John walked down the street in the midday sun, his suitcase dragging behind him across the uneven footpath. The sound of the tiny wheels from his luggage skittered and echoed through the empty streets. The sun felt good on John's back and he remembered to take note to enjoy this warmth while he could. New Orleans in December still managed to imitate warmer seasons with no issues, his future destination however was sure to bring a cold change.
His current walking destination, the New Orleans Union Station stood not much further up ahead. His free hand reached into his messenger bag that hung from his left shoulder. He quickly found his boarding pass and itinerary, all ready for presenting once the time called.
As he approached the old building, he made his way through to the automatic double doors. The doors lead right into a large brown hall, with polished concrete floors. The open room was filled with rows of bolted down plastic seats taking up most of the available space. He scanned around and noticed various passengers waiting to begin boarding.
John noted that there was still a while until boarding was to commence. He saw a sign indicating the private waiting room for people staying in first class and sleeper carriages and made his way over. Showing his ticket to the man at the door, the attendant opened the door to let him through and pointed out the restroom and tea and coffee facilities.
John scanned the room for an empty spot to sit and noticed a row of empty chairs in one of the back corners. He made his way past some young families with children and older couples that seemed to make up the majority of people travelling by sleeper carriage.
He sat down in one of the chairs opposite a red headed woman, who was reading some kind of gossip magazine. Judging by the amount of luggage in front of her, she appeared to be travelling alone. She also appeared to be travelling light, just a single carry-on suit case. She looked up from the magazine and gave John a nice friendly smile as he took his seat, which he promptly returned.
Making sure not to stare too long, John's initial assessment of her was that she seemed to be an incredibly gorgeous being somewhere in her 40s. Her red hair was bright, but appeared to be hers.
John opened up his bag and pulled out the novel he was currently reading; a generic action novel where a man solves problems with his fists and all the women want to be with him.
John managed to get through a number of chapters before a voice came over the intercom calling priority boarding for Chicago. A destination he would reach at 7am the next morning. The first call was for those that were staying in sleeper carriages.
The families were the first to start moving, trying to be first in line to get on the train. John put his book away and got to his feet to join the queue that had formed in the main hall. He noticed the woman who had been sitting opposite him was now a of couple people behind him in line.
John handed his ticket to the inspector at the gate.
"Take the third carriage and then upstairs to your left. Yours is the second last sleeper roomette before the end. Enjoy your Trip!" the inspector said handing back the boarding pass.
"Thank you!" John Replied. He walked through the doors leading outside and onto the platform.
The large train stood in front of him on his right and he made his way to the third carriage.
John got to the entrance and lifted his bags up into the carriage before climbing up a few steps into the train. After walking past one roomette he took the stairs up to the upper level and made his way down the left side of the train past the other roomettes until he found his room.
His room equated to two seats facing each other and a door that would close off to the rest of the train. He noticed a little sign on the door bearing his name, indicating he had found the correct room. He loaded his bags into the tiny storage area before hopping in and closing the door behind him, leaving the blinds to the hallway open.
To his other side was a great big window that filled one whole side of the room. Looking out he could see passengers on the platform below walking past making their way to their seats further down the train.
Not long after he had gotten himself comfortable in his chair, he saw the woman again. She passed his room in the corridor and took up residence in the final room in the carriage. John smiled to himself as he got his book out and continued reading his book.
An announcement over the loud speaker came announcing their departure. John continued reading his book as the train started to move. Within an hour he was enjoying the view of lakes and swamps that passed by outside his window.
John finished his novel a few hours later. The sun out of the window was now starting to set. He took a few photos of the view on his phone and not long after another announcement came over the loud speaker system. It was time for dinner to be served in the dining cart. A few moments later the red headed woman from the room next door passed by his room again, walking towards the direction of the dining cart.
John could have sworn that she had momentarily looked back towards him and she walked by and given an almost imperceptible smile. He decided now would be a good time to use one of the communal bathrooms to go to the toilet and get cleaned up for dinner.
To get to the dining cart John had to pass through a carriage full of swiveling chairs that pointed out of the windows on either side. The windows on either side were wide open and reached up to the ceiling. The views from this carriage must be fantastic, looking out at the changing landscape. The next carriage was the dining cart.
Booth tables snaked along both sides of the train cart. Most of them seemed to be filled up with the families and couples he saw back at the train depot back in New Orleans. A female waiter dressed in white approached him and asked for his passenger details.
"Let's find you a table!" She said.
John followed her passing tables filled with people eating. Down the end of the carriage John noticed the red headed woman again; she was sitting alone a table facing away from them.
The Waitress approached her "Excuse me, Ma'am! You don't mind if this gentleman shares your table with you?"
The woman craned her neck to look back at who her dining partner would be.
"Oh, not at all!" she said.
She gave another nice warm smile.
"Please take a seat! I'll be right back with your menu."
"Oh, he can just use mine!" the red headed woman interjected.
John sat down in the booth seat opposite the woman and returned the friendly smile. She slid over the menu to him and john thanked her before he had a brief look through. Looking up he saw that she was eating the Chicken Masala. It looked pretty good but saw something else he wanted.
The waitress returned and asked if he knew what he wanted.
"Can I please get the Red Wine Braised Beef and a Stella Artois, please?"
"No worries, I'll be right back with your food" the waitress said
"Great choice" said the Redhead. John looked up and could now get a proper glimpse of the woman in front of him. Her red hair had a very light ginger tinge to it and made its way to her shoulders. Her eyes were a striking silver gray and face reminded John of being somewhere between Carrie Preston and Felicia Day. He could see a reserved maturity in her face with a side of youthful cheekiness.
"I'm Janet" The red head said extending her hand out across the table.
"John" He said as he shook her hand.
"First Overnight Amtrak?" she enquired
