"Doug-sensei?"
I looked up from my thoughts to see Rei standing in the aisle
next to my seat. She braced herself against the shaking of the
train car with one hand grasping the rail below the luggage rack
and another the back of the seat before me.
"Yes, Rei?"
She studied me for a long moment with as expressionless a face as
I'd ever seen her wear. On someone as fiery and passionate as
she it was an alien thing, and made her look almost like another
person entirely. Then her brow creased fractionally, shattering
the effect, and she was the girl I had known all these months.
"The *Starlight Express*, sensei?" she asked.
I studied her for a moment, understanding the question that was
not actually spoken, then shrugged. "Just because Sir Andrew
wrote a musical in which it appears does not make it
*imaginary*."
Rei gave me a dubious look. "What else is real, then? The
Everlasting Cat?"
I snorted. "Now you're being silly, tei-"
Somewhere outside the Express a feline yowl sounded, loud enough
to momentarily overwhelm the noise of the engine and the
clackety-clack of the wheels on their astral tracks. Both of our
heads swivelled to stare into the star-speckled black beyond the
windows.
"-shi," I finished lamely.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
I looked up from my thoughts to see Rei standing in the aisle
next to my seat. She braced herself against the shaking of the
train car with one hand grasping the rail below the luggage rack
and another the back of the seat before me.
"Yes, Rei?"
She studied me for a long moment with as expressionless a face as
I'd ever seen her wear. On someone as fiery and passionate as
she it was an alien thing, and made her look almost like another
person entirely. Then her brow creased fractionally, shattering
the effect, and she was the girl I had known all these months.
"The *Starlight Express*, sensei?" she asked.
I studied her for a moment, understanding the question that was
not actually spoken, then shrugged. "Just because Sir Andrew
wrote a musical in which it appears does not make it
*imaginary*."
Rei gave me a dubious look. "What else is real, then? The
Everlasting Cat?"
I snorted. "Now you're being silly, tei-"
Somewhere outside the Express a feline yowl sounded, loud enough
to momentarily overwhelm the noise of the engine and the
clackety-clack of the wheels on their astral tracks. Both of our
heads swivelled to stare into the star-speckled black beyond the
windows.
"-shi," I finished lamely.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.