Lemonade

I could hear the train whistle as I drove back to work from lunch today.

I willed the light to turn green. It did, but it was too late. The railroad crossing arms had already descended. The lights were flashing.

"Zephyr ... please be the California Zephyr," I chanted over and over again hoping it was an Amtrak train instead of a long, slow, frequently stopping coal train.

It was a coal train.

Damn!

I pulled up to the crossing, put my car in park and pulled my copy of Amy Tan's The Kitchen God's Wife out of my bag.

Oh well, at least I had some time to start my latest read.

I love Amy Tan's books. I read "The Joy Luck Club" when Margaret was just a toddler and was taken by the honesty with which she wrote about mother-daughter relationships.

After reading for about 15 minutes, the end of the train was in sight. I closed my book and shoved it back in my bag. I slipped my shoes back and put the car into drive.

Sometimes the drive to work took 5 minutes, sometimes 20.

I used to get uptight about having to wait for the ever-present coal trains that snake through our valley. Now I just see them as providing a little time to relax and enjoy a good book.