Afterward they walked back together, happy, not talking, knowing that their cozy sleeping car was waiting for them, stopping only at the boxcar to make sure the polar bear was warm and sleeping peacefully. The train was chugging along beside a mountain lake as flat and smooth as glass. At home there were always streetlights around to spoil the night sky, but now, far away from the cities and suburbs, Kate and Tom really saw for the first time in their lives the blazing-white Milky Way spilling out across the deep black sky, which was perfectly reflected in the black mirror of the lake.

Uncle Herbert had said something before about a twilight star. She wondered if he’d meant one of these.

Then she went to bed. If the world were a just and fair place, she and Tom probably would’ve gotten stomachaches, but they didn’t. Every once in a while the world is unfair in a good way.

15

The Branch Line

THE NEXT MORNING WHEN KATE WOKE UP THEY WERE moving more slowly because the train was heading uphill, into mountains.

The cat and the mamba and the heron and the porcupine played with the baby pangolin. He’d finally woken up and was drinking milk from a bottle. They’d made a new, even more luxurious nest for him in a big salad bowl from the kitchen lined with a soft, thick towel. He was unbelievably cute for something whose entire body was basically covered in fingernails.

The polar bear was still asleep, but the fish and the water Kate left for her were gone. That was a good sign: She’d eaten and drunk. Kate left her more of both, then went forward to the engine to check on the Silver Arrow.

They were crossing a steep slope covered with thin grass and gray rocks. Powdery snow fell out of a gray sky, and she picked up her heavy black coat from the sleeper car on the way forward.

But cold as it was outside, it was still warm in the cab. She breathed in the smell of steam and coal smoke and hot metal.

“How’s it going?” she asked.

HUNGRY

NEED MORE FUEL

Right. It had said that before. She checked the tender, and it was getting pretty empty, just a few piles of coal left in the corners.

“Do you know where we can get more?”

MAYBE

“Maybe? How can you not know?!”

THERE’S NOTHING ON THE MAIN LINE

WE’LL HAVE TO TRY A BRANCH LINE INSTEAD

“Okay. Is that bad?”

WE’LL FIND OUT

THE BRANCH LINES ARE NOT WELL EXPLORED

“Well, I guess we’ll explore them!”

There she went, looking on the bright side. She was as bad as Tom.