I was helping my Dad today, and proud of it. After weeks of begging him to bring me along, he finally said it was okay. He had a special job this month, waiting for trains to pass and he would make sure the bridge was down. There were ships that passed by every morning and their sails would hit the bottom of the bridge and break the boat, so the bridge gets raised, and then lowered.
It's definitely an important job, my father told me that. He said that he was put in charge of everyone's life on each and every train that passed the bridge.
"I have to be prepared to pull that lever outside and make sure the citizens are safe," he told me earlier this morning. I loved my father, he was strong. He was smart. 652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxNL3Qr2N2
The phone began to ring loudly from the small office box my father sat in to do paper-work. He jumped up from where he was sitting beside me on the grass, quickly running to the door and answering the phone. It got heated quickly, something I couldn't understand. I glanced inside the booth and my father was listening to whoever was on the other line, obviously annoyed. He faced away from the bridge, concentrating on whoever was talking.
I watched the bridge instead, knowing that if a train were to come, I'd pull the lever. I know father doesn't want me to do it, but I know I can. Besides, making sure the bridge was down was an important job.
A faint whistle was heard in the distance, and I turned to wave to get my father's attention. However, he sat there, continuing to loudly argue with whoever. I sighed, a bit exasperated, and ran to the lever. 652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOgOoRISPeq
I looked at it, and curiously looked down. It didn't have a cover, so when you looked down you could see all the complicated gears and chains below-- and they were huge! A few gears were easily bigger than my entire body. The hole was dangerous, that's probably why my father didn't want me pulling the lever. I laughed, knowing that the train was heading towards the bridge quickly, expecting it to be down. Glancing back at him, I triumphantly pulled the large lever, bigger than me, dangling my body much too close to that gaping hole.
Click, I heard it. It was loud and it rang in my ears for a few moments. Thinking I had successfully pulled the lever, I let go, leaning back on what I though was solid ground.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NKWoUtUsU
How foolish I was.
I dropped down, falling deep into the hole, crashing against the metal and chains and gears. I felt my arm tear into a gear, sticking itself in a very uncomfortable way, and as I heard the train whistle again, this time louder, I realized a horrifying thing.
I was stuck.
My first instinct was to yell-- scream for my father. So I did. I shouted at the top of my lungs, knowing he'd hear me over his call. I hear the door suddenly open and rapid footsteps racing towards the gaping hole.
I saw him, looking down at my helpless position. His face was terrified, much like mine, and I wondered why he was glancing quickly at the bridge.
Oh, that's right. The train.
We both flinch at the loud whistle and oncoming chugs from the speeding train. I didn't say anything, I knew what my father's job was, but I also knew that he was a father, and I was his son. He quickly reached down, shoving his hand towards me, hoping I could reach it.
I couldn't. I tried, I tried so hard, but I couldn't. Again, the train blew it's horn, as if it were shouting at us. I retracted my arm, staring horrified in my father eyes. He too stared at me for a long moment. Then he slowly got up, his eyes never leaving mine, and grasped the lever. I swallowed, tears running down my cheeks, do it, I thought.
He closed his eyes, looking away, and cranked the lever down. The gears violently moved, twisting my arm in an awkward way, shoving me sideways, and then squeezing my gut until I popped.
Then nothing.
He didn't even say a word, my son just stared at me-- his only hope, and died. I watched the bridge fall, tears following it's notion down my face. I was a father, he was my son, but this was my job. And had this lever not been pulled... I swallowed a hard lump in my throat. Then all the passengers on the train would have died-- all for the single life of my boy.
Sudden anger thrashed at my body, and I howled at the sky above me-- clear and blue.
The bridge dropped just in time as the train whirled passed. I watched the faces, looking down at a newspaper, a phone, talking to one another. I was infuriated, but sad, emotions swirling around in my chest.
The only thing I could think of doing was kneeling to the ground, picking up the dirt I had once been sitting on with my son, and throwing it at the train windows.
"You killed him!" I had yelled, and only a few looked at me as if I were insane.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4H7231EiUp
They knew nothing. They were ignorance to the sacrifice I just made.
To a Son and His Father~
-LovelySheree652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbc2uiD6eDJ
