I needed work. It was back in the 60’s and working as a dishwasher in a famous cafe’ didn’t pay much. The music at night was world class acoustic. The nation of many 40 acre musicians were drawn to the cafe. The pay for the workers was getting fed, bypassing admission prices and an occasional pitcher of beer across the street. The housing was leaky plumbing and roofs, bridge on the river Kwai back stairways and great love expressed. It was indeed a training ground for my escape from the city with enough money to survive living with the jack pine savages up nort’ (that’s the way they pronounce the word in NW Wisconsin)

I was hired on by the railroad on a fluke and in the rail yard office, I was referred to as Santa Claus because of my long hair.” Get on that old bus and it will take you out to the job site son.” A bunch of young bucks looking for some muscle pumping with good wages. It was just wages for me.

My first job was surfacing tracks for a new ‘hump yard’. All the tracks had a slight downhill grade so the cars would roll down into their spots for a train build. I got the low man job, shoveling ballast into the vibrating jaws of the tamper. It needed to be fed lots of rocks as the huge electric motors on the plunging fingers were constantly stuffing rock ballast under the ties. I got the rhythm and sort of liked the job as I got the swing down with a #2 shovel. Even got good enough to do a Queen Ann salute.

The first guys off the bus got the easy jobs and they always let me walk leisurely to the job site as they knew I would grab a shovel. A new friend on the gang wised me up to the drill. “First ones at the job site get the lining bars”. The next day I eased out of the handle driven door, gave a big yawn and suddenly burst into a run and got a lining bar to work the jacks. Surprise! Now you can have your old job back and get in shape was my generous thought towards the other man that now knew I was in the gang, ready for the work.

Camaraderie and all the badgering and insults and laughter to make the danger and brutal work go by. The testing of the hump yard with a blast of air at my back as a boxcar whistled by at a good clip maybe five feet away.

Later, after basic training with heavy tools, I got a transfer to a local section gang. Easier work. One time I was hit near my eye with a half moon of steel from a new guy spiking over the track. My foreman picked me up in his arms and ran with me across ten tracks to an ambulance. Big Leroy. Strong man. “Man, I thought you got hit in your eye!” Thanks Leroy! He cared for his men. He was the opposite of his friend, Woody. Accomplished worker and goldbricker too. He could think of more incredible ways to lean on a tool than I thought were possible.

A switch-man got coupled one day and they called his wife to say goodbye as when the coupler pin was pulled, he would drop dead on the spot. To this day, I cannot walk behind a rail car, even in a museum. ‘Cmon dad! It’s a really cool Pullman sleeper car!’ Sorry son, I can’t make myself do it. Trauma and fear. Of course I knew that car would move somehow and kill me. Everyone’s got a dose of trauma. It hides in your lower brain and pops out in a half a second with the proper trigger. Irrational fear usually.

I struggled for years with that reaction to various trauma in my life. A visit to a therapist helped me realize it. The funny part was when the session just started, he said “Now you are safe, there isn’t going to be a train coming through this wall” He didn’t have any idea that was one of my trauma triggers! It’s a joke with friends and family now. Didn’t feel that way at the time. The therapist and I had a laugh when I revealed my reaction.

At this time in my life, I began seriously conversing with he Lord, Jesus. Now I had a good friend that told me things, things I could do for other people. It was such an unexpected joy to hear from my Creator that would politely tell me things. Little things. Simple things that still amaze me and my friends. Things that I like to have in print so other people can take courage to listen to Jesus and act on their faith.

I sang a song for a woman I walked by while I was walking down a hallway in an assisted living facility. The Lord tugged on me with a quiet suggestion. “Go back and visit that woman sitting near her doorway.” I went back and asked her if I could pray for her. ‘Yes” she answered.

I prayed for her and first asked if I could put my hand on her shoulder. I sang to her: “You’ve been afraid a long long time, but Papa’s here and it’s OK. He will take the fear away, my little one”. Then I continued; “The man who’s full of grace and truth, someday He will come for you, He’s gonna make all things brand new, my little one” 1.

She liked it and rested her frail head on my hand on her shoulder. Blissful tears still come from the memory of speaking truth to her and to myself. That Man who’s full of power to make me free, someday He will come for me, I am his little one.” It’s pretty good. Norm Peterson /Jack Gator

1. Jon Thurlow