Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Workmen



The workmen get on wherever they are. They're relaxed, laughing. They wear hardhats, sunglasses, toolbelts, workboots, sweatshirts. They chat with the off-conductor, flirt. They peer over the shoulder of the conductor. They're alert. They listen. They watch what you don't see out the window. They sway easily with the movement of the train. They joke about retirement, but you can tell the car feels like home. Midway between two stops, the train slows. Comes to a halt. They tap their hard hats, pull up their belts, make a joke, get off. The doors slide shut. They walk along a stretch of rail you'll never probably see up close, towards some sort of power box you'll never open. When they need a ride, they'll call somebody, get back on the train, ride up the line to the next thing that needs fixing.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"They watch what you don't see out the window."

Oh yeah...it's true. They do. And you end up wondering what you're missing.

H.R.

Anonymous said...

I *love* the photos that have been running with these pieces! Any way to find out more about them? Who took them, when?

G

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by. The photos are a mix. We take some; some are images that we gather from the net.

Two of our contributors--Marci and Shelley--are good about finding the right images from around the web to match the writings.

Since you mentioned it and the subject was on my mind, we'll do a better job of citing our sources.

H.