Michigama: Chapter 1 "Union Station"

 Base camp was around 3 hours away by train, then still another half-hour by bus. They said it was somewhere “just north of Taylorville, South Illinois.” A reference point that had to be completely useless to nearly everyone currently on their way. Who the hell has ever heard of Taylorville, South Illinois?
 ‘Oh where were you stationed?’
 ‘Outside of Taylorville, South Illinois’
 ‘Where is that, you dipshit?’
 Do you hear how stupid that sounds? I could say it’s a half an hour outside of Springfield and some people might kind of know what that means because of Abraham Lincoln, but even most of them probably wouldn’t know where to find Springfield on a map. I didn’t until I had to find directions to get there. What they really should have written on the paper was ‘You will begin your deployment just north of Bumfuck Nowhere, South Illinois!’ The fact that no one in their right mind would deliberately stop by for a good time is the point. After all, the only reason we’ll be out there is because there’s a lot of corn and soybeans there. You know what’s near corn and soybeans? Not much else. Some corn and soybean farmers, but not even that many of them.
 “Some of my buddies did their deployments out in the boonies. They say that camp life can be pretty fun.”
 I looked away from the departure times. The platform had yet to be announced for the 10:20 to St. Louis. Andy was lounging at the end of one of those long wooden benches in the concourse skimming some pamphlet about the new high speed line.
 “Yeah the info sessions really made it sound like a hoot.” I collapsed onto the bench next to him. “I’m being serious.”
 “Oh, come on.” “I am! Miguel did his in somewhere over in Indiana. Solar for the EII, same assignment as you. He actually met his wife there.”
 “Woah!”
 “Calm down, they didn’t start dating until they reconnected after college.”
 My brother put the pamphlet down. His eyebrows were doing the older brother thing. The outsides came down and the middle bit above the nose softened.
 “Anyway, the marriage isn’t the point. All I’m saying is even if the locale is less than ideal, there’s good people everywhere. Good people are all you need to find and they exist even wherever Taylorville is.”
 “Maybe they would if there were any people there.” Andy slowly started to laugh.
 “I mean, yeah. It’s gonna suck a little living somewhere so... pastoral.”
 “I could handle even a town, Andy. I’m getting sent to a fucking soybean farm.”
 “Oh no. You’re going to be the first 18-year-old to ever be bored. You might die.”
 “I might. A cow could fall on me.”
 “A tractor could run you over.”
 “See, it’s no place to live.”
 “Guess, you’ll just have to suck it up, Benny-boy.”
 I groaned and tossed my head back. Nothing for the 10:20 to St. Louis. It was easy for Andy to talk. He’d been deployed to Akron. Not a big city, but certainly there were people there. The Akron Tireheads weren’t a good soccer team, but at least they were tier two. He could even get to Cleveland pretty easy too whereas I’m near Springfield. Whoop-de-fucking-doo. All there is to do is like visit the old capitol building or some house where Lincoln used to live. Their soccer team is tier four. Have you ever heard of the Springfield Stovepipes? Of course not. I bet the people who live in Springfield haven’t even heard of the goddamn Stovepipes. It’s not like I did anything to deserve this. I mean I could have ranked UDC:Chi first instead of second like Paula, but we Reynolds do Public Works. Besides, Lupe also got Public Works just like me and she gets to stay in Chicago. Meanwhile I’m going somewhere that’s not even in a town. It’s just north of of a town. It doesn’t even have a name!
 The concourse itself was taunting me. The massive skylight. The columns and the carvings going up the walls. All that marble or whatever the floor was made up of. The people standing on it. Signs of civilization. None of that where I was going. I had never even thought that I could preemptively miss the very concept of buildings.
 “I feel like this is a crime against humanity.” I groaned.
 “You’re so dramatic.”
 “Well I have to be dramatic now, I don’t get to do it later.”
 “Why not?”
 “Gotta make a good first impression.”
 “On who? I thought there was no one where you were going.”
 “Oh shut up.”
 “You shut up.”
 “Clever comeback for a toddler.” Andy stood up, “C’mon that wasn’t even mean really.”
 Andy pointed to the departure board. The 10:20 to St. Louis was departing on track 12. We each grabbed one of my bags and joined the crowd moving towards the platform. Most of the other people headed to the train were also headed out on deployment. It was easy to tell: older teens, two pieces of luggage, surrounded by family or friends. A lot of the other parents were starting to cry as our procession made its way to the platform. I was grateful mine had said their goodbyes at home. That had been a lot.
 The train was waiting for us at the platform. It was one of the old Amtrak ones. Long and silver, the red and white stripes mostly faded. When the high speed network finally finished work on the route to St. Louis, they were going to close this down this line down for modernization. Modernization for the tracks, the stations, and the trains too. This silver fossil would finally be retired. We would likely be the final year of conscripts it toted off to government service. Changing of the guard.
 “Okay, Benny, it’s time for the speech.”
 We’d stopped in front of one of the doors. Andy’s eyebrows were doing the older brother thing even harder.
 “The parents sent a speech?”
 “This isn’t a parental request, this one’s from me.”
 He took a long a deep breath.  “You’re gonna struggle out there-”
 “Thanks for the confidence.”
 “Let me finish. I don’t mean with the work, you’re going to be good at that, you’ve always been good at that stuff. It’s the lifestyle change, especially being out there in the country. There’s a lot of downtime and not a lot of structure to climb. I struggled with it. I remember Kate certainly struggled with it last year. You’re going to struggle with it and when it’s Nance’s turn they’re going to struggle with it too. It’s something in the way we’re built- something the parents gave us all. Don’t beat yourself up about it. If you start falling into yourself, reach out. Don’t be afraid to come home on the weekend even without an occasion and if you don’t do that we’re going to start coming down to you. It’ll feel farther than it is, but we’re only a few hours away.”
 “I don’t know. I just might be more outstanding than you and Kate, I might just knock this whole thing right of the park.”
 “Punk.”
 “Is that the speech then?”
 “The big part. Now the quick hits. Don’t hook up with anyone on your work team. We don’t need another Priya situation. Keep up your hobbies. Eat vegetables. Wear sunscreen. And lastly, there is a present from me to you. Might help you make some friends.” He winked.
 “Where is it?”
 Andy slapped my suitcase. “It’s in your luggage for when you unpack. Now,” he grabbed me by the shoulders, “you got everything you need?”
 “It’s a little late if not.”
 “Well, if you’re missing anything we can take it down to you in the next couple weekends. Send a message when you get settled. You know the parents will be anxious.”
 He pulled me in for a hug. A longer one than usual. Not the full minute or two each of my parents had indulged in, but long enough to feel his breath catch a couple of times. His hand held the back of my head and I gave into it for a second. He pulled back, tears running in a couple lines down his face.
 “Okay, get out here.”
 I gave him a smile, grabbed my suitcases, and boarded the train.