The Milkshake Project

Such a Night

I heaved a heavy and tired sigh as the clock on the dashboard ticked to 11:00. My eyes felt sticky and it was becoming more and more difficult to keep them open.

"We're almost there, Eleanor, just a little longer," My mother said with a yawn, pushing her Cateye glasses up to rub her tired eyes.

I just nodded in acknowledgment, too exhausted to do anything else. We'd been driving for three days straight, only stopping for a few hours at motels before getting up bright and early to do it again. Now I could hardly keep my eyes open, only staying awake to keep my mother from falling asleep.

"Here," My mother said, "Why don't we listen to some music."

I nearly jumped out of my skin when she pressed a button, and Elvis Presley's Hound Dog blasted through the radio. My mom scrambled to quiet The King without losing control of the car. She fiddled with the dial for a bit before the sound actually cut out. My mom twisted the dial around and the song came back on at a much more pleasant volume.

"Damn old car..." she mumbled.

My mom readjusted her cat-eye glasses then glanced at me with a sheepish smile.

"Whoops."

"Well, at least I'm not sleepy anymore," I said, trying to hide my smile.

Last summer, I lost the only man I'd ever loved to another man's war. Three months ago, my mother lost her job to a twenty-one-year-old with about as much qualification to be a secretary as a toddler does being a financial advisor. According to my mom's boss, the new secretary was "better equipped to greet potential clients".

Oh, yeah. She was equipped, alright. In fact, her "equipment" threatened to burst out of her little button-up blouse every time she took a breath.

Without a job, my mom scrambled to make ends meet with the little savings we had. We got lucky when she found an ad for a switchboard operator in New York. Out of options and out of time, we packed our Chevy Bel Air with as much as we could, abandoned our Nevada home, and headed for The Empire State.

"Look, Eleanor!" My mom said pointing at the side of the road.

The headlights lit up a little sign with a faded sun painted on its front.

Welcome to Amber Hill

My mother and I sighed with exhausted laughs as the sign disappeared behind us. I couldn't tell whether we were happy to be finally be there, or if we were just loopy on sleep deprivation. Either way, it felt good to be in our new home. It was like the crushing weight of worry and anxiety had been lifted off my shoulders.

Too excited to be sleepy anymore, I couldn't take my eyes away from the windows. At first, there were only trees lining the road, fading into darkness away from the headlights, but then a glow peaked out from somewhere behind them. Looking in, I caught glimpses of houses all tucked away in cozy neighborhoods on either side of the car. I could hardly wait to see the one I was to call home.

We pulled up to a stop sign and turned down another road. Out the window, the tree line pulled away from the side of the road and hung back a good few hundred yards away. In its place emerged train tracks that followed the road for as far as the eye could see.

"Hey, mom. What's that?" I asked.

Far beyond the tracks and tree line, I could see piercing orange lights glowing up into the sky all along the treetops. It looked like a huge bustling city running just beyond the horizon.

"Oh, I think that's the train yard." She said. "Those tracks probably lead right up to it."

From behind the trees came a blaring train horn and the sound of metal wheels screeching to a halt.