n: Part 4
By Kate Everson
Copyright 2012 Kate Everson
Stephanie had just about had enough of all this.
“I just want to be a simple girl, lead an ordinary life and not have so much drama,” she exclaimed to her friend Ally.
Ally looked down at her nails, giving them a bit of a brush.
“Well, then, why don’t you?” she said.
“I can’t!” Stephanie sighed. “It’s all coming at me so fast! Nothing has been the same since the first time I stood on that train platform. Nothing! I don’t even feel like the same person!”
Ally looked her up and down.
“You do look a bit odd,” she admitted.
Stephanie’s brownish hair now had a bit of gold in it. She swore she hadn’t put any highlights in, and she really hadn’t been out in the sun that much, but there it was. It seemed like her hair had a mind of its own.
“Maybe it’s your royal lineage!” laughed Ally.
She was only half joking. Stephanie had told her about the wild train trip to the ancient pyramid and sitting on the throne beside the king, but Ally just said she had some very vivid dreams. “You’re no Queen!” she giggled.
Stephanie had to admit she didn’t feel much like a Queen. Her book report was due tomorrow and she hadn’t even started to read the book. Homework was getting way behind. She daydreamed a lot. Everyone had noticed.
“What are you dreaming about now?” her mother would say. And Stephanie would have some excuse. “Oh, boys, as usual,” she lied.
Stephanie did not dream about boys at all. She dreamed of kings.
She could not forget that night in the pyramid with the King of Egypt. He had laid her gently in his massive bed and kissed her feet. She could still feel that gentle touch, and the stirring inside her young body.
“I wish the train hadn’t come,” she admitted to Ally. “Why does that stupid train have to ruin everything?”
Of course it was all her imagination, a dream, asleep or awake. None of it could be real. But she secretly longed that it was.
At night, Stephanie would look out the window and wish she were back in Egypt. There was something so powerful there, it made her feel powerful too.
And the cat! That amazing cat had super powers of its own. It must have been linked to Anubis, that ancient Egyptian cat god. She had been reading about those early times and felt a link to that era.
“I bet I was there once …” she said dreamily.
“Once upon a time …” and she gazed out into the darkness of the still black night.
Something was stirring. She peered into the dark, trying to see. “I wish I had cat eyes,” she thought.
And there he was, that darn cat! He was staring back at her.
“Meow, Stephanie,” he said coyly. “Can I come in?”
Stephanie got up and opened the door. The black cat came sauntering in, his tail high, looking very superior.
“May I have some warm milk?” he asked, looking everywhere for a saucer on the floor. There was none of course, because normally Stephanie was allergic to cats. Her mother had brought home a lovely Persian one time but it had made her absolutely choke up. They had to rush her to the hospital for shots. And, of course, that was the end of the cats.
Until now. This black feline had no such effect on Stephanie.
“He couldn’t be real,” she rationalized, “or I’d be sneezing by now.”
She got some milk and poured it into a saucer.
“Nigel?” she asked. “Is that you?”
But Nigel was busy lapping up his milk, with tiny little tongue laps. When he had licked the last drop from the side of the saucer, he sat back and licked his paws then washed his face. His whiskers were perfectly clean, although Stephanie noticed that they looked more like antennae than cat whiskers. One definitely seemed to have a mind of its own and kept changing direction.
“Nigel?” she repeated, hoping he would finally take notice of her.
“Ah, yes, my dear Stephanie,” he said. “It is I, of course. Who else?”
And Nigel curled up by the stove and went fast asleep.
Stephanie was a bit miffed, to say the least. If he had come for a visit why was he being so rude? She went over and tried to stroke his fur. It was a bit damp. She wondered where he had been. Nigel’s nose wiggled a bit, but he did not stir. Stephanie picked him up and carried him over to the rocking chair where she set him on her lap. She did love cats and this one was special. He had taken her on a journey she would never forget.
She stroked his soft kohl black fur and remembered.
She envisioned the pyramid and the king and the way he had treated her like a Queen. She loved that!
“I am nobody,” she thought to herself. “No wonder I have such fantasies.”
Just then, a breeze blew in the window. Carried by the breeze was a message wrapped in a tiny scroll, tied with a red ribbon. Stephanie reached over and picked it up, still holding Nigel on her lap. She unfurled the scroll and began to read.
“My dearest Queen Stephanie,” she read, barely able to discern the tiny foreign script. “I am your King and I request your presence back in Egypt. I have sent my messenger Nigel to fulfill my wish. Please come at once. Urgent! King Furuk.”
Stephanie jumped up, dropping Nigel at the same time. He landed on his feet and shook out his legs, giving her a nasty look.
“Nigel! Come on! We have to go now!” she exclaimed.
Nigel looked a bit uncomfortable but sighed and said, “Oh, all right, then, I was hoping to have a bit of a nap first, but we better get going. Hang on.” And he stuck his long black tail in her face.
Stephanie knew the drill. She grabbed the tail and hung on for the ride of her life.
They flew to the train station at Addington.
“What?” she asked, astonished, as Nigel dumped her on the platform. “I thought we were going to Egypt.”
Nigel just smiled. He had an irritating way of doing that all the time.
“Nigel???” she demanded. “What is going on? King Furuk is expecting me!”
“No, he’s not,” Nigel said, and he put up his tail and walked into the station.
Stephanie followed him. She was on his tail.
But Nigel went where she could not follow. The men’s room.
She sat outside on a bench and stared gloomily at the door. What was happening? She had to get to Egypt and be Queen!
Nigel never came out of the men’s room. But King Furuk did.
He strode out, his head high, his crown gleaming in the train station’s yellow light. He spotted her in an instant and sat down beside her, spreading his royal garments over the dusty seats.
“Hello, Stephanie, my dear,” he said, and reached to kiss her hand.
She felt a tingle as he touched her.
“Oh, my King,” she bowed.
He pulled closer to her. She felt the touch of his damp whiskers on her face. She opened her eyes wide. Was this Furuk? Something was not right.
Then she spotted it. A long black tail coming out from his cloak.
“Nigel!!!” she exclaimed.
She leaped up and ran from the station. This was all too much. That little imposter Nigel pretending to be Furuk.
Just then the train was spotted coming down the track. She checked her pockets and, sure enough, there was a ticket. It read: Egypt, One Way.
The train screamed into the station at Addington. Stephanie had no suitcase, no backpack this time, nothing but her jacket with a tube of red lipstick. It would have to do. She got on the train.
Her mother would miss her, she thought. She would miss her friends. But this was something she had to do. She had to know the truth.
She lea
ned back in her seat and gazed out the window. Somebody came and sat beside her. She almost didn’t want to know. Who was it this time? Some weirdo? He placed his hand on her knee. Oh no. She whirled around to stare at him directly in the face. The boy was cute. And he was grinning.
“Calvin?”
“Hey, Steph, how’s it going?” he said.
Stephanie nearly choked. “But how?” she managed to blurt out.
“I wanted to share your journey,” he said simply.
Calvin was her dear friend from school. She had known him for years, and he had always seemed quite normal, almost to the point of boring. He was the last person she would have expected on a train like this.
But he had been in one of her most vivid nightmares, if that counts. He had turned into a wicked monster. After that she hadn’t spoken to him for days, weeks, until finally he had cornered her and demanded to know what was going on. Once it was sorted that it had only been a really bad dream, they had continued being friends.
But now, here he was. It seemed very odd.
But then, everything lately had been extremely un-normal.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Calvin,” she smiled, and gave him a big hug.
She knew if Calvin was here, it was going to be all right. At least, as long as he didn’t turn into a monster.
“You’re not going to do that changeling thing, are you?” Stephanie queried.
Calvin laughed. “Not unless you want me to!”
He put his arm around her and they snuggled into the seats, watching the world go by. It was like they had been together forever. He was no king, but she knew him very well and felt comfortable with him. He was her Calvin.
She reached into her pocket and showed him the ticket that read: Egypt. One Way.
Calvin laughed.
“It doesn’t say Egypt, silly!” he pointed out. “It says Eglington. You must be tired.”
And Stephanie stared at the ticket again. Her eyes must have been deceiving her. Indeed it did say Eglington and not Egypt. She was a bit relieved and also a bit disappointed. How was she going to discover her ancient Queenly connections in a seaside resort of Eglington?
Calvin must have read her mind. Or at least, he knew her very well.
“It’s okay, Stephanie. You’re my Queen of the Nile,” he grinned.
His blonde hair fell down over one eye and he made a funny face at her. She laughed. That was Calvin, her good friend Calvin, and that was all she needed right now.
The train sped along the tracks, through the little towns and into the countryside, until it pulled up at the Eglington train station. They got out and walked to the beach.
“I didn’t bring anything,” Stephanie said, “not a swimsuit or a towel. Just this silly red lipstick!”
Calvin laughed. “Well, put it on!” he said.
Stephanie put on her bright red lipstick. As she did so, the red power came over her. It illumined her whole being. She felt Queenly. She felt all-powerful.
Calvin smiled. He pulled her close.
“We don’t need anything else,” he whispered.
They lay down on the sand and held each other close. He kissed her mouth. He kissed her neck. And he lifted up her sandy feet and kissed them too.
She smiled. This was better than King Furuk.
And as she peered over his shoulder, she spotted a black object on the beach. It was moving. She looked at it intensely. Nigel!
She laughed hysterically.
Calvin looked at her. “What’s up, babe?” he asked.
“Oh nothing,” she choked out. “It’s just my big, fat imagination.”
The End
Read Stephanie’s adventures on The Train, The Train: Part Two, The Train: Part 3.