Trent – Let me just say – I need to say it – that I wasn’t sure I would agree to this and come along.  I didn’t think anything bad was going to happen, but I sort of assumed that it wasn’t really necessary, that we had said all that needed to be said, and that whatever you thought this might achieve, it probably wouldn’t.

Claire – And?  And now, that you are here?

Trent – Look outside.  The trees rush by.  Sometimes I think I can relax my eyes and slow down the trees until I can see each one individually.  And behind them, mountains.  I’ve never seen a mountain.  Not a real one, just hills we like to flatter with grandiose names.  I made the right choice.  I want to be here, with you, seeing this together.

Claire – But that’s not enough.

Trent – No, I know.

Claire – The smell in the morning, and the smells in the evening, just as it becomes dark, it reminds me of your brother’s wedding.

Trent – Don’t.

Trent – Which smells?

Claire – The smell of.  Well, to me it smells like potential and excitement, but really what I am smelling is crispness and, in the evening, wood chips and smoke.  It always reminds me of his wedding.

Trent – I still haven’t decided if we should go.

Claire – Trent, we’re here.  We might never be here again.

Trent – But I don’t. It’s hardly meaningful, is it?  It’s just one enormous monument.  He isn’t there, not really, and neither is Anna.  It’d just be for me if I went.

Claire – No.  Perhaps.  I’m not really sure.  They died here, but they aren’t here, or anywhere really.  It’s so strange to think that they have completely gone, that everyone who died was just – vaporised, I guess.  It’s like a science fiction.

Trent – I just don’t know.  We’re so close.  I watch the trees go by, I relax my eyes and it seems like everything is moving slower, and I just don’t know.  What if I choose wrong?

Part of the Railroad Perfection series