Two by Two (standard:fantasy, 423 words)
Author: GXD	Added: Jul 20 2007	Views/Reads: 10512/2	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
It rained forty days and forty nights, and they came, two by two, to Mount Ararat, where Noah had built the Ark before the flood.

TWO BY TWO 

Fred stood under the eaves of the tiny, wilderness station and peered a
long way down the line.  These tracks had been laid down before the 
Civil War, but had seen so few trains in the last hundred years, they 
looked almost new.  He waited throughout the crisp morning, nibbled at 
some cold grits for lunch, sat with his face to the fading sun all 
afternoon and watched the rain clouds gather. 

Before nightfall, however, two panthers showed up, ambling down the
middle of the track.  The male cast his ears forward, peering from side 
to side as he loped along.  His mate slunk behind, evidently resigned 
to the dangers of traveling in the open.  She cast a baleful glance at 
Fred, padded on past him and disappeared up-line into the underbrush. 

Fred stepped up on the rail to gain a little height, scanned the horizon
for a locomotive headlight and gave up.  He stepped down to a brusque 
rattle and saw the first snake curling around his boot.  The other was 
already headed up-line.  Careful not to jump back, he gently shook the 
snake loose and watched it turn back to the rail and chase after its 
mate. 

The sky dropped through several shades of damp gray; light rain began to
mist down; two badgers popped out of the trees and began hurrying up 
the line.  Not ten seconds later, a bobcat came flying up the center 
track, with a small red deer hot on its heels.  The crazy scene 
repeated itself as the bobcat's mate flew up the line racing only 
inches ahead of the female deer.  Fred half-expected to see a herd of 
stampeding cattle, and wondered if there was a forest fire somewhere.  
There was no smoke and no glow, however, so he just accepted the 
coincidence. 

By this time, heavy rain was coming down steadily. He had seen a brace
of cottontails, partridges, brown bears, a couple of jackasses, two 
wild mustangs, ma and pa porcupine, and a pair of mountain goats.  When 
it got too dark to see, he turned away from the night and the rain.  
Fred was tired of waiting, and switched on the lights inside the 
station.  The train had never come.  The radio-telephone was silent.  
Outside, the thundering hooves of pairs of animals grew to a crescendo. 


Guided by the cold steel railway, they roared up the mountain past the
little station -- past the dimly lit, paint-peeling sign: 

"Noah, Ark., Elev. 16,804 ft". 

Seattle WA 1995 Gerald X. Diamond 


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