On the small peninsula of Gorodetsky, there is a small village with a population of only 1,000 people. Most of the townsfolk work in mines or on their farms. The people who live there don’t have much money and rarely can feed themselves 7 days a week. Every few months at random, a train arrives with supplies for the miners and food for the people. The people love to see the train and rejoice at the sight of the steam cloud and the clatter of the pistons. The children run in the street without a care in the world. The mothers and elders look out their windows to see what all the commotion is about.
In the city square where the train station is, there was a small group of boys. Their names are Charles, Edmond, Noah, Lucas, and David. They are playing games and trading cigarette cards with one another. These boys like chaos and playing tricks on people. This day they felt obligated to cause chaos. The train hadn’t been on its schedule and the village was feeling dreary and down and almost out of supplies. The village was in need of supplies and food. The boys being tricksters thought it would be a good idea to fake the train coming. They hatched a plan to go into the woods near the tracks and start a small fire. Three of the boys would go into town yelling, “It’s coming!” A third would go atop the hill and blow a whistle to imitate the train.
Lucas was in the woods and started the fire. He added more wood and leaves onto the fire causing it to grow in size. Edmond was at the top of the hill waiting to see the smoke from the fire. Charles, Noah, and David were waiting at the bottom of the hill to start running into town. Lucas threw evergreens onto the fire to make it smoke and steam more. Edmond could now see the smoke and blew the whistle with all his might. The other 3 at the bottom of the hill went running into town yelling and cheering as soon as they heard the whistle blow. The townsfolk heard all the commotion and gathered in the square as fast as they could. They were hoping the train would bring lots of spoils since it hadn’t been there in a while.
The townsfolk were all very confused at the sight of the boys without a train following them into the station. They had now realized that there was no train and the boys had pulled a devious trick on them. The town had had a small moment of excitement before returning back to sadness and disappointment. The people in the town all thought it was very disappointing and sad, while the boys thought it was hilarious. They were rolling on the ground and clenching their sides. They got such a thrill and a laugh from doing it, they decided to do it again soon.
The boys went back and did it again the next day. They were going to do the same plan at the same time. Lucas started the fire, Edmond was going to blow the whistle Charles and Noah were going to run into town yelling. This time David would be hitting the train tracks with rocks to make it sound like something was coming. Everything was ready and their plan seemed perfect. Nothing could stop them. Charles and Noah were running down the hill into town but not yelling. They decided to wait until they were near the station to start. They arrived at the station and started to yell. The people heard their cries and came running. But there was no train, they had been tricked again. The townsfolk were angry at the boys for doing it again. They knew they didn’t have much food and this was wasting their time which could be used to work on the farms or in the mines.
The boys went back the next weekend to do it again, but with a small surprise this time. As they were starting the fire, they heard a train whistle coming from further down the train tracks. Edmond hadn’t blown the whistle yet, so they were all confused about what it was. They assumed it was nothing, and kept building the fire. A few minutes later, they heard the clatter of the train cars and pistons. It was coming. They ran down the hill at full speed and raced into town. They were hollering and yelling “It’s here! It’s here!” but no one believed them. There was no one gathering at the station, no one was cheering, and no one was rejoicing. The train pulled into the station. Still, no one was there. The train blew its horn twice and waited. Still no one. The engineer threw more coal onto the fire, the steam pressure increased and the train crept forward. It was leaving the station. No one had come. They missed the train, and they were not going to get their food or supplies. When the steam cleared, there were the boys, sitting on a bench with frowns on their faces and tears in their eyes. They realized they were the reason it had come and gone. They had tricked the townsfolk twice so they assumed it was the boys and ignored it. They didn’t want to waste their time only to be let down once they arrived. The townsfolk wouldn’t get their rations for the season. The boys could only imagine how they could accept their consequence and pay their punishment. It was safe to say they wouldn’t do anything like this anytime soon.