hell yeah. nothing like a new work to commemorate the second wing officially going up!
Aye, many thanks, Destinysday! It's been awesome working with you, especially when you helped me jump-start and polish Middle Yanji Road way back then!
The modern-day Wanderer no longer needs to rely on making treacherous climbs with a pack mule and wagon or traipsing across acres upon acres of untamed wilderness. Now, railroads and roads cut across the landscape. With a car and a full tank of gas, or a train ticket, plains, deserts, valleys, and mountains can be crossed in a matter of hours. The construction of such vital corridors of transportation bought with them the comforts and conveniences for a fee that many take for granted, only an afterthought in their minds.
But for a select few however, compelled by necessity or through their own volition, the roads and rails are their lifeblood. To hop a freight train or hitch a ride to a next town, city, or country over symbolized adventure, existence, freedom, against a backdrop of an ever-faster moving world and changing attitudes and dangers. Dangers, that, sadly, have been growing, with a sense of freedom that is rapidly diminishing.
Still, they are out there-flagging down cars, waiting for the next train, dipping from the bulls, craning their neck to gaze the shimmering lights of Los Angeles as their bus crests a hill, leaping from boxcar rooftop to boxcar rooftop, clinging to a flatcar on a freight doing sixty across California’s Central Valley. Under the auspices of fair weather and scrutiny from bulls, they go forth, laughing, carried on the backs of thousands of tons of rolling steel and the sprawling interstate system, riding high on the intersections where fates, chances, luck, pasts, presents, and future converge.
That said, if you ever get the bug, do heed the urge to hit the road or rails without proper research and knowledge of the large and often costly risks involved. No need to catch the westbound before your time.
So well-written it almost feels autobiographic to an extent. Also, how do you know so much about railroads? Well-deserved +1
Thanks, Din!
I'd say I always liked trains. Their speed, power and complex history had always fascinated me. Way back when I was five or so, my parents gave me a book called Railroads Across North America, and I probably spent hours pouring and reading over the descriptions of the rise and fall of American, Canadian and Latin American railroads, and I was hooked. It also helped that my town had two major railroad lines run through, and it used to be home to a sprawling locomotive service facility.
As for my interests in the idea of train hopping (which quite a few folks consider separate a hobby/subculture than trains in general), I sometimes found myself dreaming of hopping on one of those freight trains and be whisked off to a different place. It's one thing to watch the power of six locomotives pulling a heavy string of boxcars, it's another to jump, feeling your boots leave the ground and become part of the train. Of course, I wouldn't do it. Too many things I would have to be constantly on alert for, and too many things one would have to stand to lose if they slip and fall into the path of a thousand tons of rolling steel.
This feels so authentic: every sentence is injected with a certain fondness for the past, which really makes the narrator feel like a real person. You could tell me this was your actual life story and I'd believe it.
Another phenomenal work. Looking forward to every post.
Good stuff: solidly written and evocative. I like seeing more grounded/realistic writing like this in the Library: it's a much needed space for people to explore. If I had one complaint, it would be that it can feel a bit surface level - pretty much everything is stated directly for the reader to understand, there isn't much beneath the surface or left unsaid. Not every story has to be opaque and subtle, but there's a balance to be reached between telling the reader exactly what's going on and leaving details, especially emotional ones, left unsaid to be intuited by the reader. Still, very good work.
Many thanks, rumetzen!
Big agree. I took another read over today and I definitely need to put more work into the subtlety department for future pieces down the road, especially for more narrative and present action-centric scenes.
Man you are quickly becoming one of my favorite authors on here, this one was so good. The monologuing being weaved through the tramp's various experiences was really enjoyable too. Big +1
Thanks, Snap! It's been a long ride, but a fun one writing this.
I'm a little late to reading this, huh? Boy do I wish I had sooner. Good stuff, friend.
There are some times where I'm a little taken aback by this guy just rambling on about his life. It's a little jarring, but it makes sense for the voice.
I agree that some theme stuff could be more subtle, but it's nothing too bad.
But enough about that. I'm gonna give you some high praise here: This one made me hurt a bit. Internally. Fuck, I mean, how many times have I driven past someone on the street with a sign? Some hitchhiker walking the road alone? How many times was there an opportunity for me to help someone, really help someone, in a way that really mattered? The fact that you manage to actually get the reader to feel something deep and profound speaks to your writing ability.
Putting it lightly: well done.
Fires rage just below the surface of the ice.
Can't believe I didn't hit this before. Absolutely stellar and deeply evocative writing — echoing the others, this brims with a sense of genuine authenticity that's so difficult to capture in fiction. It's impressive, it's melancholic, it's so, so good.