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By Root 851 0

They sat in the big room and it was full of people. His mother told his Uncle Ted she liked it better than the Southern depot because there were so many country folks and his father said he did too. It smelled like chewing tobacco and pee, and like a barn. Some of the ladies wore sunbonnets and lots of the men wore old straw hats, not the flat kind. One lady was nursing her baby. They had a long time to wait for their train; his father said, “Count on Mary and you won’t never miss a train, but you may get the one the day before you aimed to,” and his mother said, “Jay,” and Uncle Ted laughed; so he heard the man call several trains in his fine, echoing voice, and finally he started calling out a string of stations and his father got up saying. “That’s us, ” and they got everything together and as soon as the man called the track they hurried fast, so they got two seats and turned them to face each other, and afterwhile the train pulled out and it was already broad daylight. The older people were all kind of sleepy and didn’t talk much, though they pretended to, and afterwhile Aunt Kate dropped off to sleep and leaned her head against his mother’s shoulder and the men laughed and his mother smiled and said, “Let her, the dear. ”

The news butcher came through and in spite of his mother, Uncle Ted bought him a glass locomotive with little bright-colored pieces of candy inside and Catherine a glass telephone with the same kind of candy inside, which his father had never done. His father and Uncle Ted spent a good deal of time in the smoking car, to smoke, and to make more room. It got hot and dull. But after quite a while his father came hurrying back down the aisle and told his mother to look out the window and she did and said, “Well what?” and he said, “No—up ahead, ” and they all three looked up ahead and there on the sky above the scrubby hill, there was a grand great lift of grayish blue that looked as if you could see the light through it, and then the train took a long curve and these liftings of gray blue opened out like a fan and filled the whole country ahead, shouldering above each other high and calm and full of shadowy light, so that he heard his mother say, “Ohhh! How perfectly glorious!”, and his father say shyly, a little as if he owned them and was giving them to her, “That’s them. That’s the Smokies all right, ” and sure enough they did look smoky, and as they came nearer, smoke and great shadows seemed to be sailing around on them, but he knew that must be clouds. After a while he could begin to see the shapes of them clearly, great bronzy bulges that looked as if they were blown up tight like balloons, and solemn deep scoops of shady blue that ran from the tops on down below the tops of the near hills, deeper than he could see. “They’re just like huge waves, Jay, ” his mother said with awe. “That’s right, ” he said; “you remember?” “Sure I do, ” she said; “just like seeing sunlight striking through waves, just before they topple. ”

“Yeah, ” his father said.

“Kate mustn’t miss this,” his mother said; “Kate!” and she took Aunt Kate by the shoulder.

“Sssh!” his father hissed, and he frowned. “Let her alone!” But Aunt Kate was already waked up, though she was still very sleepy, wondering what it was all about.

“Just look, Kate,” his mother said. “Out there!” Aunt Kate looked. “See?” his mother said.

“Yes,” Aunt Kate said.

“That’s where we’re going, ” his mother said.

“Yes,” Aunt Kate said.

“Aren’t they grand?” his mother said.

“Yes,” Aunt Kate said.

“Well I think they’re absolutely breathtaking,” his mother said.

“So do I,” Aunt Kate said, and went back to sleep.

His mother made one of the funniest faces he had ever seen, looking at his father all bewildered and surprised and holding in her laughter, and his father laughed out loud but Aunt Kate didn’t wake up. “Just like Catherine,” his mother whispered, laughing, and they all looked at Catherine, who was staring out at the mountains and looking very heavy and earnest; and they laughed and Catherine looked at them and began to realize they were