A Year in Pictures of Working

Back in Chicago. Near the end of the workday a bell rang from outside.

Meyer: Either that's an ice cream truck or a train is actually coming down the road.

Everyone ran to the window. The road that runs by the office is a strange, thrown-together ordeal with train tracks running along the center, sort of like trolley tracks. I always assumed they were abandoned, but there was a locomotive (all by itself, not pulling anything) slowly chugging past our building.

And then it got stuck. A parked car was peeking out onto the tracks, blocking the way. So the train sat there with no choice but to wait in the middle of the road. Cars nonchalantly drove around it and people came out of the surrounding buildings to gawk.

If trains had feelings this one would have to be demoralized. People leaned out of their car windows to take pictures. Others (including Amanda Lee and I) stood directly on the tracks, staring the train's lights down to get a good shot.

# posted by Arnie : 8:45 PM