BrilliantEditor and I dropped off his car and then walked home. We don't live in a very walkable area, but we found a trail that would take us home. It took us past home, but walking back wasn't too bad.
The trail we were on is the old railbed for a railroad company that BE knows the name of, but I don't. Even so, the flatness and the constant width of the trail kept reminding me of where we were.
We walked by a few clearings, most of them peoples' backyards. The path got pretty mushy and the grass was wet. My shoes were very wet and my jeans were wet up to my knees. We started looking for a way off the trail, but were foiled by the non-branching nature of a railroad bed.
On our way, though, we found that there is an old building. My first thought was, "These people are so damned trashy. I hate it." But BE was looking at it and thought it was a water tower. Thinking that I was so clever, I said, "Why is it up off the ground? And why is there are window?"
Well, turns out BE is right. It was a water tower. For steam trains. That's the part I didn't get. The reason I believed him, though, was the width of the boards used to make the water tower. I swear they were wider than a foot. That's wide, indeed. That's, in part, what made me believe him.
You don't get boards that wide anymore. No siree.
Then the ghost train blew by me, stopped for water a bit later, and tooted its whistle to say goodbye.
Posted by dotty at June 29, 2004 10:16 PM