By train home

 As long as the grandparents from Săcel lived, I visited them quite often, but of Saint Mary the Great and Saint Basil I was, with safety present.

            In 1960, we sleep in the old house. We have a train at 10.  Uncle Nicoară offers to take us to the train station by sleigh. He comes early. He knows that on the way we meet people who want to talk to us, especially father.

            At the station with the tickets in our pockets we have time to look around. It's cold, but it's sunny.

          

            Blue sky

            over the snowy hills

            sparrows chirp

 

            Near the station building, dad shows us the hill of Stefanita, by which a tunnel was dug longer than 2km.

 

            A short whisper

            the locomotive comes out

            along the tunnel

       

            We see how the train passes through the hills. After a short time, we don't see it anymore. Enter another tunnel.

            ‒ Let's go to the platform! As soon as it leaves the short tunnel, the train arrives at the station.

             ‒How nice to see the train coming!

            We go up, we sit on the seats by the window.

            We want to see our grandparents' house. Father explains to us:

            ‒ We will cross the first viaduct. From there we can see the church and, near the river Iza, the mill and the poplars near the grandparents' house. We will recognize it by the big walnut by the window. On the second viaduct, the train is piloted, that is, it goes slower. from there, we see the house of aunt Maria and your cousins.

            I like everything I see on the train window! Trees laden with snow, houses whose windows can barely be seen, paths from houses to stables and wells…

            ‒ Girls, the Iza train station is coming! We will enter the tunnel as soon as the train starts. There are light bulbs in the tunnel.

           ‒ Why?

           ‒ Because the people who want to shorten the road also pass through the tunnel, as well as the clerks who check the railway line. You see that there are also refuges, that is, places where people can take shelter to avoid being hit by a train.

            The tunnel is short. We are happy when we come out into the light.

            

            The snow is sparkling

            the shadows of the trees

            they crawl after the train

                                                                        Translation by Ioana Pașca