Prayer

Every night before we went to bed my Mom and Dad sat us down and we read out of the scriptures together. We listened most of the time but sitting next to my older sister, who could pack a mighty punch, might have made our reading a little unruly. After we had read and listened to the scriptures we would all kneel down to pray. One night as we were about to kneel down to pray we heard the train coming. We lived right next to the train tracks and loved to watch them as they went by. Since I heard the train coming I got off my knees and ran to the couch, I may have done this during the prayer. The couch was underneath the big bay window that looked out to the front yard, the road, and right to the train crossing. I parted the curtains and had to fight for position as I had been joined by my older sister and younger brother on the couch. Each of us were trying to look out the window at the train. Something was odd about the train crossing where the road came down to meet it. There was a car parked right on the tracks. The railroad people hadn't put up the flashing red lights or the bar that comes down in front of the road to warn motorists of an oncoming train yet. There was just a stop sign on the other side of the tracks as it merged with another road. Well I said to Mom and Dad that there was a car parked in the middle of the train tracks. Mom and Dad can be a little unbelieving of stories told by a four year old child so they slowly got off of their knees to check. The train was getting louder and it was blowing it's horn very loudly trying to warn the person in the car that they needed to move. It seemed like time stood still. There was a car going to get hit by the train and there was nothing I could do to help. There was nothing my sister could do to help. There was nothing my brother could do to help. My Dad ran to the door and just as he was about to open it we watched in horror as the car was smashed to pieces by the train. What a sight seeing a car being hit with such force that every nut a bolt, every window and every tire were sheered off and flung a thousand different ways. The noise was so loud as the train put on its brakes screeching down the tracks. It was exciting and gruesome to see such a sight because we did not know why the car was on the tracks or if the driver might still be alive. My Dad was frozen by the door and the look on my mothers face was sheer terror. Then we all heard a knock on the door. My Dad who had raced over to the door wasn't sure if he had actually heard a knock or if it was still the noise from the train. The knock came again and my Dad slowly answered the door. There stood a young lady. Her face was white as a ghost. She had tears in her eyes as she told us her tale. She was driving an old car, even old for those days and was coasting down the hill towards the tracks. She had slowed down for the stop sign and the car stalled. She popped the clutch and tried to start the car again but it wouldn't start and she was on the tracks. She tried again and again to start the car but flooded the engine when she panicked. What could she do her car was stuck in the middle of the tracks and she heard the train coming. She tried a few more times then she saw the train and knew she had to get out. She got out of the car and ran over to our house. We didn't see her coming because we were too busy looking at the car and the oncoming train. My Mom was quite relieved that she was okay. My sister and brother and I had to vacate the couch so that she could sit down as Dad went and called the police. After the shock of the incident My sister and brother and I enjoyed having the visitor there. We were even happier because Mom and Dad forgot to put us to bed and we got to stay up and see the police cars and fire trucks that came to our house. I may have even walked as close as they would let us get to the accident and picked up a memento of the nights tragic and awesome event.