Family on the Train

The Stern family waited on the platform for the train to arrive, bracing themselves against the blistery winds of the cold October day. As the lights flashed, indicating the approaching train, Cassie dug her clenched fists deeper into her pockets, and walked closer to the platform edge. She felt her mother's presence closing in behind and shot her a quick and cold look, warning her to keep her distance.


Debra Stern, noticed the look on her daughter's face and gripped the tourist map she held in her hand so hard that her knuckles were white, doing so in order to keep herself from whacking it across her only child's uncovered head. She couldn't understand why Cassie hadn't listened to her when she asked her to wear a hat. A hat would have kept some of the heat from escaping her frail body. She had to force herself not to look down again at her daughter's pajama pants, which she refused to change in hopes that they would result in her staying at the hotel.


Did she actually think she would fall for her excuse of having forgotten to pack pants when she gave her a specific list of exactly what to bring? Did she think that her mother would give in when she paraded out of her hotel room wearing the thin long-sleeved T-shirt and light blue pajama pants decorated with darker blue ribbons? Please. Her lack of nutrition and healthy diet must have went straight to her head. There was no way Debra was going to back down this time, the only way to keep an eye on her daughter was to have her with them at all times.


At least she had sense enough to listen to her father's pleas and threw on that old jacket she called a coat, Debra resolved. As the train doors opened, Dave Stern, who was intentionally concentrating on the train platform map, walked up beside his wife, placed his hand on her shoulder and guided her onto the train behind their daughter. Cassie chose a window seat and defiantly sprawled a leg across the empty seat beside her. Her parents took the seats immediately behind her.


Once her parents settled into their seats Cassie slid her leg, the one that had been covering the empty seat, to the floor. She couldn't believe that she was actually in Washington, DC, on a train with her parents. If it wasn't for that nosey school counselor Ms. Creedmoor, she would've been spending a quiet week alone, at home back in Seattle. Cassie let out a sigh, leaned her head on the back of the seat and closed her eyes. This was going to be a long week.


Dave, hearing the sigh from his daughter then another one from Debra, placed his arm around his wife's shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. "Relax, this is supposed to be fun," he whispered. Debra nodded and forced a smile. "What a spectacle we must be," Dave thought. As the train moved on he began to think about the past few weeks' events. The phone call from the school counselor about Cassie's fainting spell, and the Pro-Ana websites and other disturbing material they found on her computer played over and over in his head like a Lifetime movie.


The horrible fights at the dinner table, and threats of committing Cassie to a treatment center if she didn't start eating right all fell on deaf ears. Cassie looked thinner than ever. Despite all of her reassurances, there was no way he was going to leave her home alone for an entire week while they were hundreds of miles away. Dragging her on this trip was the only thing he could do. In fact, if they hadn't booked this trip months in advanced, he would have surely cancelled it and sought out professional treatment for his daughter, which is what he intended to do as soon as they got back home.


"The next stop is ours," Debra announced momentarily snapping both her daughter and husband out of their depressed states. As the train began to slow down, Dave gave his wife's shoulder another squeeze, slid his arm from around her and rose to his feet. "Maybe a visit to a few museums and site-seeing is just what this family needs," he thought as they all left the train.

-This is my first exercise from the book Fiction Writer's Workshop by Josip Novakovich http://www.amazon.com/Fiction-Writers-Workshop-Josip-Novakovich/dp/1884910394 The exercise was to write a scene of a story from a glimpse you had of a group of people - in a cafe, zoo, train etc. I had to sketch the characters in the setting and let them interact. The objective was to make much out of little.