The Little Boy on the Train

Here in China there are many ways to get around but one of the most common (especially for long distance travel) is by train. There are also different types of trains; I am sure you've all heard of the G trains that can travel 200+ mph without feeling a thing but this story begins in a very different setting. Imagine your average train car. Take out the overhead racks, comfy chairs and curtains. You're left with a dirty floor, plywood seats and the occasional table. Now stuff it with 60+ passengers and you're just about right.

The air was thick and hot and tinted with body odor and the occasional wiff of urine. We were  packed in tight and you were lucky if you got to sit. To my right was an old woman with a wrinkly, sweet, smile and eyes that seemed to tell a story of hard work and hope. To my left was a man in his thirties trying to get those few precious hours of sleep. In front of me was a little boy and his mother. With my small knowledge of Chinese I barely understood when the mother introduced herself and her 6 year old son. When I explained that I was teaching English to kids his age back in Yang Zhong she smiled wide and said English was his favorite. I said "hello" and he softly replied and with a sheepish smile hid behind his mom and a garbage bag filled with some tattered clothes and a couple old blankets.

As the hours went on I taught the boy a game or two and we went over the alphabet and some numbers. When we got to numbers his face lit up and he trotted behind his now sleeping mother and started rummaging through their garbage bag. When he came back he looked at me with the sweetest grin of sheer anticipation. He opened his hands and between his chubby fingers were a rusty bottle cap and two dice. He showed me how to put the dice in the bottle cap just right so that when you spun it they would tumble out and click-clack-click-clack on the table. When they landed he would shout the numbers. "Four-a and Sr-ee!" Before too long everyone in that car was gathered around us and our little dice game. When it was my turn to roll I would sing "pop goes the weasel". He would laugh and laugh which made the old lady giggle and the man squatting in the corner would to chuckle. This quickly started a chain reaction. Before I knew it that little train car was filled with a joy I will never be able to describe. These people had close to nothing, and yet they were some of the happiest people I had ever seen. This young boy and his simple toys reached the bottom of my heart.

In that moment, being surrounded by happy strangers and hearing the laughter of this child fill the car, made any worry I had ever known disappear. All of these people were going somewhere but for the time being we were all here together, existing together. Through laughter and smiles and the prized toys of a poor boy we all shared a piece of our human existence; it's a piece I won't forget. Thank you, little boy on the train.