Trot comes up right behind her, his glasses steamy and halfway down the bridge of his nose. They are both gasping for breath, lungs greedy for fresh air. The sound in their ears is volcanic. Loud. An eruption of decibels. Trot smiles at her, the same hope-filled smile that she feels on her own lips, as he points, yelling, “In there. Get in there.”

Pulling her pack free, her frame still shaken and numb with the rush of nerves. Sweat dampens her shirt. Face covered with droplets. Feeling like a melting candle. Stuffing her pack into the circular opening. Squeezing in behind the pack. Inside, it’s dusty, with particles in the air. Smells of metal, urine, and rot. Several plastic bottles lie inside—remnants from earlier passengers. Potato chip bags. Standing up, Trot yells, “This is a grainer car. Used to haul grain, corn, wheat, sand, or clay. Got lucky. Even has a porch. Ones without are called suicide rides. Them that don’t have solid metal on the porch. Fuckin’ dangerous.”

Moving back into a corner, Anne wishes she had a pair of earplugs. The loud rattle of travel. They sit on their packs. Anne yells, “How many trains you hop back in Texas?”

“Plenty. Told you I ran with a group of riders known as the Recon Rejects. Learned about hopping the rails from them. Had planned to finally catch out and not come back. See the USA. But my folks moved me before I got enough money saved and my shit packed to run.”

Until now, since he and Anne had become friends. Two misfits with family issues, only they wouldn’t call it a family. Now he can run away with Anne, see America, see whatever he wanted, be among like-minded people, find a family of their choosing.

In her head, Anne keeps a grocery list of unknowns. Top of the list: where the train is headed. Hoping it was going south. Alabama. Louisiana. Mississippi. But the other worry is, what if they get caught? What her mother and father will do. Her stealing the money they had stashed for booze, food, bills, or whatever else they might blow it on. The pistol, their security against break-ins and bad actors. So many unknowns. The kind of people they might encounter. When and where to hop freights. How long it will take to get from one destination to another. Where they might find food once they run out of money. Where they will sleep.