An Accident on San Diego rails

  Today is the twenty third of November. I entered the coach car and released the foot rest and sat back. The lady porter had spoken about the trains being held up for hours. The porter, who I will call Irene, came to my seat. "How you doing Mr. Garrett? You headed for Encinitas again?"
   I nodded and asked what had happened yesterday. "A Coaster train hit a pedestrian which backed up the train schedules for hours. Apparently he was only injured."
   'Have a good day" Irene. I unraveled the curtains to ward off sun. It was the brightest and most beautiful day I had ever seen. Too bad we don't have more days like today. The trains air conditioning unclogged my sinuses and made my engine, I mean heart, purr. The train slowly left the station for the first of its Coaster stops.
   One middle age man ambled on. He appeared to have been in a train wreck. His hair needed mowing and his face was cut in two places. He probably had been in a street brawl. The man across from me was cradled a beer mug. The long untidy hair and three day growth of whiskers told me he was headed for Oceanside. There were two Latinos in the car. The older was headed for Oceanside and had her hair braided in pig tails.
    "Our next stop coming up is Encinitas. The stop will be short. Don't forget anything. Thank you Gentleman for riding Amtrak." I walked to my car and so began a busy productive day thanks to Amtrak. I drove to a 12 step meeting on Canon and enjoyed the meeting. After the meeting, I went to the Tip Top for a hardy lunch of liver, potatoes and cabbage.
   I visited the Carlsbad library and afterwards, drove to Moonlight Bay Beach for a little beach volleyball. I first bought some grapes, eggs, and oranges at Smart and Final and parked on a hill overlooking the beach. In the distance were dark clouds. Another set of, this time, white clouds kissing the ocean made me upset i did not have a camera.
   Everyone was zooming in on this memorable scene. I had never seen so many white clouds hover just over the ocean. At five twenty, my Coaster train came. My body felt limp. What a day, and it all began on Amtrak.

 
   It has been about two weeks after my flu shot, and finally I feel myself. Yet I still wished to go slow. Yesterday's rain brought the colors out. Everything was beautiful. On TV, they were  I agI thought I would die from my flu shot. At least on Wednesday, I was able to breath. I had left my thumb drive in the Coronado Library's computer the previous day, and needed to catch the 901 back to the scene of the crime. Fortunately, a librarian had it tucked away in a small drawer. That was a load off of my mind. With my Asthmatic bronchial condition, not enough air circulates inside my brain.
  Instead of taking the Coaster to the Village at Carlsbad, I decided to travel first class. That meant staying in later. My book, Catherine Parr kept my mind excited and my little radio's classical music put me in the frame of mine I needed to attack the day.
  I made a tuna and salami sandwich and hightailed it to the Santa Fe Station. The gongs sounded the first call boarding, A line of several passengers climbed into the spacious and elegant coach class cars. I took a seat on the first level reserved for those over 62 or disabled. I am both, can't you guess by now?
  Most of the disable seats are filled up. A passenger porter comes down the aisle, and comes to my seat.I show him my Compass Card. "Where are you going?"
  "I am on my way to the Village, Carlsbad that is." He placed a small cardboard above me. It reads, "Car" That is his way of keeping track when somebody is to get off. He goes down the aisle to two Latinos. They both show him their Coaster tickets. This is one of two Amtrak trains that accept Coaster tickets in the morning. 
   Neither speak English. After some confusion, one utters Encinitis, and the other Oceanside. A man across from them translates.
   Heaven can wait. I flip down the foot rest, and recline my seat with a knob beside it. I am relaxed. I ask the conductor if he had been to Tijuana lately. "No way sir. Do you wish me to be killed?" The train disembarks to all points North. It makes all the Coaster Stops and there are many passengers who get on at Sorrento Valley and Solano Beach. Many are on their way north to stops like Orange and Los Angeles.
   Their are no bumps or bruises on this ride. It is first class. I sip some 7/11 Mocha and read my book about the sixth wife of Henry the Eight.
   "Our stops are fast. So make sure you are ready since the doors will shut immediately."  
   The Village is now in sight. I put my book and writing inside back pack and climb down. I enjoy the walk, even though my breathing is labored. In fact my mind tells me I must walk if I wish to make it to seventy five.
  
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