David closed his book with a frustrated squint. The sun blasted through the train’s panoramic window and stabbed at his eyes, making it impossible to focus on his new book. After reading the same paragraph for the fourth time, he gave up and took in the view unfurling outside the window.

  A flat and wide-open landscape, painted in different shades of yellow, moved slowly across the window. In the distance, mountains topped by a spotless sheet of blue sky made everything seem impossibly large. Occasionally there was a cattle ranch or a gas station bordering a lonely road to add interest to the unspooling image.

  As he leaned back in his seat, his reverie was broken by the sound of shouting in the next car over.

  “You think I’m stupid? I know when someone’s pranking me.” David looked down the aisle and saw a train conductor telling off a sandy-haired boy who seemed at a loss for words. The conductor was berating him loudly and the boy, who couldn’t get a word in, was getting visibly agitated.

  Robbie was David’s twin brother, and he sometimes struggled to speak when he was nervous or startled. But that didn’t mean he was a pushover. If David didn’t intervene soon, there was a good chance that Robbie might overreact in some way. People were staring and Robbie’s fists hung at his side and were beginning to tighten.

  Just as David began to slide out of his seat, his father passed him briskly, walking towards the commotion - David abandoned his plan so his father could deal with it. Reaching the man, who by now was waving his finger in Robbie’s face, their father put his hands up and spoke up.

  “Hold on a minute. That’s my son. What happened?”

  The conductor pushed his glasses onto his nose defiantly and huffed his cheeks with indignation. “Your ‘son’ opened the door to the bathroom,” he said pointing to a sliding door behind him. “While I was in there…” He looked around the train car, noticing the faces staring back. “… doing my business.”

  “Well, I’m sure that was an accident, right Robbie”? He put his hands on his son’s shoulder and began rubbing it to comfort him. Robbie’s chest heaved with emotion, but as he looked into his Dad’s eyes, he stopped to take a deep breath before speaking.

  “I didn’t know someone was in there. I just pulled on the door and it opened. I didn’t mean to…”

  “Oh, well, if you didn’t mean to, why were you laughing?”

  Robbie turned to his father and shrugged. “I don’t know, I was nervous, I guess. It was an accident,” he protested. Tears were welling up in his eyes.

  “I believe you Robbie, it’s ok,” Dad reassured him. Then he turned to the conductor once again.

  “I’m sorry that happened, but my son wouldn’t do something like that on purpose. Anyway, why didn’t you lock the door? How’s he supposed to know someone’s in there without trying the door first?”

  The conductor huffed and puffed, wanting to be in the right and blame Robbie, but he was running out of excuses. Robbie, still not sure how to defend himself, felt safe knowing that his father knew him well enough to defend him so confidently.

  The conductor turned to touch the lock on the sliding door and it drooped down as if missing some component. “I guess… I think… the lock is broken.” He began to sound less angry as he realized he was in the wrong. He turned back around to face Dad and Robbie. Now embarrassment was settling in. “I didn’t realize that until now.” He was visibly sheepish now. “I’m sorry, son,” he said to Robbie. “I didn’t mean to speak to you that way. You just surprised me.”

  “S’ok.” Robbie knew he needed to accept the apology graciously, but he was still angry. He just walked back to where he had been sitting and let Dad finish talking to the conductor.

  “You ok?” David asked his brother, as Robbie sat on the seat the opposite side. He didn’t answer, and David knew that he should just give him some time to cool off.

  Robbie was usually a very gentle boy, but when he got very emotional, he sometimes got overwhelmed and couldn’t think straight. He especially hated being accused of something unfairly. But at least he felt grateful that his father had stood up for him. He took out his pencil and his sketchbook from his backpack and resumed his work, trying to get the correct proportions on the muscly bicep of a superhero he had been drawing since their train had left Flagstaff that morning. Sketching always relaxed him.

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  David pointed to the sketch and complimented him. “I like it! Is this a new character you’re working on?” Robbie smiled and considered it for a moment, and then he shrugged. He had started the drawing not quite knowing where he was going with it.

  Dad, in the meantime, had finished speaking with the conductor, shaken his hand, and now passed the boys on his way back to his seat. David followed him with his eyes as he joined their mom and the boys’ grandparents several rows behind them.

  Robbie paused his sketch and looked out the window for a long moment.

  “I like the view outside,” he said to David, but not really expecting a response back but David nodded in agreement. Robbie had recently started learning from his art teacher about the use of different colors to create the illusion of distance in landscape paintings. Now he was observing in real life how objects at different distances did seem to be colored differently, proving his teacher’s point.

  Arizona was beautiful in its own way - and a stark contrast with the busy landscape back in Los Angeles. The valleys of Los Angeles were much greener, and filled with buildings and freeways and cars. Arizona felt much bigger and emptier. It reminded him of the cowboy movies he had grown up watching with his dad. That was probably part of why their dad had insisted on this trip to the Grand Canyon. He had kept saying that he had always wanted to see the desert southwest in person.

  “Hey,” David suggested. “You wanna go check out the snack car?” David was starting to feel a pang of hunger, and he knew that Robbie was always ready for a snack. His brother readily agreed and put his sketchbook away again. They walked back to where the rest of their family were sitting and let them know where they were going.

  “It’s only 10:30 in the morning, are you hungry already?”, their mother teased them.

  “We’re growing boys,” David teased back. Their grandfather – nicknamed Chief - put down his book on the writings of Epictetus and gave them his blessing, “You know what? Why don’t you guys take a look at the snack situation and then come back and tell us what they have? Maybe there’s a menu you can bring back with you so we can all get something later.”

  The boys turned around with eagerness but, as they did so, their dad halted them.

  “Hang on guys… I think we’re gonna reach the next stop in a few minutes.” He was looking at a map of the train’s route that he had taken out of his jacket pocket. “Desert Station…”, he said, pointing to his map. “It’s the last stop for a while. After that, it’s about three hours until the next station. Do NOT get off the train, understood?” He put on the serious face he always used when he wanted to make sure they were paying attention. David rolled his eyes just a little bit, which was his sign to show his parents that they were being too cautious.

  “Yeah Dad, we know. Where would we even go?”

  “I’m just making sure we’re all on the same page” his dad insisted.

  “We’re eleven years old. Geez!”

  Dad gave David his warning glance which the boys knew meant ‘don’t push it’, and David flashed him a cheesy smile and turned around with Robbie in tow. Dad joined back in the conversation with the rest of the family.

  The boys cantered down the aisle in search of the snack car, happy to stretch their legs and enjoying the rumbling sensation the train made beneath their feet. Most people were either chatting with their friends or reading their devices. After traversing three cars they came to the one they had been looking for: the snack car.

  Instead of seats, this car had a serving counter, behind which were shelves filled with sandwiches, snacks, candy, and even some magazines. There was a lady in her twenties there who was reading something on her phone but she perked up when they arrived.

  “Oh, hey guys, what can I get for you?”

  “Mmm…” David thought for a moment. “I think we need to a few minutes to decide.”

  “Sure. I have cold sodas under the counter too, if you just want a drink.”

  David nodded and he and Robbie surveyed all the options with relish, each pointing out to the other one their preferences. Eventually they settled on a candy bar for David, and a muffin for Robbie, which David paid for with money the boys received from their parents for helping with household chores.

  As David put away his wallet, Robbie walked to the next car down from the snack car and sat down in an empty seat that had a little table. He began to nibble on his muffin with the delight he was infamous for in his family. David was about to tell him that they should go back to their seats instead, and eat there. But since their parents knew where they were, he dismissed the thought.

  He sat across from Robbie and began unwrapping his candy bar. But just as he savored his first bite of the chocolate, Robbie tapped his hand. David looked up and Robbie’s brow showed concern as he quickly flicked his head to silently tell David to look behind him.

  David turned around and saw a man and a young girl who had just entered the car and were now walking towards them. The girl seemed to be about Robbie and David’s age. He looked too old to be her father, and he didn’t bear any resemblance to her. David understood why Robbie had pointed them out to him. Something felt wrong.

  ? 2025 Gil Pedro Bento. All Rights Reserved.