it had been made by the
same tailor as Paul Bunyan.
John was the first to step forward
giving him a big hug.
“It has been a long time old friend,” he
said patting him on the back.
“It sure has,” Casey replied, looking
around at the rest of the group. “Who did you bring with you?”
Paul Jr. immediately took Casey’s hand
and began shaking it. Casey was amused.
“Paul Jr. here, reporting for my trip to
Ireland,” he explained.
Lucas interrupted.
“We're not going to Ireland. We are
going to find Kokopelli in the Grand Canyon,” he said firmly.
Lucy smiled.
“Don’t mind my brother Lucas, he gets
excited about the strangest things,” she explained.
“You both must be the ESP twins that
were adopted by John and Talitha,” Casey said greeting them onto the
train.
“I hear Paul Bunyan will meet us there,”
he said looking at John.
“That is correct,” John replied.
“Then welcome aboard, one and all!”
Casey shouted.
Ranger Pam was standing in the corner of
the room.
“I don’t think we have met before,”
Casey said in his romantic voice.
Lucy covered her mouth almost blushing.
“Someone has a crush,” she whispered to
Paul Jr. and Lucas.
Ranger Pam held her grandmother’s basket
in her arms.
“I am Pamahas, and stop acting like we have
never met,” she replied.
“Are you coming with us?” Casey asked.
It was the first time Lucy had ever seen
someone make Ranger Pam blush.
Ranger Pam lifted the basket so that he
could see it.
“I am the only person who can work the
basket that will hold Kokopelli,” she explained.
“That sounds like a great reason to have
you with us,” Casey replied, looking ready to take off.
“Enough fun for today,” he said with an
Irish accent. “Allllll aboard!”
It only took a few minutes until Casey
Jones and John Henry had everyone loaded in the beautiful caboose of the
Cannonball. Each sitting in the most
comfortable velvet chairs.
The truck full of camping gear was
loaded soon after.
Casey found Lucas with something
important to tell him.
“Hi Casey, are we leaving now?” Lucas
asked.
“Are you ready to see some dinosaurs?”
Casey asked suspiciously.
Lucas immediately felt nervous, looking
over at John to see how far away he was.
“No,” Lucas replied nervously. “I did
not come to see dinosaurs.”
Casey began to laugh.
“Good, because the Cannonball can’t time
travel yet,” he explained with a grin.
“That’s good,” Lucas replied.
Everyone put on their seatbelt, sitting
back in the chairs as Casey Jones took the Cannonball to full speed. The
Cannonball immediately entered a tunnel that went deep into the Earth’s crust,
beginning their journey to the Grand Canyon.