An Excerpt from Elizabeth’s Journey

An Excerpt from Elizabeth’s Journey

By John W. Vander Velden

The sun shone on a bright spring day, but Elizabeth didn’t notice. She sat alone in a half filled rail car as it rumbled and rattled eastward. Trains would take her to Columbus, Ohio. Elizabeth was going home. The voices of those that shared the space scarcely registered above noise that surrounded her. Having traveled on trains before, she found the swaying of the car and the chunk, chunk, chunk of wheels over the rails expected sensations. The stale air mixed with the cigar smoke from the man five rows forward did not trouble her, for her mind was filled with thoughts and memories, expectations unrealized and disappointments never anticipated. Elizabeth was going home, but had no real idea what her future held.

Seeing the others that shared the car, she shook her head at the thought of how so many would leave Thimble this week. Elizabeth wondered if a similar number had rumbled into the town at the rail’s end the evening before. It seemed that people came and people went. But as she considered the tired old men, and others in their prime, she knew none were driven by the reasons that propelled her.

Alone in her thoughts, Elizabeth considered the reasons she had gone west. The heartbreak that had brought her. The reasons for her return to Ohio were very different. Or were they? As she looked about the rail car she wondered how many had come to Kansas only to be driven back in less than a year. Certainly others, like she, had abandoned—something.

Leaning into the worn leather that covered her seat, Elizabeth eyed a family seated near the front of the coach. A man, a woman, his wife she felt certain, and five children all under the age of twelve sat in three rows. Had they come to visit some relation, or had they sought a new life, like she had, only to surrender and return to some sanctuary or other? But Elizabeth had not surrendered. No, she had made the choice to return to Ohio with no plans of returning. Even though members of the school board begged her to return in September, she could not. Only Rev. Benjamin Smith knew the real reason for her departure, a very private reason. Elizabeth drew a breath as she shook her head to herself. She considered those reasons noble in the least, a choice that was best. Love lost sent her west, and love found chased her back east. And the sacrifice love demanded meant that a new life in Misty Creek would not be hers—could not be hers.

The train rumbled on, the sound reminded her of a wagon ride taken just yesterday. When they had crossed the saddle, she was amazed. The dried up dusty land she had crossed months before was unrecognizable. The prairie was green and vibrant. Wildflowers could be found at nearly every glance. It reminded her once again of first impressions. They were not always accurate.