The morning is clear and crisp. The cool air surrounds the mountains alive with plants and animals. The only sounds heard are the ones of nature: a bird chirping, the water rushing through a river, and the pounding of a pack of wolves running through the forest. However, the serenity is interrupted by the clangor of a flock of birds trying to avoid a train coming across the mountain. On the train, the sound of youthful laughter and racing footsteps can be heard. They are all playing or eating or talking with each other, forgetting about their parents and memories they left behind. Well, all but a young boy sitting in a booth in the corner. He is one of the younger ones, maybe 5 or 6 years old, dressed in some of his “best” clothes. To him, the shirt is too scratchy at the collar and the pants too stiff. How is he supposed to fight bad guys in dress shoes and a tie? But his mother told him to wear it for her and so he did. He has a line of toy soldiers on the table in front of him, but his attention is not on them. Instead, he is entranced by the world outside of the train he is on. He has never been on a train before, and he absolutely loves it. The trees and plants outside all blur into one green blob and he thinks that they must be going at least a million miles per hour. It seems as if they just keep getting faster and faster, like one of those cheetahs that he read about in his animal book. It is not just the outside of the train that fascinates him, but also the grandiose inside of the train. The carpet is as soft as some of the bunnies he got to hold at his friend’s house. The seats were so comfortable that he almost thought he was sitting on a cloud. There was even a cool light thing that he saw in movies in all the rich people’s houses. His dad called it something like a candler or chandelier or something. He just liked how it sometimes made a magic rainbow whenever the sun hit the glass pieces even if the word was hard to say. He wished his dad was here to see it with him, but he had to go fight the bad guys. He wished his brother was there too, he liked trains a lot, but mommy said the mean sickness took him away like some of his other friends. He wished he could fight the sickness like the bad guys daddy fought in the war. He wished a lot of things but knew that he didn’t have enough coins to throw into the wishing fountain to make them come true. Suddenly the car goes dark and he hears some of the other kids scream in fright. He’s not scared, even though his heart feels like it’s going to pump out of his chest and the darkness reminds him of the monsters that were hiding in the corners of the room. Okay so he was a little scared, but his daddy told him to be strong right before he left and he had every intention to do that. Besides, he knew that monsters like the ones in Power Rangers weren’t real. The only thing he should have been afraid of was the blaring alarms that would resound through the city, making his ears hurt and giving him a headache. Although the darkness leaves soon after and he hears the relived sighs of the other children, he can’t shake the uneasiness that came with the pitch black of the tunnel. He tries to think of how brave his mom was when they had to evacuate the city because of a nuclear attack, or of how brave his dad must be to fight in a real war and not one with toy soldiers. When that doesn’t work, he makes his soldiers do brave things and be the hero his daddy is to make himself feel better. The boy hears the door behind him slide open and he sees the tallest man ever walk into the car. He has a big brown mustache that completely ate up his upper lip. The strange man calls for attention and all the other kids freeze and look at him. The man then begins explaining things the boy already knows. How they’re going on a vacation to live with another family because their other homes are not safe anymore. He explains how America is in danger of losing a war bigger than World War II and how they were all very important to the future of the country. How they needed to be brave because it was up to them to help save everyone. The boy likes that, his mommy said the same thing, being important and heroic. He just wanted to be important with his mommy and daddy and brother. Before he can start thinking about them, the man said that it’s time to get off the train and start their new adventure.