when the cowpoke's grandson started his trip from San Diego to Ottawa he'd finished a fitful vacation there

why he needed to travel a thousand miles to prowl even he couldn't surmise

he'd left his Stang for his 2nd cousin to use and bring up in a month...he knew instinctively as he drove out of sight of that little greasy spoon in Neah Bay that he'd never see that mystical reader of diverse books again

he really was afraid to... complicating relationships were not his game...but as he leaned back into the softness of a rough corduroy cushion she in inexplicably like Autumn's hush entered his mind

a long held wish assailed him and a sudden smell of burned popcorn filled his nose

in his mind he was thinking no no no...no woman could ever complete him

then slowly his eyelids closed as he drifted away....it was a long long ride on the Coastal Starlight to Seattle ....long but expectantly beautiful all along the coastline

so much of the trip was ocean viewing and he never got tired of seeing it

oceans of water to eventually turn to oceans of wheat barley and rape dancing in the winds or being harvested in Canada's heartland....

mountains getting ready for snow...the jagged sawtooths of the Canadian Rockies far surpassed any view of the Rockies below the 49th

sea terns rolling and gliding thru an overcast sky

soon it would be the transcontinental thru Canada to the right coast and the dreams of a prairie boy eager to both love and hate the small towns of the plains

it was difficult learning to speak French..badly at first...then like a Quebec native

when he jumped on the train in Vancouver he had a slight headache so he didn't fight the drooping eyelids

the conductor noticed he'd dropped his sketch book...he picked it up off the floor and laid it on the table before him...when the supper bell chimed the passenger didn't wake up...but the conductor thought little about it as he leaned in to tell him to head for the diner he noticed a smell

the passenger had wet his pants and couldn't be roused

as he drifted away he'd seen her..his muse...enveloped in deathlike irony with ravens flying out of her screaming mouth

was she sending him the final vicious attack??

he had no time left to think about it!