Child was at nursery school the morning Mother felt cold-hearted enough to sort the toy box…

…the estate lawyer handed Reuben a red marble.

And then, there it was—chugging and clanking
out of a dark, gray, greasy cloud of smoke. OH NO!!
Little Bobby’s mouth fell open and he clapped his
hands over his ears. He had never seen or heard or
smelled anything like it. It was dark metal, black, huge,
ugly, and belching oily smoke like a creosote-encrusted
chimney. There was a horrible grinding noise like the
tub mill on the creek that ground his family’s corn and
wheat between two giant stones—only this was louder
and more violent! The black monster shook all over
like it was going to jump at him. It came to a shuddering
stop with an ear-splitting fart from a pipe sticking
out of its rear end. Now he knew it was alive!