Angel's By The Tracks?

by Kay Heitsch 

Have you ever had an experience that left you wondering if you saw what you think you saw? I had one such incident on a hot summer day years ago. I was driving my husband Bill's little sports car with a sunroof. I didn't drive Bill's car that often, so I enjoyed going with the sunroof open. I'd called my friend Dimple right before I left the house. On my way over to her apartment, I was playing a tape that someone had given me. I had the tape playing, no doubt louder than it needed to be when I came upon an old railroad crossing. I had crossed these tracks many times before, but I had never seen a train on them. There were no flashing lights, and I assumed trains no longer used these tracks.

As I approached the tracks, I was singing along with the music. Up ahead, I saw three young boys looking to be about ten years old standing on the other side of the tracks facing me. I couldn't help but notice them, as they were dressed in old-fashioned clothes. Their long white sleeve shirts and long beige baggy pants with suspenders looked quite odd. Each boy had on a hat with the earflaps down. "Why on earth were they dressed like this on a hot day?"  I wondered.

I was almost ready to go over the tracks. The music was cranked up, and I was singing at the top of my lungs. All of a sudden, I saw the boys each put their hands over their ears. For some reason, I slammed on the brakes. I turned my head to the right, and there was a train. I broke out in a cold sweat. I stopped singing and sat in silence as the train clamored by. I had never heard the train whistle. "Lord, I would have been killed had I not stopped!" I muttered out loud. I drove over the tracks; then I remembered the three young boys. I looked in my rearview mirror, but there were no boys anywhere. Where had the boys gone? They couldn't have disappeared that fast. 

I was still quite shaken by my near-death experience when I arrived at my friend Dimple's apartment. I shared with Dimple what had just happened. "Gee, maybe I've lost my mind. I know I saw three oddly dressed boys. They saved my life. But when I looked back, they were gone." Dimple was a wise woman in her 80's. Dimple gave me a faint smile and said in her Southern drawl, "Kay, did you ever think that the dear Lord was watching over you, and He sent these boys. They could have been angels by the tracks." Wow, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe Dimple was right, and they were angels. I never heard the train whistle blowing, even though the sunroof was open. Had these boys looked normal, I wouldn't have even taken notice of them. When they put their hands over their ears, I did put the brakes on. I may never know who those boys were or what happened that day. One thing I do know is that Dimple was right--the dear Lord was watching over me.