WEBVTT 1 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:20.640 Hello, and welcome back to Sleepy Stories. I'm your host, Lucy, 2 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:24.600 and my friends and I will be reading you a 3 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:31.039 sleepy bedtime story every week to relax you and to 4 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:37.560 help you to drift off into a RESTful sleep. From 5 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.000 time to time, we will also read you a relaxing, 6 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:49.079 peaceful meditation that will take you somewhere beautiful and calming. 7 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:54.280 Once we have read the stories, we will then read 8 00:00:54.359 --> 00:00:59.719 them a second time, but this time they will be 9 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:07.599 ready even slower. This will help you to relax even more. 10 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:13.000 Before we begin, I would like you to close your 11 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:21.640 eyes and breathe in and out nice and deeply. Take 12 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:27.359 a few seconds to inhale, and then hold your breath 13 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:35.000 for a few seconds more, and then release and breathe out. 14 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:40.959 Do this a few times if you need to, while 15 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:45.599 you listen to the music and you listen to my voice, 16 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:53.000 give yourself time to let your body relax and your 17 00:01:53.120 --> 00:02:00.599 mind settle. It's important that we allow time for us 18 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:10.800 to feel safe, cozy, and completely at ease. And now 19 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:29.759 it's time for this week's story. 20 00:02:30.599 --> 00:02:34.800 A girl followed cradling a jar that glowed faintly green 21 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:41.800 and illuminated her face from below. Good evening, Elias said, 22 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:46.919 because he had discovered that politeness was the only tool, 23 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:51.000 was the only tool he owned that fit this situation. 24 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:56.759 They nodded to him, smiling, as though they were boarding 25 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:03.639 a perfectly normal train to somewhere per directly ordinary tickets. Please, 26 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:11.439 They handed them over again. The paper shimmered, then settled again. 27 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:20.560 They were stamped for midnight again. His hands felt oddly 28 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:25.919 light when he gave them back. As the passengers boarded, 29 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:32.039 Elias noticed more unusual luggage. A violin case that dripped 30 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:38.199 sea water, a crate labeled only if singing, with no 31 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:43.000 indication of what might be inside, a rolled carpet that 32 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:49.479 occasionally tried to unroll itself. When the door slid shut 33 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:55.080 and the train glided away once more, Elias stood watching 34 00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:59.280 until the last glimmer of light vanished into the bend 35 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:06.319 of the track. He did not immediately go back inside. Instead, 36 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:10.879 he remained beneath the lamp post, listening to the fields 37 00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:15.759 and the far away owls, letting the quiet rearrange itself 38 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:21.959 around him. Back in his office, he opened the ledger 39 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:31.079 and wrote twelve three a m unscheduled arrival, same train, 40 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:42.360 different passengers, snow suitcase delayed, shadow. He stared at the 41 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:48.480 page for a long time before adding jar Glode underlined 42 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:53.199 that one twice. On the third night, he brought a chair. 43 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:58.240 On the fourth he brought a thermos and a notebook 44 00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:02.560 separate from his official ledger, because some things felt too 45 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:07.959 strange to share a book with freight schedules. On the 46 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.720 fifth night, a gray cat appeared on the edge of 47 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:15.079 the platform and sat down beside him, with the air 48 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:19.160 of someone who had always intended to be there. It 49 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:24.720 did not look at him, It watched the rails. You're 50 00:05:24.759 --> 00:05:36.240 waiting too, Elias murmured. The cat flicked one ear. At 51 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:40.199 twelve o three, the train arrived, and the cat's tail 52 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:46.360 made a thoughtful loop before going still. Passengers came and 53 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:51.839 went in a steady, unhurried rhythm. Elias began to recognize 54 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:56.639 some of them. The woman with the snow returned, this 55 00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:01.279 time carrying only a scarf that trailed frost behind her. 56 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:06.279 The man with the delayed shadow nodded to him as 57 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:10.759 though they were colleagues. A new traveler arrived with a 58 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:15.879 suitcase full of autumn leaves that tumbled out and scuttled 59 00:06:15.959 --> 00:06:23.079 back inside on their own. Elias started asking careful questions 60 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:30.319 long journey he ventured. One night, sometimes said a man 61 00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:35.240 whose shoes were wet despite the clear sky, Where too, 62 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:40.680 he asked, Another not far, replied a woman who smelled 63 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:44.879 the libraries. One evening, he noticed that the map the 64 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:49.439 twins carried had finally given up folding itself and now 65 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:53.879 lay open across three seats, showing rivers that looped in 66 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:59.279 impossible ways, and towns drawn in handwriting that looked like 67 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:04.199 it belonged to several different people at once. By the 68 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:08.199 seventh night, Elias no longer felt quite as though he 69 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:13.000 were trespassing on his own platform. On the eighth night, 70 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:17.759 he stepped inside the first carriage, again, just far enough 71 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:23.680 to avoid the cold. No one stopped him. The rugs 72 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:30.319 muffled his steps, the velvet seats gleamed softly. He wandered 73 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:34.480 down the aisle, pretending to check for forgotten umbrellas, while 74 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:39.439 taking in every impossible object he could see. A tea 75 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:44.560 service floated gently above one table, pouring itself into cups 76 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:49.519 no one was currently holding. A pair of elderly men 77 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:54.199 played chess with pieces that slowly changed shape when they 78 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:59.360 were not being watched. Someone slept with their head against 79 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:05.120 the window, and outside that window rolled a coastline Elias 80 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:12.519 was certain did not belong anywhere near his town. A 81 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:16.720 tall figure in a shimmering uniform approached, walking with the 82 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:22.279 quiet authority of someone who never had to hurry. You're early, 83 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:28.800 the conductor said, pleasantly, I work here. Elias replied, because 84 00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:35.039 this seemed to explain several things. Oh good, we like professionals. 85 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:41.679 Elias hesitated, then gestured vaguely at everything. Where does this 86 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:46.200 train go? The conductor smiled in a way that suggested 87 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:52.519 maps for advisory rather than binding. Where it's needed and 88 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:56.639 where is that? The conductor tipped his hat to night. 89 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:01.279 Three places that no longer exist, two that have not 90 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:07.679 started yet, and one that keeps changing its mind. Elias 91 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:16.840 considered this, Do you need a station master? We have one, Oh, 92 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:23.279 but he's on holiday. The conductor gave him a conspiratorial 93 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:29.440 nod and drifted away. Elias returned to the platform just 94 00:09:29.559 --> 00:09:33.159 before the doors closed, feeling as though he had leaned 95 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:38.600 over the edge of something very deep and very polite. 96 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:46.879 By the twelfth night, he was greeting passengers. By the 97 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:50.879 fifteenth he was keeping a separate list of recurring ones. 98 00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:55.960 By the eighteenth, he had stopped pretending the midnight line 99 00:09:56.039 --> 00:10:00.799 was a temporary inconvenience. It was part of his station. 100 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:06.360 Now he was simply the only one who noticed. Then, 101 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:11.200 on the twenty first night, the train arrived and did 102 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:18.799 not leave. The engine hummed unevenly, the lights dimmed, the 103 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:26.519 doors stayed open. The lamp post flickered. Elias checked the clock, 104 00:10:27.799 --> 00:10:34.200 twelve oh three. It did not move. The wind paused 105 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:39.759 halfway through a sigh, the cat froze with one paw lifted. 106 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:47.639 Elias swallowed. That seems new, he said. Into the stillness 107 00:10:49.320 --> 00:10:55.519 from the train stepped the conductor hat in hand. Reappear, 108 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:00.440 he said, carefully, to have developed a timing part problem. 109 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:10.120 The stillness felt heavier than silence usually did. It pressed 110 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:14.639 against Elias's ears and settled in his chest, as though 111 00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:18.960 the entire world had inhaled and forgotten how to let 112 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:24.679 the breath go again, and had forgotten how to let 113 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:29.240 the breath go again. The lamp post above him hummed 114 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:34.440 once and then went quiet. The moth that had been 115 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:38.320 circling its light hung motionless in the air, like a 116 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:44.000 fleck of dust suspended in amber. Even the fields beyond 117 00:11:44.039 --> 00:11:48.200 the tracks appeared to have paused mid rustle, and the 118 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:52.080 long grass frozen in the middle of whatever small conversation 119 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:56.559 it had been having, And the long grass frozen in 120 00:11:56.600 --> 00:12:00.159 the middle of whatever small conversation it had been having. 121 00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:05.919 With the breeze. Elias glanced at his pocket watch twelve 122 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:11.720 three a m. The second hand did not move. He 123 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:16.519 looked up at the station clock. Neither did that. From 124 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:22.000 inside the train came a low, uncertain ticking, not rhythmic 125 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:26.679 enough to be reassuring and not chaotic enough to be panic, 126 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:32.399 but something in between, the sound a machine might make 127 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:36.440 if it were trying to remember how it normally behaved. 128 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:43.720 That seems inconvenient, Elias said, at last, because he had 129 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:47.879 discovered over the past three weeks that stating the obvious 130 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:51.320 was sometimes the only way to keep one's thoughts from 131 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:59.480 galloping off in unhelpful directions. Quite the conductor replied, stepping 132 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:03.399 down on to the platform with a carefulness that suggested 133 00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:10.519 gravity itself was currently under review. Passengers leaned out of windows. 134 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:15.000 The woman who borrowed fog stared at the frozen fields 135 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:21.000 with concern. The man whose shadow lagged behind him looked 136 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:26.039 down and frowned when he realized his shadow had stopped altogether. 137 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:31.600 Somewhere in the middle of the train, a kettle whistled 138 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:36.360 weakly and then trailed off, as though uncertain whether it 139 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:43.600 was allowed to finish. What sort of timing problem, Elias asked. 140 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:50.240 The conductor adjusted his gloves. We have run out of midnight, 141 00:13:52.279 --> 00:14:00.480 Elias blinked, run out. Yes, I didn't realize that was possible. 142 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:07.399 It normally isn't, the conductor admitted. But tonight we appear 143 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:12.720 to have used all of it. Elias considered this because 144 00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:17.320 he had discovered that considering things was better than immediately fainting. 145 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:27.720 What does midnight do? It keeps us between, the conductor said, gently, 146 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:34.240 between yesterday and tomorrow, between places that are finished and 147 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:39.039 places that have not quite decided to begin, Between doors 148 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:42.639 that are closing and doors that are thinking about opening. 149 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:47.879 That sounds important, extremely and if you don't have it. 150 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:52.519 The conductor glanced back at the engine, which gave a 151 00:14:52.559 --> 00:15:02.039 small apologetic shudder. Then we remain here around his silent platform, 152 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:08.919 his unmoving moth, his frozen cat, and the paused stars overhead. 153 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:14.320 I'm not sure my station is designed for that. No 154 00:15:14.519 --> 00:15:20.600 station is, the conductor said kindly. Elias stood very still 155 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:24.240 for several seconds, while his mind did the careful work 156 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:28.080 of lining up the thoughts the way he lined up boots. 157 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:37.200 What powers the train moments, the conductor replied. Elias raised 158 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:43.159 his eyebrows. Steam is more common. Steam is very straightforward, 159 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:49.919 said the conductor. We are less, so what kind of moments? 160 00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:56.679 The conductor gestured vaguely at the air around them, waiting 161 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:00.879 for kettles to boil, standing in doorways while forgetting while 162 00:16:00.919 --> 00:16:05.200 you went there looking out of windows when you should 163 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:15.080 be doing something else, lingering after conversations, pauses, hesitations, the 164 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:22.200 sort of seconds people misplace. Elias felt a slow, peculiar 165 00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:27.120 recognition settle over him. I keep those in a drawer, 166 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:34.279 he said. The conductor brightened. Everyone does most just call 167 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:40.799 it clutter. Elias turned and went inside. The stillness followed him, 168 00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:46.240 wrapping the ticket office in a strange, muffled hush. Papers 169 00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:49.879 hovered where they had been mid flutter. The clock above 170 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:54.279 the window stared back at him accusingly. He unlocked the 171 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:58.000 desk drawer he had not cleaned out in years and 172 00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:04.519 peered inside. It was full. There were old notes he 173 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:07.720 had never thrown away because he was not sure whether 174 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:13.440 they were finished with him, yet half completed lists, programs 175 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:16.599 from concerts he had stayed to the end of, even 176 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:20.279 though he had planned to leave early. A postcard he 177 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:24.519 had bought but never sent, three different keys. He no 178 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:28.759 longer remembered owning a tea bag he had forgotten in 179 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:34.720 his pocket until it became more sentiment than beverage. Elias 180 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:38.799 scooped the contents gently into a wooden tray and carried 181 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:46.240 it back onto the platform. The conductor watched with professional interest. 182 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:53.400 These are excellent, he murmured. Elias poured them into the 183 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:58.279 open panel beneath the engine, half expecting sparks or smoke, 184 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:03.559 or at least a polite light warning label. Instead, the 185 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:13.039 train sighed, the hum deepened somewhere inside, gears shifted. The 186 00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:17.720 station clock twitched. The moth completed a loop around the 187 00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:24.039 lamp post and flew off. Slightly embarrassed, The cat put 188 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:32.359 its raised paw down and yawned. Elias's pocket watch ticked 189 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:41.240 forward twelve o four. The fields exhaled, stars resumed drifting, 190 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:49.119 The engine glowed of richer blue. Passengers applauded quietly, which 191 00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:53.880 sounded more like rustling paper than clapping hands. The conductor 192 00:18:53.960 --> 00:19:00.799 beamed that should keep us going for several weeks. I 193 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:07.279 have more drawers, Elias said, cautiously, we suspected. The train 194 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:11.759 departed with a gentle whistle that sounded less mournful than grateful. 195 00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:21.799 From then on, Elias helped, not loudly, not officially, but thoroughly. 196 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:27.039 He saved minutes the way other people saved string. He 197 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:32.279 tucked spare pauses into envelopes. He began keeping a small 198 00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:36.920 tin labeled Later, which he filled with afternoons that had 199 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:41.440 gone unused and thoughts that had wandered off half way 200 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:47.000 through sentences. Each night, at twelve o three, he brought 201 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:52.880 the tin on to the platform. Sometimes the conductor collected it. 202 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:58.480 Sometimes a porter made of light did. Sometimes the woman 203 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:01.720 with the snow waved at him and left a frost 204 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:06.640 edged thank you note on the bench. The Midnight line 205 00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:12.880 kept running, passengers kept coming. A man returned with a 206 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:18.720 suitcase now full of sunsets instead of echoes. A girl 207 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:22.079 who had once carried a glowing jar stepped off with 208 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:27.559 empty hands and a relieved smile. The Twins map eventually 209 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:32.359 folded itself into a tidy rectangle and refused to open again, 210 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:38.559 which they took as a sign of success, Elias began 211 00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:45.680 to receive post cards. None had addresses, all arrived anyway. 212 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:52.839 They showed floating bridges, spiral cities, forests made of glass, 213 00:20:53.960 --> 00:20:58.200 seas that glowed in the dark. The messages were brief, 214 00:20:59.400 --> 00:21:05.839 made it thank you. Still raining sideways, he pinned them 215 00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:10.559 above his desk. No one in town noticed anything different, 216 00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:17.559 which suited him. Stations were meant to be places people 217 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:23.720 passed through, not places that demanded explanations. Years went by 218 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:28.720 in a gentle, ordinary way. The morning train still smelt 219 00:21:28.759 --> 00:21:35.240 of toast, the evening train still smelled of rain. The 220 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:40.880 lamp posts still hummed, The midnight line still arrived. At 221 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:47.200 twelve o three. Elias's hair went gray. The cat became 222 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:52.920 a fixture. New porters came and went, none of them 223 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:59.000 staying late enough to ask questions. And every night, beneath 224 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:02.880 the yellow pool of light, Elias Thorn stood with his 225 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:07.000 ledger tucked under one arm and his tin of spare 226 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:13.200 moments under the other, ready to supply the thin necessary 227 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:18.279 pause that kept a very unusual train moving through the 228 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:24.680 narrow seam Between days. He liked that the world was 229 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:30.200 larger than schedules. He liked that not everything fit in boxes. 230 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:38.680 He liked that some journeys required waiting, and when the 231 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:44.319 whistle drifted through the dark, soft and low and patient 232 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:53.240 as breathing, Elias always smiled before checking his watch. Twelve 233 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:56.519 o three a m. 234 00:22:56.599 --> 00:22:57.359 Right on time. 235 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:25.839 A girl followed, cradling a jar that glowed faintly green 236 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:32.839 and illuminated her face from below. Good evening, Elias said, 237 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:37.559 because he had discovered that politeness was the only tool, 238 00:23:38.680 --> 00:23:42.000 was the only tool he owned that fit this situation. 239 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.759 They nodded to him, smiling as though they were boarding 240 00:23:47.799 --> 00:23:54.640 a perfectly normal train to somewhere perfectly ordinary tickets please. 241 00:23:56.039 --> 00:24:02.440 They handed them over again. The paper shimmered, then settled again. 242 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:11.599 They were stamped for midnight again. His hands felt oddly 243 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:16.920 light when he gave them back. As the passengers boarded, 244 00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:23.039 Elias noticed more unusual luggage. A violin case that dripped 245 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:29.200 sea water, a crate labeled only if singing, with no 246 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:34.000 indication of what might be inside. A rolled carpet that 247 00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:40.559 occasionally tried to unroll itself. When the door slid shut 248 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:46.079 and the train glided away once more, Elias stood watching 249 00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:50.319 until the last glimmer of light vanished into the bend 250 00:24:50.359 --> 00:24:57.400 of the tracks. He did not immediately go back inside. Instead, 251 00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:01.880 he remained beneath the lamp post, listening to the fields 252 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:06.759 and the far away owls, letting the quiet rearrange itself 253 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:12.960 around him. Back in his office, he opened the ledger 254 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:22.119 and wrote twelve o three a m unscheduled arrival, same train, 255 00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:33.279 different passengers, snow suit case delayed shadow. He stared at 256 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:37.359 the page for a long time before adding jar glowed 257 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:43.799 underlined that one twice. On the third night, he brought 258 00:25:43.799 --> 00:25:48.599 a chair. On the fourth, he brought a thermos and 259 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.960 a notebook separate from his official ledger, because some things 260 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:58.240 felt too strange to share a book with freight schedules. 261 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.359 On the fifth night, a ray cat appeared on the 262 00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:05.559 edge of the platform and sat down beside him, with 263 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:08.680 the air of someone who had always intended to be there. 264 00:26:10.119 --> 00:26:14.680 They did not look at him. It watched the rails. 265 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:20.680 You're waiting too, Elias murmured. The cat flicked one ear. 266 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:30.920 At twelve o three. The train arrived, and the cat's 267 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:37.160 tail made a thoughtful loop before going still. Passengers came 268 00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:42.079 and went in a steady, unhurried rhythm. Elias began to 269 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:46.720 recognize some of them. The woman with the snow returned, 270 00:26:47.559 --> 00:26:52.279 this time carrying only a scarf that trailed frost behind her. 271 00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:57.319 The man with the delayed shadow nodded to him as 272 00:26:57.319 --> 00:27:01.759 though they were colleagues. The new traveler arrived with a 273 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:06.920 suitcase full of autumn leaves that tumbled out and scuttled 274 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:13.599 back inside on their own. Elias started asking careful questions. 275 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:21.319 Long journey he ventured? One night, sometimes, said a man 276 00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:26.680 whose shoes were wet despite the clear sky, Where too, 277 00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:31.680 he asked? Another not far, replied a woman who smelled 278 00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:35.920 the libraries. One evening, he noticed that the map the 279 00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:40.440 twins carried had finally given up folding itself and now 280 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:44.880 lay open across three seats, showing rivers that looped in 281 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:50.279 impossible ways, and towns drawn in handwriting that looked like 282 00:27:50.359 --> 00:27:55.200 it belonged to several different people at once. By the 283 00:27:55.319 --> 00:27:59.200 seventh night, Elias no longer felt quite as though he 284 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:04.039 were trespassed on his own platform. On the eighth night, 285 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:08.799 he stepped inside the first carriage, again, just far enough 286 00:28:08.839 --> 00:28:14.720 to avoid the cold. No one stopped him. The rugs 287 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:21.359 muffled his steps, the velvet seats gleamed softly. He wandered 288 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:25.480 down the aisle, pretending to check for forgotten umbrellas while 289 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:30.440 taking in every impossible object he could see. A tea 290 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:35.559 service floated gently above one table, pouring itself into cups 291 00:28:35.720 --> 00:28:40.519 no one was currently holding. A pair of elderly men 292 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:45.240 played chess with pieces that slowly changed shape when they 293 00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:50.400 were not being watched. Someone slept with their head against 294 00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:56.119 the window, and outside that window rolled a coastline Elias 295 00:28:56.240 --> 00:29:03.519 was certain did not belong anywhere near his town. A 296 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:07.720 tall figure in a shimmering uniform approached, walking with the 297 00:29:07.799 --> 00:29:13.319 quiet authority of someone who never had to hurry. You're early, 298 00:29:13.720 --> 00:29:19.839 the conductor said, pleasantly, I work here, Elias replied, because 299 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:25.319 this seemed to explain several things. Oh good, we like professionals. 300 00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:32.680 Elias hesitated, then gestured vaguely at everything. Where does this 301 00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:37.240 train go? The conductor smiled in a way that suggested 302 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:43.559 maps were advisory rather than binding. Where it's needed, and 303 00:29:43.640 --> 00:29:48.799 where is that? The conductor tipped his hat tonight three 304 00:29:48.839 --> 00:29:53.279 places that no longer exist, two that have not started yet, 305 00:29:53.880 --> 00:29:59.519 and one that keeps changing its mind. Elias considered this, 306 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:08.599 do you need a station master? We have one? Oh, 307 00:30:09.160 --> 00:30:14.279 but he's on holiday. The conductor gave him a conspiratorial 308 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:20.440 nod and drifted away. Elias returned to the platform just 309 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:24.160 before the doors closed, feeling as though he had leaned 310 00:30:24.200 --> 00:30:29.720 over the edge of something very deep and very polite. 311 00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:37.880 By the twelfth night, he was greeting passengers. By the 312 00:30:37.960 --> 00:30:41.880 fifteenth he was keeping a separate list of recurring ones. 313 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:46.960 By the eighteenth he had stopped pretending the midnight line 314 00:30:47.079 --> 00:30:51.839 was a temporary inconvenience. It was part of his station. 315 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:57.319 Now he was simply the only one who noticed. Then, 316 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:02.200 on the twenty first night, the train arrived and did 317 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:09.839 not leave. The engine hummed unevenly, the lights dimmed, the 318 00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:17.519 doors stayed open. The lamp post flickered. Elias checked the clock, 319 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:25.200 twelve o three. It did not move. The wind paused. 320 00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:29.880 Half way through a sigh, the cat froze with one 321 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:37.880 paw lifted. Elias swallowed. That seems new, he said. Into 322 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:45.279 the stillness from the train stepped the conductor, hat in hand. 323 00:31:45.960 --> 00:31:55.839 We appear, he said, carefully, to have developed a timing problem. 324 00:31:56.480 --> 00:32:01.160 The stillness felt heavier than silence usually did. It pressed 325 00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:05.640 against Elias's ears and settled in his chest, as though 326 00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:10.000 the entire world had inhaled and forgotten how to let 327 00:32:10.200 --> 00:32:15.680 the breath go again, and had forgotten how to let 328 00:32:15.720 --> 00:32:20.240 the breath go again. The lamp post above him hummed 329 00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:25.480 once and then went quiet. The moth that had been 330 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:29.319 circling its light hung motionless in the air, like a 331 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:35.000 fleck of dust suspended in amber. Even the fields beyond 332 00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:39.240 the tracks appeared to have paused mid rustle, and the 333 00:32:39.319 --> 00:32:43.119 long grass frozen in the middle of whatever small conversation 334 00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:47.559 it had been having. And the long grass frozen in 335 00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:51.119 the middle of whatever small conversation it had been having. 336 00:32:51.160 --> 00:32:56.960 With the breeze, Elias glanced at his pocket watch, twelve 337 00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:02.759 o three a m. The secondhand did not move. He 338 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:07.519 looked up at the station clock. Neither did that. From 339 00:33:07.559 --> 00:33:13.000 inside the train came a low, uncertain ticking, not rhythmic 340 00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:17.720 enough to be reassuring and not chaotic enough to be panic, 341 00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:23.400 but something in between, the sound a machine might make 342 00:33:23.559 --> 00:33:27.480 if it were trying to remember how it normally behaved. 343 00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:34.720 That seems inconvenient, Elias said, at last, because he had 344 00:33:34.759 --> 00:33:38.880 discovered over the past three weeks that stating the obvious 345 00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:42.359 was sometimes the only way to keep one's thoughts from 346 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:50.519 galloping off in unhelpful directions. Quite, the conductor replied, stepping 347 00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:55.039 down onto the platform with a carefulness that suggested gravity 348 00:33:55.079 --> 00:34:02.720 itself was currently under review. Leaned out of windows. The 349 00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:06.720 woman who borrowed fog stared at the frozen fields with concern. 350 00:34:08.679 --> 00:34:12.519 The man whose shadow lagged behind him looked down and 351 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:19.679 frowned when he realized his shadow had stopped altogether. Somewhere 352 00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:23.079 in the middle of the train, a kettle whistled weakly 353 00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:27.519 and then trailed off, as though uncertain whether it was 354 00:34:27.559 --> 00:34:34.559 allowed to finish. What sort of timing problem, Elias asked. 355 00:34:35.199 --> 00:34:41.239 The conductor adjusted his gloves. We have run out of midnight, 356 00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:51.480 Elias blinked, run out. Yes, I didn't realize that was possible. 357 00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:58.440 It normally isn't, the conductor admitted. But tonight we appear 358 00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:03.719 to have used all of it. Elias considered this because 359 00:35:03.960 --> 00:35:08.320 he had discovered that considering things was better than immediately fainting. 360 00:35:10.199 --> 00:35:18.760 What does midnight do? It keeps us between, the conductor said, gently, 361 00:35:19.800 --> 00:35:25.239 between yesterday and tomorrow, between places that are finished and 362 00:35:25.400 --> 00:35:30.039 places that have not quite decided to begin, Between doors 363 00:35:30.079 --> 00:35:33.639 that are closing and doors that are thinking about opening. 364 00:35:34.360 --> 00:35:38.800 That sounds important, extremely and if you don't have it. 365 00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:43.519 The conductor glanced back at the engine, which gave a 366 00:35:43.559 --> 00:35:51.519 small apologetic shudder, then we remain here. Elias looked around 367 00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:57.639 his silent platform, his unmoving moth, his frozen cat, and 368 00:35:57.719 --> 00:36:02.679 the paused stars overhead. I'm not sure my station is 369 00:36:02.760 --> 00:36:08.320 designed for that. No station is, the conductor said kindly. 370 00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:14.119 Elias stood very still for several seconds while his mind 371 00:36:14.119 --> 00:36:17.760 did the careful work of lining up the thoughts the 372 00:36:17.800 --> 00:36:24.280 way he lined up boots. What powers the train moments, 373 00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:30.920 the conductor replied. Elias raised his eyebrows. Steam is more common. 374 00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:37.519 Steam is very straightforward, said the conductor. We are less, 375 00:36:37.559 --> 00:36:44.559 so what kind of moments? The conductor gestured vaguely at 376 00:36:44.599 --> 00:36:50.280 the air around them, waiting for kettles to boil. Standing 377 00:36:50.280 --> 00:36:54.599 in doorways while forgetting why you went there looking out 378 00:36:54.639 --> 00:36:59.599 of windows when you should be doing something else. Lingering 379 00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:08.199 after conversations, pauses, hesitations, the sort of seconds people misplaced, 380 00:37:11.199 --> 00:37:16.920 Elias felt a slow, peculiar recognition settle over him. I 381 00:37:17.039 --> 00:37:21.519 keep those in a drawer, he said. The conductor brightened. 382 00:37:22.760 --> 00:37:28.679 Everyone does most just call it clutter. Elias turned and 383 00:37:28.760 --> 00:37:33.840 went inside. The stillness followed him, wrapping the ticket office 384 00:37:33.880 --> 00:37:38.239 in a strange muffled hush. Papers hovered where they had 385 00:37:38.280 --> 00:37:42.039 been mid flutter. The clock above the window stared back 386 00:37:42.079 --> 00:37:46.440 at him accusingly. He unlocked the desk doorer he had 387 00:37:46.519 --> 00:37:52.800 not cleaned out in years, and peered inside. It was full. 388 00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:57.679 There were old notes he had never thrown away because 389 00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:00.960 he was not sure whether they were finished with him yet, 390 00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:06.079 half completed lists, programs from concerts he had stayed to 391 00:38:06.119 --> 00:38:09.000 the end of, even though he had planned to leave early. 392 00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:14.760 A postcard he had bought but never sent, three different 393 00:38:14.840 --> 00:38:18.920 keys he no longer remembered owning a tea bag he 394 00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:22.639 had forgotten in his pocket until it became more sentiment 395 00:38:22.719 --> 00:38:28.159 than beverage. Elias scooped the contents gently into a wooden 396 00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:33.880 tray and carried it back onto the platform. The conductor 397 00:38:33.960 --> 00:38:43.480 watched with professional interest. These are excellent, he murmured. Elias 398 00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:47.440 poured them into the open panel beneath the engine, half 399 00:38:47.480 --> 00:38:54.079 expecting sparks or smoke, or at least a polite warning label. Instead, 400 00:38:54.480 --> 00:39:04.039 the train sighed, the hum deepened inside, gears shifted, the 401 00:39:04.119 --> 00:39:08.760