I have, over time, written many short stories,"Short-Shorts" as they are call by some, and by request I am putting them together into one collection for my readers; I will be adding to it as time allows. Love, peace, and freedom. Olan
Returning to my college each fall offered an opportunity to travel by as many different conveyances as possible, and I knew that these opportunities may not present themselves again, so I took the bus, the train, and the airplane and sometimes I switched it up. This time I would take a bus from my hometown in mid-Missouri to Kansas City, fly non-stop to Spokane, Washington. I would travel by taxi to the railroad station and board the Amtrak train to Seattle, and from Seattle I would transfer to a south bound train to Eugene, Oregon. This story is about the trip from Seattle to Eugene after returning home for Christmas celebrations with family. Oh, interesting things happened on the other legs of the trip, but that will have to wait, for this is about the dog smuggler.
In Seattle's Kingston Station, switching trains was not as difficult as I thought it would be, and how I loved the train, as they were good smelling, and you traveled off the beaten path. The route often goes through exotic places you don't see by other modes of transportation. This was the seventies and people were singing on the way into Seattle, playing their guitars, so relaxing. The south bound train was a little more matter of fact, with people headed to who knows where; Portland, Eugene, San Francisco, LA. As I walked down the aisle, I looked for an empty seat. I didn't feel like sitting alone. Not after all the festive feelings still in me from all the singing and music I had enjoyed across the Great State of Washington. No I wanted to sit by someone, hopefully a young beautiful college aged woman, and I spied her. She looked at me invitingly. I walked to her, like a moth drawn to a light. I asked politely, "Is this seat taken?"
Her reply to me was, no. Her eyes sparkled with life. She turned her head to look out the window as though she was saying goodbye to her home. No telling how long this trip would be for her. My immediate thought was she was leaving forever, or was she running away from something, or someone? She wore a heavy coat, it was cold but not that cold. It wrapped easily around her small frame. She hinted of a splash of perfume a scent that perhaps drew me to her, or was it her dishwater blonde hair and brown eyes that was attracting me, no she was lonely, and lonely women always attract me, with her stray puppy look. She wanted me beside her, I thought. I had no problems attracting women; they just appeared, and then most left with time. Isn't that always the case? I left my family and friends when I went to college. I dated an older woman during my first year in college, then it was off and on with different young college women, now I was free to be with anyone, but this woman most likely wasn't going to Eugene, I didn't inquire. The conductor came by to gather our tickets, and she became restless, wrapped her oversize coat around her as though she had a chill. I handed my ticket to the conductor and she reached out with her left hand, and also handed him her ticket. She seemed nervous.
After the conductor left the car she leaned into me and asked in a whisper, "Will you pretend that you're my lover? You know, snuggle, kissing, and foreplay, you know, the works." At some point on the way to Eugene, she decided that I could be trusted. She then opened up her jacket. I was surprised to see inside her coat it housed the cutest little dog, not sure the breed, but it was tiny with mottled colored hair. "You only have to do it when the conductor is coming by or a passenger is walking pass." Yeah, like making out with her would be a chore. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Here was a beautiful young lady; no she was a stunning young woman, and she was asking me to be her pretend lover for the next six and a half hours to my stop in Eugene.
