“Excuse me sir.”
Jon turned around and saw a woman in her fifties, along with a man who looked to be in his sixties or so. He wasn’t used to visitors at the rail yard. “You’re not supposed to be this close you know.”
“Well…yes…we know. We’re just hoping you can help us.”
“Help you?”
“Our grandson. He’s a troubled kid. We’re supposed to be watching over him while his parents are away.” The old man was talking loudly, but just loud enough to be heard over the occasional loud clanging of train cars. “He’s been in jail for freight hopping before, and we had an argument and were hoping if you could tell us if you’ve turned anybody in.”
“Turned anybody in? No way. We barely find any freight hoppers anymore.”
“Maybe you saw something suspicous, like a car with a door open oddly or something?” The woman spoke the words, but she didn’t seem as sold on them as the man.
“Ma’am, if I find a door that’s open and shouldn’t be, I close it and latch it. If your grandson was in one of those cars, he’s having a hard time getting out until he gets to where that car is going.”
“Latch the doors? Don’t you worry about the chance there’s somebody in there?”
“Sir, if they hop onto railroad property, they need to learn the consequences. Besides, it’s company policy to make sure all doors are securly closed and latched.”
“Let’s go Mabel, we’re wasting our time here.” B grabbed her arm and turned around.
“Fancy meeting you here” Julio said as B almost ran into him.
***
Michelle’s jaw dropped. Phil was now twisted towards Bob, but his body was backing away. Bob started taking a drink of his water.
“Wait, wait. You’re just covering for his ass, aren’t you?” Michelle’s eyes shifted from Bob to Phil and back again.
“I have no idea what he’s talking about Michelle, you have to believe me.”
“I don’t know if I do.”
“You should” Bob said as his water glass came down onto the table. “The letter came to Phil’s apartment, but he never knew it arrived. I made sure of that.”
“You…you threw away a letter from Michelle?” Phil was starting to get angry, but he also carried a burden of sadness that was making his voice creaky and breathy.
“I didn’t throw it away. I hid it from you. I didn’t want you to read it.”
“You hid it.” Michelle seemed very skeptical, but she was also starting to get an angry tone in her voice.
“I put it someplace so only I knew where it was, so I could give it to Phil later. I didn’t open it, in case you’re wondering. I could tell what it said by the way you were acting.”
“Why?” Phil’s voice was an angry, hurt whisper.
“I thought she was writing to just be friends. Phil, don’t you remember how depressed you were? You lost your job, you almost got evicted. I thought this would open up a new can of worms, and I didn’t want to see you go through the whole thing again.”
Michelle’s face was bright red. Bob braced himself for the verbal barrage he had invited.
