The Fireman of Engine 53

Disaster strikes the family of a young man in the Great Depression who must try and find his father in the deadly cold, Alberta winter.

    Nick backed his beaten up truck across the tracks and into the glow of the headlight towering above the huffing and chuffing locomotive. Climbing onto the tailgate, he began unloading the firewood for the train station. It was a bitterly cold evening in Wainwright; Alberta and Nick was anxious to get his contract load of split firewood off the truck and into the station. Once finished it was home for supper as quickly as possible so he could finally do what he wanted to do, and that was to relax. No hassles, no nagging, no splitting wood, no felling trees, just do what he wanted to do for a change.

    "You can't park that piece of junk in front of the train!" The portly red-faced man in a dark blue uniform blustered. His breath blew white like the steam from the big engine he stood on.

     It was only the station master.

    "I'll move it in a minute" muttered Nick with a hint of impatience in his voice.

 

    "You're holding up my passengers and my train. For the one-hundredth time, get your truck off the tracks before I cancel your contract!"

    Nick gathered the last armload of wood from the back of his truck and dropped it in the wood-box on the platform. Returning to his truck, Nick opened the door just as the train whistle let out a blast causing Nick to jump and the conductor to laugh. Mustering what little dignity he had left, Nick climbed behind the wheel, started the engine and moved the truck off the tracks.

    

    The giant black engine shrouded him in a blanket of steam as it began to take up the weight of its load- instantly icing his windows in the cold winter air. With a deep sigh, Nick got out of the truck and began scraping the windows with a wooden shingle he kept just for this purpose and watched the train clatter by, gradually picking up speed. The snowy blast of the passing cars caused a shiver to run down his spine pushing him back into his truck, to start the three-mile drive to a hot meal and relaxation, finally.

    

    This home was the third place in two years they had moved to because the rents in town kept going up- and this being the depression they had no work, no money and less food. Now he, his mother, and little sister shared a small shack near a barn, just behind the house occupied by the farmer and his wife. The price was right, if unfair. All Nick had to do was manual labour to fulfil the contract the farmer had with the train station. The deal was to supply the firewood to keep the station occupants warm and, of course, enough to keep the farmer warm as well.

    This took most of his day, every day, but sometimes he had his evenings off, like tonight. At least they weren't being charged for their firewood.

    As Nick approached the farmhouse, a sick feeling began to churn in his stomach. A fire truck was pouring water on the now smouldering timbers of what used to be his home, and his mother and sister were sitting in the back of the ambulance with its lights flashing. Skidding to a stop, Nick jumped out of his truck, abandoning it to the middle of the driveway, and raced to the ambulance. There inside was mom with her hands bandaged like two white mittens and his little sister Chrissie. Her face was black with soot and tiny lines like icicles hung under her teary eyes. She wiped her nose with a stained sleeve and moved her stare from mom's bandaged hands to me.

    "What happened, mom?" Nick asked, but he had already suspected the answer. The little tin stove that heated the shack had to be kept so hot it glowed red most of the time, but it was the only way to keep them, and what little food they had, from freezing.

    "The bottom fell out of the stove, and there was fire everywhere! All I could do was grab Chrissie and run" she sobbed. "It's all gone Nick, all gone.”

    "Are you OK Chrissie?" Nick asked as he picked up his little sister. She put a brave look on her face as she gave a slight nod and wrapped her arms around Nick's neck.

    Nick scowled as he realised that once again he was going to have to do all the work to make things right. Where was his father? Wasn't this his job?

    "Nick!" It was the fire chief in his big hat, coat and boots. "I'm sorry we couldn't save your place, but at least the barn seems fine. Could you move your truck, you're blocking the road." 

 

Nick kicked the gravel as he walked back to his last remaining possession. He knew what was coming next. Firefighters, doctors and ambulances cost money, and he was now going to have to figure out how to pay them and take care of his family at the same time. With a slam of the door, the bitter realisation that he would have to postpone his plans yet again because now he had to take care of his family made him angry. Where is my father and why isn't he taking care of this he fumed. And then the full weight of his new reality descended on his shoulders and made him slump. 

    Everyone knew all Nick wanted to do was leave and get to the big city or a big ship or a big construction project, where he could be part of something, anything, as long as it had meaning!

 "Part of anything" repeated over and over in his mind as he walked back to his truck, "just more than this." 

    After parking his truck on the other side of the barn and working out a payment plan with their rescuers, Nick turned his attention to the farmer whose wife was busy giving his Mom and little sister Chrissie, a hot cup of milk at the kitchen table.

     "I'm very sorry about your shed Jacob, and I don't have a penny to my name to pay you for the damages just yet. But I do have a proposal if you'll consider it.”

     Jacob glanced at his wife, and her look said everything that needed saying. Even in these hard times, there were a few souls who looked after their fellow man or woman, but more importantly the children.

    "All right Nick, I'll listen to what you have to say." Jacob leaned back in his chair waiting patiently for Nick to start.

    "The long and the short of it is my sole remaining possession is yours if you'll grant me two favours. First, you are welcome to my truck if you will let my Mom and Chrissie stay in the barn for the rest of the winter while her hands heal and second carry on with my wood contract while I find my father and bring him home. If you agree, then when I return I'll carry on the wood contract for twice as many days as you have to put in when I get back as repayment with interest."

Jacob stood up and held out his hand. "There'll be no women sleeping in the barn, and you go do what you've got to do and hurry back as quick as you can. These are hard times, and I ain't never seen the like. If this drought carries on much longer, there won't be much to come back to, but we'll do our best like we always do. Don't you worry none. We'll keep your ma and your sister safe in the house with us."

    

    With a tear in his eye and anger in his heart, Nick buttoned up his coat and hugged his mom and little sister, intent on getting back to the train station as quickly as possible to catch the morning freight train. It was a bitterly cold walk back as the truck was needed to haul wood, not ferry passengers and gas cost cash, and there simply wasn't any. Nick pulled his coat up over his ears and thought about how life was so unfair. All he wanted to do was be part of something significant instead of hunting for an irresponsible father and freezing to death because of some stupid fire.

    The three-mile walk gave Nick a chance to think and keep his mind off his stomach. It wasn't the first time he had skipped a meal or two, and it wouldn't be the last, and he needed to figure out how he was going to hitch a ride on the train and where to start looking for his father. He knew he might be east of here either Toronto or Quebec, and that would make the search long and hard. That's where the big construction projects were going on and, of course, a better chance to find work. Maybe I could get a job there too thought Nick. It could also be one of the construction camps the government had started. They paid 20 cents a day clearing brush for parks and roads. Nick hoped it was one of the big projects as he would like to be part of something important. Toronto and Quebec both had big projects in big cities. He would have to go north to Jasper first though, that was where Dad said he would start looking for work,

    Arriving at the train station Nick knew he was in trouble the second he opened the station waiting room door. The red-faced station master seemed in no better mood than he had been when Nick parked on the tracks in front of the locomotive. "Don't tell me you've come to apologise!”

     Even standing on the other side of the room Nick could see the spittle coming from his face as his anger seemed to build from nothing into a volcano in zero seconds flat.

    "I have a problem" Nick stated flatly ignoring his comment. "My family has been burned out; my mom has burnt hands, and I need to find my father. I have worked out a deal with Jacob to fulfil the wood contract temporarily so you'll have wood for the duration, but I was hoping to catch a ride north.”

    "Oh, so that was your place was it? I'd heard the fire department, and an ambulance was heading somewhere, but I didn't know where. How is Chrissie?"

    "She's a little shaken up, but I think she'll be fine in time. What do you say Mr Frissel, can I catch the freight?"

    "I wish I could say yes Nick, but you know the rules. No ticket, no passage. If everyone could get a ride for free, we would have nothing but chaos on our hands. Rules are rules, and we all have to abide by them. You know how it is."

    Nick did indeed know how it was. It wasn't his fault what happened. Besides no money and no transportation was a problem the whole country faced, but this was different. Sitting on a bench, Nick decided to rest a little before beginning the long journey to Jasper. He was glad to be leaving this hick town full of self-important people with their small-minded rules and their tiny viewpoint. I have to get out of here in more ways than one Nick thought as weariness overtook his aching bones.

    "That's the last straw!" bellowed the station master, jolting Nick out of his slumber on the train bench. Nick sat up a little straighter wondering what was going on.

    "Nick" called the station master "It's your lucky day because I need a fireman for the 6:15 this morning. Now make no mistake, if you quit me in the middle of the job I won't be forgetting."     

    Nick zipped his coat and began to climb on the number 53. “Sure, I help you, but you won't help me. Figures” Nick thought to himself.

    

    "Hey Kid, what do you think you’re doing climbing onto my engine? Wait a minute aren't you that kid who keeps holding up my train? I've seen you in the headlights enough times!"

Nick looked sheepishly at the engineer but managed to squeak out that he was the new fireman because the regular guy was sick or something.

        

    "Well Haw! Haw! Haw! Isn’t this going to be fun! Well, why don't you get on up here and get to work before we run out of steam! I've got a schedule to keep you know."

    Nick clambered up into the engine and instantly broke into a sweat. It was hot standing next to the boiler, but he dutifully took off his coat, grabbed a shovel and began to move the coal into the firebox.

     

    "Now pace yourself," barked the engineer "I don't want my steam gauges spiking all over the place, when we get underway the harder she works, the harder you work, but until then, slow and steady."

    The engineer sat on his stool with a grin and watched Nick work for a while then busied himself looking at gauges and adjusting valves. From down the line "all aboard" could be heard, and the engineer checked one last time to make sure nothing was amiss. He cracked open the main steam valve, then closed it a little as the monster cylinders began chuffing out of the rail yard in puffs of smoke and steam.

    "Ok, pick up the pace a bit now" prodded the engineer. Nick dutifully obeyed.  

    Two hours later Nick was exhausted, and his hands hurt from the bite of the shovel and the burns from the ash and cinders that blew out of the firebox every time he opened the heavy door.

    "OK, take a break kid, we're on a downward run for twenty minutes or so."

    Nick slumped back in the coal tender and watched the engineer pullout a sandwich and begin to chew his lunch while thoughtfully staring at Nick. Closing his eyes in the hopes of getting at least a little rest, Nick tried to forget his stomach and plan on how he was going to find his father. "Don't you have anything to eat?" shouted the engineer startling Nick and leaving him at a loss for words. The big man on the stool reached into his lunch box and handed Nick, a roast beef sandwich. 

    "My wife makes the best roast beef sandwich on the line; I'd be insulted if you turn your nose up at it!"

    Nick expressed his gratitude with the warmest thank you he could find and bit into the sandwich.

    "What brings you down the line?" the engineer shouted over the engine. "I'm looking for my father" Nick spoke through a mouth full of the best roast beef sandwich he had ever eaten. 

    The engineer could be right about his wife’s sandwich making skills.

    "What's his name kid, and by the way, what's yours?" the engineer asked between bites.

    "Nick. And my father’s name is Jack, Jack Addison" he shouted back. The engineer seemed to digest this awhile while he chewed on his lunch.

    "Never heard of him.” It seemed to Nick it was more of a decision than a statement from the engineer. “Now if you're done your lunch maybe we can get a little work done!"

    Nick grabbed his shovel and ducked as he opened the fire door as the sparks flew.

Pulling into Jasper, the train began to slow while the engineer started applying the brakes. "You have to do it slowly, or one of the wheels could lock up and grind the rails. Wheels don't slow you down if they're all locked up." The engineer seemed to be a little less irritated now, and Nick wanted to keep it that way.

 "How long are we here? I need to look for my father.”

 

    "You got four hours kid, but you have to be back here every hour, on the hour, to keep a minimum head of steam on her. If she goes cold or the pressure drops below 20 pounds on the gauge, it'll mean your job!”

    Grabbing his coat, Nick climbed down the number 53 engine and headed into the train station. He intended to see if the station master might know where his father was or where he could start looking. Heading up to the wicket, he could see a grey-haired, balding, slip of a man organising tickets.

     "Hi. My name is Nick Addison.” Nick said walking up to the ticket window. “ I'm your new fireman for the 53 and was hoping you could help me. I'm looking for my father Jack, and I was wondering if you might have heard of him or know where I might be able to find him.”

 

    The station master peered over the top of his spectacles for a long look at Nick.

    "I seriously doubt I can remember every person who comes through my train station.” He said as he looked back to his pile of tickets, adding “I don’t suppose you know when he came through?"

    Nick looked uneasy and stared at the floor. "I'm not sure if he came through here exactly, but it would be about six months ago."

    "Well, if he did, he might have left a message on the bulletin board in the centre of town. You might check there."

    Nick thanked the station master and turned to head into town. He was walking past the lady with the children he had seen at the station in Wainwright, and she had a worried look on her face. The mother pulled at Nicks sleeve as he was walking past. Nick turned to see what she wanted.

    "Young man, Could I beg a favour of you, please?" Nick had a decidedly unpleasant look on his face as he stood there silent. 

    "My eldest is sick, and she needs a doctor. Would you please find him for me? I can't leave the baby, and it's freezing outside.

    Nick looked at the woman for a moment longer and walked back to the station masters wicket. After getting the directions to the doctors' office, he headed out the door into the cold, dark, snowy night. A very cold 45 minutes later Nick finally found the doctor in the coffee shop just down the street from his office.

    "Doctor!” Nick called as he fixed his gaze on the coffee and pie sitting on the table. ”I’m sure glad I found you. A woman with a sick little girl down at the train station needs your help. She would like you to come as quickly as possible."

    "Show me the way son." Said the doctor as he grabbed his black bag and coat from the big hook by the stove. Nick turned and pushed back into the cold outside. The cold and dark helped to quicken his step, and a glance at his watch put a worried look on his face.

     

    After showing the doctor to the lady who had sent him, Nick trudged back outside to the big engine chuffing on the siding. Checking the steam gauge, he began to shovel coal into the firebox. A few minutes later Nick had climbed off the engine and was heading through the station to the billboard that awaited him in the centre of town with a determined look on his face.

    "Nick!" the doctor called after him just as he was about to close the door. Nick hesitated and seemed to grip the door handle a little firmer now.

    "I need to get to the message board doctor" Nick bit out and proceeded to leave again.

     

    "Nick. I need you to hurry over to the apothecary and get the pharmacist to fill this prescription for me. Just tell Joe I'll see him paid, and hurry back as quickly as you can. This little girl needs your help. I’m going to stay here and watch her.” 

    Nick shut the door with a little more force than was necessary and headed back out into the bitterly cold night. Snowflakes the size of silver dollars were falling, and the full moon added a glow to the low clouds hanging overhead. "Perhaps I'll get lucky for a change and pass the billboard anyhow," Nick growled as he trudged up the street.

    Finding the apothecary, Nick knocked on the door. A young ladies voice answered through the “Hello, how can I help you?”

    "Hi, is Joe here? I have a prescription the doctor has sent me to fill right away for a sick little girl, and he wants me to take it back to him immediately."

    "No, I’m sorry he’s not. My father had to go to Hinton to deliver some emergency supplies. Let me see what your prescription says." She said as she opened the door with her hand out. Nick handed her the paper and stood staring at her blond hair and green eyes. A hint of a red glow beginning to appear in his cheeks as he repeatedly swallowed.

    "I can fill this for you. It's something already pre-mixed. My father is a pharmacist, and I know where everything is and what I can do in an emergency. Come in and warm yourself by the fire while I get this, it will only take a few minutes." She said over her shoulder as she hurried into the next room.

    Nick looked at the glowing embers in the fireplace and then at the empty wood scuttle beside it. After a moment a smile crept onto his face and grabbing the handle, went back outside to find the woodshed. Behind the house, he saw the woodpile, but there wasn't a single-split jack pine log anywhere.

    "Well" mumbled Nick "at least it's easier to split frozen." So with a grin on his face, Nick swung the axe and began to split the wood.

    A short time later, after re-stacking the newly split wood, Nick loaded the wood scuttle and carried it back to the shop. 

    He was just taking his coat off when Sarah walked into the room. "I still have your order ready... Oh my, thank you for filling the scuttle! I meant to do that all day. Father has been away much longer than I expected, and it's been so busy around here I haven't even had time to eat. Have you had supper yet?" And without waiting for an answer, she spun out of the room saying over her shoulder. "Why don't you rest a minute and I'll fix you a quick bite. I know you have to hurry back."

    Nick sat down with a puzzled look on his face, and after only a few moments the swish of skirts announced her return with a steaming bowl of stew in her hands.

    "I'm sorry venison stew is all we have, but I made it only this morning. She said as she placed the bowl on the table in front of Nick. "My name is Sarah by the way."

    "Nick" he managed to get out while trying to suck in some air to cool the hot spoonful of stew he gulped too quickly.

    Sarah pretended not to notice. "My goodness, you do have a manly appetite- and it's no wonder, trudging through a snowstorm on a rescue mission. Do you always rescue damsels in distress? What I mean is first-finding medicine for a sick little girl, and now finding time to help me?"

    Nick looked up from the steaming bowl, and his spoon paused in mid air. 

"I hadn't thought about it that way, but thank you; I appreciate the compliment.”

Sarah nodded as she hurried back to the other room to finish the order.

    Nick paused for a moment as a puzzled look came over his face. "I guess what I'm trying to do is find my father because our house is ashes, my mom’s hands are burned, and I need to find my father. Do you happen to know where the message billboard is?"

 

Sarah came back into the room with a thoughtful frown on her face, and then a smile spread across her face. "Of course, I know where it is, but it's over in the centre of town, and I'm afraid you won't find it in this storm. If you return tomorrow, I'll help you find it."

    Shaking his head, Nick stood up. "Thanks for the stew," he said as he reached for his coat, "it hit the spot." Opening the door, Nick stepped into the glow from the lamp through the open door and turned to face Sarah. "I'm afraid I can't come tomorrow. I'm the new fireman on Engine 53, and we leave in the next few hours. I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”

    Nick hurried back to the train station and opened the door. There the anxiously waiting doctor took the package from Nick and administered several spoons full of the medicine. With a look of satisfaction on his face, he turned to Nick" Well my young man. I think she is going to be all right now, thanks to you."

    Nick smiled back and hurried out to his engine.

    The hour was past being up, and the pressure gauge showed it. With less than the prescribed 20 pounds of steam, Nick lay to his shovel with a will and watched the gauge slowly begin to rise.

After a few minutes, the gauge settled satisfactorily, so Nick climbed down from the engine intent on his last chance to reach the billboard in the centre of town. He took only a few steps when a loud "Bang!" Followed by a loud, sharp, hiss only escaping steam could make, erupted behind him.

    Nick spun around, and indeed there was steam blowing out of the cab where he had been working only seconds earlier. Racing back to the engine, he found the stairs were already icy. Nick scrambled and clawed every inch of the way back up to the cab of Engine 53. Laying on the floor of the cab, he inched his way toward the erupting steam. The pressure gauge had blown right off its mounts and was venting the wet steam which was now icing everything. He took the big fireman’s glove hanging by the shovel and reached up through the steam to the valve just above it and started cranking it down.

 Nothing seemed to be happening!

 Nick fought the panic rising in his throat and then, very slowly, it appeared the steam was losing some of its angry hiss. Nick kept tightening the valve.  Finally, it cranked down hard and brought the steam and his pounding heart under control.

    Nick sat back down on the deck and whispered a small prayer thanking everyone and everything for his safety, his success, and his good luck in what was for him, an unnerving event.

 

    By now the station master and the engineer had arrived at the engine, and Nick explained what had happened and what he had done, fully expecting to get fired because he was late on the coal.

    "You're not fired Nick,” the engineer shouted as he slapped Nick on the back, "You're hired! Your quick thinking saved the engine and the rail line a whole lot of delay and expense. If the engine was all iced up, we'd be held up for hours thawing her in this cold. I'm just glad you weren't there when that gauge let go. There must be someone upstairs looking after you!" he said with a wink.

    

    Nick climbed down the still slippery stairs and headed back into the waiting room, intent on checking the sick little girl and then the billboard in the centre of town.

 

    Opening the door, he noticed a very well dressed man standing with the doctor and the station master.

    The station master waved at Nick. "Nick, come on over here. I want you to meet Mr Stevenson, Mrs., Stevenson's husband. You fetched the doctor and the medicine for his daughter.”

    "How is your little girl?" Nick looked down at the big blue eyes staring up at him and the tiny fingers now holding onto his hand. With a long familiar motion, Nick picked the little girl up, and she promptly perched on his arm.

    Just like Chrissie.

    Nick extended his hand to Mr Stevenson.

    "It's a pleasure meeting you Nick. I understand from the station master here that you are looking for Jack."

    Nick stared at the man for several seconds not quite believing what he had just heard.

    "Do you know my father? Where can I find him?” Nicked blurted out. "The house burnt down, and my mom's hands got burned, and I had to trade my truck, and I need to bring him home!"

    Mr Stevenson looked surprised for a moment but recovered quickly.

    "Bring him Home!" He roared, "I'm not letting my best supervisor go.” He paused for a moment and collected his thoughts. “But I understand your need.”

 

    Just then the train station door opened and in walked Sarah with a tall, thin older man who wore spectacles, which fogged immediately. He pulled them off and began wiping them on a handkerchief he seemed to keep in his pocket for that very purpose.

    “Nick!” Sarah called from across the room. “I want you to meet my father. As soon as he got back, he wanted to meet the man who had helped out so much. Come and meet my father, Joe.”

    Nick walked over while still carrying the little girl in his arms and shook his hand.

    “My daughter seems very impressed by you young man. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I do hope we are going to see more of you.”

    “Hang on a moment Nick” Mr Stevenson interrupted. “ I wanted to tell you that if you need your father, then I suppose I can let him go for one week's vacation. But I need you to bring him right back. You do realise of course; I can't pay him while he's gone.”

    Nick began to smile as he looked into the eyes of everyone around the room. Even the stationmaster was grinning back at him. His eyes finally came to rest on Sarah, and a serious look began to form on his face. One eye seemed to glisten as he handed the little girl back to her mother.

    Nick stood a little straighter, reaching a decision.

     "No sir, Mr Stevenson- I've changed my mind. I'll be the one to go back and get my family. Just let my dad know that everything is all right, and we love him dearly. 

    I never realised how all of you trusted me, and so, I feel a sense of pride by being placed in that position. All of my life I have been looking to be part of something big. A big construction project like a bridge or a big bank even. Maybe something like the Suez Canal or one of those big water dams. What I have found though, is that in my rush, I forgot the one crucial ingredient that all of these projects have. I forgot it took people to make something important. People who care.  And I guess the most important people of all, are the family members who care and are looking out just for you.

     Please let dad know that I'll be back as quick as I can with mom and Chrissie, and then I'll be going back. I have to finish up another contract I promised and also clear up a small debt with some other great people who rescued me not too long ago!

    So if you'll excuse me, I've got an engine to fire and a locomotive to run."  

                        The End

Reviews

[barleygirl]

This is a well-written & organized story. You do a good job of depicting the life of a young man trying to make things work out for him & his family. You paint an interesting portrait of life in this era & locale, bringing in much detail from the various lives that are crossed thru-out your hero’s journey. Good job of telling this story with mostly strong dialogue that reveals each one’s character & motivations. My only question is whether a train station would carry two kinds of fuel – both wood & coal. I would think the train runs on wood or that they heat buildings with coal. Carrying two type of fuel seems unlikely to me. But it’s not a distracting question & your storyline stands strong either way (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie