Laid down on their bellies on the carpeted floor of the drawing room, the two girls warmed themselves by the fire as the wind howled outside. Arms crossed in front of them, with their chins nested, they watched the flames flicker and throw dancing shadows across the dark room.
“I wish it didn’t take so long to walk out to your house. I’d come over more often if I could.”
“Well, sorry for living out in the middle of nowhere.”
“No, no… don’t blame yourself,” Jane amended, adding a bit of a laugh at the end. “Blame your father!”
“Yes, yes… blame Father, of course,” Elisa sighed. “I don’t know why he chose to live so far away from everything.”
Jane waved her feet back and forth in the air. “Nothing like a bit of quiet in the countryside, though, right?”
“It wouldn’t be so terrible if the trains extended all the way out here. Or to the walls, at least.”
“Yeah, they really need to build some rail lines to here.”
“Father said that will never happen.”
“If only you could fly, right?”
“Ha!” Elisa exhaled. “If only everything!”
“Oh! How about this? A flying train!”
“Flying train?” she arched her voice.
“Yeah! You know, imagine a train that can swoop down from the sky and pick you up from anywhere!”
Elisa chuckled in response. “Don’t be silly. When is that ever going to happen?”
“You never know, right? I mean, just a few years ago, there weren’t trains or automotives at all! Travelling at speed was not a possibility!”
“By few years ago, I think you mean a few decades ago.”
“Yeah!” Jane concurred. “For hundreds of years before that, there were nothing faster than a horse. But now we’ve got steam trains and steam carriages and these… flying steam metal boxes! Have you seen those things?”
“Yes, I have. I have no idea how they get those heavy things to fly.”
“Right! Smart people will always think of something.”
“I suppose.”
A shadow stretched over them from the kitchen light behind them. “Girls, dinner is ready.”
The two girls answered simultaneously. “Right!” Jane exclaimed, springing up. Elisa was a little slower to haul herself off the floor where she nested so comfortably. “Yes Father.”