The next morning

I woke up early feeling refreshed and in a fantastic mood; yesterday's activities had knocked me out into a deep, restful sleep. 'Damn,' I thought, 'What a day.' I had no idea how much fun being trapped on a train could be, but of course, when I had boarded I had no idea the kinds of people that would also feel trapped on here, aching for something (or someone) to spice up the journey.

I rolled over in bed to see Dave, my roommate and acquaintance from high school, reading a book in his bed. He was concentrating hard on whatever he was reading; the dappled light from the window flickering in patches across the pages made it difficult to read. 'We must be going by trees,' I thought, 'There are trees outside. A lot of them. That's a good sign.' Where we had come from, there were few trees left.

Dave was a good guy, and would enjoy hearing about the previous day's adventures. And he was gay, so I knew I wouldn't have to worry about him tying to compete for the attention of the women I was having so much fun with.

"Dave," I called. His bed was about six feet away from mine against the opposite wall, and the floor in between was strewn with our bags and belongings. Dave looked up.

"Oh hey," he said, "Where were you yesterday? Like all day? And night?"

I couldn't help myself and let out an incredulous laugh, smiling uncontrollably.

"You're not gonna believe this," I said.

"Oh no way! Did you fuck Sameera?"

"No. God no. I wish. But I did spend about two hours on a bed with her."

"So what?"

"Well," I paused, "Before and after that, I did have sex with two different women."

I gave him some broad details and we laughed about it, hardly believing the dream-like day I had. This train ride was getting surreal, we agreed. 'Shit,' I realized in my retelling, 'Crystal is great, but that Karina is a FREAK. Who does that with a stranger?' After a second I realized sheepishly, 'I guess I do.'

I was hungry, and I thought that having just showered late last night (heh heh), I decided to go straight to the dining car for morning rations. Breakfast was a simple meal of oatmeal, dried fruit and maybe potatoes, but I was starving, and food sounded great. The kitchen didn't open for another hour, but I figured that if I left now, I may be able to snag some of that weed that the line cook hid in the storage space, giving me an excuse to spend more time with Sameera in her favorite state: blazed.

I got to the dining car and since it was still very early, it was mostly empty. There were a few people reading alone at some of the tables, but that's it. I easily strode past them to the hallway from the day before, where a side entrance to the kitchen stood across from the small storage space. I entered and looked for the red striped containers. I found one that felt heavier than expected and opened it. It was some kind of pickled vegetable. I put it back and found another. After two or three nervous minutes, I spotted two of them tucked away into a top shelf in a far corner. Sure enough, the two containers were packed with weed. No wonder they needed to keep them hidden in these sealed food containers; they would reek otherwise.

All of a sudden I heard the dark-haired line cook's voice from just outside the door, as if he was coming from the kitchen.

"What did we need?" I heard him yell into the kitchen.

"I've said it three times now, Rick!" an annoyed woman's voice yelled, "Just see if there are any cranberries left."

RICK! What an asshole. I didn't like the look of him.

While he bickered with the other cook, I had time to grab a handful of dried bud, shoved it into my pocket, and put the containers back in their corner. I did my best to look confused and stumbled into the hallway, almost bumping into Rick.

"Sorry, got lost. Just looking for a friend," I said, keeping my head down. Rick gave me a scowl, and I quickly shuffled off. 'Shit' I breathed, that was reckless.