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elite_musesJarod stood at the end of the tracks, watching the man walk slowly into the horizon with the boxcar looming beside him, his head down and his shoulders bent. The air was quiet and still, laced with the memory of early morning fog. Every step he took caused a cloudy puff of air to pass through his lips, visible as it rose before him into the air...the smokestack of a departing train.
As the man walked, his hand stretched out to touch the side of the boxcar, a loving caress that hit like a heartpunch. Jarod knew how much Carter Moldorf loved his trains...how much the whole Railroad Museum meant to him.
Yet somehow, it wasn’t enough to fix things.
For the first time it struck Jarod how even in triumph, a picture like that could be so sad. With Jarod’s help, Carter had managed to stop the city from taking away his permit to run the museum...had even declared the surrounding rails a historical landmark, allowing him to continue under the auspices of the local government. It didn’t change the fact, however, that Carter’s son had died in one of the train car displays, and that Carter himself had been framed for mismanagement of the cars...accused of killing his own child.
Carter had gotten back what he cared about...but nothing would ever bring back the son that he loved.
It was a rare occasion where nothing Jarod could do would ever be of true comfort...where winning the day just wasn’t enough to make things right. It hurt him badly, knowing he’d been unable to ease Carter’s suffering...he was a good man.
Good men didn’t deserve this kind of sorrow.
Glancing down at his notebook, Jarod shut it on the article covering the reclamation of the museum and laid it on the rails near a prominent railroad spike, buried in the track...golden, symbolizing the spike laid to join the two halves of the Transcontinental Railroad. Reaching into his coat pocket, he withdrew a small model train car...one that Carter had given him from the gift shop when Jarod first arrived in Lake Forester.
With great care, Jarod set the little train car atop the red notebook, along with a single red rose and a horseshoe. The train car was for Carter...
...but the rest? Carter told him all about the strange, wonderful notion of horseracing.
After he left Lake Forester, Jarod was going to head down south...see if this Kentucky Derby was worth a shot.
Muse: Jarod
Fandom: The Pretender
Words: 425
As the man walked, his hand stretched out to touch the side of the boxcar, a loving caress that hit like a heartpunch. Jarod knew how much Carter Moldorf loved his trains...how much the whole Railroad Museum meant to him.
Yet somehow, it wasn’t enough to fix things.
For the first time it struck Jarod how even in triumph, a picture like that could be so sad. With Jarod’s help, Carter had managed to stop the city from taking away his permit to run the museum...had even declared the surrounding rails a historical landmark, allowing him to continue under the auspices of the local government. It didn’t change the fact, however, that Carter’s son had died in one of the train car displays, and that Carter himself had been framed for mismanagement of the cars...accused of killing his own child.
Carter had gotten back what he cared about...but nothing would ever bring back the son that he loved.
It was a rare occasion where nothing Jarod could do would ever be of true comfort...where winning the day just wasn’t enough to make things right. It hurt him badly, knowing he’d been unable to ease Carter’s suffering...he was a good man.
Good men didn’t deserve this kind of sorrow.
Glancing down at his notebook, Jarod shut it on the article covering the reclamation of the museum and laid it on the rails near a prominent railroad spike, buried in the track...golden, symbolizing the spike laid to join the two halves of the Transcontinental Railroad. Reaching into his coat pocket, he withdrew a small model train car...one that Carter had given him from the gift shop when Jarod first arrived in Lake Forester.
With great care, Jarod set the little train car atop the red notebook, along with a single red rose and a horseshoe. The train car was for Carter...
...but the rest? Carter told him all about the strange, wonderful notion of horseracing.
After he left Lake Forester, Jarod was going to head down south...see if this Kentucky Derby was worth a shot.
Muse: Jarod
Fandom: The Pretender
Words: 425
