Treasure!!

I had been looking for this little book for decades. I haunted the Little Golden Book racks in stores for years. I went through dozens of second hand bookstores. Prowled my local ones repeatedly. Found Man from U.N.C.L.E. books I didn't have. Found dozens of A. Bertram Chandler books. I accumulated a library of Louie L' Amour westerns. But this little book remained a treasured memory. A memory of sitting on my Mother's lap. Safe. happy. Loved. As she read..."too-too-too bad" He tooted softly."He'll have to be taught a lesson."
I can see her face, hear her voice as she read it to me, showing me the pictures of the yellow diesel chasing his own caboose around, and around the tall thin hill in Tinytown. She never seemed to tire of reading it to me. I remember her arms around me. Her brown curly hair. I have her brown eyes. She used to draw me bunnies.


One of the things my Kacy girl, and I used to do every saturday was to prowl the second hand bookstore, and antique shops around Cedar Street. And then one day there it was! I reconized it immediately, but only dared to hope..My hands trembling I opened it and began to read...YES!!! YES!!! I shouted. I jumped up, and down. My daughter Kacy said "You have to get it Daddy." She took it from my hand, and headed for the cash register. I followed her looking at the sparse collection of "presidential flashcards" in my wallet. Would I be able to afford this treasure? I had a vision of the store owner saying. "That will be $250.00 sir..It's quite rare."
When she rung up $2.50 I felt positively giddy. I had it out of the bag, and was reading it, before we got out the door.
It's in my fifty-five year old hands right now. "Clear the tracks! Clear the tracks! Get out of my way old clickety-clacks!"
I close the cover as a happy tear escapes my mother's brown eyes. My heart is five years old again.