I passed through three of the carriages without noticing anyone else who appeared to be a foreigner – the true giveaways would have been the types of luggage, reading materials, and overheard snippets of conversation. I had now reached what I believed to be the final carriage, and was just about to give up and turn back when a hand shot out from a seat and grabbed me. This was totally unexpected, and I jumped in surprise. It was Juan, the supposed thief from the previous evening. Juan had changed his clothes, and I would never have recognized him. He was still full of nervous energy and sprang up, gesturing for me to follow …
Bio:
Ian Birch taught business and finance at universities in British Columbia and Ontario before retiring onto a wooded acreage in the Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands to pursue diverse projects. This article is an excerpt from the author’s book The Last Train through the Heart of the Americas: By Rail and Road across Two Hemispheres for which he is currently seeking an agent/publisher (ianbbirch@hotmail.com).