CHAPTER 33

HANGING OUT ON THE TRAIN

Our train was leaving from the other side of the station, so we had to climb a set of stairs and cross the bridge to get there. I couldn't help thinking that we had been training for this for years on the stairs at my house. I wish somebody had clocked us because, if there was a record, we now owned it.

As we headed back down the stairs, there was a handrail in the middle of the steps, and of course Bones had to slide down it. But it ended up being a great move because we would've missed the train otherwise.

At the bottom of the stairs, he lost control and went flying into the middle of the platform, which caught the attention of the conductor, who was about to close the door. I was halfway down the stairs when I saw Bones all sprawled out on the ground.

He yelled to the conductor, "Hold that train!"

The conductor turned and held his hand up to the front of the train, signaling the engineer to wait. I helped Bones up, and we ran over and jumped on the train . . . without any tickets. We could've bought tickets on our phones, but neither one of us had a credit card to make the purchase. We needed to think of something quick.

"Okay, Bones, how long is this train ride?" I wasn't really expecting an exact answer, but he had it.

"Forty-three minutes. Maybe it's ‘Kids ride free' day. Let's get to the café car."

I could tell he was making things up on the fly.

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