Abandonment - Part 5

Background and the story so far

Back in the spring of 2020, which seems like a long, long time ago, I started writing a new pulp serial featuring Ed Bryce, Leslie Warden, and the recently deceased Zachariah Adams to give me some diversion during lockdown. Abandonment was its name. I posted the first four instalments, but a wave of lockdown blues put an end to it even though I had the rest "in-the-can", so to speak. 

If you need to catch up, here’re the first four parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. If you scroll down to the bottom of Part 1, to the Understory section, you’ll find a history of the Light Ray Blues series, of which Abandonment is the third instalment. The Understory section of Part 2 has a list of characters and locations.

Ah, the Light Ray Blues series. In 2012 I wrote a pulp serial called Light Ray Blues (the first instalment is here). Why? For a few reasons. Stories were integral to E. L. Moore’s work, and I wanted to see what I would find if I used stories as a way to think about my own work. Also, I had a conceit that I could write a somewhat tongue-in-cheek retro-noir mystery that featured streetcars, streetcar drag racers, ray guns, obsessed scientists, the bizzaro world of a place called New Toronto, conspiracies, blimps, trans-Canada maglev mono-rails, and model builders. The results were mixed :-) Although, it was the most popular series of blog posts until I started the E. L. Moore series in the summer of 2013. In 2015 I thought I’d give it another go and wrote a second series (the first part is here) with the same characters, but based in and around Ottawa. Along the way there were also some stand-alone stories: One day in July of 1967, A Christmas Kitbash, and You say layout, I say model railroad, Let’s call the whole thing off. 

In the world of Light Ray Blues, Ontario, and most of Canada, is criss-crossed with a rather dense network, dare I say an omnivagant network, of railway track of various weights and gauges. It’s called the InterTrack Network, and its operation is governed by the InterTrack Routing Protocols. InterTrack, Internet, lame I know. One sub-network is dedicated to small, personal rail vehicles that are much like today’s handcars, speeders, rail bicycles and motorcycles, and Thaddeus Lowe’s personal trolley, but in the Light Ray Blues world there’s a far greater range of vehicle types. That sub-network primarily crisscrosses Ontario’s towns and backcountry, and with the track springs up all kinds of places with their own unique characteristics. Even Ed Bryce has a place along a remote section of the network. 

Recently I realized the Loonar Module was likely something from that personal light rail area of the Light Ray Blues world that’s been stewing in my mind for quite awhile. And that got me back to thinking about the abandoned Abandonment. It’s a clunky story, but, like I said, it’s got me thinking again. I’ve started to wonder about a new series where The Lone Trainmen are forced to move the Centre for Rail Guided Transport and its huge layout out of the downtown campus of the University of New Toronto to an outlying area. Once settled in a warehouse that has stood idle for several decades, they begin a new project: to create the definitive map of the InterTrack Network. No doubt the proving grounds of the Loonar Module is a place of interest :-)

Ok, the world of Light Ray Blues is on my mind again, so strap on your ray gun and let’s head back to the mean streets of New Toronto with Ed and Leslie. 

Part 5

I was positively giddy. A minion medic said it was a good thing I had a thick skull. A supplicant shrink said I wasn't any more or less crazy than anyone else. The big-cheese doctor said they'd done all they could and I was taking up space, so get out. I thanked the nurses for all they had done and their infinite patience. 

Then I ran for the nearest exit. 

And kept running. 

And got to Kresge's as fast as a New Toronto streetcar would take me. Which delivered me there an hour before I was to meet Leslie. And what a glorious hour it was, wandering the store and marvelling in its wonders. Revelling in being amongst the carefree living, concerned only with pleasant everyday banalities. I concluded my grand tour at the holiest of holies, the longest lunch counter in the city. It was still early and the lunch rush hadn't hit. I had my choice of stools and dropped myself on one that had a good view of the main door so I could see Leslie when she arrived. Once parked, I ordered a malted and contemplated the nature of existence.

I had only just begun working on my malted when Leslie arrived. I waved. She came over and sat on a stool next to me. She said, "You're looking better. How're you doing?"

"Thanks. I'm fine. They said I was ok, but they gave me a list of instructions to follow and a prescription to fill."

She eyed my malted on the counter and said, "Ready for lunch? I'm starved."

"How about ten minutes of business first and then lunch? You can have my malted if you want? I've only taken one sip."

She took it, removed my straw and added a new one.

I swivelled my stool a bit so my body was aimed at the phone booths across from the counter. "Before we eat I'm going to give Adams' daughter a call to set something up." Leslie nodded slightly as she worked on the malted. I slid off my stool and headed for the booth directly opposite.

I settled into the musty booth, closed the door, and got Adams' daughter's number from my notebook. She was in Ottawa, and it took the long distance operator a little while to connect the call. 

"Hello?"

"Hello. Am I speaking with Zachariah Adams' daughter?"

"Who's calling?"

"I'm Ed Bryce. I was a colleague of your father."

The previously warm and friendly tone turned a little icy. "Oh yes. What do you want?"

I didn't know her name and she wasn't offering it. "Miss Adams, your father once mentioned he put some OSI files in with his family genealogy files. I'd like to retrieve them for the agency." I hope she didn't know I'd been fired from OSI a long time ago.

There was a pause. Maybe she didn't like the 'Miss Adams' bit. Maybe she just didn't like me. Maybe daddy's ghost told her I'd call.

"I don't have the files anymore. I gave them to my cousin. She's the keeper of genealogy in this family."

"Could I get in touch with her?"

She gave me a name, an address, and a phone number in Scarboro. We exchanged cool good-byes and that was that. I hung up. 

Lunch and some friendly chit-chat with Leslie was awaiting. 

Part 6 is here.