Was It Worth It

• Aaron Carpenter, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2021

The scorching heat of July burnt out the riverside town of Haywood. The horses galloped across the dry dirt which burnt like hot coals to the barest feet. Kenneth Jones worked out in the fields all day, ploughing at the soil until the heat knocked him out.
His mistress and a young boy had been gone for a year to see family in the city, his little boy had a never-ending sickness, however, there were no doctors in town. Kenneth would work in the fields until the heat would knock him out. However, this wouldn’t be enough money for him to leave this insignificant town.
“Kenneth, did ya hear? The mayor of Cattlebury was passing through town in his ace-high train.”
“Yeah Fredrick, okay,” Kenneth mumbled, disgusted by how much money that coffee boiler had lying around, yet he’d only spend it on booze and horses, even though he’d take his train.
“I don’t think ya getting me,” His thick western accent was now starting to irritate Kenneth.
“Nah I don’t know what you mean. To be frank Fred, I don’t care!”
“Calm down man, I was just teasing ya”
“Sorry, I’ve been working all day for the last month, however, Mr Rogers only gives me 7 dollars a week. How am I going to get enough money so I and my family have a better life?”
“Twenty-eight ya mean” Fredrick chuckled
“Twenty-eight or twenty-nine that’s beside the point. What did you have in mind?”
“What if we rob the train. We can run away, You, Carla, Thomas as well as me!”
“What about Martha, you can’t just ditch your wife like that?”
“Oh forget Martha, I saw her cheating with Henry Callahan the other week!”
“Yeah, she wasn’t good for you anyway. So, you want to make them tracks explode or what.” Kenneth remarked with glee.
“Sounds like a plan, partner.”

The night was cold, steam from the train clogged the night sky. Fredrick placed the dynamite onto the steel tracks, linking the wire as well as lever together.
“On 3, I’ll pull this thing,” Kenneth knelt beside the lever, he watched intensely making sure his timing was right.
“Ready when you are Kenny!”
“1… 2… 3!” Fire ignited the tracks, the train derailed as it tumbled down the hill, the train had met its demise.
“I’ll search the back, you search up the train. Take anything valuable!” Kenneth claimed in his adrenaline rush as he stumbled over the metal and bodies which scattered for miles.
Kenneth searched his way through the rubble, collecting any valuables he could find. A gold watch, some jewellery as well as 40 dollars. He felt a hand, it was a young boy, his son who was returning home. Kenneth was in disbelief, all this for nothing, his heart ached in pain as he hadn’t seen them in a year.
“We got to go now, Kenneth!” Fredrick yelled from the far distance. There was nothing to do except ride and never come back.