Riding The Rails- Short Story - A Challenge by Bill Holland

Before leaving the place of her birth, an old run-down farm in Tennessee, Beatrice stopped at the old cemetery just across the road from an old barn that had seen better days, every time the wind blew she looked to see if it was still standing.

Her mother, father and baby brother were buried there. She'd never missed a day visiting and placing wild flowers on their graves'

She remembered how much her mother loved wild flowers, and it always made her smile thinking of her father coming into the kitchen with a freshly picked bouquet, and seeing her mothers eyes' light up with happiness and complete contentment.

Beatrice wished she could be content with the simple things in life like her mother, but as far back as she could remember, she wanted more.

The bright lights of Nashville wasn't what she dreamed about. She wanted to explore. She wanted to ride the rapids. She wanted to climb a mountain and reach the apex.

She wanted to ride a train from one end of the rails to the end of the tracks, and perhaps find her mother's contentment which had eluded her for twenty-eight years

The only train she'd seen was the old work-horse that carried grain to the mill pass her house several times a day.

The Auction

The auction lasted all day long. She'd sold off the farm equipment, the old house, barn and land

A wealthy farmer bought it all. Their home and section of land was adjacent to his rich fields.

She knew he would tear down the old house and barn and cultivate the land. He promised to build a fence around the little cemetery and keep it mowed.

She managed to make a fair sum of money from the sale, enough to buy a pickup and start her journey into the unknown.

She kept a handwritten note in her purse requesting she be returned home to the little cemetery when her time on earth ended, but in-between time she was going to explore all the things she'd dreamed about on the other side of that far away mountain.