So she stopped the car, killed the engine, and, with more than a little trepidation, opened her door and got out.

What struck her was how quiet it was. Other than the rustling of some leaves in trees that were still standing, there was barely a sound. When she closed her car door, several blackbirds she’d not previously noticed took flight from a nearby yard, making her heart skip a beat.

She stooped to get under the downed tree, then walked slowly toward the downtown stretch. Even though there was no one around, she did not feel safe. What if another moose showed up? Would that dog with the rabbit in its mouth see her and consider a change in its dinner plans? Annie’d never been much for guns, but she wouldn’t have said no to one now if someone offered.

She found herself standing in front of the Lucknow Diner, the windows all smashed in, the door open. She took a step inside, shook her head in wonder as she stared at the empty stools and booths, cushions ripped apart, stuffing pulled out by birds and animals looking for material to make their nests. A sign above the counter read you can’t beat our coffee!

Annie could have gone for a cup right about now.

She emerged from the diner, looked about. A dry cleaner, an optometrist, a card shop, a florist.

It all seemed strangely familiar.

And then it hit her. This was how Charlie had arranged and labeled the buildings on his train setup. Everything was in the same place here as it had been on the floor of Annie’s studio.

Charlie had been building Lucknow.

If Charlie was here, she believed he had to be nearby.

“Charlie!” she shouted as loudly as she could, hands around her mouth in a makeshift megaphone. “Charlie, I’m here! It’s your mom!”

Her voice echoed down the deserted street.

And then she saw something that was, at least for this street at this time, incongruous.

An illuminated storefront window, across the main street from the diner. Something in the display area was moving. Annie looked up, read the sign above the window:

choo-choo’s trains.

Unlike the abandoned businesses, this storefront looked as well kept as it would have the day it opened. No missing letters in its name, the sidewalk out front swept, the window glass not only intact but clean.

Slowly, she crossed the empty street, and as she got closer she saw that there was a train running continuously on a loop of track on the other side of the glass. In the window, a lit sign:

open.

Fifty-Three

Annie was trembling.

This was the place to which she had been summoned. This was where she knew Charlie had to be. She was sure of it. He was inside this shop.

And he was not alone.