Sleeper Car

The first problem is logistics.

It’s a short train ride from Jackson to Hazelhurst, but the trains only go once a day, so you can’t just ride to Hazelhurst and hop on a train back to Jackson.

In order to get from Jackson to Hazelhurst by train and back to Jackson on the same day, you must:

1) Drive car A and car B to Hazelhurst.

2) Leave car A at the Hazelhurst station and drive back to Jackson together in car B

3) Park car B at the Jackson station, and board the train to Hazelhurst.

4) Take the train to Hazelhurst

5) Return to Jackson Station in Car A

6) Take both Car A and Car B back home

The second problem: how you gonna fuck on a train?

—

The Jackson train station is exactly what you think it should be. There’s a quiet murmur from the surprising number of passengers (who takes the train anymore?), it’s hot, there are dead cockroaches in the corners, and the bathrooms smell like too much bleach over too many years.

She’s one of those old buildings that may have looked nice when it was first built, but it was never elegant or regal. She was a pretty girl in her youth, but never beautiful

—

We kiss by the tracks and don’t care who’s watching.

—

Can she ride with me? She has a ticket, but I have a private room.

The conductor looks at me and she smirks, just slightly.

She knows what’s up

knows she holds all the power

You go on, honey. You tell them Sandy says it’s fine

—

It’s summer out there

We ride

along hot swamps

and hidden groves

It’s summer in here, too.

We ride

And learn every bump and curve

—

I thank the gods

for the undeserving gift

of a creative woman

who will take my hand

and adventure with me