Strangers on a Train

July 22, 2024

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Nothings

I want an Amtrak hamburger. And a coffee.

I got a galette.

What are you gonna wash that down with?

I’m just looking at the sodium.

Oh, don’t tell me.

You don’t care.

I do care. So how much is in these? How many of these things can I have? I just want an Amtrak hamburger, like I used to, back in high school.

Conductor! She belongs over here, with us.

Yeah, you do.

Yeah, I do. They’re bothering me.

What are you doing over there?

It’s the Tour.

How’s that one guy doing you like? Jasper?

Where’s he from? Norway? Denmark?

I think he’s Denmark.

They’re all first names now.

I was talking to Scott. We had a real conversation. Get an Amtrak hamburger, he said. Like we used to, back in high school.

And?

It’s just as shitty as the last time.

I’m moving. I’m ready to move right now. If we move I’m ready to move right now. I want to be able to see L.A. It’s so twisted.

We should move down to Newport.

How do you like your hamburger? Medium rare or rare?

Where are we going? That car?

That car.

They don’t have tables.

We gotta have tables. We’re busy.

Come on, Jerry.

Come on, Jerry.

How are the Anaheim Angels doing? Stinkin Dodgers. You can take the Coaster to Angels Stadium.

I do not want to go to Angels Stadium.

When’s the next time they’re at Petco?

What’s wrong with you?

What’s wrong with you?

I’m watching. It’s the Tour.

None of them have tables.

Which way are you going?

Downstairs, to the next car.

Well, I’ll meet you in L.A. I’ll come down to that car in L.A.

We’re a big cluster. They don’t need to know anything.

I don’t know anything. I don’t know how many of those rooms they have.

I hear they have nice kitchens.

So what are we going to do with those?

We can cook up some chicken.

What’s Jim doing?

Cooking up some chicken.

I hate that.

We can get fancy. Chicken cacciatore. Cacciatore.

Sounds better than your hamburger.

Now don’t go knocking my hamburger.

So they also have some double rooms. Like doubles. Like for families. With kitchens.

So what are we going to do with those?

We’re a big cluster. They don’t need to know anything.

What is that?

The Tour.

They only have, like, thirty or forty rooms.

Smile.

Yay. Did I move right where you can get it?

That’s a good one. That’s a good smile. That was such a good smile your face turned red.

Dorky. I look dorky.

You have so many to choose from. Serious? You want carefree? Funny? Oh, yeah. Did you find a picture you like more than the others?

There are only two.

Oh. Next stop, Anaheim?

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One response to “Strangers on a Train”

  1. Mike’s Birthday – Christian Molenaar
    February 21, 2025

    […] Margot — I’d blaze through the last hundred pages and be left without any reading material. Last time I took the train to LA (for Noah’s Otherkin premier) I finished Austen’s Emma in a single sitting, so I was […]

    Reply

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Thought:

“

The most astonishing suicide took place in this resort community. A young man descended into the basement of his family’s home, where the father maintained an elaborate hobby workshop with all manner of meticulously cared-for tools, and he severed his leg with a table saw. Before losing consciousness, he cut off a hand as well.

He left no note, nor, as is the fashion these days, a video of himself.

His classmates at school said that in the preceding week he had been quieter than usual and he hadn’t been as neat or as organized as he usually was, or on time. But no one knew him really. How many ways do we discover the inaccessibility of another’s mind.

“

Joy Williams | “Mr. Sandman”

Christian Molenaar

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