sound travels silently

sound travels silently

fiction
edward w pritchard

Sound travels silently from the past to now but some pre-dawn mornings I can hear the same train whistle my Mother's grandmother heard as a girl from her bed room window in Wheeling, WV
back in the 1880.

It's cold and silent where my Mother's grand Mother is now but when she lived in Wheeling WV in the 1880's she always like me listened intently for distant train whistles up to a dozen miles from her home high up on the mountain where the family farm was. One morning she not only heard the train whistle but she distinctly heard voices from the passing train ten miles away. It was headed from Kansas City to Washington DC. From the conversation she over heard she surmised  that Native American chiefs were going to Washington to sign treaties  to exchange land for money.

Sound travels silently from the past to now but some pre-dawn mornings I can hear the same train whistle my Mother's grandmother heard as a girl from her bed room window in Wheeling, WV
back in the 1880's. Sometimes early in the morning I can hear the train whistle but unlike my Mother and her grand Mother I can never hear the voices.