“So where are you heading?” Jake asked the old guy sitting next to him on the train.
The man, who had been staring out the window, looked over at Jake and smiled. “Nowhere…and everywhere.”
“I’m not sure I follow,” Jake said with a frown.
“You see, young man, in life it isn’t the destination that matters…it’s the journey.”
“I believe I’ve heard that bit of philosophy before, but I’m not sure how it applies here. I mean, your ticket has to have a destination on it, right?”
“Yes, but once I arrive there, I’ll simply go the ticket office and purchase another.”
“To where?”
The old man shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Are you pulling my leg? You’re saying that you only stop somewhere long enough to get a ticket to somewhere else?”
“That’s the long and short of it. Maybe pick up a few items in the gift shop.”
“You don’t have a house somewhere?”
The man shook his head. “Not anymore.”
“How long have you been doing this?”
“Just over a year now.”
Jake barked an incredulous laugh. “You’ve just been riding around on trains for a whole year?”
A smile and a nod was the man’s only answer.
“But…why?”
“I spent my entire life in one place, never saw anything of this great country of ours outside of movies and books. I wanted to travel, but I was always too busy, it was too hard to get away. I foolishly thought there would be time, but the older you get, the faster life slips through your fingers. Before I knew it, I was an old man. So when I retired, I sold the house, emptied my savings, and decided to undergo this strange adventure.”
“Strange indeed,” Jake said then apologized for his rudeness.
“That’s quite alright,” the old man said. “To most, I am sure this kind of existence seems quite mad.”
“I guess it does sound kind of rootless to me. I mean, no home, no family.”
“This is my home,” the old man said, motioning outside the window to the world rushing past them. “And everyone I meet is my family. You’re my family. All of mankind is one great family.”
Jake thought he’d never met such a peculiar person in his life, and yet he found himself smiling at the old man. He supposed there was a certain romanticism to the whole thing.
“Think of it this way,” the man said. “You know how they say a shark has to keep moving or it will suffocate? That’s the way it is for me. I must keep moving. I stayed still for too long. I finally feel free.”
“I get it, but I also think it sounds rather lonely.”
“True freedom can be lonely…but it’s also sweet.”
“How long are you going to keep this up?”
With a shrug, the old man turned his gaze back out the window and said, “Either until I run out of money or until I pass from this life. I’m hoping the latter.”
Jake could think of nothing to say to that, so that was exactly what he said. He picked up the paper in his lap and scanned the headlines. He’d only gotten through a few pages when he felt the train starting to slow.
“Looks like we’re approaching my stop,” he said.
The old man offered his hand. “It was a pleasure chatting with you.”
“Same here. It was certainly interesting.”
Gathering up his things, Jake made his way to the exit and onto the platform. His wife was waiting for him; she ran to him and threw her arms around him.
“Miss me?” he said with a laugh.
“Maybe just a tiny bit. Did you have a good trip?”
“Yes, I met the most fascinating old man on the train.”
“Really? What’s his name?”
“Um…you know, I didn’t even ask.”
Jake turned back toward the train. Through one of the windows, he caught a glimpse of the old man and waved. Soon the train would pull back out of the station and the man would be on his way again, going nowhere in particular, just on the move to keep from suffocating. Jake, however, would be here, in this community in which he’d planted his roots.
And a small part of him was jealous of the old man.
*****
MG Allan spent his childhood making up stories in his head, and now he spends his adult life writing them down.