New Rules for Amtrak

"Can I see your ticket...Now your ID." 
  
   I had just entered the 10:48 Amtrak going to L.A.   Reverend Erik , at the Immaculate Conception Church in Old Town, provided me with biblical stories I sorely needed.  The Franchise Tax Board had placed a lean on my bank account. My stomach had to endure a week of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My buddy lent me twenty and the Reverend did the rest.
   "Why do you wish to see my ID and compass card. The Amtrak rules clearly state the tickets must be checked on the platform."
   "That was before the killing at the Los Angeles Airport. We are now clamping down on everything...Mam, you can't place your baggage on the seats. Put them in the luggage compartment back there...My Mom had to wait seven hours outside the L.A. Airport before she was led back inside. "
   "Thank you Mr. Schwartz, continue to do a good job. I love using my Compass ticket to get to Encinitas. The ride is smooth and I enjoy chatting with those going further than Oceanside. My old black Cavalier was waiting for me. The twenty I borrowed gave me enough for some barely soup at the Tip Top Cafe in Carlsbad. Then  I drove here to the Carlsbad Library to complete my football story.

  I can still hear the soft notes of the Reverend. "Jesus entered the city of Jericho. A crowd surrounded him. The tax collector of the city climbed  Sycamore tree to see him. Jesus spoke to the tax collector even though the crowd became disappointed with him.
   The tax collector invited him inside and said, "One half of what I own will now go to the homeless." Jesus thanked him and departed.
   The Reverend ended the one hour service with this story. "A Dad asked his son 'What must you do to go to heaven?' The son responded, either die or become a tax collector.
   I will be returning on the 7:20 Amtrak train, and of course using my bipolar Compass pass. 

   Now I am getting the hang of it. I have found I am no longer a slave to the Coaster schedule. And the Coaster ride is so, so smooth. It's trains don't jerk and bump me around. So in the morning, I can casually line up for the eight or ten o'clock Amtrak and meet a real tourists. Will you excuse me. Several Chinese are climbing aboard car number 4 which leaves the Santa Fe Station at eight twenty..
   "No No No!" These seats are for old people like me, or with disabilities. Place, I said place your luggage here, I said here." They pay no attention until I take one of their silver cases and deposit it on a rack in back of car number 4.
   They soon get the hint and place their baggage on the rack. I wave my hand to show them to climb upstairs where the younger passengers ride. They give me a Chinese smile, and it makes my day. I press a button to drop my seat a bit and turn on the light. I am finishing Tale of Two Cities finally and getting ready to visit the hideouts of Charles Dickens.
   "Hi Mr. Garrett. You going to Encinittas again?" Why do you go there so often?" 
   "I enjoy playing their piano during lunch and have fallen in love."
   "Aren't you too old?"
   "Only when I look in the mirror. Barbara is related to Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry the Eighth. She had seven kids to the Vice President of Bechtel Corporations. He died too young, but today she plays the piano during our lunches here at the Senior Center in Encinitis."
    The steward walks away leaving me to my Dickens book. Outside my window I see a man Torry Pine trees and finally the ocean. I will never forget a passenger going to Oceanside on the Coaster about one year ago. It was a foursome and a lady remarked, What is the name of that River?
    I threw my hands over my mouth to muzzle my laughter. It amazes me how many people have never seen or know the name of the ocean out the west side of the window. We all had a good laugh.
   "Mr. Garrett, the next stop is Encinitas." She removed an overhead ticket with "Enc" inscribed and wished me a good day.
    I was the only one on the platform, and walked to my car parked a few cars away. From there I would take myself to the Senior Center. and look forward to Barbara playing Halleluiah. For rest of the day I ride the keyboards of their computers or the keys of their two pianos.  ride the sounds of music