down on the tracks

When I was in kindergarten, or first grade I lived in a tiny town in Ohio called Mineral City -- my friend Jackie and I would do things -- pick up buckeyes from under Mrs. Coyle's tree, sew -- we made our own stuffed animals -- turtles, for some reason, were fun because you just cut out the shape of a shell, a head, four feet...

and behind Jackie's house, down the hill from her backyard, lay a train track and we sometimes went down there -- we'd walk on the rail itself, or go along beside the tracks -- we didn't go very far from the yard.  But somehow that felt interesting and a little scary, but in a pleasant way -- to follow the train tracks and think about how the track came from somewhere far away & led somewhere else and we weren't going to be able to go there, either, at least not on a train.

I'm not sure trains ever even ran on that track anymore at all -- I don't remember any.

Jackie's dad worked at "the tile plant"...I never knew where that was ... and if it was a Saturday and he was home, there would be a car on their driveway and his feet would be sticking out from underneath the car.  He'd have tools, and would be fixing, or working on something. 

Once there was a big gun -- a rifle -- at their house, balanced on the landing of the stairway, leaning against the wall, pointed at the ceiling.

By today's standards, that seems sort of unbelievable -- we've been deluged with public service announcements telling us the obvious:  avoid a tragic accident by keeping your gun locked up someplace, don't have it where kids can get at it...!

In my memory is a tense moment at the dinner table at home when I mentioned that gun in front of my parents -- just thought it was interesting, I guess.  They were sort of frozen in dismay for a few seconds, and then they said, "Don't touch that gun; don't ever touch it."

I didn't ever touch the gun. 
Jackie and I didn't need to play with a gun. 
We were only little girls. 
We had
dolls to name,
turtles to sew,
and
railroad tracks to walk.

Last week I was thinking the song "One Piece at a Time," by Johnny Cash.
(I can't sing it, and
I can't play it on You Tube because somebody blocked You Tube,
so I have to "think" songs...!)

And thinking piece-at-time made me remember another song by Johnny Cash which I only heard once, or only once that I can recall anyway -- when I played it in the mid-80s on a 45, & then I could never find it later.  It was a song about a train and there was something compelling and eerie and riveting about that song.

One Piece at a Time made me remember the song I couldn't find, and thinking of the song I couldn't find, about the train, brought up the memory of Mineral City and the train tracks with the trains that never came.

I had tried searching the internet about five years ago for that train song -- "...and mama jerked me back, but not before I got the chance to lay a nickel on the track..." and I got nothing, but this time I "Googled" -- typing in "Johnny Cash" followed by that line about the nickel on the track and Bingo! thank you Mr. Google.

It's called "Texas 1947" written by Guy Clark & released in autumn of 1975, sung by Johnny Cash.

Bein' six years old I had seen some trains before,
So it's hard to figure out what I'm at the depot for --
Big and black and smokin'
steam screamin' at the wheels --
Bigger'n anything there is, least that's the way she feels.

Trains're big and black and smokin' -- louder'n July four,
But everybody's actin' like this might be something more
Than just pickin' up the mail or the soldiers from the war
Somethin' even Old Man Wileman's never seen before

And it's late afternoon on a hot Texas day
Somethin' strange was goin' on and we's all in the way.
There are 50 or 60 people, just sittin' on their cars
And the old men left their dominoes, and come down from the bars.

And everybody's checkin' --
old Jack Kittrell checks his watch.
And us kids put our ears to the rails, to hear 'em pop.
So we already knowed it when they finally said "train time!"
You'd've thought that Judgment Day was rollin' down the line.

'Cause things got real quiet
and Mama jerked me back,
But not before I got the chance
To lay a nickel on the track...

Look out here she comes she's comin'
Look out there she goes, she's gone!
Screamin' straight through Texas
Like a mad dog cyclone.
Big and red and silver,
she don't lay no smoke.
She's a fast-rollin' streamline,
Come to show the folks,
I said look out here she comes she's comin'
Look out there she goes she's gone--
Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone...

Lord -- she never even stopped.

She left 50 or 60 people, still sittin' on their cars
Wonderin' what it's comin' to and how it got this far
And me I got a nickel
smashed flatter than a dime
By a mad dog runaway,
Red silver-streamline.

Look out here she comes she's comin' look out there she goes she's gone
Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone
big and red and silver, she don't lay no smoke
She's a fast rollin' streamline, come to show the folks

I said look out here she comes she's comin'
Look out there she goes she's gone,
Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone.

Look out here she comes,
She's comin' -- look out,
There she goes, she's gone.
Screamin' straight through Texas
Like a mad dog cyclone.

Big and red and silver,
she don't lay no smoke,
She's a fast-rollin' streamline,
Come to show the folks --
I said, look out here she comes,
she's comin' -- look out,
there she goes, she's gone...
Screamin' straight through Texas
like a mad dog cyclone...

----------------------------------
Lord -- she never even stopped.
...

-30-